Fao Schwarz

Watching a state's economy is like watching baseball (when we're able to watch baseball): Everyone agrees a team's success is measured over the long haul, but fans always bicker about their team's potential based on the last few games.In Maryland, business officials, academics and others are trying to make sense from a recent sequence of economic development wins and losses.In the manufacturing field, Maryland had several setbacks this summer: London Fog said it would sever its 63-year-old ties with Maryland, moving all local clothing manufacturing operations (and 700 jobs)

No board game can boast the persistent popularity of Monopoly. Now in its seventh decade, the game has sold over 200 million copies in 80 countries and in 26 languages, including Arabic and Croatian. It is still the planet's best-selling board game.What's the enduring attraction? Presumably, people the world over are seduced by the game's naked invitation to indulge in one of the least appetizing human qualities: abject rapaciousness. The object of Monopoly is to acquire as much material wealth as possible and, in the process, to drive everyone else to ruin.

The death of Maurice Sendak , author of "Where the Wild Things Are" and other wonderful children's books, is a great loss for children's literature. His books, which included "In the Night Kitchen," "Alligators All Around," and the Little Bear books, were favorite reads for my children. Each one carried just the right tone of whimsy, and the illustrations had a classic beauty. Sendak also had a wicked sense of humor, judging from the interview he gave Stephen Colbert early this year.

Andy Filo calls it "dentamandibular sound transduction through a consumable line." The U.S. toy industry is calling it the hottest product of 1998.Filo, a former B.F. Goodrich engineer from Ohio, is the man behind Sound Bites, a toy-candy treat that plays music in your head when you eat it. Yes, in your head. Rock and roll. Drums. Space sounds. Guitar. Saxophone. Wacky tunes and voices. Just push the buttons on the holder and your lollipop plays whatever you want.Sound Bites is being introduced in some markets this month, and is scheduled to be available in Baltimore in August.

Something vital was left out of "Wild America." The wild.Oh, it's got "Wild Thing" and "Born To Be Wild" and even Jerry Lee Lewis' "Real Wild Child."As for actual wildlife, "Wild America" is a bit short.The film concerns a boyhood adventure of the real-life Stouffer brothers, who grew up to become fine wildlife documentarians. But this fictional account of their first filmmaking expedition is slow and ham-handed, with precious few shots of animals in the wild and far too many scenes featuring cheesy robotic fill-ins.

Washington -- Separated from her husband, raising two young daughters and now evicted from her rented digs -- what's a duchess to do?"So, I'm on my own. So, that's great. I'm all right, Jack," the Duchess of York said sportingly enough yesterday.Phew! One less worry -- now we can get back to fretting about poor Diana.The once and current Sarah Ferguson is still the merriest wife of Windsor. Oh, sure, she's no longer on the royal payroll, having separated from Prince Andrew some two years ago. And, yes, her landlord has given her one month to leave her rented, six-bedroom, $1.4 million house near Windsor Castle, where, in one of the most egregious cases of the rich getting richer, oil recently has been discovered.

THE NEWS that the fabled F.A.O. Schwarz toy business has filed for bankruptcy, in the middle of the gift-giving season, makes me think of some of the champion toy givers in my life. As a child, I heard incessantly about the Schwarz house of toys, but not the one in New York near the Plaza Hotel. Ours was on Charles Street near the Woman's Industrial Exchange. What I remember came from my great-Aunt Cora, who before her marriage worked for the Western Maryland Railway in downtown Baltimore.

In a move that may ratchet up the already intense consumer electronics war among retailers, the Rouse Co. is negotiating with Tandy Corp. to develop a consumer electronics megastore in Columbia, a project that would create up to 400 jobs.Tandy's Incredible Universe store would become the third anchor of a planned $45 million discount-oriented shopping hub, joining Target Stores Inc. and Dick's Clothing & Sporting Goods, industry sources with knowledge of the project said. Rouse intends to begin initial construction work on the 70-acre project, set to open in early 1997, as soon as next week.

VIPS Healthcare Information Solutions, a Towson software and consulting firm, became a free-standing company yesterday after being sold sold by its parent, First Data Corp.Jenny G. Morgan, president and chief executive officer of VIPS, said she and all 240 employees will remain. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.Cornerstone Equity Investors LLC, of New York, acquired a controlling interest in VIPS. "Our intention is to keep the company independent and use it as a base for growth," said Stephen Larson, a managing director of Cornerstone.

When Dave Flury got married last year, one decision was quickly made: He took over the walk-in closet of the couple's Parkville apartment; his wife, Penelope, got the small spare room.To him, it made perfect sense, and his wife couldn't disagree. His collection of shirts, jackets and trousers clearly outnumbered hers.But in his case, dressing well isn't simply about quantity. The 31-year-old general manager of F.A.O Schwarz in Towsontown Center believes in showing his gregarious personality through his wardrobe.