Screaming for Ice Cream
Throughout his life, Hughes showed an inclination toward obsessive behavior, and his wealth and power surely helped enable him. He was once super obsessed with Baskin & Robbins’ Banana Nut ice cream. When the company discontinued the flavor, he ordered an industrial-sized batch of 350 gallons. You know, enough for the average person.
Howard Hughes flying the plane, which crashed, 1946. Source: Shutterstock
His staff traveled all the way to Los Angeles to pick up the order, and they reconfigured an entire refrigerator system to store the ice cream. But they were in for a rude awakening. Hughes changed his mind and lost interest in the Banana Nut flavor. Instead, his obsession turned to French Vanilla flavor. The ice cream obsession is innocent enough, but his obsessive tendencies turned disturbing (more on that later).