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     Disney To Stop Selling `Tramp'
   HARTFORD, Conn. (AP)
   Bowing to pressure from advocates for the homeless, the Walt
Disney Co. has decided to stop selling an toy figure of a tramp.
   The Rev. Christopher Rose, rector of Grace Episcopal Church,
inspired the protests early this month when he cited "Steve the
Tramp" as one of the most offensive toys of the 1990 Christmas season.
   "I'm glad somebody there got a conscience," Rose said Tuesday when
he learned of Disney's action. "But I feel it is a hollow victory
because it is only a week before Christmas."
   The 5-inch-high plastic figure is one of a series of 14 "coppers
and gangsters" based on the movie "Dick Tracy," which was produced by
Disney-owned Touchstone Pictures.
   The tramp is described on the package as "hardened and bitter
after a life on the mean streets ... a lout who would just as soon
take your life as your wallet ... (and) will use and abuse any young,
helpless prey he comes across."
   "We feel that the action figure, when viewed outside the fantasy
world of `Dick Tracy,' is being misunderstood," said a statement
released by the Walt Disney Co. in Burbank, Calif., Monday evening.
   Joining in the statement were Playmates Toys Inc. of La Mirada,
Calif., which is licensed by Disney to manufacture and market the
toy, and the National Coalition for the Homeless, based in New York
City.
   However, Disney spokesman Chuck Champlin acknowledged Tuesday that
it was too late to recall the toy from other retailers a week before
Christmas.
   Some chains discontinued sale of the tramp doll after advocates
for the homeless protested and picketed stores.
   Rose brought the figure to the attention of advocates for the
homeless in his annual "Warped Toys for Christmas" display at his
church Dec. 2.
   A nationwide chain of 1,200 stores, Kay Bee Toy and Hobby, pulled
the figure from its shelves Dec. 7 after activists picketed its
stores in the Stamford Town Center.
   Marvin Minkler, an organizer of the Stamford protest, said
Playmates Toys has donated more than 800 toys to his organization,
Gateway Communities Homeless Outreach, to give to poor children.
   A Disney representative also promised to meet with Gateway in
January to see how they might collaborate on a program to help
homeless people, Minkler said.
   Rose said his Steve the Tramp figure is joining other offensive
toys, which he has been collecting for four years, in a church
storeroom.
   Someday, Rose said, he hopes to open a museum of tasteless toys
"as a sad commentary on late 20th-century culture."