Turmoil at IBM, a stubborn recession,...
Turmoil at IBM, a stubborn recession, a massive retrenchment at General Motors Corp. and the collapse of Executive Life Insurance Co. Those were some of the big--but somber--business stories of 1991.
But what of Century 21’s yellow blazers, Larry Hagman’s consultations with the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and the Irvine firm that wanted to relieve Kurdish stress? Here’s a look back at stories that brought smiles.
A “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” episode crowned financier Giancarlo Parretti “the New King of Hollywood” less than a month before bankers ousted him as head of ailing MGM-Pathe. . . .
Imprisoned former ZZZZ Best Co. whiz Barry Minkow starred in a video teaching accountants how to spot fraud. . . .
Cable entrepreneur and Atlanta Braves owner Ted Turner, watching his team battle the Minnesota Twins in one of the most dramatic World Series ever, fell asleep in the final game. . . .
Columbia Savings & Loan ran an ad touting its “efficient and dedicated new management” four days after government thrift regulators seized the institution. . . .
The Los Angeles office of the BBDO advertising agency devised a mock ad campaign to improve the image of the Soviet secret police. It included the slogan, “We’re not your father’s KGB.”. . .
A Connecticut firm that tracks foreign investments awarded its first Brooklyn Bridge honor--for the most questionable foreign acquisition in the United States--to the Japanese buyer who spent $110 million to buy the Hotel Bel-Air. . . .
An Irvine health firm said it would send 75,000 packets of a celebrity-endorsed vitamin drink mix to relieve the “enormous stress” of Kurds fleeing Iraq. . . .
Harvard law professor Alan M. Dershowitz’s best-seller, “Chutzpah,” referred to a famous, soon-to-be client as Michael Milkin. . . .
More Milken: News accounts in major publications and wire reports used the phrase “junk bond king” 396 times in describing the imprisoned financier. . . .
A total of 384 executives at major companies resigned “to pursue other interests.”. . .
Swept up by patriotism, a Glendale firm charged half-price to clean sewer lines for families of soldiers fighting in the Persian Gulf War. . . .
A business and cultural research institute downgraded patriotic products to a “fad” from a “trend,” citing as one reason a drop in yellow ribbon sales. . . .
Irvine-based realty chain Century 21 got rid of its trademark gold blazers, then ran into problems shipping them to needy Armenians because Soviet bureaucrats wanted the jackets dry-cleaned first. . . .
Larry Hagman, who starred as ruthless oil tycoon J. R. Ewing in television’s “Dallas” series, met with OPEC officials. . . .
A study by a San Jose State economics professor showed that bartenders had the highest blood pressure by far of 244 professions studied. . . .
Merger of the year: Austrian banks Oesterreichische Laenderbank and Zentralsparkasse und Kommerzialbank. . . .
Playing both sides: MCA disclosed that it was simultaneously developing talk shows for controversial Nancy Reagan biographer Kitty Kelley and former First Son Ron Reagan. . . .
Acura, Nissan and Mitsubishi were advertisers on a special “Nightline” segment in which top executives of GM, Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Corp. complained that trade policies unfairly favor Japanese car makers. . . .
The World Wrestling Federation introduced a villain named “IRS,” a briefcase-carrying wrestler who claims to be a tax man named “Irwin R. Schyster.”. . .
Fallen tycoon Donald J. Trump asked people to visit his three casinos in Atlantic City “as a protest against the singling out and unfair treatment given me by the media.”. . .
Blue-light special: Trump and ex-wife Ivana were photographed shopping at a Pennsylvania Kmart after dropping their son at prep school. . . .
The book “Trump: Surviving at the Top” was renamed “The Art of Survival” to better reflect the developer’s turmoil. . . .
A keystroke error at Continental Airlines resulted in a three-hour fare war in which a $562 unrestricted coach fare between Los Angeles and Washington went for $56. . . .
Some Manufacturers Hanover employees, fearing that they will lose their jobs when it combines with Chemical Bank , began calling themselves Chemical waste. . . .
Some Chemical Bank employees, fearing the same fate when their bank combines with Manufacturers Hanover, began calling themselves “Chemical Waste.” . .
Regulatory relief: The Board of Barber Examiners said barbers only have to wash with soap and water after every other trim, and could substitute a towelette or 70% alcohol solution the rest of the time. . . .
The Resolution Trust Corp. auctioned a work by noted artist Mitchell Syrop called “Junk Bond” that formerly belonged to failed Columbia Savings & Loan. . . .
So many firms entered bankruptcy for the second time that lawyers coined the term “Chapter 22.”. . .
Author Ken Auletta wrote that CBS Chief Executive Laurence A. Tisch once scolded former record chief Walter R. Yetnikoff for ordering a bagel at the Beverly Hills Hotel; Tisch supposedly considered the bagel too expensive. . . .
New Age Land: Disney named a “vice president of corporate synergy.”. . .
The Salomon Bros. Treasury scandal was dubbed “Bond-fire of the Vanities.”. . .
A court filing alleged that the former parent of Lincoln Savings & Loan spent $1,948 on cans of the confetti-like Silly String for a Christmas party. . . .
American Express declared in a November newsletter to card holders that “Los Angeles, the nation’s second-largest city, has yet to succumb to the recession blues.”
