Star Tribune from Minneapolis, Minnesota • Page 51

2E SaturdayJuly 301 988 Star Tribune COWS: Whimsical animals in Far Side' play role in fueling craze Kemp's ice cream and possibly the chance to moo their winning moo song on national TV.The deadline iff Aug. 1 5 and the winner will be an-; -3 nounced Aug. 25. And the cow campaign is generating response nationwide. Continued from page 1E more than 800 stores nationally, including Hello Minnesota in downtown Minneapolis.

"Our sales have doubled each year," he said. Holy Cows' sales last year were about $1.3 million. "We hope to do about $2 million this year," he said. The canonization of cows follows a long trend that has included, during its various stages, cats, pink flamingos, dinosaurs, teddy bears, pigs, alligators, seals, whales and unicorns. The craze is fueled in no small part by cartoonist Gary Larson's whimsical and philosophical "Far Side" cows.

In the past year or two, cows or at least their images have become collectibles. And they come via catalog as well as off the store shelves and clothing racks. Hor- chow, an upscale mail-order catalog, carries cow watches, among other bovine baubles. And Dayton's Marketplace has carried entire sections of cow-related items. The Prairie Home Companion' connection eased very naturally into cows a couple of years ago," said Sally Neal of The Wireless Catalog in St.

Paul, a Minnesota Public Radio-related catalog that carries cow books, a Holstein embroidered club tie, cow-head earrings, cow refrigerator magnets, oversized cow T-shirts and cow-face oven women from suburban or urban settings." There's a growing roster of hot-selling cow books, as well. "About Cows by Sarah Rath ($14.95, Northword Inc.) details cows' daily jaw movements, the connections between cows and UFOs, the average number of squirts in a pail of milk, etc. The book has been a success for its small publishing company, in Minocqua, Wis. It has sold more than 20,000 copies since it was released last November. Other publishers are getting into the act.

A "Cowsmopolitan magazine parody is due out on newsstands soon. And last month. New York's Abbeville Press released "Wholly Cow" by Emily Margolin Gwathmey ($1 9.95). The book is packed with cow memorabilia: rocking cows, stools with udders, the stories of Elsie the Borden's cow and, according to publicity manager Debra Sloan, "the book is doing well. There has been a tremendous interest in cows.

We have almost sold out of the first print- ing." "Cows are like Pandora's Box," said Gwamthey in a telephone interview from her summer home, a renovated Long Island barn that used to house cows. "There are people who are emotionally involved because they have grown up with them or been on farms. My '50s. "Tabitha has an agent, the Animal Connection in Traub. "And I think she lives in Hastings.

She appeared at the Nicollet Mall Block Party last Friday and people paid a dollar to be photographed with her." "We have so many requests for cow posters it's not funny," she added. "I don't know which came first the national trend or the campaign. I don't see us walking away from it: it's become something like Pillsbury's doughboy or the Green Giant. I like to believe we created the sensation." Paul Maccabee, advertising executive with Mona, Meyer and McGrath public relations company, has created a cow-themed promotional campaign for Kemp's as well. As Moo Coordinator, Maccabee is running a Kemp's Sound of Moosic (sic) campaign: contestants may send in a tape of any song they like, as long as it's mooed.

Entries have included a Minneapolis barbershop quartet called Harmony Works mooing Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog," Me Out to the Ball-game" and "New York, New York." Rendered in cow speak, the latter translates as "Moo York, Moo York." The best mooed music makers will receive $500 and a year's supply of System circulates scents through ducts of buildings FILM: Director drags out opening theme too long mitts. "I'd say the cow craze is riding high." Bonnie Marron, assistant catalog manager, said her "gut feeling is it might not last at this rate; we might be approaching the downswing. Hello Minnesota carries cow books as well as magnets, pins, stuffed plush cows and cow mugs. Their cow sweatshirts are currently out of stock but the shirts, which feature cows on skis for the Minnesota Ski Club, will be back in the store this fall. "They're selling very well," said manager Peggy Lemm.

"We've had cow items for over a year, but they've always been a good seller. In the last six to eight months, they have sold quite well. "Cows are cute, big, a fun animal," she said. "For some people it's pigs, for others it's loons they collect. Now it's often cows.

One of our T-shirts that is real appealing has skyline in the background and cows juxtaposed on it a real common Minnesotans' view of Minnesota as an idyllic country close to the sophistication of the city. "I think cows appeal to both city and country people," Lemm added. "I know I've sold things to people who have cow farms. Woody Jackson of Holy Cows said that his mail-order customers "are primarily Wings of Desire Whoi Written and directed by Wim Wenders; stars Bruno Ganz, Otto Sander, Solveig Dommartin and Peter Where: Opens Sunday at the Uptown. Reviewt An expertly crafted but ultimately shallow story of an angel who wants to become human, It's more interesting for its style, than it is entertaining.

