Just what the world needs:Sharon, Pa., will...

Just what the world needs:

Sharon, Pa., will soon have a Vocal Group Hall of Fame--and L.A. helped inspire it.

Tony Butala, a former member of the Lettermen, came up with the idea after hearing of once-active performers who were down on their luck.

“I ran across one guy who was a member of a major group, and he was a busboy in a restaurant in Los Angeles,” Butala noted. “The guy that was bringing me the pickle-and-relish tray said, ‘Hey, Tony, how you doing?’ ”

Any group that sang at least two-part harmony, from barbershop quartets to the Everly Brothers, would be eligible for the shrine. But Butala wasn’t sure about Sonny and Cher.

“We’d have to look at them very carefully and see if they really sang in harmony,” he said. “We know the Everly Brothers did.”

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LIKE THE 405 AT EVENING RUSH HOUR: Jean Desmond of Rancho Palos Verdes was watching a community TV channel when she heard a whale-watching team say it had spotted 531 of the behemoths headed south.

And two headed north.

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RETURNING THE LETTERMAN: Jan Sloane of Oak Park found a sporting goods store that makes a special offer for parents who don’t know what to do with their problem athlete (see accompanying).

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AND THE WINNERS ARE: Our favorite fictional Academy Awards shows in the movies:

* “A Star is Born” (1937): Vicki Lester (Janet Gaynor) wins an Oscar at the Biltmore Hotel ceremonies only to have drunken husband Norman Maine (Fredric March) interrupt the show to beg the audience for an acting job.

* “The Oscar” (1966): Best Actor nominee Frank Fane (Stephen Boyd) jumps to his feet when he hears the first name of the winner read as “Frank.” To Fane’s embarrassment, the Oscar goes to Frank Sinatra (played by Frank Sinatra).

* “Naked Gun 33 1/3--The Final Insult” (1994): Bumbling terrorists try to blow up the ceremony at the Shrine Auditorium as the nominees in the supporting actress competition are being announced. Mary Lou Retton wins in that category over Morgan Fairchild, Shannen Doherty and Florence Henderson for her stirring performance in “ ‘Fatal Affair’--one woman’s ordeal to overcome the death of her cat set against the background of the Hindenburg disaster.”

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A PASS IS DEFLECTED: The 1954 remake of “A Star Is Born,” by the way, has a geographical gem in the dialogue. A maitre d’ tells a tipsy Norman Maine (James Mason) that there’s no use making a pass at an elegant woman because “she’s Pasadena.”

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THANKS, BUT . . . : J. Frank Farrar received a piece of junk mail from Huntington Memorial Hospital that assured him that “our gynecological procedures are less invasive, less painful and less expensive than traditional open surgery. If you are even thinking about having surgery talk to us . . . “

He’s South Pasadena.

miscelLAny:

Ken Casford of Whittier notes that a recent compost workshop was held at La Mirada’s City Hall. “How appropriate,” he writes. “I always did feel there was a lot of deadwood in government offices.” And don’t forget the manure parallel.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

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