The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 96

In the Spirit of the Day, Yes, Marilyn, There Is a Fred An out-of-town reader wrote: You are thinking about the story of J. P. Mor stuff about your husband, he is wrong. He is of Scotch as Hanukkah presents. He still Jack Nease jmmim Dear Sir or Madam: Is there really a Fred? I read about him and sometimes be seems to have the same stock market experiences I have.

But other times I get the feeling yon are just making him up. My husband says yon do. But, then, he's been grouchy ever since Baldwin-United went belly up. Help us solve this little family misunderstanding. Is Fred real? Marilyn Dear Marilyn: What the heck do you mean: Is there really a Fred? No Fred? There might as well be no profit taking, no investors retiring to the sidelines, no interest rate jitters, no technical corrections none of those happy events that explain away the day.

affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. Good thing too. He should avoid the Baldwin-Uniteds of 1984. As for you, believe that there is a Fred as truly as you believe in capital gains. What a dreary world it would be without them.

You cannot see capital gains, just as you cannot see Fred. But all the faith, poetry, love and romance in the world cannot take away the tingle that goes through a body when a stock doubles. Not that there is is anything wrong with faith, poetry, love and romance. Go for it all, Marilyn. And how dreary my world would be without Fred.

He is my friend. Once a week he writes a column for me. No Fred! Thank God he writes. May he write 10 times 10,000 years from now. that.

Once a week is enough. So today, Fred has the day off. Merry Christmas Marilyn, Fred's Friend gan and the shoeshine man. When Morgan started getting stock tips with his shines, he knew it was time to sell. Well, be assured Marilyn: Fred does not shine shoes.

Tomorrow, in fact, Fred will begin looking for stocks to buy for 19S4. He is cautious. But he feels the party is not over. No Fred? Bah, humbug, Marilyn. Who do you think E.F.

Hutton listens to? You skepticism does not fool me Marilyn. I think there's a good chance you made up that business about your husband. The New York Stock Exchange knows all about you Marilyn. The NYSE says the typical new shareholder is a 34-year-old married woman who lives in a large metropolitan area. She attended and probably graduated from college.

She is likely to be employed ulltime. The NYSE says absolutely nothing about her ever listening to her husband. But Marilyn, if you haven't made up that hasn figured out what to do with those. He knew he couldn't keep them. Against company policy.

His first impulse was to give them to an orphanage but I talked him out of that. You, Marilyn, seem to be trying to play on my sympathy, just like that little girl Virginia and the Santa Claus scam. That was a goodie, but it is getting old. You know, Marilyn, that Santa Claus visited everybody's home in August 1982, and for true believers hasn't left. i To people who had little yachts, Santa gave big yachts.

To people with bonds of little value, Santa turned the bonds into big bucks. To brokers who had been making little commissions, Santa gave big commissions. And, to Santa gave hope. So Fred has not had a good year. So what? He is feeling better and he's back in the mar-, ket.

No, Marilyn, I know what you are thinking. Yes, Marilyn, Fred is real. He lives in the hearts and minds of everybody who has ever tried to make a buck in the stock market. As surely as greed and fear, hope and dis-pair, puts and calls, straddles and strategies abound in the land, Fred lives. Skeptics abound, but Fred gets Christmas-cards.

And, believe it or not, Fred got two bottles ThePbst DECEMBER 25, 1983 SECTION Names Gaming Whiz Turns Failure Into Success Las Vagas Veteran Makes Profit on Long-Suffering Landmark Hotel and Casino In the News Joseph Aponte Jr. has been promoted to domestic and international sales manager for the Atlantic Filter Corp. in West Palm Beach. 'The Landmark's never really been given a fair chance The operators have all tried to make the property do something it was not meant to do. They tried to compete with superstar productions, and a lot of money was lost in that Bill Morris I I 1 Margo Main has been named branch manager of the new office of Magnet Mortgages in the Atrium Plaza, Boca Raton, Palm Beach Polo and Country Club in West Palm Beach announces Its the following appointments; Mary M.

