Save the tale: In these politically correct...

Save the tale: In these politically correct times, you would think that a studio might hesitate to release a movie in which the main character starts a fire in the stomach of a whale--even if he is attempting to save some trapped friends.

Nevertheless, Disney seems determined to go ahead with Friday’s re-release of “Pinocchio.”

Happiness is being single: Father’s Day had no meaning for Grunt, who slept most of the day.

He’s the 600-pound pig whose plight drew nationwide attention in 1989 when he was abandoned by his owners in Rolling Hills. After animal authorities said the homeless porker might be put to death, more than 500 adoption offers poured in, including one from Australia. Ojai rancher Ozzie Osborn (no relation to the singer, who prefers bats) was eventually given custody of Grunt.

Though happy, the big pig seems destined to live out his days as a bachelor, says Osborn’s wife, Rhonda.

“One of the females is in heat right now and bugging the hell out of him,” she said. “But he’d rather sleep. He’s never going to be a father.”

With Grunt getting older, the Osborns have had him on a diet for several months--he is down to two loaves of bread per day, for example--and he has dropped about 200 pounds.

“He’s not beautiful like he was at 800 pounds,” Rhonda Osborn said with a laugh. “He’s got a few wrinkles now, like the rest of us.”

Freeway cleanup of the week: On the San Bernardino Freeway in West Covina--a spill of about 20 feet of vacuum-cleaner hose.

The clown at City Hall: One of the newest gadflies at City Council meetings is a man in a clown outfit whose causes have included the ouster of L.A. Police Chief Daryl F. Gates. On one occasion, when the council was a member short of a quorum, the clown volunteered to occupy one of the absentees’ seats, explaining that he’d fit right in.

Potatoe Heads R Us: We named U.S. Senate candidate Dianne Feinstein the winner of our weekly Dan Quayle spelling bee Tuesday for her fund-raising pitch that vowed her determination to “put and (sic) end to the status quo.” Well, upon further review, not to mention about two dozen telephone calls and faxes, we have been forced to declare a co-winner: Only in L.A., which misspelled her first name. We could have denied it but were afraid our nose would start to grow.

miscelLAny:

Emmett Dalton, a member of the infamous Dalton Gang, moved to the Los Feliz area of L.A. in the 1920s after serving 15 years in prison for an attempted bank holdup in Coffeyville, Kan. In L.A., the onetime outlaw became a real estate agent. Dalton died here in 1937 at the age of 66, with his boots off.