OCR Text |
Show Tm m y yy rr -- mf W'" Sun Advocate Oh, Thursday, December ID, 1907 ma-m- a At THAT! WftBACHCV ON fiWUNt 1W8 TV ttNTiPtMCe d, Price: ...sHRewpty Kspuyittt wit, untuscr, OWtMTb SWAV WSRiCAN MiWS TO His SOR&ip PHWscpHJes!... ux Just when parents thought it was safe to go back in the toy stores, Mattel has come up with a high-tec- h number called Baby Heather. Its a blonde-haireblue-eye- d doll that can kiss, hiccup, sneeze and burp. ) -- m $110. Burp! Thats just for starters. When you add the costs of wardrobes, shoes, fashion accessories, cosmetics, and athletic equipment, the price can soar into the stratosphere. Before trend-setteand yuppies go into a buying to know that even though Baby want frenzy they may Heather costs 110 smackers, she isnt the top of the line. Talking Jill, from Playmates Inc., is $150 (her sidekick Cricket can be had for a measly $75), and Colecos Talking Cabbage Patch Kid checks out at CsWcO rs pPB $125. Toymakers see nothing bizarre about these prices. They are in keeping with our life style, said one straight-face- d toy salesman, who could be from another planet where money grows on trees. There is, however, a ready market for goodies. When Los Angeles and Manhattan couturiers brought out a line of mink coats and pricey designer dresses for little kids, a lot of people sniggered. The merchandise, however, continues to move as quickly as beer at a baseball game. Toy & Hobby World, the trade magazine, says parents spend about $200 annually on toys for each of their children. Thats up from $55 in 1977. Even so, the magazine reports that 74 percent of parents say they spend too much on toys. Why, then, are the big toy makers pushing $100 dolls? The answer is that they dont have to sell all that many to make a profit. Playmates is gambling on peddling 800,000 Jills, worth more than $62.5 million retail. Ditto Mattel and Coleco. Talking dolls did well last yuletide chiefly because they were unique. With the ensuing population extoddlers, the only thing unique plosion in high-tec- h is their price tags. models about this years who are Parents reeling under the costs of toys may if wonder theres an end in sight. There is. The justly poet Sylvia Plath summed it up: A living doll, everywhere you look. It can sew, it can cook. Thats next years line. I f HOrHUTtlSS DeMocRff! im DeMPCRATiC tlATiOia big-tick- et comm Social Security recipients who work past the age of should not be forced to pay a 50 percent tax on earnings of more than $8,160 a year. But thats the effect of an existing law that reduces Socialjjiecurity benefits $1 for every $2 that a pensioner earns in excess of that threshold. n law made some economic The sense when Social Security was established in the 1930s and the government wanted to encourage the elderly to leave the labor force and open up jobs for younger workers. But with declining birth rates and the nations need for more, not fewer, experienced workers, the measure is bad for the nation as well its older workers. Thats why Dr. Otis R. Bowen, secretary of health and health services, and Social Security administrator Dorcas R. Hardy have urged President Reagan to support repeal of the measure. Besides unfairly taxing older citizens who continue n law forces many working, the workers to retire for economic reasons, even though they would prefer to keep working. We think it is time that the law, not the older workers, be retired. benefit-reductio- benefit-reductio- 5 (WttJAN! I I ! chucks waggin War declared but great movies By CHUCK ZEHNDER Managing editor This week 65 ' t ALLoTWM HAMe tKOtHiTlOH Taxed unfairly ! J -- years ago the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and the United States was thrust into a global war. Lyle Bryner brought in the Deseret News for Dec. 8, 1941 this week and it was 46 something reading those pages, published just a day after the attack. But one thing Lyle pointed out to me was on page 2 and it is something I had never seen before. It was a complete transcript of Tokyos war proclamation and Tapan laid the blame directly on the Unitea States and Britain. According to the Japanese proclamation, the United States was threatening the stability of East Asia by supporting the Chinese government which in turn was engaged in fratricidal opposition to Japan and other countries in the region. It has been truly unavoidable and far from our wishes that our empire has now been brought to cross swords with America and Britain, the proclamation said. One story on the front page said the Nazis put the full blame for the attack on President Franklin Roosevelt, referring to him as the father of war. A Nazi spokesman from Berlin made the following comment: Now Roosevelt has the war he has wanted. Now American boys will be ploughed under. The newspaper reported that already on Sunday many Japanese had been arrested. Mexico did the same, watching and then arresting Japanese. But Japan had done the same thing early on Sunday, rounding up American and British people throughout Japan. All Lyle had was the wrap, the four pages of page 1 and 2 and the inside back and back page. He said he wished hed kept the whole paper, but this much was fun. 10-pa- The back page showed the radio listings for the state three stations in Salt Lake City, one in Provo, one in Ogden and station KEUB in Price. KUEB had quite a few shows through the day and played music by request from 4:30 to 5 p.m. The Lone Ranger came on at 8:30 and the station signed off at 10:15 following a news show. Nine movie theaters advertised prices as high as 30. Orson Welles in Citizen Kane was playing its final three nights at the Paramount theater. The Murray had a Greta Garbo in Mata-Hadouble feature and James Stewart in Navy Blue and Gold. Bud Abbott and Lou Costello were starring in Keep em Flying at the Studio and Myrna Loy and William Powell were starring in Shadow of the Thin Man at the Centre. An advertisement for a new product was carried on the society page Arrid, new underarm cream deodorant safely stops The product came in a perspiration. shallow jar and was applied with the fingertips. It came in three sizes of jars 10, 39 and 59. And opening that evening (Monday) at Jerry Jones Rainbow dance hall was Howard Becker and His Orchestra. It was open for dancing every night except Sunday and there