Don’t know much about geography:Those Eastern newspapers...
Don’t know much about geography:
Those Eastern newspapers continue to have problems figuring out how to navigate L.A. In an article on Laura Schlesinger, the radio shrink, a New York Times writer recounts going to a Schlesinger book-signing in Lake Arrowhead this way:
“Driving west out of the endless sprawl and murky gloom of Los Angeles toward the faux Tyrolean village of Lake Arrowhead. . . .”
Actually, driving west out of L.A. would take you to the endless sprawl and murky gloom of the Pacific Ocean.
NOT SO SMART PAGES: Aimee O’Malley Steiner found another one of those goofy listings in the telephone directory, this for an auto leasing company under the “Nurse Practitioners” heading. An alternative when your car is sick?
MORE FROM THOSE HOCKEY PUCKS IN HOLLYWOOD: Southern California has the distinction of being the home of two pro hockey teams that have been lampooned in the movies. We’ve mentioned the crack made by Police Sgt. Joe Friday (Dan Aykroyd) about the L.A. Kings in the 1987 version of “Dragnet.” Evaluating the quality of life in L.A., Friday says: “Sure, this city isn’t perfect. We need a smut-free life for all our citizens, cleaner streets, better schools, a good hockey team. . . .”
Now comes “Space Jam,” in which Bugs Bunny offers this opinion about a suggestion to call Michael Jordan’s basketball team the Ducks: “What kind of Mickey Mouse organization would ever call a sports team the Ducks?”
Needless to say, “Space Jam” was made by Warner Bros., not Disney.
TALK ABOUT REBATES! In a South Bay publication, Joe Grieco noticed that one merchant will really trim his profits if he follows through on his $100 discount offer.
LIST OF THE DAY: Some of the acts and personalities that will invade Pasadena on Sunday for the city’s annual Doo Dah Parade.
* Claude Rains Memorial 20 Man Invisible Marching Drill Team
* Chronic Fatigue Sleepwalkers
* Ocean Beach Geriatric Surf Club & Precision Marching Surfboard Drill Team & Gidget Patrol
* Benzedrine Monks (“Gregorian chants like you’ve never heard them before.”)
* Grand Marshal Dr. Demento
* Torment of Roses
* Marquis d’Sod (“Whipping lawns into shape with an exploited labor force of French maids.”)
* Linley, the Unknown Child Star
* L.A. Mudpeople (“A self-named urban tribe that eschews spoken language and most of its clothing for a public walkabout.”)
When the Chronic Fatigue Sleepwalkers set out for Pasadena this weekend, we hope they don’t head west from L.A.
miscelLAny:
The Doo Dah Parade, now two decades old, is not the first event to parody the Rose Parade. The Tournament of Roses held its own spoof, the Komical Knights of the Karnival, early in the century, featuring such acts as the Pasadoughnut Fire Department and the Soft Pedal Band (it made no noise).