(Unrated). 6 to have my fingers blackened by my newspaper, to blow the steam from a cup of coffee." The desire grows even stronger when he falls in love with Marion (Solveig Dommartin), one of the people he is assigned to watch. As Damiel moves toward becoming human, Wenders sprinkles in increasing splashes of color until, when the transformation is com- plete, only the figure of Cassiel remains in black and white. Exalted by the variety of life, the first thing the human Damiel does is stop a stranger on the street and ask him to name all the vibrant colors he is seeing for the first time. Wenders, who cowrote the script with Austrian novelist-playwright Peter Handke, treats Damiel's human indoctrination humorously.

He has a lot to learn, and he's helped 6 book has tapped into that nerve." As for its success: "People look at the cover (which features a fuzzy pink udder) and it makes them smile." Gwathmey calls herself "a bovini-philiac," and she's not alone. The trend-spotters in the advertising industry are deep into the cow craze. Minneapolis' Carmichael-Lynch Advertising has built a farm-themed conference room where agricultural accounts are discussed, the room is filled with cow memorbalia and large Holstein-inspjred designer chairs fully equipped with tails and udders underneath. And one ice cream company, Kemp's, has ere-' ated a highly successful advertising campaign based on cows. "The 'It's the Cows' campaign is three years old," said Mary Traub, account executive for Minneapolis' MartinWilliams Advertising.

"Cows were selected due to their natural association with freshness and dairy products. It's been a hugely successful phenomenon, and the first 'It's the Cows' campaign won a Clio Award." Last year, explained Traub, the company ran a 'Rhapsody in Moo' ad series featuring singing cows. This year, singing cows are back, especially a Minnesota cow named Tabitha, who may be the first national cow star since Elsie the Cow hyped Borden's products in the Damiel's angelic existence.) The frivolous fun Of his human conversion is over before we can really enjoy It. Nor do we ever get to know much about the alluring Mar-' ion or the playful Falk. It leaves us wishing that "Wings of Desire" could have been a little more down-to-earth.

by response (91.1) and WCAL-FM (89.3). And there's WLTE-FM (102.9), which plays the softer pop of artists such as Neil Diamond, Simon Garfunkel and Roberta Flack. For people who like their easy-listening music instrumental and less con- temporary, such music may be as unacceptable as that of Def Lep-pard and Billy Idol, but the WLTE management is definitely making a bid. By mid-week, WLTE already had a TV commercial running in which its pitchman asks, "Has your radio station changed recently." On the soundtrack, Barbra Streisand is "There's a place for us." Moore than the usual Public-TV normally is enhanced by the absence of commercials, but right now the presence of some commercials is having a similarly appealing effect. WCCO-Channel 4 anchorman Dave Moore and his son, actor Peter Moore, have taped a series of charming spots for KTCA-Channel 2 to promote the station's "pledge-free August." For the third straight summer, KTCA is trying to meet its annual budget goal without resorting to hardline pledge-driving for days on end.

KTCA Is showing the Moores' pitches for direct-mail contributions at various times of the day for the next few weeks. Each spot is funny, but viewers probably will get the biggest kick out of the one in which he reads his son a bedtime story whose monstrous villain is known as "The Pledge." If KTCA $650,000 goal is met by Aug. 19, the station will cancel a 10-day on-air pledge drive scheduled to start that day. "A Houston country western radio station is holding a Moo Off," he added. "Listeners call in and moo a country western song; one couple mooed a Tammy Wynette and George Jones duet in harmony.

A radio station in Peoria mooed 'Wild' Thing' by the Troggs 'Wild Moot' People are mooing Prince, Bruce Springsteen, classics like Gersh- I win, jazz, there's even eight-person, rhythm and blues Maccabee said "The Moosic an answering machine at Kemp's I which plays the Hound Dog moo song, receives 600 calls an hour. For every completed call there are six that don't go through," he said. "And people are calling at 4 a.m. just to be able to get through. One person called and listened km1 1 5 minutes he heard the song 30 times.

