Better Than Selling Lemonade

Following in the footsteps of such sports greats as Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio and Joe Montana comes . . . Jerry Mathers.

The 47-year-old former child TV star, who played Theodore (Beaver) Cleaver in the 1950s classic “Leave It to Beaver,” in August will launch the “Leave It to Beaver” collection with New Jersey sports collectibles specialist Gartlan USA. Mathers is believed to be the first TV celebrity to be involved in such a project, which to date have almost all involved sports stars.

The project involves selling 1,963 (the number was chosen to mark the year the show went off the air) signed decorative ceramic plates for $125, autographed figurines for $195 and even an unsigned school lunch box for $9.95 made to look like one that he carried on the show.

Gartlan would not disclose details of the deal with the former Beaver, but such arrangements typically call for an upfront payment--usually about $10,000--and a 10% cut of the sales.

Mathers now lives in Valencia. He and his wife operate a business, Cleaver’s Catering, and he also is a vice president of Solana Beach, Calif.-based Trident Digital Imaging, which manufactures equipment to make posters from pictures.

Mathers’ acting work is limited to appearances such as periodic skits on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno.”

In an interview, Mathers said that although there is a lot of Beaver memorabilia on the market--including such unusual products as stainless steel serving trays with his picture on them--he is wary about getting involved in projects because so much of what is pitched to him is junk.

“The show had a good reputation. I never wanted to do anything to impede that,” he said.

They Didn’t Smoke Them Out

The state Department of Health Services tobacco control division isn’t taking credit for the recent recall of 8 billion Philip Morris cigarettes, but paid anti-smoking radio spots the agency has been running seemingly predicted it.

The ad makes the case that manufacturers pulled mineral water, baby food and painkillers from store shelves when the products were tampered with or found to contain carcinogens or contaminants.

The commercial then suggests that a recall would be the responsible thing for the tobacco industry to do because of the health hazards of cigarettes pose.

Late last month, Philip Morris did issue a recall--but because the cigarettes were contaminated by a spray used on filters.

Personal and Confidential

Now there’s something for the criminal-defense lawyer who doesn’t have the celebrity name of a Robert Shapiro, F. Lee Bailey or Johnnie L. Cochran Jr.

A San Diego company, United Reporting, is marketing “Jail Mail.” It’s a computer-based system lawyers can use to track the names of people who have been arrested so they can quickly crank out letters soliciting them as clients.

Ads for the system say arrest information “is merged into a letter, written by you on your letterhead, and sent to those persons recently arrested.”