Etch A Sketch Draws Memories

The intense renewed interest in Etch A Sketch reminded me that Gilda and I knew the owners of the Ohio Art Co. that manufactures the toy that has come to symbolize Mitt Romney.

We met Bill Killgallon, chairman, and his brother, Larry, president and chief operating officer, a little more than 30 years ago, at the annual conferences of the Association of General Merchandise Chains every October. The AGMC was mostly a networking, social gathering of old line variety store executives from companies such as M.H. Lamston, McCrory, Winn’s, G.C. Murphy, Kresge, Rose’s, T.G.&Y. and Woolworth. Some of them had diversified with a discount store division under such nameplates as Murphy Mart, Kmart, Woolco and even a little company at the time called Wal-Mart. Don’t feel too ignorant if you don’t recognize some of those retail companies. Most of the AGMC membership of regional retailers have vanished under the weight of competing with Wal-Mart and Target.

Along with the retailers, the AGMC attracted key suppliers, Ohio Art among them. If any business travel could be considered a perq, attendance at the AGMC conference would fall under that rubric. By long-standing tradition of my publishing house in recognizing that a spouse could be an essential contributor to forging business relationships, the editor’s wife was permitted to attend on the company dime. I can truly attest that Gilda opened as many or even more contacts than I did during those AGMC meetings, oftentimes through her association with the spouses of the retail executives. It also didn’t hurt that from the time they were toddlers we brought our children to these conferences. One of the first words Dan learned to say was “croissant” as he and Gilda enjoyed breakfast on the patio of our room at the Arizona Biltmore when he was just two years old. One of my favorite pictures, hanging on our den wall, shows me wearing a straw cowboy hat while carrying Ellie asleep on my chest, a bandanna covering her head, during a cocktail reception two months before Ellie’s second birthday.


Gimmee, Gimmee, Gimmee, but I don’t want to pay for it.

It’s not surprising to me that a NY Times/CBS News survey has found widespread opposition to all or parts of the health care measure, the legality of which is now being debated at the Supreme Court. The survey found 47% disapprove of the Affordable Care Act, with only 36% approving it. Why wouldn’t our lemming-like public have negative opinions when they’ve been bombarded for the last year by Republican presidential candidate after candidate trashing the law (without offering a realistic alternative, mind you) and with hardly any aggressive defense mounted by President Obama (perhaps he’s waiting for the official re-election campaign to begin his counter-attack)?

Of course, the public shows its selfishness by also telling The Times/CBS News poll it favors coverage of pre-existing conditions (85%) and the extension of insurance to children until they turn 26 (68%) but not wanting to support a mandate to require everyone to buy insurance or be fined (51%). Just how do those people think the added benefits can be funded? Do they think insurance grows on trees?


“Nothing discredits religion quite like the gap between what believers profess and how they live.” I liked that sentence in a column (“Tebow in Babylon”) by Ross Douthat in Sunday’s NY Times Review section. But what I really liked from that section was Frank Bruni’s essay, "Rethinking His Religion," about the transformation his former college roommate has undergone over the last 30 years. I won’t ruin it for you. Here’s a link, with my suggestion to read it all the way through. The ending is priceless: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/25/opinion/sunday/bruni-a-catholic-classmate-rethinks-his-religion.html?_r=1&ref=frankbruni


On another spiritual note, did anyone else think it slightly incongruous that the National Geographic cable TV network chose to air “Only for God: Inside Hasidim” on a Friday night? Not that any Hasidim would be watching regardless of the night, but it did show a lack of sensitivity to broadcast the program last Friday night, the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath.