Philadelphia Daily News from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 59

mi yti i 3 1 fx Philadelphia Daily News Thursday February 9, 1984 Page 59 A Guide to What's Going On in and Around Philadelphia By JOSEPH P. BLAKE Daily News Staff Writer eanes Hospital. 7600 Central is sponsoring a class for expectant grandparents from wmMmmmw-" pi lllllllllll? I If mmamm- mm: inmiiii iii in iwn liiriiiiiiiin niinm, -rf' --f V'" if Jfi -SwSSSK Nautilus Abdominal Machine: a sexy tummy tightener This "Living Lightning" sculpture sells for $1,200 p.m. In the Stapeley Building, Room 1-A. Discussions include an overview of pregnancy today, the role of childbirth education, diagnostic testing, and the relationship of grandparents with their new grand-child and the parents.

The class is free. Info: 728-2296. Roving Eyes Mark Crispin Miller, television critic for "The New Republic," gives a lecture at 12:30 p.m. in the Dunlea-vy Room, 20th St. and Olney on the campus of La Salle College.

The lecture, titled "Big Brother Is You, Watching" is the first of a series of explorations of George Orwell's "1984." Admission is free and open to the public. Info: 951-1080. Learning Signs The Jewish Family and Children's Agency (JFCA) is offering a series of sign-language classes for parents and siblings of deaf children starting this evening from 7-9 p.m. at 8900 Roosevelt Blvd. The instructor is Carol Muskin, a rehabilitation counselor at Elwyn Institute.

For information on registration, call LI9-9000 or 276-8625. The JFCA also offers individual and family counseling for deaf children and adults. Tomorrow At the Franklin Plaza Hotel, 17th and Vine streets, you can have your horoscope done, watch some magic or get a chuckle or two from the comic who'll be at the hotel to celebrate Valentine's Day a little early from p.m. Admission is $5. Info: 448-2000.

Blacks in History Camp William Perm was the first recruiting and training center for African American soldiers to be operated by the U.S. Established in 1862 by the Union League of Cheltenham, Montgomery County, on land owned by William Davis and Lucretia Mott, it was officially opened on July 4, 1863. Although the camp was located about 10 miles from Philadelphia, the 11,000 troops who were processed there were forbidden to enter the city for fear of arousing the white win Ccdls I 4 By JONATHAN TAKIFF Daily News Staff Writer a youngster, Richard Thai- conscious, likes to travel and to be in on the latest thing. I've also got a theory that professional people tend to trade, houses and cars less than they did five or 10 years ago. Now they get their kicks buying a gadget every month or so.

t. "But of course, this core customer minute miles indoors on a $3,000 Amerec Treadmill, "the most elegant running machine in the world," he coos. And there's more, so much more to play with here. In order to keep broadening his gadget perspective and catalog reach, Thalheimer is heimer adored all things mechanical Erector sets. is only part of the Sharper Image market Some product buyers are 22 years old; people who've just started their first job out of college, We have 80-year-old customers, people who love to read catalogs all day long, i- When you're mailing out seven mil- "continually taking up new-hobbies, somewhat to the chagrin of Mrs.

Thalheimer," he relates with mock weari-' ness. i His -T newfound fascination with water sports is reflected in the spring 1984 Sharper Image catalog with a state-of-the-art Tekna Scuba Mask and Snorkel ($65) electronic stopwatch. The profits made from that well-targeted pitch financed a more extensive run of ads for the $69.95 Real Time chronograph, the first inexpensive knock-off of a $300 Seiko model. "I sold a thousand watches a month, made $24,000 profit a month for an entire year, and that money put the whole company into business," details Thalheimer. "Actually, you could say the Sharper Image catalog was born from fear.

I got so nervous, because my whole business was based on one product, that I felt I had to expand. I thought to myself, 'I can't afford to be a failure again. My psyche wont allow Thalheimer personally writes or supervises all his ad copy, stressing a snappy and entertaining writing style. "As a consumer, and a lawyer, 1 always hated commercials that made impossible claims," says Thalheimer, who calls his print and television adverts "info-mericals." The idea here is to "tell the customer how an item will make his life better" be it a $29 "Buck Buster" (counterfeit bill detector); a $59 Rainmatic spigot atttachment a microchip water your lawn or a $129' Electric Lava Stone Barbeque only five minutes, its powerful magnesium-insulated electric heating element sets the natural lava stones ,1 Along with entertainment and lifestyle improvement, The Sharper Image also sells a pretty big helping of sex appeal with its gadgets. The catalog, prose, while scrupulously sometimes suggests a scene out of a pulp novel.

"We give things See CATALOG Page 64 model cars and airplanes, wind-up clocks and such. "I loved taking things opart, but I could rarely put them back together," he admits with a laugh. Today, at the ripe old age of 35, Thalheimer still is playing with gadgets and making it pay off royally, as proprietor of The Sharper Image, a much imitated, San Francisco-based mail order and retail business specializing in "erown-uo tovs." Thalheimer's Marin County, home is his prime testing lab for new products, and thus a monument to the latest and greatest in consumer electronics and' high technology gadgets: $30 Audiolite switches turn on room and closet lamps by voice command. The latest personal stereos, cordless phones, air cleaning devices and elegant, pewter-cast model cars litter his shelves. An RB5X Robot ($2,400, complete with arm) fetches Thalheimer's morning paper.

Out one window pokes a 400mm Tasco astronomical telescope telephoto lens ($399) for sighting and photographing "rural and urban wildlife" up to Vi-mile away. In his large, but crowded exercise room, Thalheimer works out the kinks on a $435 Nautilus Back Machine and tightens his tummy muscles with a $485 Nautilus Abdominal Machine the first products Nautilus founder Arthur Jones has designed (or home use and now permits the Sharper Image catalog to market exclusively. Thalheimer nms six- I Richard Thalheimer lion copies each of eight year, and advertising on na i 1 i -T-fr5 iiTirli i trjatommZfttout ml featuring ultra-wide angle lenses and a translucent blue polycarbonate frame, and with a $2,400 Surf-Jet craft that combines the thrills of surfing, water skiing and speed boating. The Summer '84 catalog will tantalize readers with a two-person, $4,000 submarine. So who buys this stuff from Sharper Image this year to the tune of $100 million dollars? "'Our- archetypal customer is an upwardly mobile professional or managerial type, average age 37, with a fairly high discretionary income," Thalheimer explains.

"Seventy per- 'cent are male. We know he's security tional television, as we now do, you're going to reach a broad audience. And we do have specialty books: a Sharper Image catalog for professional women; a Gemstones catalog featuring excellent values in precious stones from Brazil, Israel and Bangkok; catalogs specializing in phones and watches; and now a Health and Fitness Catalog. The Sharper Image was born in Thalheimer's imagination in 1978, when this former office-supply salesman and struggling lawyer placed an advertisement Jn Runner's Magazine' tor market a small," $2995 Soldiers at Camp William Penn.