The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • 705

1 0 Suiulav. iVvcniKr 1 2. I Co a Anoefca uimr a Special Advertising Supplement tWtbnkibk licwtly Cliristuuts Slioppiitff on 1 jl f.fym r-w-rrv, i JOEL P. LUCAVERE Lea Anftln Turn Murray Garrett, Diener Industries president, holds lion's head, one of menagerie of novelty erasers. CO Damaged packages result of inadequate wrapping By RAY MERLE.

Copley Newt Service As you prepare to mail your Christmas packages, you'll want to make sure they are acceptable at the post office window. According to a Postal Service study, most of the packages that are lost or damaged each year are the result of inadequate wrapping, not postal handling. To avoid having your package turned away, here are some package wrapping do's and don'ts that conform to recent postal regulations: Don't use masking tape or cellophane tape to seal parcels. They are not made for package wrapping. Do use a nylon filament tape such as Scotch Strapping Tape to band packages, and special pressure -sensitive tape, such as Scotch Packing Sealing Tape, for the closures.

Don't use twine or cord if at all possible. While they are still acceptable at the post office window, packages wrapped with them stand great risks of being caught and mangled in post office sorting machinery. Do use the tapes which the post office prefers. Don't use paper around the box if the container is strong enough by itself. Do use wrapping paper equivalent to the strength of the average large grocery bag technically speaking, that's 60-pound basis if wrapping is necessary.

Don't use ink that might smear or smudge to indicate name, address, city, stale and zip code. Do use smudgeproof ink and make the letters large enough to be read from a distance of 30 inches. A handy trick is to cover address information with strips of clear, transparent tape. Don't use staples they can cause injury to handling personnel. Do use strapping tape to encircle the package at least twice girthwise and lengthwise.

Don't haphazardly put items together in a box for mailing. Do cushion objects and prevent lateral shifting by separating them with plastic shredding or excelsior. And, certainly, do mail as early as possible. Following these guidelines should help you avoid any hassles and make sure your parcels arrive at their destinations safe and sound. i Eraser King Cleans Up on Novelties By KDWARD J.

BOYER. Timn Staff Writer Murray Garrett has spent much of his life in the company of celebrities. As a teen-ager in Brooklyn, he photographed Eleanor Roosevelt and labor chieftain Philip Murray at a theater In New Jersey. After moving to California in 1946, he worked as Bob Mope's photographer. Later, he shot free-lance photos for several national magazines, including a Time magazine cover of test pilot Chuck Yeager when he broke the sound barrier.

As president of Diener Industries in Chatsworth, Garrett, 56. is now surrounded by great mounds of celebrities: Fred Flintstone, Big Bird. Porky Pig. Pac Man. Yogi Bear.

Popeye. They're pencil -top erasers, molded from a nontoxic polyvinyl chloride and sold to businesses to be used as promotional items. Garrett expects his company to sell between $6 million and $8 million in promotional items this year. From its beginning 25 years ago as the manufacturer of erasers in the form of Walt Disney characters. Diener has grown into a firm with sales in Canada.

Europe and Australia. This year it produced its billionth item. Erasers shaped like body parts have become extremely popular, said Garrett, who estimates that 25 of his business in promotional items comes from dentists. "Instead of giving away lollipops to children, they give an eraser tooth," he said. Diener has sold two million Pac -Man erasers to Xerox Corp.

J.C. Penney buys Big Bird and the Cookie Monster, and the International House of Pancakes wanted, what else, a figure of its Pancake Man. Diener also makes a CMC van desk top eraser, a Goodyear blimp and a Nike running shoe with the distinctive stripe. Under a licensing arrangement with the copyright holders. Diener also sells its erasers to retailers.

Most Never Used Garrett won't reveal the privately held company's gross sales, but he projects that sales will double or triple in the next year and a half. Many youngsters who wind up with the erasers are apparently collectors without the heart to rub down their favorite cartoon characters. Based on feedback from customers, Garrett estimates that 80 of his erasers are never used. Along with the erasers, Diener manufactures a menagerie of miniature novelties and toys: jungle animals, mythical creatures, space raiders and alien creatures. As far as Garrett knows.

Diener has no domestic competitors, but the company has to remain abreast of what manufacturers in the Far East are developing. "The market was being eaten up by scented erasers from the Far East," Garrett said. "As a marketing person, I can't explain the craze for scent" Started With Partnership But he recognizes a market when he sees one. In January, Garrett will launch his own line of scented oranges, lemons, grapes and other fruit Garrett's path to the presidency of Diener Industries began when he formed a partnership with Gene Howard, another Los Angeles photographer, in the early 1950s. They shot covers for TV Guide and record albums while still taking on free-lance magazine assignments.

The partnership "just grew" to the point where it became a full-fledged advertising and marketing house, Studio Five. Garrett winces at the recollection that he advised a record store chain to move its drug paraphernalia to the front counter to attract impulse buyers. He now applauds state laws restricting the display and sale of "head shop" items. (A new state law to take effect in January forbids the retail sale of drug paraphernalia.) Garrett and Howard sold Studio Five in 1972, and Garrett went to work in marketing and advertising. He takes credit and blame for starting the "wars" between Los Angeles' stereo retailers in the early 1970s.

In 1975 he formed Garrett and Co. which evolved into CommunicationsDevelopment a Beverly Hills advertising and marketing firm. Garrett had decided that his new firm would receive a share of the profits far. -'---XKv i I I lb Popular Pac-Man, Sesame Street's Big Bird and perennial Popeye take places on pencil ends. California Jewelsmiths.

realized from its marketing advice. William Diener, a chemical engineer who founded the company, hired Garrett's Communications Development Corp. in 1980 after deciding that his line of molded products "had gone flat," Garrett said. Communications Development expanded Diener's product line, adding a play- and -learn series of games and sets of space station toys. When Diener decided to retire this year.

Communications Development bought the company. "The challenge here is the product," Garrett said. "We're going to be coming out with things never done by this company." He dreams of developing a line of products that a movie studio will want to license from him rather than vice versa. "I would rather bet on me being right than on Steven Spielberg producer and director of the movie "E.T.") being right," he said. Those dreams haven't materialized yet, and Garrett still covets a license to manufacture E.T., the extra terrestrial.

In frustration he pulls out a photo of E.T. replicas he said are being manufactured in the Far East without a license. "If we had E.T., it would mean $2 million to $3 million in sales this year alone." he said. But none of his 60 calls to MCA, the parent company of Universal Studios, hac been returned, he said. If only he could get E.T.

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