was no cover charge. Going through that paper sure was fun and I hated to give the paper back to Lyle. I have the front page of an Iowa Daily when the war in Japan was over and this would make a great companion piece. If I cant talk Lyle into giving me his paper showing the start of the war, maybe Ill have to give him mine on the end of it. ri i f ! I ' I Naw! Monsieur le chump French Premier Jacques Chirac said he was astonished by criticism of the deal he cut with Iran for return of two French captives held hostage by a terrorist group in Beirut. He is astonished, but the rest of the world is appalled. The French government allowed Wahid Gordji, an Iranian official implicated in the September 1986 bombings in Paris that killed 13 persons and injured more than 100 others, to return to Tehran. He had fled to the Iranian Embassy in Paris in July a step ahead of French police. He had been holed up there ever since, protected by diplomatic immunity. When French security forces sealed off the embassy, Ayatollah Ruhoilah Khomeinis goons laid siege to the French Embassy in Tehran. France severed diplomatic relations with Iran as a result. It was the last display of backbone by Paris in this troubling episode. Not only did Chirac swap Gordji, a truly sinister character for two French hostages, he buckled under to Iranian demands that Paris pony up $700 million on a $1 billion loan made to France in 1974 by the late shah. It appears likely, also, that Paris will lift its embargo on Iranian oil, which would give Tehran a big financial boost in its war with Iraq. Chirac is naive indeed if he believes he has done anything but play into the terrorists hands. Margaret pro-Irani- f x.n mike royko an Thatcher, whose government has steadfastly refused to bargain with the terrorists holding Anglican envoy Terry Waite, was incensed. The State Department; too, was sharply critical, but it wisely stopped short of accusing France of paying ransom, the fiasco being a continuing embarrassment. Chirac rode to victory last year on a platform that policy on terrorism. As an promised a announced candidate for the presidency of France next spring against Socialist President Francois Mitterrand, he faces an uphill contest, especially because of the growing backlash in France against his craven surrender to terrorism. The point is that he will have earned the defeat he now assiduously invites by kowtowing to Iranian terrorists. Iran-Cont- get-tou- gh mmmt ra Inventor can lead roach to water One of the more intriguing pieces of mail Ive received lately came from a man who said he has made an important discovery that he wishes to share with the world. In his letter he said: I have written to seven or eight news people and one television network about a discovery I came upon to get rid of those household pests, cockroaches. I guess they all think I am out of my mind, because I have not heard from any of them. What I want to do is give my discovery to the world. How can I do that when people think I am nuts? I hope that you follow through on this just to show those other people that they missed a good bit. Sincerely, Mel Held (Phone me after 3 p.m. for details. All you can lose is a little of your time.) Remembering that some Edison and at people laughed Bell, I decided to find out how Mr. Helds discovery worked. It is, after all, a serious problem for many people. My guess is that more Americans are troubled by roaches than by the stock market's convulsions. And, as we know, roaches are such sturdy little pests that some scientists believe they would be the only survivors of a nuclear war. So millions of years from now, they could evolve into the dominant intelligent life form on this planet. And they might do archeological digs and find our fossils and marvel that such weird creatures once roamed the Earth. Anyway, Mr. Held, the inventor, turned out to be a bachelor and retired Chicago cab driver. He said he made his discovery by accident, which is often the way scientific breakthroughs occur. See, I live in a nice building. But a few months ago, the people downstairs got roaches. So they brought in the exterminators and all the roaches ran up to my apartment. I tried a lot of things to get rid of them. I got Raid, but thats too expensive. Then I used a cheese spread container and put a little water in it. The next day I found a few of them drowned. I did that for a while, drowning a few of them in the cheese spread container. Then I happened to notice something important. I ate some peanuts and tossed the empty peanut jar in the garbage can. The next day I saw about 50 of them around the jar. So it came to me they must really love peanuts. Thats when I got some empty jars, coated the inside with peanut butter, and put an inch of water on the bottom. I put out six of them at night. And doggone, I got 200 in about six jars the next day. See, they go in there to eat the peanut butter, then they fall in the water and drown. I knew that this could be a breakthrough of some kind. Its a first. It doesnt cost hardly anything and anyone can do it. I wanted to get this out to the world. So I called Public Broadcasting Service, because theyre interested in serious stuff. And I tried to get in touch with Bob Greene, the syndicated columnist. And I called up somebody at People Magazine and told them about it. Excellent. Weve seen enough People cover stories on Brooke Shields. Mel and his jars would be a refreshing change. But you know what? None of them were interested. They didnt bother to answer my letters or return my calls. So thats why I wrote to you. People ought to know about my discovery. And now they do, although, I cant vouch for the scientific validity of Mels discovery. In fact, I called one of the citys leading exterminating companies and asked if they had ever heard of the peanut butter-and-jtrick. Is this some kind of joke? Not at all. The dseoverer claims that it works. Let me tell you something. Roaches can swim. And if they can crawl down the side of the jar, they can crawl up the side of the jar. So I think that either he is buggy or you are. I passed that expert opinion along to Mel. He said: I dont care what they say, I know it works. What is your next step? Im trying to get hold of the people who make peanut butter. Ill let you know. A man and his dream. ar f |