Oh, Dan, not again: In his letter...

Oh, Dan, not again: In his letter to Paul Silverman of Beverly Hills, Vice President Dan Quayle warmly congratulated him on being nominated for membership to the exclusive “Republican Senatorial Inner Circle.” He added that Silverman was invited to attend the Republican convention in Houston next month.

Two problems.

No. 1, says Silverman’s son, Barry, “my father was a Democrat all his life.” No. 2, adds the son, “my father passed away in 1979.”

No misspellings in the letter, though.

A rise from the South: The other day, we published some of the Sacramento Bee’s suggested official symbols for the prospective state of South California (ie., state insect: Medfly).

Well, just so North California won’t feel left out in the event of a split, Mark Lodge sent along his own nominees for that region’s state tree (“anything that can be cut down”), state cultural event (“tule fog watching”) and state insect (“Sacramento bee”).

Meanwhile, Glen Creason chipped in with his own proposals for North California’s state insect (“fogfly”), state tree (“redwood stump”), state fish (“guy who signed the lease for Candlestick Park”) and native cuisine (“anything hot enough to warm your freezing hands”).

Sacre bleu! Paramount Pictures’ controversial rental of the “D” on the HOLLYWOOD landmark for a movie promotion prompted Chuck Welch of the Hollywoodland Homeowners Assn. to protest: “I don’t think you can rent the Eiffel Tower for a billboard, or the Washington Monument.”

Actually, points out Les Mann of Pasadena, the Guinness Book of World Records cites an electric advertising sign for an automobile that was mounted on the Eiffel Tower as “the most conspicuous sign ever erected. . . . It was switched on July 4, 1925, and could be seen 24 miles away.”

Imagine living in a city where you could see something 24 miles away.

Putting their heads together: “Tiger Lady,” a play about murderess Winnie Ruth Judd, which opened recently in L.A., recalls an old newspaper tale about the 1930s case.

When Judd was arrested at an L.A. train station with a blood-soaked trunk containing human remains, a reporter named Warden Woolard excitedly called police investigator Bill White.

“Bill, how many bodies are in that trunk?” Woolard asked.

“Warden, we don’t know,” said White. “It’s a hell of a mess. Can you call us back in a while?”

Twice more Woolard phoned, only to be put off. Since this was the era of multiple daily editions for newspapers, Woolard grew more and more frustrated. When a third call to White failed to elicit the number of bodies, the reporter blew up.

“Good God, Bill,” Woolard shouted. “Just count the heads!”

miscelLAny:

Tip to drivers: The fine for parking on the sidewalk ($30) in L.A. is less than the fine for parking next to a red curb ($55).