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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 30, 1981)
'OC -'^vPUdL -j^ Singing telegrams By Gary Barker Battalion Staff When was the last time you received a birthday greeting that sang, danced, carried a mecha nical monkey, and wore black fishnet hose with a bright red tuxedo jacket? Never? Then you've probably never received a singing telegram. Eastern Onion, a nationwide singing telegram company which opened an office in Col lege Station in August, offers an alternative to the traditonal greeting card. The company began with one office in Las Vegas in 1976. There are now 40 individually owned offices with 400 messen gers nationwide. Janus Retterer, manager of the College Station branch, said they offer 96 different singing telegrams for different holidays and occasions. Eastern Onion has songs for birthdays of all ages, anniversar ies, birth announcements and weddings. Retterer said they also have a "get well" song, a "good-bye" song, an "I love you" song, an "I'm sorry" song, an "I want a job" song, and a "pay your bill" song. Birthday songs, "I love you" songs, and "good-bye" songs are the most popular, she said. For $27 Eastern Onion will present the regular singing' tele gram anywhere within the Bryan-College Station area and in some of the nearby smaller towns. This includes a messen ger (dressed in a black and red tuxedo and a winged cap), a four to six minute song, a party hat and horn, and a written tele gram. Retterer said they also offer specialty singing telegrams such as a dancing messenger in a birthday cake costume for $37 or a messenger in a chicken cos tume for $40. Another of the specialty acts is the devil costume in which the messenger, either male or female, comes dressed in his or her street clothes and then strips down to a red sequined body suit and presents a singing tele gram. The message costs $37. The most popular specialty telegram is the "bellygram" which costs $55 and includes a regular messenger, a tape re cording of exotic music, and a belly dancer. The College Station branch of Eastern Onion presents about 20 singing telegrams a week, Ret terer said. Most of them are sung in offices, restaurants, or in building on the Texas A&M campus. They have even deli vered singing telegrams to clas srooms during class, with the professor's permission ahead of time. Retterer said she employs one full-time and two part-time belly dancers, one female messenger besides herself, and one male messenger. Eastern Onion em ployees don't necessarily need any experience, she said, but they should be able to sing. "We'd like for someone to be kind of crazy and outgoing," she said. "They should also be P/zofo by Janet Joyce Howard Eilers, associate professor in the Department of Communications, receives a birthday belly gram performed by Sherri Symank, a Texas A&M student and employee of Eastern Onion singing telegrams. able to control a crowd and pre sent a skit." Retterer said most people en joy receiving the singing tele grams. "We've had people rolling on the floor in laughter," she said. "Some people are hard to give telegrams to and some try to run away, but most of the time they stand there, take it, and enjoy it." Home and Auto Stereo Equipment £ & / I 4? jtf O' A® ^ £ The Best Prices in Town! £ £ Woodstone Audio 913 Harvey Rd. College Station 693-4423 Police ready to handle Halloween revelers By Colette Hutchings Battalion Staff Halloween is not only a holi day celebration of ghouls, gob lins and devils but also an unfor tunate time for some to partici pate in devilish deeds. And area police departments are prepared for those who are tempted to give others more tricks than treats. Although the University Police, College Station Police Department and the Bryan Police Department all say they don't anticipate any problems, they also say that the day cou pled with the Texas A&M vs. SMU football game on Saturday will have them alerted to the in flux in traffic. Thomas Parsons, Director of Security and Traffic for the Texas A&M University Police, said the only problem he antici pates is traffic problems on cam pus from football traffic. "A lot of people will be celeb rating the victory," Parsons said. Parsons said the only unusual weekend events happening on campus are the annual "Flight of the Pumpkin," a Corps ritual, and midnight yell practice. But Parsons said the "Pump kin" event is controlled by Corps members and yell prac tice is a usual event. Patrolman A.H. Wiltsie of the College Station Police Depart ment said the department has no plans to beef up the patrol for the weekend, although he does expect a lot of traffic. "We're more conscious of the traffic with the children that will be out," Wiltsie said. Wiltsie said College Station rarely has problems with van dalism. "We have nothing more than we may have on an ordinary weekend such as a house rolled or something," he said. Bryan Police Department Lt. Bobby Riggs said normally on Halloween weekend the depart ment has extra cars out on pat rol, including reserve officers and local volunteers. Bryan also has few problems, Riggs said, with the most com mon problems being egg throw ing or water balloons. "Most of the time, kids are pretty good," Riggs said. For safety, Riggs advises young trick-or-treaters to be in before dark and to wear light clothing. Drivers should be aware of extra traffic and chil dren on the prowl, and drive with caution.