Word: cards
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...success won Reed the daunting task of expanding the bank's consumer business, a major goal of former Chairman Wriston, who became a mentor. Reed triumphed again: he opened hundreds of new branches, bought the Carte Blanche and Diners Club credit-card companies, and launched Citicorp even more heavily into the consumer credit-card business by signing up 2 million new members for Citibank Visa cards. Expansion initially created staggering bank losses of more than $200 million in three years. But Reed eventually turned the consumer operations into a major moneymaker -- and helped position himself as a prime contender...
After 39 years as mayor of Smyrna, Tenn. (pop. 12,000), John Sam Ridley could hardly separate his personal business from the town's. He used his city credit card to visit a daughter in Texas, vacation in Florida and attend the Southern Baptist Convention, claiming that as mayor he was on duty 24 hours a day. He and his brother Knox, a former judge, owned Smyrna's Chevrolet dealership, which serviced cars for the city. A conflict-of-interest suit filed against Sam dragged on for seven years, through two of his re-elections. Then, facing an impending decree...
...driving force behind that business is the same as it has always been: youngsters in search of heroes. The main consumers of the cheaper cards are six- to twelve-year-olds, with a smattering of older fans. To capitalize on their voracious appetites, the top three manufacturing concerns still sell a basic candy-store staple: 40 cents packs of 15 or 17 cards with gum, stickers or other bonuses. All the companies appeal to better-heeled and older baseball nuts. Topps, for one, markets more than a dozen specialty issues, including bronze and silver replicas, through hobby dealers. The company...
...says Siskel, "I've never seen people get as angry as Roger and I get." Nor are the fights confined to the TV cameras. On a recent plane trip, Siskel was trying to teach Ebert to play Michigan rummy. At one point, Ebert accused Siskel of throwing a card into the wrong pile. Siskel denied it, and Ebert suddenly tossed up his seat tray. "That's it," he cried. "No more cards!" Hmmm. Conflict, characters you can identify with -- definitely a thumbs...
Many birders get started in their preteen years. "They may get wide-eyed seeing their first 'Baltimore' oriole," says Turner, a birder since age six. "That aesthetic component gets mixed quickly with the urge to collect -- the baseball-card factor -- and the hunting instinct, which is probably in the genes...