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- <text id=90TT3499>
- <title>
- Dec. 31, 1990: Business Notes:Toys
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1990
- Dec. 31, 1990 The Best Of '90
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- BUSINESS, Page 39
- Business Notes
- TOYS
- Steve's No Role Model
- </hdr>
- <body>
- <p> Steve the Tramp is described as a "reeking piece of filth"
- and a "public enemy" who will "use and abuse any young helpless
- prey he comes across." Most amazing of all, Steve the Tramp is
- also a child's toy. The 5-in. figurine, manufactured by
- California-based Playmates Toys, depicts a ragged street
- character from Disney's hit movie Dick Tracy. But the Rev.
- Christopher Rose, an Episcopal priest in Hartford who works with
- his city's homeless, thought Steve the Tramp's grotesque
- villainy was a cruel attack on his unfortunate clients.
- Particularly incensed by the lurid resume that adorned Steve the
- Tramp's packaging, Rose launched a campaign to stamp out the
- tramp. He got his point across to Disney and Playmates, which
- have decided to drop the terrifying toy. But the move comes too
- late to recall the product from retailers' shelves before
- Christmas.
- </p>
-
- </body>
- </article>
- </text>
-
-