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IN THIS CORNER 1 RUE BROTHERHOOD, IN A LOAF pf bread. Sounds strange, doesn?╟╓t it? It is. It?╟╓s the story of a Catholic lawyer, a Jewish show producer, a Protes- tant newspaper publisher and a Mormon bank presi* dent, with Minneapolis and Minnesota both deeply involved. The saga starts in Las Vegas, Nev., moves to Los Angeles, Calif., and winds up in Minneapolis. A fellow named A1 Freeman handles publicity for the Sands hotel in Las Vegas. He was wounded in Italy in World War II, suffers a periodic recurrence of a lung ailment. Last spring he was hospitalized in Las Vegas, and was literally s t a r v i n g to death. He couldn?╟╓t retain a bite of food. A nun in the hospital fed him a piece of hot buttered bread. It was the first morsel of iood he had been able to keep down for days. He lived on it for five days. Freed from his great hunger/ A1 exclaimed, to the nun, ?╟úThis is truly angel bread/?╟╓ After his convalescence, A1 missed the bread and often went back to the hospital to get a loaf. The nuns couldn?╟╓t sell the bread, but Freeman, like many.^other patients, left a generous gift. He also discovered that the bread was baked by'Sister Angelita. THE SISTER?╟╓S RECIPE, he learned, had been In her family for nearly 100 years in Germany. During the next few months, Freeman personally sent hun- dreds of loaves all over the country to friends and ex- perts for testing. These testers agreed that Sister Angelita?╟╓s bread had something special,. Al?╟╓s next move was to set up a foundation to be known as the ?╟úAnge- lita Bread Foundation/?╟╓ A wrapper was designed and a machine to mix huge quantities of dough almost as the nun had mixed her daily 30 loaves by hand was de- vised. the first bakings of 1,000 loaves a week were made in'Vegas as a test. The sale there now runs at a capacity of 2,212 loaves a week and brotherhood enters the picture again, with the bread baked in a Jewish bakery and promoted by a Lutheran, a Catholic, a Methodist, an Episcopalian, a Mormon and a Negro Baptist minister?╟╓s assistant. THREE CENTS FROM the. sale of every loaf goes to build up Rose de Lifna, the hospital where Sister Ange- lica baked her original bread. When that project is fin- ished, the royalties go into the foundation for hospitals "around the 'country. Our Sunday Tribune ran portions of this story awhile back, and that story produced 317 telephone calls and 4,200 letters from our area to Free- man in Las Vegas. From all the responses, Freeman took that of John Farley, chairman of the board of Regan Bak- eries, as the most attractive. Said Farley, ?╟úWe need a good hew loaf of bread in this business. I?╟╓m interested in working with the sisters on this. I?╟╓m considered a pretty good Catholic/?╟╓ Said Freeman, ?╟úFine, Tm consid- ered a pretty good Jew. We have Catholics and Protest tanfs already interested, so let?╟╓s get together and build some hospitals.?╟Ñ Regan?╟╓s "board chairman, president and chief baker went to Los Angeles, watched the sisters make the bread, then watched the bakers in Vegas bake it. There were scores of trips back and forth, plus the expenditure of thousands of dollars here developing the bread to the point where the sisters Couldn?╟╓t tell the dif- ference between the Regan bread and their own. THE BREAD HAS BEEJNI tested in this niarket with ' very little promotion and sales have been extremely successful so far. The backers wanted to be sure their business was based on taste rather than splash promo- tion. After ?·he Angelita loaf has carved its success here, the foundation will start working with bakers all over the country with the ^Minneapolis franchise and technique used as the model. The foundation has al- ready established plans, after finishing the Rose de Lima project in Nevada, to put up the first hospital id the city where the bread got its start?╟÷Minneapolis. Freeman sees right off the bat a potential of $520,000 a year for the building of hospitals and their mainte- nance. In our area alone a sale of 10,000 loaves a week, which is the volume Already achieved, is peanuts com-! pared with the potential, plus multiplying that by 100 cities in America and- their royalties going into the hospital here. REGAN?╟╓S FARLEY WITHOUT prejudice calls the Angelita loaf, ?╟úThe best piece of bread I?╟╓ve tasted in 30 years.?╟Ñ We?╟╓ve psed it in our home for a week and have been completely delighted. It keeps a long, long time and toasts into the most appetizing slice you can imagine. I?╟╓ve tried it with regular butter, unsalted butter, with jam. I?╟╓ve toasted it for a peanut *and banana combination grilled. I?╟╓ve nibbled on a slice just as it comes out of the c package. I agree wholly with Farley and Freeman/?╟╓ And that?╟╓s the story of what Freeman called, "angel bread,?╟Ñ now called Angelita. Cedric Adams* column appears daily in the Minnedpolis Star