Gersuk as director of public relations and Ralph J. Brink as special events coordinator. Pat Thornhill, assistant vice presi dent and man- VI ager of the I .1 I Boynton Beach office of Fidel-1 4 ity Federal A named as a three-year director on the By Robert Macy 1 Th Associated Press LAS VEGAS, Nev. First it was Frank Caroll's folly, then Howard Hughes' headache and Ted Wolfram's Waterloo. Now the Landmark Hotel-Casino is the property of gaming whiz Bill Morris, and he promises the days of snickering at the high-rise space needle property are over.

Morris has the credentials to back his bet. He worked magic with one Strip property and provided the spark that ignited the southeast Nevada gaming community of Laughlin. Now he is working 18-hour days to see that the property he once called "the orphan of the Strip" finally lives up to its potential. The Landmark, which has lost an average of $3 million a year for 13 years, turned a profit in November Morris' first month at the helm. The hotel-casino lost 1500,000 in November 1982.

Morris, 55, a native of Enid, came to Las Vegas in 1939 when the town had 15,000 residents. He lettered four years at linebacker at the Univer- sity of Nevada-Reno, served in the Korean War, obtained a law degree and worked for Sens. Pat McCarran and Alan Bible. Like many longtime residents, he watched Caroll struggle to build a replica of the Seattle World's Fair space needle on a patch of desert east of the Strip. The property was dubbed the Landmark because it was then the tallest building in Nevada.

Originally planned as a 14-story tower when construction began in 1961, Caroll tacked an additional 17 floors onto the plans to stay ahead of high-rises at the nearby Sahara and the Mint Hotel downtown. The added costs plus Caroll's inability to get a gaming license stalled plans. The partially finished tower soon became an eyesore while units behind the tower were converted to apartments. Howard Hughes bought and completed the property in 1969. Some say the purchase was motivated mainly by civic pride in seeing the tower finished.

Hughes' Summa Corp. sold the hotel to Ted and Zula Wolfram of Toledo, Ohio, in 1978. Five years later federal indictments charged that Wolfram defrauded his Toledo securities firm of millions of dollars to buy the hotel and keep it afloat. The Landmark was foundering In a Toledo bankruptcy court last July when Morris initiated a four-month battle to buy the property for $18.4 million. Why did a man with a wealth of casino savvy think he could turn the Landmark around? "The Landmark's never really been given a fair chance," Morris said.

"First, there has never been on-hands management on a day-in, day-out basis. "Second, the operators have all tried to make the property do something it was not meant to do. They Board of the Boynton Beach Chamber of Commerce. Kevin E. Kelly has been appointed assistant general manager of WSBR radio in Boca Raton.

i PI 1 Barbara Briglio has been appoint tried to compete with superstar productions, and a lot of money was lost in that competition. The property is ideally situated to serve the convention authority, and our operational thrust will be in that direction." Morris, a member of the powerful Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, notes the city's convention business is up 17 percent in 1983. Some 1 million people swarmed to hundreds of gatherings this year at the convention center across the street from his hotel. He is aiming for a bigger share of that market by planning three 15-story towers with 1,500 rooms and a giant domed family entertainment center. The ambitious projects would be housed west of the Landmark tower, on 11 acres of vacant land that is part of the property he purchased.

Morris' reputation as a shrewd businessman is well-earned. In 1973 he paid $20,000 for an interest in the Holiday Inn Center Strip and became its secretary-treasurer. By January 1983 be had helped build the hotel-casino into one of the most lucrative properties on the Strip. The Holiday Inn chain purchased the resort for a hefty 13V4 times aftertax earnings. Morris' share amounted to just under $8 million.

Last year Morris sold his holdings in the Riverside Resort in Laughlin. He refuses to say how much he made on that deal. In 1965, it was Morris who steered Riverside owner Don Laughlin onto a seven-room motel that had been built in the early 1950s to serve workers building nearby Davis Dam. The motel had a unique grandfather gaming clause, which made it a most attractive property. Morris had knowledge of the clause, and of plans to build a $400 million generating plant near the motel.

