It must have been borrowed from a...

It must have been borrowed from a museum: Solomon Waters of Altadena, a 6-year-old first-grader, came home from his first day of school and excitedly told his mother how he had written on “a machine that looks like a computer--but without the TV screen.”

She asked him if it could have been a “typewriter.”

“Yeah! Yeah!” he said. “That’s what it was called.”

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Perot plot? Chester Snavely of Sherman Oaks tipped us to the weird effect produced by one half-finished ad that partially covers another ad on the side of the Olympic Auditorium. The very idea of linking our two fine, major political parties with booze. . . .

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List of the day: Before the airing of the “Murphy Brown” episode dealing with Brown’s newborn (and Vice President Dan Quayle’s comments), California Republicans released a list of reasons why they would be watching the show, including these:

1. It doesn’t interfere with “American Gladiators.”

2. Thought it was called “Willie Brown.”

3. Want to play the tape of the show backward before Tipper Gore does.

4. “Murphy Brown’s” Jim Dial is only person on network TV stiffer than Al Gore.

5. Learned that Bill Clinton might be the father.

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Coupe de Smell: Among the vehicles at the Alternative Transportation Exposition at the Burbank Hilton this weekend, says a spokeswoman, will be a GM Lumina that can run on “ethanol derived from either beverage industry waste products or cheese whey.”

miscelLAny:

Actor Kevin Costner, who has refused to confirm a report that he will endorse George Bush, has some roots in common with the President. Costner was born in the city where Bush lived for a time while employed by an oil company: Compton.