Why would someone call at 3 a.m. to hear cows mooing Elvis Presley?" Staff writer Audra D. Strong contributed to this article. environmental fragrancingsystems in buildings," he wrote. 'This area is near to attaining a true scientific footing that will facilitate public acceptance." In Shimizu's schematic drawing of a project with a hotel, convention center and office tower, scents are-.

prescribed for every space. A laxing" cypress aroma would Be pumped into public relations offices and display areas; cinnamon would be sent to lounges and restrooms to "induce lavender and peppermint, circulated to offices and conference rooms, would increase work efficiency, dispel drowsiness, set a positive mood, reduce the urge to smoke and lessen mental fatigue. 2 In the hotel, guests would be awakened by a "refreshing" lemon scent and lulled to sleep by "drowsy jasmine." him they're having spaghetti with you know what for dinner). How far can this thing go? Larosa and the people at Waring say that if the campaign works, they will develop the characters with talk about Mom's job, Dad's favorite sport, etc. But if the campaign really takes off, expect the actors to take on a new look my guess is 200 pounds between them, considering that all they ever do is chow down on pas-ta.

Distributed by the Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service THEIR OWN BUSINESS COFFEE KSFECTtCSI Melitta' Trim 10" 10 cup cofffeemaker Stla Thru New York Times New York, N.Y. This could be the Muzak of the The Shimizu Construction Co. of Tokyo, the world's fifth-largest construction company, has designed a computerized system that circulates odors through the ventilating ducts of buildings. "Shimizu has had an interest in the area of environmental fragrancing or aroma-therapeutic fragrancing," David Patella, a company spokes-man, wrote in April to the Fragrance Research Fund in New York. "As the world's largest builder of general commercial office space and high-rise condominiums, we believe there is a good future market for both subliminal and overt Ads Continued from page 1E the titter of the laugh track.

"She lives in the kitchen," explains Dad. "You do?" Mom worries aloud. The laugh track likes this line a tot. "Oh not anymore. But I still make a great sauce," says Mama as she pulls out a jar of Ragu (end of scene, big laugh, applause).

In other episodes, Waring and Lar-osa have worked the product into short story lines involving the mother's anxiety over a red dress (dad thinks she is talking about the sauce when she asks if it is too red) and a daughter's acting class (she becomes theatrical about the sauce) and their son's music play fast," he says when Mom tells WOMEN SHOULD MIND The angel Damiel (Bruno Ganz) longs to become mortal in "Wings of a movie that looks at angels, romance and the city of Berlin. Woodbury 'not surprised' Continued from page IE It's the story of two angels, Damiel (Bruno Ganz) and Cassiel (Otto Sander), who watch over the lives of Berliners. Wearing heavy overcoats and scarves, they drift among the. people eavesdropping on their thoughts. They get together at the end of the day, relaxing in the front seat of a new car at an auto dealership, to compare notes.

At first one gets a warm feeling watching Damiel and Cassiel, a feeling of security that comes from believing a benevolent force might be standing at one's elbow. The mood changes when Damiel approaches a man who's preparing to kil himself by jumping off a building. The angel reaches out and touches the man, and we expect him to turn back. Instead, he jumps and Damiel turns away in pain. It becomes apparent that the angels have no power.

They are merely anguished witnesses to human inhumanity. Just as they were unable to stop the destruction of war (a frustration recalled through film clips), they are helpless to do anything about such contemporary social problems as the Berlin Wall or rebellious youth. Damiel becomes increasingly disenchanted with his life as an angel. It's a drab existence, a dullness accentuated by Wenders' use of black-and-white film. Damiel wants to experience some of the human pleasures he witnesses every day, "to feed the cat like Philip Marlowe, HOLSTON: Continued from page 1E from 1 0 o'clock on Thursday.

In fact, I staffed the place with Kelly Girl's answering service through Sunday. And then of course we have our own people who are answering, too. But most of it has 1 died down Woodbury said the response hadn't surprised him. "There've been other stations similar to ours in other markets that have changed, so we expected it," he said. "That's why I staffed it up with as many people as fdid.

We wanted to be able to tell the people what happened and to explain that we did keep the forfrat on our AM station and help thenti facilitate finding it on AM radio; WAYL-AM (980), which began simulcasting the FM station's easy-hsttioing music last summer, contin-ueijo offer that format in stereo. Soeae longtime WAYL-FM listeners hafi complained that they can't get the AM station clearly, but Woodbury tontended that home listening shouldn't be a problem because WAYL has "one of the best AM sigjfials in town." Workplace listeners are another matter. Good or bad, stereo or mono. AM signals don't penetrate stenl-girdered office buildings well. Oficss that kept WAYL's easy-lis-terftg playing in the background aravpretty much out of luck.

