It was an occasion of singular joy for Ed Akeman.
The nation`s 50 millionth deck of Uno had just rolled off the assembly line at Akeman`s International Games Inc., a Joliet business that has been making and marketing the popular card game since 1972. The feat assumes admirable proportions when one considers that virtually all new games have a life expectancy of less than a year.
Akeman, co-founder and vice president of International Games, bought Uno from its inventors, a father and son in Cincinnati, in 1971. Since then, an estimated 80 percent of the nation`s game-playing households have played Uno at one time or another. With 108 cards and easy strategy, it`s a kids` game that has saved the psyches of thousands of parents driving cross-country.
Grown-ups also enjoy it, especially adults with solitary goals in mind. One group of Uno enthusiasts played the game for 85 consecutive hours last year–underwater, wearing tuxedos. Another game consisted of 95 players sitting in cloverleaf fashion and using 9 Uno decks in Colorado Springs.
The record for longevity, however, was set in 1983 by four American soldiers who played the game for 131 hours and 5 minutes in Munich.
”You`d think they`d all get bored after that amount of time. But when we asked if they`d ever play the game again, most said, `Certainly.` ”
Football husbands find autumn an especially good time for Uno playing, Akeman says. ”The best way to watch a football game without being bothered by a spouse is to sit next to her the night before and play Uno; she won`t talk to you the next day.” (An essential part of the game is sticking the player next to you with extra cards.)
The milestone deck, incidentally, ”came out at 11:08 a.m.; we predicted 11:04,” says Akeman. He adds, ”Actually, we hoped it would emerge at 11:11–you know, uno uno uno uno.”
SOURCE: Richard Phillips.
MARK ONE UP FOR MARKDOWNS
It simply pains her to buy things at full price.
Twenty percent off? She`s not impressed. Make it 50 and you`ve caught her eye. Better, mark it down 90 and you`ve made a sale.
Such is the bargain-hunting strategy of Susan Wolfson, whose new
”Seconds City” (Contemporary Books, $7.95) lists almost 1,000 Chicago-area outlets where a smart shopper can find anything from silk for a buck a yard to an iron for $6.95.
Wolfson, 38, a struggling North Side writer who has always had to watch her pennies, did the legwork for Chicagoans who find a pound of Fannie May candy easier to swallow at $4.95 than at $7.95. Okay, maybe the Pixies are missing a leg or two or the mints are misshapen. But they still taste mighty good.
You need new clothes but don`teed to look like you just stepped off a page in Vogue? Try any of the outlets that sell last year`s first-quality clothing at drastically reduced prices.
”Seconds” gives readers all the facts on the outlets listed: Hours, parking facilities, amount of discounts, credit card policy.
But before you set out, Wolfson does have one caveat: ”Know what you`re looking for. If you`re compulsive you can get carried away and end up buying things you don`t need just because they`re cheap.”
(By the way: When Crown Books has ”Seconds” in stock–which it doesn`t right now–the price there is $7.15 plus tax.)
SOURCE: Janet Franz.
A CENTURY OF DINNER JACKETS
It was a happy-100th-birthday party for the tuxedo, but a few daringly bland souls showed up in brown business suits.
”Oh, well,” sighed New Yorker associate publisher Rebecca Darwin, whose magazine threw the party, ”we expected some of that–people coming straight from work.”
Others took more care: Word had it that Buy-A-Tux on Roosevelt Road sold a dozen men formal suits the day of the party. And in fact, most of the men there wore black tie, and many of the women played variations of pearls over long black dresses (taffeta, jersey, silk). Dotted among them in little
”conversation groups” around the Wrigley Mansion were mannequins from After Six in vintage dinner jackets spanning the last century.
There were fancy hors d`oeuvres and Jackie O`Shea`s piano music on the first floor, a buffet on the second and fox-trots and after-dinners in the ballroom on the third.
The band, spark-plugged by Bobby Lewis` trumpet and Cy Touff`s bass trumpet, stuck to the danceable classics of Cole Porter and the tuxedo`s Golden Age. (Lewis and Touff`s band, Ears, serves up hot jazz on other nights in other places.)
The Raccoon Club`s Jan Hobson–banker by day, chanteuse by night–gave the party a non-bad review: ”Nice bunch of people.”
”Hmff,” sniffed another guest, ”look at that one.” In the dim ballroom light, the tall blond man across the room looked perfectly turned out. On closer inspection: The formal look was really just a black business suit, white shirt and bow tie. ”But he`s got that Gatsby golden-boy look, so he can get away with it.” SOURCE: John Teets.
GOIN` SOUTH
The Civil War era was never more civil:
At the Children`s Home and Aid Society`s Tara Ball in the Chicago Hilton and Towers, flag-bearers in Union and Confederate uniforms introduced vocal renditions of ”Dixie” and a chorus of ”The Battle Hymn of the Republic.”
Then waiters marched into the grand ballroom with lighted dessert platters to the tune of ”When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again.”
The Georgia Frances Orchestra played waltzes during dinner against a backdrop of an antebellum mansion. Honoring the 50th anniversary of the publication of Margaret Mitchell`s ”Gone With the Wind,” the party was sponsored by the child-care agency`s Woman`s Board.
Veronica O`Neill, ball chairman, and Betsy Brown, Woman`s Board president, were among women guests in full-skirted, crinoline-fluffed ball gowns–honoring the ball invitation`s request for ”romantic dress.” SOURCE: Margaret Carroll.
ALL THAT GLITTERS IS THE GUEST LIST
It was definitely a night when the guests out-glitzed the show.
Marshall Field`s recent Revolution of Style fashion show at the Park West had all the makings of an exciting night.
There was an impressive turnout of 500 people for the benefit show, which featured the designs of Britain`s Betty Jackson and New Yorker Tommy Hilfiger. The committee represented a good cross-section of the city`s social movers and shakers–from Bruce Duchossois of Arlington Park and interior designer Richar to hairstylist Leigh Jones and Mayor Washington`s fiance, Mary Ella Smith.
Cookie and Max Cohen, the city`s horse and car socialite couple (she has a fondness for horses; he owns a Cadillac dealership), even celebrated their 21st wedding anniversary at the event that night.
The cause was a worthy one: Though the show was part of Field`s The Eagle and the Crown promotion–a four-month salute to Great Britain–the night`s $20,000 in proceeds went to the AIDS Foundation of Chicago and the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund for AIDS patients.
The main hitch in the evening was that the fashions making their way down the runway were, in a word, boring.
Hilfiger`s could only be described as preppy without pep.
Jackson`s part of the show had a bit more flair, with interesting print combinations, and it actually began picking up speed with the last group of models, who paraded out in contrasting, colorful polka-dot, stripe and print ensembles.
Still, the guests themselves provided most of the night`s excitement, and everyone was abuzz about the two who arrived in grand style: Jim Levin, owner of the Versace boutique on Oak Street, who came in his white Lamborghini, and clothing designer Reginald Thomas, who pulled up in his brand-new white Rolls- Royce. SOURCE: Marla Donato.
