The News Journal from Wilmington, Delaware • Page 33

The cat and the cop Terminal problems Movies for Trump? The News-Journal papers Wilmington, Del. Tuesday, Feb. 16, 198: On the tube by Gary Mullinax New face oi success Game hits big time By STEPHANIE WHYCHE Staff reporter ISE FLY BLACK Heritage Game, deve loped four years ago by a former Wilming ton schoolteacher, has gotten a face lift. But the game itself and its $29.95 price tag remain the same. -J i i 4 1 I 1 1 7 I i I I JThejCamec! I cwtwwJ I Jsa fa and entrtnmem Lf' tort-ptws.

Pf7-tf--- -8 ft 1 1 m- xt3r i "We have a new box," says the game's maker, Linda West Olds of Weldin Park, co-founder of the 20-mem-ber International Black Toy Manufacturers Association. Rise 'n fly's old box simply displayed its title in a red, black and green color scheme. The new box is graced with the faces of famous blacks, such as Mary McLeod Bethune, Louis Armstrong and Frederick Douglass. "We thought this new box was a little more marketable," says Olds, "although we did do quite well with the first" Olds' invention appeared on the market in 1985. She developed the game "to educate blacks about themselves, and others about blacks." The family-oriented game can be played by two to 20 people ages 8 and older.

Rise 'n fly seems to have really taken off, despite competing black history games such as Identity, B.T.'s Black Trivia and Blacfacs. Olds' game sells nationally at Sears and Toys Us. At least 30,000 games have been sold nationwide and in the Caribbean, she says. Olds is not doing too badly either. The 42-year-old former Howard Career Center teacher and mother of two boys has been written up in The Wall Street Journal and Time, Black Enterprise and Ebony magazines.

But while Olds makes her home here, her game doesn't. If printed, assembled and shipped out of Chicago. Operating there is cost-effective, Olds says, largely because of the city's strategic mid-America location. Olds, wife of a Du Pont Co. chemist, isn't resting on her laurels.

She's making a second edition of Rise 'n fly, an expanded version that will include events and people left out of the first game, and events that have occurred since her game came out. To be added, for instance, is ice skater Debi Thomas, who in 1986 became the first black to win the U.S. Figure Ice Skating Championships. Olds also is active in the International Black Toy Manufacturers Association, a group established last year. The idea for the organization came in 1986, when Olds met Yvonne Rubie, inventor of the Huggie Bean doll, and Yla Eason, who invented Sunman.

"We got to be personal friends," says Olds, "and we See RISE 'N FLY D4 Channel 61 tries ethnic programs Viewers have become used to watching pitchmen sell cheap jewelry on Wilmington's only independent commercial television station. The handful of viewers who could find the station have, at any rate. But WTGI-TV (61) soon will be the place to find "varieta" straight from Italy Felliniesque variety shows featuring dancers in their underwear, fire-eaters, mock gunfire and people who stuff themselves with food as the camera moves close. For the deeper passions, Channel 61 viewers will be able to choose Spanish-language soaps: La Luna Tambien" (about "an ambitious engineer who always gets what he wants," according to a publicity brochure); "Preciosa" intriguing story of two sisters separated at and "Mi Amada Beatriz" religious medallion serves as a reminder of a savage night when innocence was And it appears Korean programming will be along soon after that. Financially beleaguered Channel 61, which a year ago filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S.

Bankruptcy Code, is getting a new look. The goal: to carve out a segment of the audience in this case an ethnic segment that no other station is going after in a big way. Starting Feb. 29, most of the station's early -evening and prime-time programming will come from Telemundo, a Puerto Rican service specializing in "novelas" (soap operas) and regular music specials, and from an Italian service that provides variety and talk shows as well as news, movies and sports all made in Italy and presented in the Italian language. Home shopping, which has been a Channel 61 staple, will be relegated to the wee hours.

Some non-shopping (and non-ethnic) shows are on the air already, including the syndicated information shows "Ag Day" (now on weekdays at 6:30 a.m.) and "Ask Washington" (weekdays at 9 a.m.) and the veteran variety show "Hee Haw" (Saturday nights at 7). A block of programming oriented toward blacks airs early Sunday evenings. Most of the new programming is provided under a "barter" arrangement, which means the supplier offers the shows free but keeps a certain amount of time for which to sell advertising. Home shopping services pay the station based on how much merchandise is sold in the area. Channel 61, which began operations last summer, turned to home shopping late last year when it became clear it could not make it as a general interest independent station like WTAF-TV (29) or WPHL-TV (17) in Philadelphia.

"Home shopping allowed us to stabilize in a very difficult period," said WTGI general manager Dan Slape. "But we really didn't believe shopping was going to be a panacea forever." WTGI now becomes "Philadelphia's International Channel." Instead of designating itself Wilmington's station, it positions itself as squarely in the nation's fourth largest market. There is a good reason. The station is seen on 20 cable systems throughout the Delaware Valley. For most of its life, WTGI has failed to interest a single cable system in carrying it not even Heritage in Wilmington.

But a See ON THE TUBE D2 Staff photo by Chuck McGowen Linda West Olds' Rise 'n fly Black Heritage Game has a new decorative package. Toys can help improve children's self-image Man. Nine inches tall and dressed in traditional superhero garb of tights and boots, Captain Jupiter was created as the black equivalent to Superman in 1981. It and its archrival, Sinner the Witch, should be on the market by spring. Each figure will retail for $8.95.

