Just what the doctor didn’t order:Norm Sklarewitz...

Just what the doctor didn’t order:

Norm Sklarewitz noticed that the makers of the film “Volcano” shot a scene at a parking lot in midtown L.A. that had been converted into a disaster center. The area was littered with wheelchairs, stretchers, medical personnel, make-believe survivors and an outdoor morgue filled with mannequins.

What struck Sklarewitz as strange was that the disaster center was right below the windows of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, which has some real-live people with problems.

“Any patient who was up and walking around and looked out the window probably felt like getting back in bed and pulling the covers up over his head,” he said.

SEEING RED: Inside his office at Temple Beth Am Synagogue, Rabbi Joel Rembaum has a clear view of a billboard that proclaims: “More Blood than an Episode of ER.”

It’s a promo for USC football on La Cienega Boulevard. Rembaum doesn’t like the proximity of the billboard or its message. Several members of the congregation agree, he says.

“Here we have a major university that is supposed to be a shining light in teaching the values that shape American society,” he said, “and the football team is proclaiming the glories of spilling human blood.”

Tim Tessalone, USC’s sports information director, admitted that the billboard campaign has drawn some complaints. “But we’ve also received some compliments,” he said, adding that the “blood” reference is a “play on words” about the physical nature of football. “It’s not meant to be taken seriously,” he said.

Said Rabbi Rembaum: “It’s the subject of my sermon [today].”

THE INVASION OF BURBANK: Photographer Scott Dewees sent us some evidence of a flying saucer’s collision with an electronics store in Burbank.

Sadly enough, this kind of incident may become increasingly common, given the fact that Los Angeles International Airport has increased its landing fees several times in recent years.

TOO DAZED IN THE VALLEY: Our apologies to Joyce Thompson for saying she had encountered a panhandler on a San Diego Freeway offramp in Burbank.

Actually, she had told us the incident occurred on the freeway’s Burbank Boulevard offramp.

miscelLAny

The Times received a letter from Giuseppe Cirillo, the Rome-based founder of the Courtship and Seduction School. Cirillo, who holds seminars in L.A. and other cities ever year, is proposing that U.S. taxpayers be “permitted deductions for condom expenses.”