He steered Laughlin to the motel, and Laughlin bought up adjoining land thus the genesis of the booming resort gaming town on the Colorado River. Does he have any misgivings about his newest venture? "Absolutely not," he said. "I've been around long enough to know the direction this community and this property are headed." 0, ed assistant vice president and internal auditor for Sunrise Savings and Loan Association in West Palm Beach. A Brenda Zebarth has joined the staff of Arvida Realty Sales Boca Raton as a sales associate. Marlene J.

Bromley has been i named assistant vice president and manager of the Palm Coast Plaza office of AmeriFirst Federal, West Palm Beach. I IHt AjiOf.lATLO CREii Bill Morris stands in front of the Landmark Hotel, which he recently bought Frances Laiacona has joined the staff of St. Andrews Country Club Realty Boca Raton as a sales The Product That Made Christmas Last and Last Neal Laizeri Commentary 4mm I has been named manager of the Boynton Beach Branch of Flagler Federal Savings and Loan Associa tion. to such a degree that it would not only last from Christmas to Christmas, but even retain its color in products, such as in shutters, which me.mi that household paint would be in less demand. At about the same time, the carpet industry was developing a method for tufting yarns into a heavy backing an ideal setting for nylon -that would eventually take 80 percent of a market once dominated by wool.

To be sure, nylon isn't perfect. If it's easy on consumers, it's a real mouthful to explain how it's made. And I wouldn't recommend that you try to make a batch after you've cooked your Christmas turkey. But if you really want to know, you start by polynurizing adipic acid, then do the same with hexamethylenediamine, an amine derivative. Bring to a boil Thomas V.

DiBacco, a businew historian at The American University, Washington, maintains a residence in the Palm Beaches. By Thomas V. DiBacco Special Tin Post It's been nearly a half century since the introduction of nylon by the Du Pont company. Of course, at the time there were skeptics who believed that the product wouldn't even fare well in the hosiery business silk, they were certain, would never sag in the race with nylon. But within a short time, nylon fibers would be woven into items that were stuffed Into the Christmas stocking or placed under the tree from toothbrushes to ropes to dollar bills stashed away in mattresses that also felt the influence of the synthetic material.

Business Week summarized nylon's impressive first year in the American market by listing items made from it: Clothing (dress fabrics, raincoats, underwear) Webbing Wire insulation Filters Umbrellas to most household bacteria, fungi, rodents and Insects. Oil and grease were turned off by nylon, and whole new industries were turned on. For example, Great Smoky mountaineers, once dependent on farming, used their weaving skills to string nylon into all sorts of items for the home. By Christmas in 1950, scientists had shown the feasibility of a low-cost, warm, nylon fur coat. A few years later Allied Chemical came out with Plaskon 8200, a plastic that would revolutionize the Industry, proving the versatility of nylon's basic ingredients.

And home builders and furnishers, who were never busier than in the 1950s, took advantage of nylon's favorable qualities. Curtains and then drapes and upholstery fell under nylon's sway. Then came molded plastics, insulating materials, dish-ware, little combs and big parts for household appliances. In the 1960s, there were major discussions about the utilization of nylon parts for missiles and space vehicles. And nylon was being refined Sherry Guy has joined Co- Shower curtains Sewing thread Toilet brushes Tennis strings Surgical sutures Of course, World War II was a good testing ground for nylon's durable domestic qualities: the "flak vests" that successfully served as shields against shell fragments and the nylon-reinforced tires permitting heavy bombers to land on nonexistent airstrips meant that nylon products could survive the rompings of little kids.

By war's end Newsweek was touting the fact that nylon could even be made from corncobs. Nylon was not only proven to be strong but elastic, mildew-resistant, easy to wash and quick to dry. Additionally, it was unattractive lee Co. V. lic Relations, West Palm Beach as a public rela tions account executive.

Mort Names, B2 ft.