MOVIESInterview With the Cops: Christian Slater was...

MOVIES

Interview With the Cops: Christian Slater was ordered to appear in court Jan. 27 after his arrest Friday for trying to carry a gun onto a plane. The actor spent about eight hours in jail after he was caught trying to carry a 9mm pistol onto a Delta Airlines flight at Kennedy Airport in New York, police said. Slater, 25, was arrested as he went through a metal detector. He was charged with criminal possession of a weapon and released on his own recognizance after being arraigned. In 1990, Slater was sentenced to 10 days in jail and placed on five years’ probation after he pleaded no contest to his second drunk driving charge in a year.

TELEVISION

Rush Maddens Mall-Goers: Rush Limbaugh doesn’t even have to be around to stir up a protest. A small shopping mall kiosk in Columbus, Ohio, is drawing a big crowd--of pickets--for selling items like mugs, sweatshirts and bumper stickers with the talk-show host’s likeness. Protester Steve Rosenberg said the store perpetuates Limbaugh’s bigotry and half-truths. “We consider Rush Limbaugh to be political pornography,” Rosenberg said. Owner Bill Khourie doesn’t mind the protesters. “It didn’t hurt our business,” he said.

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As the Cast Turns: The CBS soap opera “As the World Turns” will be losing several favorite cast members in the next few months. One of the first to leave will be Scott Bryce, who created the role of Craig Montgomery in 1982. He is slated to exit in early 1995 and the soap has no plans to recast the role. Also leaving early next year is Tamara Tunie, who began playing the role of Jessica Griffin in 1987 and currently has an ongoing role in ABC’s prime-time series “NYPD Blue.” CBS does, however, plan to recast Tunie’s role. To conceal future story line developments, however, the network will not presently reveal the other actors who will be leaving the show.

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Real Life: Last Thursday’s episode of “My So-Called Life” hit home for Wilson Cruz. “It’s a realistic, sad fact that many teens get kicked out of their house because of their sexuality,” said Cruz, a gay actor who plays the makeup-wearing, sexually confused Rickie Vasquez on the ABC show. “I got one letter the other day, from a 13-year-old boy in Ohio, who said he knows exactly what Rickie’s going through,” Cruz said. “He said he can never tell his parents or anyone in his community. But at night, he’s thought of committing suicide. Toward the end of the letter, you could see teardrops on the paper.” Cruz said the teen-ager included his telephone number, so Cruz called him. “I told him not to believe his life would be some unhappy myth, that he would be OK,” Cruz said.

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Tea Time: Actor Patrick Stewart, who plays Capt. Jean-Luc Picard on “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” has received a rare tea set as a reward for his character’s longstanding affinity for a particular beverage. Stewart received the 22-karat gold embellished tea set from his countryman, the sixth Earl Grey, a member of the House of Lords. As Capt. Picard, Stewart has been drinking the British brew for seven years on the popular television program. The first Earl Grey, a former British prime minister, popularized the tea in London some 100 years ago.

POP/ROCK

Bon Jovi Unwrapped: In the words of the Bon Jovi hit “Livin’ on a Prayer,” Manna House, a homeless shelter in Aberdeen, N.J., was facing a $37,000 shortfall and the prospect of closing by year’s end. But a last-minute rally by area businesses, churches and schoolchildren, together with a Jon Bon Jovi benefit at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, closed the financial gap. Kathleen A. Brady, Monmouth County’s deputy director of social services, called the effort “one of those Christmas miracles.”

QUICK TAKES

The Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace in Yorba Linda announced that it has added a three-volume video series on the late President’s life to its gift catalogue. . . . Glenn Close will take a two-week vacation from Broadway’s “Sunset Boulevard” March 7-19. Understudy Karen Mason will take over the role of Norma Desmond during Close’s break. Holders of tickets for the March dates can get refunds or exchanges at the point of purchase.