Was Disney Tempted to Call It ‘Katz’?

Disney’s animators are known for their inside gags. And there’s no secret about the bad blood between Disney and ex-honcho Jeffrey Katzenberg over Katzenberg’s lawsuit to recover millions of dollars in unpaid bonuses. So when reader Chris Wall spotted a billboard for the new Disney film, “A Bug’s Life,” he couldn’t help but notice that it shows “a deeply perturbed, wide-eyed insect not overburdened by hair that bears a distinct resemblance to Katzenberg.” (See photos.)

In the absence of DNA samples I can’t be sure. But Disney does consider Katzenberg a pest.

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SOME REAL STEALS: So what type of reading do thieves prefer at L.A. city libraries? A survey of some librarians found the most popular subjects included:

* Fingerprinting

* UFOs, astrology and witchcraft

* Get rich quick schemes

* Screenwriting

* TV repair

* Anything about sex

* Real estate exams

* The Titanic

* Bomb making and perfume making

* Civil Service tests

Imagine, a thief going into government work.

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ANOTHER INSULT FOR THE COLISEUM: Daily Variety pointed out that the official videotape of the first Super Bowl, won by the Green Bay Packers 32 years ago at the L.A. Coliseum, no longer exists. It’s among a surprising number of landmark tapes of TV events that have been erased. Missing, too, is the tape of the first night of “The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson.” All those Ed McMahon laughs . . . lost.

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IT’S AN HONOR BUT . . . Frank Terry of L.A. received an envelope that was stamped: “Notice: The addressee below has been selected to participate in a national referendum on the right to die with dignity.”

Terry said he “could only wonder who ‘selected’ me since I have had no contact with the organization. As with any normal paranoiac, I would like to know if I was chosen because I have quit returning the multimillion-dollar prize mailings.”

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A COLUMNIST’S LIFE: As one who dispenses bits and pieces of nonsense, I take a special interest in other item columnists, such as the famous gossip-monger Walter Winchell (1897-1972). Winchell, who was recently profiled in an HBO movie, appeared in more than 2,000 newspapers, including the old L.A. Herald Express. Biographer Neal Gabler points out that the New Yorker magazine once examined five Winchell columns that contained 239 items. The truth of 108 of his blurbs could not be determined. Of the remaining 131 verifiable items, 54 were inaccurate, meaning Winchell averaged more than 10 mistakes per column.

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TWO DOWN . . . Maria “Tigress” Bernardi of the Cauliflower Alley Club of retired boxers and wrestlers called to say I incorrectly spelled her first name “Marie.”

And while I’m at it, I also declared Bob Holbrook a loser to Richard Bloom for a seat on the Santa Monica City Council. Actually, the votes are still being counted, and Holbrook had a narrow lead as of Tuesday.

Hey, I still not in Winchell’s league.

miscelLAny:

Iran plans to stem an invasion of Barbies and Kens from El Segundo-based Mattel by producing its own Sara and Dara dolls. “Just as Mattel adapted its dolls to [Western] fashion, Sara and Dara will reflect strict Iranian society,” according to an official. Sara and Dara will be sister and brother, the Bloomberg News Service said, “to conform with Islamic laws on socializing between men and women.” As if Ken’s relationship with Barbie could ever be anything but platonic.

Steve Harvey can be reached by phone at (213) 237-7083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com and by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, Times Mirror Square, L.A. 90053.