Santa Cruz Sentinel from Santa Cruz, California • Page 50

I D-2 Sunday, Sept. 25, 1994 Sentinel girls, toymakers find little success beyond dolls 1 Joseph Pereira he Wall Street Journal Tirr rM KT DOESN'T TAKE a rocket scientist to design a successful toy for girls. Just what it does excepting dolls, of course J- is the subject of some perplexity. 2 "If you handed me a half a million dollars to come up with a Kirl's toy, I wouldn't be able to," jays Jeffrey Derevensky, a McGill juniversity professor and child psychologist who conducts gender research for toy companies. i The toy industry isn't completely jjvithout successes in fashioning Jriondoll toys for In 1984, Fisher Price launched a winner: Fun Jjviflr Food, a line of cooking toys.

JAbout 10 years ago, Hasbro Inc. alio scored with My Little Pony, lore recently, toy dogs, cats and 11 vl 'fL i ilk 4 I cause of continued increases irr, boys' sales, the company's sales to-males remain nine times larger than to females. Other Lego studies have conj eluded that girls are less patient than boys with the building proS cess. Garvey says boys enjoy build; ing, while girls prefer to play with the finished product. So Lego is experimenting with new easy to-asj semble kits and this fall will intro duce one called Belville, which i hopes will entice girls to try mora complicated construction sets lat er.

But Meccano maker of Erector sets, disagrees with this! approach. Girls are as capable and; keen as builders as boys are, contends its president, Stephane Trep poz. Meccano focus-group research indicates girls generally are more meticulous and have longer attention spans than boys, he says. In' deed, a team of 11-year-old girb from Brooklyn, N.Y., won a $1,500 grand prize last year in a national Erector contest. Their entry was an intricately constructed 6-foot--long suspension bridge.

Meccano will try to put its Erecl tor sets in the hands of morg school-age girls, along with boysj by sponsoring a nationwide building contest this fall. The challenge will be to build the perfect baseball stadium. Treppoz hopes the contest will become a father-daughter pro-! 7 ptner pets nave captured aonars 'If we could find a way to sell as many Lego sets to girls as we do to boys, we would probably increase our sales volume 75 percent Dick Garvey, Lego spokesman night," he adds. About 15 years ago, the company introduced a line it thought would appeal to girls: Scala, a specially designed set of Lego parts with which girls could make jewelry. It bombed.

Later, company officials were watching children play with Lego bricks in focus groups and noticed that "if you put identical pieces in front of a group of boys and girls, boys build cars and girls build walls and structures to live in," Garvey says. That, along with other findings, led in 1992 to the introduction of Paradisa, another girl's line. It highlighted colors such as lavender and pink and was designed to build "socially oriented" structures, such as homes, swimming pools and stables. Lego's sales to girls increased; but be spent on little girls. Still, dolls, especially Barbie, re- lain the top sellers.

Experts like Derevensky say that vhile boys want all kinds of play- 3 Air Dan CoyroSentlnel file After all these years, Barbie is still the best-seller among toys for girls. ahings, girls around age five tend jo settle on dolls as their favorite toys, making most other offerings hard sell. Boys have their own dolls but hey are called action figures and mostly heroes with a taste for Violence like Hasbro's G.I. Joe and tendai America Mighty Mor-phifi Power Rangers. Coming this fchristmas from Bandai are the sThunderzords: five battle ma- nines that can be linked together nto one imposing Thunder Mega-feord, all the better to wage war against the Evil Lord Zedd.

For girls, the company is rolling out two dress-up dolls Kimberly and trini which come with "long Lego Systems the U.S. unit of Denmark's Lego Group, for the past two decades has studied the way girls play to better reach them, but the construction-toy maker has had little success to show for it. About 90 percent of the company's toys are bought for boys, says Dick Garvey, vice president, marketing, for Lego Systems. "If we could find a way to sell as many Lego sets to girls as we do to boys, we would probably increase our sales volume 75 percent over- tion of Wonder Woman and the Star Riders, pending the airing of a TV show that portrays the stunts of the line's band of heroines. Thus, there hasn't been a successful new action figure for girls since Mattel's She-Ra, He-Man's sister, who was sent to toy heaven in 3989.