Wnjfl That's the question vexing longtime WAYL listeners. Why did an petensibly successful radio station change hs format after 25 years from soft, soothing instru-rnOils to rock 'n' roll which, as anrtne who has twisted a dial lately I jb hear not exactly underpre-ser, 'yi on the Twin Cities air- waoa? s- Theanswer lies in audience demo-grahicsRand it's not likeryrto and start by attending the FRANCHISE BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES SHOW THIS JULY 30 31 SAT. ft SUN. MINNEAPOLIS AIRPORT HILTON ONLY (34th Ave. Exit off 1-494) OPEN TO THE PUBLIC ANY TIME BETWEEN 11 AM PM.

ADM. $5ADULT. in this endeavor by an amiable Peter Falk, who at first claims to be playing himself but then throws us a curve. Wenders gets caught up in the first part of the movie and drags out the angel-as-helpless-onlooker theme much longer than is necessary. (The film runs 2 hours 10 minutes, a good two-thirds of it focusing on more money with a smaller audience share if its listeners fall into an age group more attractive to advertisers.

That lucrative prospect is at the root of WAYLtFM's rock conversion, although Woodbury doesn't expect the station to have a smaller share with its "gold-based adult contemporary" format than it did with easy listening. He said WAYL's research detected a "hole" in the Twin Cities radio market for an FM rock oldies station a station whose format would sound like the soundtrack of the movie "The Big Chill" and he believes the new format will catapult the station Into the market's top three among listeners in the targeted, baby-boomer demographic. And what of the old format? Will the listeners who love the music of the Caravelli Orchestra and pianist Roger Williams follow it to AM 980? Woodbury predicts that more than half of the FM listeners will make 1 the transition, giving WAYL-FM a share of 2 percent or so. Radio analyst Duncan is decidedly bearish. ''It'll die on AM," he said.

"They'll be lucky to have a 1 share." Duncan, however, agreed with Woodbury that some FM stations might find it worthwhile to give easy listening a try. Both pointed out that the format can be operated very inexpensively; the station uses a canned music service, delivered via satellite, instead of in-studio announcers. KMGK-FM (107.9), which is in the process of changing owners, is one possibility. KMGK earned only a 1 .4 percent share in the spring Arbitron survey with its contsmporary-rock format Until such time as instrumental easy-listening music is ressurrect- ed on the FM dial, classical music is its closest living relative. It's played ti on KUOM-AM (770), KSi-FM NO LONGER IS THE BUSINESS WORLD RESERVED FOR NOW MEN WOMEN SIN6LES MARRlEDS an looking (or tho opportunity to OWN THEIR OWN BUSINESS ind to BE THEIR OWN BOSS.

Sao on display NATIONAL REGIONAL COMPANIES affaring a wldi variety of FRANCHISES DEALERSHIPS DISTRIBUTORSHIPS ft other BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES lor both tha LARGE ft SMALL INVESTOR. Diteovar a world of BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES lor ROTH MEN ft WOMEN. By QMM 215-431-2402 please anyone over 50. In the recently released spring Arbi-tron survey, WAYL-FM was estimated to have 4.6 percent of the Twin Cities listening audience. That was good enough to rank WAYL ninth among local radio stations in total audience, But WAYL's audience is largely composed of people over the age of 50.

However unfair it may be, however undemocratic, we re not all equal in the eyes of advertisers. "If advertisers figured out that those people over 50 years old have something like 80 percent of the disposable income, maybe they'd give more credence to that demographic," WAYL's Woodbury said. But it's a supply and demand situation. The demographics that are demanded by the advertisers are 25-54. You provide the product that (the advertisers) want to buy." That fact of advertising life is killing easy-listening radio throughout the country.

Just two weeks ago, a Tampa, station with an easy-listening format as longstanding as WAYL's and twice its audience switched to a soft-pop format like thatofWLTE-FM. "The beautiful music format has been declining for 1 5 years, and now the trend seems to be accelerated," said Jim Duncan, editor of "Duncan's American Radio," a widely read industry publication. Where once such formats had commanded nearly 20 percent of radio listenershlp nationwide, Duncan said, they now attract less than 10 percent. Duncan said the reason so many easy-listening stations are switching is that they "can't convert share into That is, having 5 percent of the audience doesn't translate into 5 percent of the dollars spent on advertising. Duncan, said a station actually canjrnake Goflw AowNrand TmtnparHr Melitta electric coffee grinder Fat tnh araund ooM Melitta Travel Kit Coffeemaker 29" 29" SALE S4CI99 sale PRICED IW PRICED.