MOVIESFalse Alarm: A centerpiece taken from the...

MOVIES

False Alarm: A centerpiece taken from the June 28 premiere party for MGM’s new movie “Blown Away” caused a real-life stir in the Los Angeles Sheriff’s bomb squad on Sunday when officers evacuated an apartment building in West Hollywood after what appeared to be a bomb was sighted in a nearby car. The device turned out to be six road flares tied together. Actress Cassandra Gava had left the gadget sitting on the seat of her Datsun 280Z while visiting a friend in an apartment building on Fountain Avenue. At about 8 a.m., the entire building was evacuated and it took two bomb squad officers about three hours to determine the bomb was indeed a fake, a sheriff’s spokesman said. An MGM spokeswoman said the gadget was a centerpiece and was not meant to be taken home by guests. The Sheriff’s Department is currently investigating how the incident occurred.

TELEVISION

Beverly Hills Warriors: A new gang from 90210 land is coming to TV this fall. Cable’s USA Network has announced plans for “Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters From Beverly Hills,” a live-action children’s series about four teen-agers chosen by an alien to save the Earth from the forces of an evil intergalactic emperor. The teens have special tattoos that flash when they are summoned to duty. Co-produced by DIC Entertainment, the half-hour program premieres Sept. 19 and will air weeknights at 6 p.m.

* Lawsuit Out of the Gate: “America’s Talking,” the new cable-TV network owned by NBC, has already been slapped with a lawsuit. Martin Israel, host of a local Los Angeles cable-TV show called “America Talks,” has sued NBC for $15 million charging the network’s title is copyright infringement. Israel says in his Los Angeles Federal Court lawsuit that his show has been on the air since 1984. A statement from NBC said the network’s attorneys are reviewing the case and that in their view “there is no merit to this claim.” “America’s Talking” premiered on Monday.

* Telethon Preparations: Jerry Lewis is getting an early start on his 29th annual Labor Day Telethon for the Muscular Dystrophy Assn. Lewis is traveling across the country, taping advance segments for this year’s telethon, which will be called “Stars Across America!” He began the blitz with a trip to MDA’s summer camp near San Diego where he visited with youngsters affected by neuromuscular diseases. Future stops include a July 13 visit with Mel Tillis and other country music stars performing in Branson, Mo.; a July 17 stop at New York’s Pegasus Room to join jazz singers Maureen McGovern, Barbara Cook and Julie Budd; and a July 31 Royal Caribbean cruise from Miami to St. Thomas where Lewis will tape a live comedy performance. The actual telethon originates live from Las Vegas’ Sahara Hotel on Sept. 4-5. The program, broadcast by more than 200 stations nationwide, raised $46 million last year for MDA’s fight.

THE ARTS

Museum Windfall: The Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, has received a $500,000 gift to its 50th anniversary campaign from the James S. Copley Foundation. Hailing the windfall as the museum’s “largest local foundation gift to date,” MCA Director Hugh M. Davies said the first floor exhibition gallery of the museum’s downtown San Diego facility will be named for donor David Copley. The $11.5-million campaign--of which $10.3 million has been raised, including the Copley gift--will benefit a renovation and expansion of the museum’s historic building in La Jolla, provide funds for the year-old outpost in downtown San Diego and augment the endowment fund. The museum will hold public groundbreaking ceremonies for the La Jolla expansion on July 14.

* Choir Honors: With a program that ranged from Baroque classics to contemporary folk songs, the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus, under the direction of founder Rebecca Thompson, has won first place honors in the first Princeton Invitational Choir Festival, hosted by the American Boychoir School and Westminster Choir College at Princeton University in New Jersey. It was the first competitive appearance for the company, whose 10- to 16-year-old members have performed across the United States and often sing with the Los Angeles Music Center Opera, L.A. Philharmonic and Los Angeles Master Chorale.

POP/ROCK

Shakur Ruling: A Los Angeles judge on Tuesday dropped a request for $25 million in damages from a limousine driver who claims he was severely beaten by rapper-actor Tupac Shakur in a Fox Television parking lot after a taping of “In Living Color.” While the ruling does not ultimately bar David De Leon from seeking that amount, it requires his attorneys to do more research before specifying an amount.