Girls also have little patience with other boys' favorites, such as quick-motion toys: electric trains, racing cars and remote-control vehicles, say industry experts. rich stylable hair." Toy makers have had little success getting girls interested in action figures, despite designs aimed at perceived feminine tastes for less aggressiveness. Three years ago, Playmates launched Swans Crossing, a line of action figures based on a popular soap opera for eight-to-12-year-old girls. But the slow-selling line was pulled two months after introduction. And last year Mattel Inc.

decided to postpone indefinitely the introduc- ject. Cosmetic touches aren't the an; swer to reaching girls, Treppoz de clares. "I can assure you," he "you will never see a pink Erector set. It belittles girls and alienates boys." Obsessive love Growing Years Preschool continued from Page Dl HE EARLY WARNING signs can be difficult to detect. Now, Get Only It probably starts out with the beling of being smothered, of feel- v.

iGrowtngl Years crowded, Saposnek said. Then, 2 Weeks Free With this Coupon After your child has attended for one month foil TnHaw woman, who asked that her name not be used. Then things changed. The following five years of the six-year relationship were an endless cycle of control and domination, followed by fear and violence. Her boyfriend beat her, dragged her from bed by her hair, scalded her with boiling coffee, spit on her.

Over and over again he threatened to kill her if she left. "He has told me that he's gonna 'do an O.J. Simpson' on me, that he's going to haunt my life, that he's always going to be right be The Portraits 462-4453 Highway Soquel Drive Next to Dominican HoipitiJ Conditions: This offor Is xtondod to now children onty. Th 2 fro yn, ijl.chnrv Drive weak a will bo gtvon ao a crodlt for th oamo number of hours dm? jiiisoury liivc your child normally attonda. New children must moot our usual requirements lor enrollment Tuition must be currant You Want! Otter expires October 31, 1994 DONT JUST GO THROUGH IT GROW THROUGH IT Jh- MoreNew degrees, it turns into a one-way Jelationship with the pursuer in irn demanding then pleading the object of his or her obses-ion.

3 Motivated by deep-rooted insecurities, the obsessive lover which just as frequently a woman as it Sman starts showing signs of verbearing control, using guilt as control mechanism, using words kke, "If you really love me you'd or "I need Usually, the cycle of obsessive fcve is marked by a step-by-step jiescent into a one-way relation-Ship. jj If the person being pursued gives into the obsessive lover's demands, it reinforces the behavior, flever do they really believe they'll abandoned. 5 If the victim does leave, that's vhen things become especially dangerous. Forced to deal with rejection, the obsessive lover may panic. tl "This is when the scary things happen," Saposnek said.

"The stablings, the murders, the stalkings. lie just pops." JTHE FIRST YEAR of their rela-JL tionship was "really nice," aid the 23-year-old Watsonville Di lvorce hind my back when I don't even know it. He tried to have so much control and power over me." For years she threatened to leave him, always backing down. She was too afraid, or she didn't have the money. He always made sure he had control of the money.

"I've always given him chances and chances," she said. Finally able to hide some money from him, she packed her belongings and took their 2-year-old daughter to a new apartment. She knows this could be the most dangerous time for her. "It scares me really at night," she says. "I dread having to turn out the lights and listen to all the noises.

Every car I hear I think it might be him. "I don't know if he'll really do anything. I do know he's done everything to me he possibly can except kill me. "I just want him to leave me alone." Choose The Offer That's Right For You! JWUOIAL JPGFC IP 16 Wallets and 32 Portrait Petites Sitting fee of S3 per person, payeble when portraits are taken, not incfuOed in advertised pnoe. Your choice of available backgrounds.

Poses our selection. Limn one special offer per subject(s). No limit on number of offers per lamity. Cannot be combined wrm any other offer. Offer void where prohibited.

Cash value t20c. Sears Credit Card and other mafor credit cards accepted. Coupon good through October 6, 1994. 'approximate size Recovery Workshop (1 SEMINAR For Divorced and Separated Persons of All Ages Portrait Satisfaction Guaranteed! portrait vfvdlo The coffee's hot; PRESENT THIS COUPON AT TIME Of SITTING Seinfeld cafe's not 4 1 CHARLES PASSY ox News Service EIGHT MONDAY EVENINGS SEPT. 26 NOV.

