People and Events

The weekend was a little more exciting than a camera crew for the “Great Weekend” television show suspected at the moment.

There they were, happily taping shots in a California Federal Savings & Loan Assn. branch in Brentwood on Saturday morning when a man looked straight into the camera, then flashed a gun at a teller and made off with some cash. (Nobody wants to say how much.)

“The guy was so smooth,” says Gloria Sykes, a field producer for the syndicated show, “we did not know that there was a robbery happening. . . . He might as well have said, ‘Hi, Mom.’ ”

On Monday, FBI officials said they are pretty sure it was the “Pony Tail Bandit,” wanted in nine bank jobs since June 10. “He’s a busy guy,” said the FBI’s Fred Regan.

The TV crew did a couple of more shots before it became apparent they had just taped a robbery.

The branch manager, who was standing nearby, also didn’t realize what had happened until the bandit was gone.

He was still gone Monday.

The cremated ashes of Jane Doe No. 70 have been returned to the Los Angeles County coroner’s office to be held, says Los Angeles Police Officer Rich Escobido, “until they find out who the next of kin is.”

In the meantime, Helene Tilch, 58, of San Fernando and her daughter, Sharon Hall, 35, have been sentenced to prison for obtaining the body from the coroner’s office by hoax.

The scheme went like this, police said: Hall had been convicted of welfare fraud in Sacramento County, and her mother told probation officers there late last year that Hall was dead. Then Tilch and Hall went to the coroner’s office here, where Hall passed herself off as her own sister and where the two of them burst into tears when shown photos of an unidentified dead woman who had been found last October.

The coroner’s office (which subsequently began requiring proof of identification) released the body to Tilch and Hall. They had it cremated.

A Sacramento County probation officer, however, noticed in the autopsy report that the corpse was that of a woman 65 pounds lighter than Hall. Jane Doe also had numerous tattoos.

Hall said they got the idea from a TV show.

Actress June Lockhart, as you will recall, never seemed to let anything throw her on the “Lassie” TV series. (Of course, nothing threw Lassie either, but you expected that.)

Lockhart said she was somewhat taken aback, however, when she saw a tow truck on Cloverfield Boulevard in Santa Monica hauling a late model automobile that was in perfectly good shape except for one thing: The windshield was completely smashed out.

“There was nothing left but a ragged little bit of glass around the frame,” Lockhart said. Someone, she saw, had painted an explanation on the car’s side: Fay Got ------,” the last word being an earthy expression indicating that Fay had become very, very angry.

“My Lord,” Lockhart concluded, “she must have done it with a baseball bat.”

After bureaucratic delays, a 45-foot inflatable koala opened for business in the Lakewood Center Mall, where the kiddies--and some adventurous parents--could clamber up inside and look over exhibits encouraging them to visit Australia.

The blow-up bear was supposed to begin its two-year U.S. and Canadian tour several weeks ago, but remained deflated while authorities made sure it met fire and safety standards.

All local officials were not flinty-eyed, however. The city of Lakewood folks donated a bunch of eucalyptus leaves.

The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce said 14 people or groups have been picked to have their names planted in the concrete along the Hollywood Walk of Fame. They will bring the total to 1,888.

Ana Martinez of the chamber said the new plantees were picked from more than 100 suggestions, but she declined to say who failed to make it this time around.

The winners: Chuck Norris, Martin Sheen, Norman Jewison, the Monkees, George Schlatter, Tony Danza, Tom Jones, Peter Paul & Mary, Little Richard, Donald O’Connor, Carmen Dragon, Cliffie Stone, John Lennon and David Janssen.