Quantum hijinks: Caltech, that producer of Nobel...

Quantum hijinks: Caltech, that producer of Nobel Prizes, has been accorded another honor. In a Rolling Stone magazine excerpt of a new book on college pranks, author Neil Steinberg declares:

“To many, the greatest prank of all time occurred on Jan. 2, 1961, when students from the California Institute of Technology infiltrated” the Washington card stunt show at halftime of the Huskies’ Rose Bowl game against Minnesota.

Aside from inducing the cheering section to spell out CALTECH, instead of WASHINGTON, the conspirators also altered the card-stunt depiction of the husky, giving the animal a rounded back and buck teeth. The husky bore an amazing resemblance to Caltech’s beaver mascot.

Merry-go-partly-round: To stay in prankish shape, some Caltekkies launched another operation on campus the other day, attempting to hang wooden horses by ropes along the outside of a circular building (see photo). The authorities galloped to the scene before the conspirators could achieve their objective: transforming Beckman Auditorium into a giant carousel.

Gumshoeing, 101: You think the Ivy League schools are tough? The admissions exam given to people wishing to attend the Nick Harris Detective Academy in hard-boiled Van Nuys includes this multiple-choice section:

What were these people noted for?:

--Ann Landers: (a) advice columnist (b) philanthropist (c) criminal.

--Neil Armstrong: (a) inventor (b) first man on the moon (c) disc jockey.

--J. Edgar Hoover: (a) U.S. President (b) Communist (c) FBI chief.

--Jackie Robinson: (a) baseball great (b) singer (c) boxing champ.

--Richard Ramirez: (a) judge (b) police chief (c) mass murderer.

We don’t mean to discourage would-be private eyes, but you must answer 70% of the questions correctly to be admitted.

Tremulous ratings: Tuesday marked the 59th anniversary of the Long Beach earthquake, which reminds us that NBC will rebroadcast its hokey drama, “The Big One: The Great Los Angeles Earthquake,” on March 22. Local ratings for the first airing, you may recall, were hurt by KTLA’s strategy of counter-programming with a higher-stakes saga, “Masters of the Universe” (“a mighty struggle to save the galaxy!”).

Our nominee for the greatest disaster movie line ever spoken about L.A. was uttered by Lloyd Nolan in “Earthquake.” Surveying the ruins of the city, Nolan says wistfully:

“This used to be a helluva town.”

Herbie Leaves L.B.: Disney’s decision to pull out as operator of the Queen Mary and Spruce Goose in Long Beach leaves the fate of those two attractions uncertain. But a third, somewhat overlooked, treasure will exit the city for certain. It’s parked under the Goose’s dome: Herbie the Car, star of Disney’s “Love Bug” movies.

No matter what, we think Long Beach is a heckuva town.

miscelLAny:

Five units of exchange that are mentioned in the Bible are on display at the museum in Forest Lawn in Glendale: A farthing, a widow’s mite, a piece of silver, a denarius and a shekel.