Lyn Lewis, a University of Detroit sociologist who specializes in black families, said toys that relate to a child's cultural and ethnic background promote strong character, values and self-pride. "Any aspect of black children's lives should include elements of their cultural heritage," Lewis says. "The fact that children spend a large amount of time playing with their toys indicates that their toys should always be relating to something positive." But breaking into the toy industry, which generated $12 billion in revenues in 1986, is difficult. Members of the trade group say that is especially true for blacks and small operations. Acting president of the IBTMA and creator of the Huggy Bean doll and toy collection, Yvonne Rubie, says she and other black toy makers and distributors See TOYS D4 same thing in mind when she established her Kei-sha Doll Co.

five years ago. Her "Heritage" line includes dolls depicting black and African ancestry. The line includes Queen Cleopatra, Zula King Shakazulu, Harriet Tubman, Marcus Garvey and Sojourner Truth dolls. They come dressed in ethnic costumes, hair styled in either braids, Afros or pigtails and come in four different skin shades of brown. Each doll comes with a book explaining its character's place in history.

Steward says she wanted dolls that promote a positive image for the children who play with them. "I taught school for 33 years and watched children attempt to be someone other than who they were," says Steward, who sells her dolls wholesale and by mail order. (At wholesale, prices range from $18 to $35.) "I tried to think what I could do to help. We have beauty especially with the color of our skin, so the first thing that popped in my mind was dolls as a positive image builder." Walter Henton and his partner, John Lewis, both of Chicago, hope to build an image of their own with black action figure, Captain Jupiter, The Universal By ARLENA SAWYERS Gannett News Service Vicky Gholson believes toys are more than just playthings. They are "life in miniature" and should stimulate the imagination, educate and reflect the culture of children who play with them.

With that in mind, the New York toy maker created "Harlem U.S. All," a board game about black culture with references to topics such as civil rights leaders, black landmarks and even the "numbers" game. Gholson's philosophy is shared by at least a dozen other toy makers and distributors who offer everything from games to dolls to sporting equipment. They joined forces last year to form the International Black Toy Manufacturers Association. "Harlem U.S.

All is a life simulation game," says Gholson, who hopes to have her game in specialty and museum gift shops by the end of this year. The game will retail for $29.95. "It forces people out of their standard roles; it forces teachers to play with their students and the upper class to play with the lower class. Toys reflect life." Helen Steward of New York apparently had the ercent obsession '110 ericas 110 Reflections 100 This graph clearly illustrates the depth of the percent deficit problem, or else it illustrates the Delaware coastline. 91 g.

83 75 Bush gave a classic 110 percent effort toward pretending to support President Reagan. He's got nothing left, and is now considered a wimp. On Oct. 27, 1987, Wall Street riding a bull market so strong that people actually began to admire stockbrokers clearly suffered an attack of Acute Percent Deficit Shock. Even the United States was greatest before it filled in 100 percent of its land mass with states.

Arizona joined the union in 1912 and the Titanic sank. Soon we had the loony 1920s, the Great Depression and a World War. Things are worse today because we have Alaska and Hawaii so we occupy 110 percent of our allotted land mass! By comparison, Japan hit the skids in World War II after extending its empire all over' the Pacific. It had to give it all back, plus Korea, too. Today, it's down to less than 100 percent of its prewar territory.

Is it any surprise their cars are better than ours? Especially frightening are today's jaded young go-getters. They disdain 110 percent that's for slackers. To get ahead today, they must give 120 percent, 150 percent, even 200 percent. The inevitable result of this percent inflation will be devaluation of the National Percent. Already, this country is lagging in terms of 1970 percent, as the accompanying USA Today-style graph illustrates.

Soon, as the work force feels the cumulative effects of percent deficiency, percent brokers will See REFLECTIONS D4 ByALMASCITTI Staff reporter AMERICA IS IN terrible trouble, and a cursory glance at the evidence shows why. "Giving 110 percent" is a national obsession. Olympians, according to beer commercials, succeed by giving 110 percent. Your business competitors, according to computer commercials, are pulling ahead by giving 110 percent. Even my boss suggests, ought to give 110 percent.

This little phrase, cleverly disguised as a stupid sports cliche, has lulled Americans into working harder and created a frightening condition: the Percent Gap. It started innocently in 1963 when baseball great Pete Rose talked about "giving 110 percent." Other ballplayers picked up on it, and soon they all got big raises. In the dark and gloomy 1970s, "giving 110 percent" crept into everyday life. In the 1980s it burst forth, like that hideous monster in the guy's stomach in "Alien." In the 1990s, it threatens to roam about Spaceship America, drooling hydraulic fluid and horribly maiming expendable bit players like you and me. As anyone who has ever paid off a loan knows, you can't simply "give 110 percent." Anything more than 100 percent has to come from somewhere.

So where does all this extra percent come from? The future, of course. That's the problem. Here are the horrible statistics: If you gave 110 percent yesterday and are giving 100 percent today, it's really only 90 percent of what it was, because you spent the other 10 percent then. Even worse, if you again give 110 percent to compensate, it's still only 99 percent of the original total and you're creating a bigger deficit. The third time, 100 percent effort will produce only 82 percent results.

And so on. For the clearest examples, we must turn to sports, an arena where things are thrown into sharp relief by all those bright stadium lights. Football's New York Giants were terrible this season. The year before, the players gave 110 percent and won the Super Bowl. This year, they tried to get by with 100 percent.

But it was really 90 percent, and the Giants missed the playoffs. THE MINNESOTA TWINS, on the other hand, stank. They loafed through the season giving about 80 percent, losing almost as many games as they won. JLL Their opponents, drained from a long season of giving 110 percent, were no match for the Twins, who had 120 percent at their disposal and won the World Series. Outside sports, things are a bit more difficult (as many ex-athletes learn).

But it's obvious that for eight years, former tough guy CIA director George 68 62 19881 -i 1 1 1688 1776 1912 1948 1981 zn i.