Folks receiving the newest catalog from BluBlocker Corp. should be forgiven if the first thing they notice isn't the company's sunglasses. The firm's latest mailer is a test — a catalog that doubles as a calendar which each month features a voluptuous model (actually the same woman in a variety of wigs and outfits) sporting a pair of BluBlockers.

The calendar's tagline? “Have we got a pair for you.”

That's a lot of pairs — 140,000 to be exact — as BluBlocker has printed 10,000 of the 14-month calendars, which run from December 2003 through January 2005. Each month showcases one of the company's top sunglass designs.

Admittedly, this is at best a sampling of its wares — the Las Vegas firm's more traditional 36-page catalog promotes dozens of its 100 or more variations.

The catalog/calendar is the brainchild of company president Joe Sugarman. That would be the same Joe Sugarman who once offered to deduct $10 per order for every spelling error customers found in his JS&A catalog.

In addition to the photos, the calendar also carries several coupons, including dollars-off discounts, buy-one-get-one-free offers and lens cleaning kits. The coupons are tucked safely away on the back page, out of sight of the casual viewer.

Sugarman readily admits that the calendar itself is a money-loser. Each one costs more to print than the $2 he charges for it, and the $4.95 shipping and handling barely covers the cost of mailing the 11-inch by 17-inch item. But he's hoping it will catch the attention of a national television show, such as David Letterman's or Jay Leno's. The one spot, he said, would more than make up for any expenditure.

BluBlocker has set aside copies to fulfill Web requests (at www.blublocker.com), but many calendars are being sent to fans of The Winning Edge, a sports handicapping television show and Web site. While much of the distribution has been through trade shows, BluBlocker anticipates a drop of some sort to The Winning Edge's mailing list, although details hadn't been worked out at deadline.

“If it's working as a catalog, we'll send it out free,” Sugarman says. If not, he'll likely mail a solicitation to purchase it.

In the meantime, orders for the sunglasses themselves are coming in slowly. But as Sugarman points out, using the calendar to generate sunglass sales is a two-step process.

“First you send out the calendar, and then you wait for the response. Since the calendar doesn't look like a catalog, it doesn't at first function as such.”

Sometimes the orders for sunglasses don't come in at all.

“We did get one really funny e-mail,” Sugarman said. “After the respondent placed his order and paid his $6.95, he wrote: ‘Please do not share my personal information with anyone. Please do not put me on any of your e-mail or postal lists. I do not use your products, I just like boobs!’”

But Sugarman is the first to admit that some old tricks still have new life in 'em.

In addition to running BluBlocker, he's the editor of Maui Weekly, a Hawaiian newspaper. The first issue of 2004 included a substantial number of typographical errors, so in the second one he included the following announcement:

“Find the typos? OK, we made a major goof. With a short staff and pressure to get out our last issue, we made a few spelling errors. So why not turn a problem into an opportunity? See our Typo contest on page 16.”

The prize was a pair of BluBlocker sunglasses.