14 7-9pm 1-10x13, MxlOs. 4-5x7s. 4-3 l2x5s, 40 Wallets and 48 Portrait Petites Plus, a Free Portrait Key Ring (pi Sitting fee of $3 per person, payable when portraits are lalw. iici ncfcioM advertised price Package purchase required for tree em. your chocs of avaHaHe backgrounds Poses our selection Undone special offer per subrsctls) No smt on number of often per family.

Cannot be combined with sny other offer. Offer void where proMmed. Cash value 1 20c. Sears Credit Card and other maror credit cards accepted Offer available only partnpating A studios. Coupon good through October 15.

1994. LOOKS exactly like the sort of neighborhood spot that Jer- rv tflaino flanrtro anH KVamor kAJf VVUIjV U11U 1UU111V1 SANTA CRUZ BIBLE CHURCH 440 Frederick St (at Broadway), Santa Cruz Registration $25 For more information call 429-1 162, Mon-Fri 9-12 am, 1-5 pm -f I SOI CM approirmate size Portrait Satisfaction Guaranteed! portrait itvdio PRESENT TWS COUPON AT TIME OF SITTING trance. They had no intention of using the eatery's faded interior; those scenes are all done in a California studio. But Tom's presented the right neon facade. "I guess it's because it's one of those real old-fashioned diners," says Michael Zoulis, the restaurant's manager.

"They're hard to come by." Actually, the 40-plus-year-old establishment was famous pre-Sein-feld. The singersongwriter Suzanne Vega immortalized it in her Tom's Diner, a stream-of-con-sciousness ballad that later became a big dance hit when a pair of British deejays added a funky beat to it. An alumnus of Barnard College, Columbia's sister school, Vega was known to frequent the place in her student days. And indeed, the crowds one finds in Tom's are typically college kids in search of cheap eats. jnight frequent, with the stale air Ibf nearly a half-century's worth of yigarette smoke and a piping hot Cup of java always ready to be Ipoured.

A coffee shop with Seinfel-Jdesque character. Perhaps that's because it is the Jboffee shop regularly seen on Seinfeld, the popular NBC sitcom that Jbegan its sixth season this week. KDr at least it's the restaurant's exterior. 2 When the show's producers were Searching for the quintessential iNew York coffee shop, they quickly settled on Tom's Restaurant on the corner of 112th St. and Broad-Sway, just a few blocks south of Columbia University's main en 3 MONTHS FREE Enroll in a Stay-Fit membership on your first visit and receive 3 months FREE Aubrey Milter, C.

Shapers Beauty Salon Pulsewear Clothing Healthful Habrl Snack Bar One-on-one Private Training Volleyball Court Basketball Court (Wats. Spa) RacquetbaH Radiant Health Massage Flex Equipment Polans Equipment Nautilus Equipment Cybex Equipment Senous Lifting Equipment LifeCycles LileSteps Siairmasters Versadimbers Water Aerobics Orbiter Treadmills Bally Treadmills LifeRowers 3.000-sq -ft. Aerobic Room Co-ed Exercise Floor Ladies-Only Facility Jim Booth Swim School (Watsonville Spa) Tanning Beds Active Health Massage Outdoor Lap Pool Indoor Exercise Pool Hoi Hypro Swirl Pool Cold Plunge Sauna Room Steam Room Babysitting Facilities Large Free Weight Area Computerized Lttecircuit Yoga Classes INVITES YOU TO ITS II SCHOOL IS OPEN" 960 A Day A verage Cost on a Cash Stay-FH Program equipment Umy Vary af Emctt Location Some mtrlcttonm May Apply OPEN HOUSE MONDAY, September 26, 1994 4:30 to 7:00 pm 117 Union Street Santa Cruz See the new school Meet the faculty Talk with parents and students Prospective students, parents, and the general public are invited to attend. For information call 423-0658 CENTERS, INC. FOR THE PERFORMANCE OF YOCR LIFE ES USD i "1 1 fill tT ilfcui gaiiiitftlli Ifcli.