There’s No Place for Eddie at the LAPD

The Scene: Sunday night at Mann’s Chinese Theatre, for the premiere of “Beverly Hills Cop III,” starring Eddie Murphy as the lovable ninja cop from Detroit. Who needs Westec with this guy around? The Paramount Pictures release opens Wednesday.

The party on the Paramount lot featured a street fair complete with Ferris wheel, ring toss, stuffed animals and a bandstand. So what if the streets were lined with New York brownstones and Madison Avenue storefronts? The event raised $100,000 for the United Negro College Fund.

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You Never Know These Days: The squad car at the entrance was somebody’s idea of a party favor.

The Ferris wheel drew a big crowd, even though the film features an amusement-ride disaster in which Murphy’s character leaps from car to car to save small children. “I admire Eddie,” said actor-director Robert Townsend, “but at least I can claim that I do all my own stunts.”

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Who Was There: Stars Murphy, Theresa Randle, Bronson Pinchot and director John Landis were feted by Wesley Snipes, Vanessa Bell-Calloway, Andrew Dice Clay, Natalie Cole, Debbie Allen, Terence Trent D’Arby and Sugar Ray Leonard.

Police Chief Willie L. Williams appeared broad-shouldered and capable. He wouldn’t hire Murphy for the LAPD, he joked, “but give me some of those high-tech weapons!” (We’re assuming he meant some of those Uzis that aren’t able to hit good guys, rather than the Boombox-Toaster-Flamethrower.)

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Get a Clue: Along Came Mary catered a cuisine of peach barbecued ribs, fried chicken, potato salad and slaw, with Rice Krispie squares and candy apples for dessert. More frightening than the squad car. The pasta bar was working overtime.

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Scarier Still: Wayne Newton was the best-dressed person in attendance, downright imposing in a charcoal suit, lemon shirt, cuffs and collar. Co-star Randle also cut a figure in diaphanous white, while everyone else seemed to have dashed out of the brownstones for a carton of milk.

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Entertaining: Deejay Michael Nesmith careened smartly from Salt N’ Pepa on back to ‘70s George Clinton.

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Wave of the Future: Child group Immature, three swaggering 10-year-olds in baggy denim and John Lennon sunglasses, who conclude interviews with a hug and a kiss.