More proof that connections are everything in...

More proof that connections are everything in Hollywood: A woman at a health club in the Burbank studio district was overheard telling another, “I’m all set for the Super Bowl now.”

“Gee, how’d you get the tickets?” asked the other.

“Well, this dog on our show got invited. . . .”

We forget which sitcom it is. They all have dogs these days, don’t they?

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The smoking gun that Kathleen Brown needed!It’s too late to change the outcome of the 1994 gubernatorial race, but a press release sent out by the multi-agency Hollywood Earthquake Service Center notes matter-of-factly:

“Since Governor Wilson took office in 1991, California has suffered more than $26 billion in losses from natural- and human- caused disasters, far exceeding any other four-year period in the state’s history.”

And that press release came out before the latest deluge, making us wonder whether Wilson’s second term is going to be an improvement.

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The missing 18-minute tape?

Bradley Johnson came upon a classified for sale ad in a South Bay newspaper for “Nixon Tapes . . . Watergate . . . $65.”

(No, not classified in the Washington sense.)

Anyway, Johnson figures it’s a good deal if the tapes contain the famous segment that was allegedly erased.

But wouldn’t that one be in the “Lost and Found” section?

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For those who refuse to peruse the TV listings: Lisa Peterson Jacobi and Patrick Jinks wrote separately to point out that on the day of the first downpour of this month, AMC showed the movie, “The Rains Came.”

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But would either side want a guy who can’t make up his mind?A cartoon by Walt Handelsman of the New Orleans Times-Picayune shows a man reading a newspaper headline, “O.J. Jury Sequestered.” The man says to himself, “No TV . . . no newspapers . . . no magazines . . . no news media at all!” And, the second frame shows him on the phone asking, “Is it too late for me to get on the jury?” The caller in the cartoon is President Clinton.

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Real estate gambit No. 8,451: Anyone buying a $600,000 condo at The Wilshire high-rise in West L.A. will be treated to a “splendid, four-course dinner” for six, “designed by (the building’s) Cordon Bleu chef Derek Chadwick . . . complete with crystal, fine china, linens and fresh flowers.”

And if a diner has a complaint about the service, take it to the building’s security chief. That’s also chef Chadwick.

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The hazards of California cuisine: Harper’s Index always seems to take notice of cutting-edge movements in Southern California. The January compilation contains these two items:

* “First prize awarded the creator of Savory Spam Cheesecake at the L.A. County Fair’s Spam Recipe Contest last year: $100.”

* “Price of a full halitosis-prevention exam and follow-up at the California Breath Center in Los Angeles: $450.”

Needless to say, the items ran back to back.

miscelLAny Merv Griffin, the talk-show host turned hotel magnate, is teaching a UCLA extension course Jan. 26. It’s the Hotel Industry Investment Conference at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Wonder who Merv’s sidekick will be? We hear Ed McMahon is available.