Acting Lawyerly
At the opening of Irell & Manella’s new law offices in downtown Los Angeles, people recognized a familiar face. “Is he with the firm?” several asked. Richard Dysart does look the part of a partner. He is, after all, well known as the guru-like senior partner Leland McKenzie on TV’s “L.A. Law.”
He also finds himself being courted these days by a lot of lawyers. So far, he has spoken to the American Bar Assn. and the California district attorneys as well as served as host for two William O. Douglas award dinners. Even Harvard Law School invited him to a forum but could not afford to buy him a first-class ticket to Boston, as mandated by his acting contract.
“Lawyers are, for the most part, quite intelligent people, and I know that they know that I am not a lawyer,” he said. “But the power of television . . . is such that many of them treat me as an attorney. For the most part, I just nod my head and smile a little bit. I’ve never been in court in my life.”
And what of his connection with Irell & Manella? Let it be writ that he is simply a friend of partner Sherman Parrett.
Pipe Dreams
If you’re planning on installing a sprinkler system this spring--good luck.
Prices are rising and supplies are short for PVC piping, the lightweight white plastic tubing widely used for sprinklers and some household plumbing. The manager of a Riverside do-it-yourself store complains that he has sold out his stock and cannot get any more until August. “Now I can’t get a price or a quote or a delivery from anybody.”
The cost of plastic resin to make the tubing has risen 50% in the past nine months, say local producers, in part because the falling dollar has pushed up international demand for resin. Says Glenn L. Baldwin, vice president of Excalibur Extrusions, a Placentia plastics firm: “Our policy right now is if you were a new customer, we wouldn’t sell it to you.”
Shades of Alaska
Just a few months ago, Alaska Airlines was talking about removing the familiar Eskimo logo from the back of its jets. Public protest quickly changed the airline’s mind. Now, however, officials have decided to disguise him for a month.
In a bid to promote its expanded California flights, the Seattle-based airline has announced plans to paint sunglasses on the Eskimo logo on all flights in California. Likewise, ticket counters and boarding areas will have a California beach motif.
And yes, said Bill McKnight, vice president of marketing, the airline’s employees will be decked in sunglasses on May flights. Sorry, though, no in-flight tanning booths.
Soviets New Program
Glasnost lives. At least, that’s what staffers of PC World magazine concluded after a tour of their headquarters in San Francisco by top Soviet publishing officials. The tour was to commemorate a joint-venture agreement to publish PC World USSR, the first technology magazine to be written for a Soviet audience.
There was much speculation about the visit before the Russians arrived. Did the Soviet embrace of personal computing indicate a loosening up of that country’s stringent controls on information? David Bunnell, editor-in-chief of PC World, even joked that while the Russians now welcomed personal computers, “printers and modems would be banned.”
Imagine everyone’s surprise, then, that of all the things a personal computer can do, the Soviets showed by far the greatest interest in its desktop publishing applications.
Is this a sign of the new openness? “It goes without saying,” replied Eugene Salnicov, director of Radio i Sviaz Publishing, the Soviet publisher.
