It’s a Match

The French bank Credit Lyonnais has been involved in plenty of good fights, usually with the numerous deadbeat Hollywood companies it financed in the 1980s that have since gone belly up.

Now it actually owns a good fight.

The bank has quietly acquired rights to the film of the classic 1974 George Foreman-Muhammad Ali fight in Zaire.

Dubbed by Ali before the bout as “The Rumble in the Jungle,” the fight saw underdog Ali regain his heavyweight championship belt in a stunning eighth-round knockout.

The fight, clips of which have rarely been shown over the years, was one of the assets that the bank acquired for a little more than $23 million in a bankruptcy sale involving the library of NSB Film Corp., known years ago as Hemdale Film Corp.

The company was formerly run by John Daly, producer of such films as “Platoon” and “The Last Emperor,” who was one of the promoters of the boxing match.

Actually, the bank didn’t even have to write a check. It was owed $96 million by NSB, so the purchase was merely debited against that amount.

Ultimately, the bank is expected to package the fight and other films it bought with other assets for eventual sale.

Gutter Fight

For mattress maker Sealy, it was about like rolling a spare, not quite as good as getting a strike.

The mattress maker successfully pressured, through a Better Business Bureau division handling ad disputes, rival Simmons into modifying ads for its Beautyrest mattress in which Simmons dropped a bowling ball on some mattress springs with bowling pins on them.

The point: to show the springs are so strong the pins remain upright, so users won’t be disturbed by someone tossing and turning on the other side of the bed.

Sealy argued that stripping a mattress down to its springs--as Simmons did in filming the commercial--reduces the “energy transfer” that would make a sleeper feel someone else moving.

Cerebellum, Please

Business odds and ends from several recent publications:

* The latest gift catalog from the American Medical Assn. includes a “Brain Gelatin Mold” that produces a slab of gelatin shaped like a human brain.

According to the catalog, “Just fill the plastic mold with gelatin mix--a few hours later pop out a life size brain-shaped dessert. . . . Perfect for parties.”

* The upcoming issue of USC Business plans to include reminiscences from alumni of its business school over its 75-year history.

In its last issue, the publication suggested some of the questions alumni might want to ponder when they send their memories to the magazine.

One of them: “What did you do before football games?”

* The latest from Berkeley-based Nolo Press includes a book called “Mad at Your Lawyer,” describing things one can do when your lawyer screws up your case.

One of the topics: “How to file a formal complaint, and if all else fails, sue a lawyer.”