TV & RADIOStern Times: Radio personality Howard...

TV & RADIO

Stern Times: Radio personality Howard Stern continued Thursday to bask in--and encourage--the adulation he was getting for having helped prevent a man from jumping off New York’s George Washington Bridge the day before. His syndicated morning show was filled with discussions of and reactions to how he and sidekick Robin Quivers kept the man on the phone until police could arrive. But while Stern played his heroism largely for laughs, the congratulatory calls were genuine--including one from New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman.

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Script Detour: Juan Vasquez, a Los Angeles man who darted in front a car driven by actor James Garner during the filming Wednesday of a “Rockford Files” movie for CBS, on Thursday was listed in “good condition” at the California Medical Center. Vasquez suffered a laceration to the head and a fractured foot, and was scheduled to remain hospitalized until this morning, a hospital spokeswoman said. Garner stopped the familiar “Rockford Files” Pontiac Firebird and offered assistance to Vasquez after hitting him during a routine driving sequence in the Rampart area near downtown Los Angeles at an intersection controlled by off-duty police officers, according to executive producer Chas. Floyd Johnson. There was no indication of why Vasquez ran past police motorcycle officers escorting Garner’s car.

THE ARTS

Cartoon Museum: “Garfield” creator Jim Davis and a range of characters including Fred Flintstone, Snoopy and Spider-Man were in Boca Raton, Fla., on Thursday to celebrate the start of construction on the International Museum of Cartoon Art--a 52,000-square-foot facility that will host the world’s largest collection of animation art. Phase I of the museum, which will house 130,000 drawings, 10,000 books and 1,000 hours of film and videotape, will open in January, 1996. The City of Boca Raton donated the 1.5-acre site valued at $2 million for the attraction, projected to draw 1 million visitors annually when it is completed in 1997. Founded by “Beetle Bailey” creator Mort Walker, the museum will have more than 30 galleries.

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Jerry Lewis’ Broadway Turn: Jerry Lewis is scheduled to join the Broadway musical revival of “Damn Yankees” on Feb. 28. He’ll play the devilish Mr. Applegate, who promises a baseball pennant for the hapless Washington Senators in exchange for the soul of the team’s biggest fan. The timing of Lewis’ start is unusual; the show will close at the Marquis Theater on Dec. 31, then go on a two-month hiatus to allow Lewis to rehearse and to avoid the usual seasonal slump in ticket sales.

MOVIES

‘Disclosure’ Backlash: “Michael Douglas in particular should now do all of us a favor and stop subjecting our culture to his acting out of his serious fear and distrust of women. It’s perhaps time that he simply get some therapy.” So says Tammy Bruce, president of L.A.’s National Organization for Women, in a statement about the Warner Bros. movie “Disclosure.” Bruce’s statement, which also attacks Douglas’ co-star, Demi Moore, calls the film “the clearest example of how far some in the entertainment industry are willing to go to cast a shadow on the crime of sexual harassment.” Following release of the statement, “Disclosure” director Barry Levinson told the Hollywood Reporter that he found Bruce’s charges “so unfair and irresponsible it doesn’t merit a response.”

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Chinese Viewership: More than 900,000 people in Beijing and four other Chinese cities saw “The Fugitive,” one of the first hit foreign movies shown in the communist country. Published reports put ticket sales for the movie, which showed Nov. 12-20, at 8 million yuan--or about $940,000. China has kept foreign films out to protect its domestic filmmakers, but earlier this year the Ministry of Radio, Film and Television announced it would allow 10 “excellent” foreign films to be shown in China each year.

LEGAL FILE

Picasso Suit: Pablo Picasso’s heirs have sued two Hearst Corp. companies for selling publications, films, video and computer games that claim to use authorized reproductions of the late master’s work. The Manhattan suit alleges that King Features and North American Syndicate had no right to reproduce the work, and that the products offered are of such inferior quality that they do not accurately depict the art of Picasso, who died in 1973.

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Schell Settles, Shakur Sought: TV and film executive Diane Botsford has settled her sexual harassment lawsuit against Austrian actor-director Maximilian Schell. In a statement jointly released Thursday, Shell apologized for commenting about Botsford’s “beautiful breasts” in front of their colleagues, saying that the comments were intended as “compliments” and that he “was unaware that in America, such remarks may be construed as offensive.” No details of the settlement were released. . . . A Los Angeles judge issued an arrest warrant for Tupac Shakur on Wednesday after the rapper failed to appear in court on felony weapons charges. Shakur, who was arrested in April during a routine traffic stop, was free on $20,000 bail. The rapper was convicted in New York last week of sexually abusing a woman he’d met at a nightclub.

QUICK TAKES

Cable’s TBS plans to produce a 20-hour documentary series on the Cold War. British producer Jeremy Isaacs will be executive producer of the series, which was the brainchild of TBS owner Ted Turner. . . . It’s official: Roseanne has announced that she and bodyguard boyfriend Ben Thomas--thanks to in-vitro fertilization--are expecting a baby in August.