Lower education: The Learning Annex, a West...

Lower education: The Learning Annex, a West L.A. company that offers offbeat lectures, obviously keeps up on the news. Its latest prospectus lists a one-time ($29) class called “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Woody Allen (But Were Afraid to Ask).” How could there be anything more?

P.C. watch: Pasadenans haven’t forgotten the protests that greeted the naming of Columbus descendant Cristobal Colon as grand marshal of their town’s Tournament of Roses Parade.

Noting that actress Angela Lansbury has been selected for the honor for the 1993 parade, columnist Dan O’Heron of the Pasadena Weekly wrote:

“Lansbury played the evil mother of the brainwashed political assassin in ‘The Manchurian Candidate,’ a film that gave Manchurians the world over a bad name. I think it is only fitting that they have a Manchurian person alongside Lansbury in the convertible, waving to the crowd.”

Slow page-turner: Madonna’s latest tome, “Sex,” is, you may have heard, whether you wanted to or not, full of revealing photos. That probably explains the warning in a Northridge bookstore: “The ‘Sex’ books are non-refundable.”

Don’t even show up wearing a Groucho Marx mask: Nick Scott of Redondo Beach came upon an ad for a Halloween party at Universal Studios that will be lacking some traditional elements (see excerpt).

Did anyone get the number of that stagecoach?Wells Fargo bank rolled into the wrong household when it sent out a batch of solicitation letters to Valleyites from its Sherman Oaks branch.

The missives accidentally listed the phone number of a Sherman Oaks resident, rather than that of the bank. James Brodhead, who received one of the letters, was among those who unsuspectingly phoned the victim. The resident, Brodhead said, “sounded very weary” and was in no mood to discuss Wells Fargo’s wide range of investment opportunities.

But no one’s perfect: After all, we misidentified the caller who noticed that Ronald Reagan’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is adjacent to an empty storefront. Our source was Dan Nussbaum.

Elsie and the Duke: A colleague has scolded us for quoting from a guidebook that said that fun-loving actor John Wayne once “lived with--legend says--a cow on the balcony” at the St. James Club on Sunset Boulevard. We admit we were a bit skeptical ourselves.

Real Estate columnist Ruth (“Hot Property”) Ryon says her research shows that the correct legend is that the Duke merely “brought a cow up to his penthouse once so he and his cronies could have fresh cream for their Irish coffees.” Now, that makes sense.

miscelLAny:

Andrew Sloan, age 2, recently became the youngest part-owner of a horse in the state. He had a connection, of course: his father, Mike.

Santa Anita spokesman Jack Disney said Andrew was granted his license (see photo) after a background check revealed he keeps his room (relatively) clean.