Smart Aleck

Question from Dec. 22: The Just Eight social club charges participants $2,500 for 12 dinners. At that price, we think you should be able to choose a lot more than an appetizer, main course and dessert. If you were host and could handpick the other seven participants for a holiday dinner party, who would they be and where would you take them?

“Woody Allen, sitting next to Groucho Marx, who would be sitting next to George Sand, who would be sitting next to Oprah Winfrey, who would be sitting next to Hedda Hopper, who would be sitting next to Louella Parsons, who would be sitting next to Monica Lewinsky.”

--ELIZABETH BROWN, Los Angeles

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“I would invite some folks from the NBA lockout: Karl Malone, Dikembe Mutumbo, Shaq, Patrick Ewing, Billy Hunter (Players Union director), David Stern (commissioner) and Paul Allen. [I’d] take them on the same holiday parties that Scrooge took in ‘A Christmas Carol.’ ”

--RAYMOND BATES, Marina del Rey

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“Ron Kovic, Oliver Stone, Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Avery Barnebey and two guests to the Mansion on Turtle Creek to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the Dallas shoot of ‘Born on the Fourth of July.’ ”

--CATHERINE BARNEBEY, Redondo Beach

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“Jim Murray, Pope John XXIII, Mark Twain, T.E. Lawrence, Eleanor Roosevelt, Eric Hoffer, Desmon Morris. At Le Chene.”

--BERNICE CANUTT, Acton

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The question for Dec. 29:

Comtrad Industries makes a house alarm that produces a barking noise to scare away visitors (see story, this page). If you could choose another sound, what would that be?

Send replies of 25 words or fewer to Smart Aleck, in care of SoCal Living, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053, or e-mail to socalliving@latimes.com. Include your name and hometown. Replies will appear next week.