The Bozo rumors again:President Clinton can’t seem...

The Bozo rumors again:

President Clinton can’t seem to shake them. When a spectator derisively referred to Clinton as a Bozo during an appearance by Bob Dole on Tuesday, the Republican challenger replied: “Bozo’s on his way out.”

During the 1992 campaign, then President George Bush said of the Democratic team of Clinton and Al Gore: “My dog Millie knows more about politics than those two Bozos.” (To her credit, Bush’s canine made no such comment in her gossip-free bestseller, “Millie’s Book.”)

Clinton, perhaps seeing a chance to win the clown vote, stoutly defended Bozo in 1992 as “one who makes people laugh.”

That cheered up Larry Harmon, who capitalized on his USC degree to acquire the rights to the Bozo the Clown name several years ago. Harmon now syndicates the title and even runs a Bozo University for apprentice pratfallers.

After Clinton’s 1992 victory, Harmon sent a congratulatory note to the president. Some historians believe this is why several Bozos were appointed to Clinton’s staff.

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L.A.--IT’S EVERYWHERE! You’ve waited until summer is over and now you’re planning that overseas vacation to get away from it all. Sure, put Southern California out of your mind. Well, forget it. Irene Machuca of Manhattan Beach found a Hollywoods Bar in Gallway (Ireland), a Californian Tan and Beauty Shop in Belfast (Northern Ireland), and a Beverly Hills clothing shop as well as a Super Nail of Los Angeles in London (see photos).

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NOT AN OLD PHONOGRAPH OR USED BLOUSE TO BE FOUND: Monique Weiner points out that a garage sale notice in Brentwood included these trinkets on the block: “2 cars--Bentleys.”

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JUST THE PLACE FOR YOUR SPARE BENTLEYS: Now you too can have a car parked at the Petersen Auto Museum in L.A.

At least in the basement.

The museum will store your classic jalopy in an underground vault, patrolled by security 24 hours a day, for $100 a month.

O.K., it won’t be on display for visitors, but at least you won’t have to worry about the paint job as you might if it were in your garage or driveway. In the vault, a spokesman said, “dings and scratches are as common as an all-terrain Duesenberg.”

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KNOW YOUR SUBURBS: One of the first newspapers in the San Fernando Valley was the 1909 Lankershim Laconic, a four-pager whose weekly publishing schedule was erratic, to say the least. Author Tom Link wrote of the Laconic: “Local wags called it a ‘try-weekly.’ ”

Or maybe it was just being laconic.

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NAME GAME: A business in Santa Monica is called Akers Chiropractic.

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THE NAVY IS COMING! THE NAVY IS COMING! It wasn’t mentioned in the two-part PBS series on Teddy Roosevelt, but when the ol’ Rough Rider sent the U.S. Navy on a round-the-world show of force in 1908, one of the cities where the armada stopped was Long Beach. Residents flocked to the shore to watch, which was brave of them in a way, author Richard De Atley points out.

After all, just a couple years earlier, a visiting admiral was quoted as saying that the bay in front of Long Beach was “admirably suited to naval maneuvers, and especially target practice, and he was certain it would be frequently used for such purposes.”

miscelLAny:

In the Reason-to-Go-on-Living Dept., the election is only a month away. Then, no more political commercials for a while. But will Disney ever stop those radio ads about the Main Street Electrical Parade?