Time on Their Hands

It’s not unusual for unusual topics to come up at annual meetings, but Time Warner Chief Executive Gerald M. Levin got his share last week at the company’s annual meeting on a sound stage at the Warner Bros. studio in Burbank.

Among the highlights from the question-and-answer session between shareholders and Levin:

* One shareholder asked Levin if he could get a tour of the Warner Bros. lot.

* One complained that movie trailers shown to stockholders during one part of the meeting were too loud.

* Another shareholder suggested that Warner Bros. make a movie that would “make everyone laugh.”

Photo Finished

It’s what one might expect in a town known for visual effects.

Last week, 20th Century Fox ran a two-page picture in Hollywood’s trade publications showing dozens of studio employees from top executives on down lined up choir-style in a big group picture.

The purpose: to thank everyone who had something to do with Fox’s huge hit film “Mrs. Doubtfire,” among them star Robin Williams.

Turns out four of the people in the picture--including such heavyweights as Fox owner Rupert Murdoch and President Bill Mechanic--weren’t actually there when the shot was taken, so their pictures were inserted into the photo.

Originally, Fox shot all of the executives outside by a “Mrs. Doubtfire” billboard, but the lighting turned out to be bad. So another picture, minus the four, was taken on a sound stage and made to look as if it had been taken in front of the billboard with the four missing persons in place.

Andrea Jaffe, Fox’s president of domestic marketing, said it was important to the studio that everyone involved in the film’s success be shown in the photo.

List Them in the Credits

Los Angeles has had a “pawnshop to the stars,” “car stereo shop to the stars” and even a “coroner to the stars.”

Now attorneys at the Century City law firm of Levene & Eisenberg appear to be vying for the title of “bankruptcy lawyers to the stars.”

In announcing last week that actress Lynn Redgrave was filing for protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, lawyer David Neale noted that his firm also recently represented actresses Zsa Zsa Gabor and Kim Basinger in their respective bankruptcy proceedings.

He Needs His Own Advice

Not long ago, James R. Wyatt was touting in an infomercial his book called “101 Ways to Get Cash From the Government.” Now it appears that the Rocklin, Calif.-based Wyatt is the one who could use the cash.

Wyatt claimed in his book that people who read it could get an average of $87,500 in loans and government grants. Wyatt has since settled Federal Trade Commission charges that he made phony claims about grants and loans that are available.

As for Wyatt, the FTC said, his Wyatt Marketing Corp. is in Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings.