Think quickly! Does the person sitting in the middle seat on an airplane get both arm rests? Is it ok to email a thank you instead of sending a handwritten note? Should you tell a colleague with the flu to go home?

Questions best posed to Emily Post, who first published her famous book on etiquette in 1922. Today that legacy endures as her family is devoted to spreading the rules of good manners worldwide.

“We are a much more informal society than we use to be,” says Anna Post, who along with her sister Lizzie and their cousin Dan Post Senning are the fifth generation to work at the Emily Post Institute in Burlington, Vermont. She cites how we dress and how we speak as the most obvious changes. “It’s about being appropriate rather than formal."

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“We’re always updating Emily’s original book, currently in its 18^th edition,” says Senning. “It also means keeping your fingers out there on the pulse of what's

Brad Pitt eats here. So have the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, actors Sydney Poitier and Whoopi Goldberg, and every U.S. president since Herbert Hoover.

“Except Mr. Obama,” says Yvonne Alciator Blount, proprietor of the oldest family run restaurant in America. “We’re still hoping he might come.”

Welcome to Antoine’s Restaurant in the heart of New Orleans’ French Quarter since 1840.

“Brad Pitt rides his bike over here for lunch, parks it in the little hallway, comes in the back, has lunch and rides away,” says Yvonne, whose great grandfather founded the joint known for its killer French cuisine after studying the culinary scene in Paris.

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“At that time in New Orleans, there was really no good food. People boiled everything and that was about it,” says Yvonne. “So when he came making sauces from France, well, he was an instant hit.”

A hit that has endured throughout history.

“I’m the fifth generation and it’s

What started in the back of a station wagon 65 years ago with little money and no access to capital has now blossomed into a booming business that attracts more than 70,000 trade show attendees and more than $20 million in annual product sales.

It’s Bronner Brothers, a beauty bonanza, founded by Nathaniel Bronner Sr, who believed that the industry was recession proof because women would take care of their hair no matter what the economic conditions.

On a whim during his paper route in the 1940s, Bronner Sr. brought along some of his sister’s beauty products and discovered that customers paid him a whole lot more to look good. He and his brother founded the company, which today produces the largest trade show in Georgia and manufactures hair care products for African Americans that can be found on retail shelves across the country.

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It’s now run by his four sons, each of whom handles various aspects of the business which

It’s home to Springsteen, the Sopranos and Snooki, but New Jersey is also the founding grounds of America’s oldest family-owned distillery.

This year Laird & Company will celebrate 332 years in the business of making apple brandy—and making history.

“We are the 14th oldest family business in the United States,” says Lisa Laird, among the 9^th generation to run the company, along with her father Larrie Laird. “We’re part of the birth and the growth of America.”

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“My ancestors fought in the war. My fourth great grandfather was a revolutionary war soldier under General George Washington,” says Lisa about the family’s deep historical roots. “His uncle actually served George Washington and his officers in his home.”

What George Washington was served was Laird’s Applejack, a favorite of many a U.S. president.

“Abraham Lincoln served Laird’s Applejack in his tavern in Springfield, Illinois which many people aren’t aware that

With Top Gun worthy stunts and style, pilot Nick McMahon looks like he belongs in the movies—and, in fact, his work from high up in the sky is often seen in the biggest blockbusters.

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“If it can be done with a helicopter, we’ll do it,” so goes the motto of McMahon Helicopters, run by the dashing young blonde, along with his dad Brian, a crew chief door gunner during Vietnam, and younger brother, Nate.

“Anything for a buck,” jokes Nick. “If it’s dangerous or stupid, it’s two bucks.”

All kidding aside, his father knows more than a thing or two about danger. After the war, Brian applied his combat experience shooting a machine gun out the door of a helicopter to pointing a camera instead. He invested time and money in gyro stabilization and was a pioneer in developing mounts that attached cameras to the exterior of a helicopter. That allows the operator to capture smooth aerial video and stills.

“If you’re not using a gyro

This 76 year-old grandmother is still swaying on a pole that’s 110 feet in the air.

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“I love performing. The adrenaline flows when you’re up there,” says Carla Wallenda, the matriarch of America’s high-flying family, who shows no signs of slowing down. “If I’m depressed or upset, it all goes away. I plan to keep performing until I can’t climb that pole anymore.”

That determination has never dimmed even though the family suffered from the very public death of Carla’s father Karl Wallenda in 1978 while performing in Puerto Rico.

“Accidents will happen no matter where you are,” she says. “My father taught us when the Lord says it’s your time, you’re gonna go.”

Her daughter Rietta, who walks the wire and performs the sway pole like mom, vividly recalls that dark day.

“I couldn’t tell how windy it was until my grandfather actually got up on the wire. He got about three quarters of the way through and was having a tremendous struggle and I was beginning to think

Imagine investing ten years to build the most decadent cake business of your dreams, attracting clients including Oprah Winfrey, Jim Carrey and Bono, and commanding prices ranging from a couple hundred dollars to more than ten grand. That’s what Brenda and Mary Maher did – they made a Red, White and Blue cake in the shape of an Uncle Sam hat for Jim Carrey when he got his American citizenship in 2004. They made a cake in the shape of a bulldog for Pete Wentz, who, well, loves bulldogs. As for Bono, he just wanted a plain, white cake. Something simple. “He was on a budget and he was like, I just don’t want to go overboard”, says Brenda Maher, who, along with her sister Mary, owned an elaborate custom cake shop in Chicago that garnered an impressive national following.

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But, after ten years of booming business, while holding down other full time jobs, tragedy struck. “We closed the door on Saturday night and

As high school students, Jonathan and Drew Scott bought a $200,000 home with just a $250 down payment—and flipped it for a cool $250,000 after renovating it. Today, they run a million dollar business.

That first house was purchased 16 years ago and it set the twins — womb mates by chance, best friends and business partners by choice — on a path to become television's most-watched handy hunks.

The duo dishes home buying and selling advice on HGTV's hit show "Property Brothers" and a spin-off series, "Buying and Selling."

"We grew up in a house that really incubated creativity. Our parents encouraged us to follow our passions no matter what it was," says Jonathan, who, along with Drew, dabbled in a crafts business starting at age 7.

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The young brothers, who are as competitive as they are good-looking, were initially intrigued with entertaining, acting and magic. But a TV infomercial sparked an interest in real estate. "We