Pressure Didn’t Crack Mr. Peanut

One of the wackiest incidents of the year in Adrienne Omansky’s commercial acting class for senior citizens involved a shrimpy Mr. Peanut costume. It was worn by Hank Spieker during the class talent show.

Spieker had an audition following the show in L.A.

Trouble was, he couldn’t get out of the suit.

“Hank is really tall, over 6 feet,” explained Omansky. “And the suit is really for someone about 5-feet-5.”

In the great, “show must go on” tradition, Spieker raced to the audition in his costume. And he was chosen to appear in the commercial. After hearing his story, the director decided Spieker was a guy who could handle a crisis. The commercial was for a blood pressure product.

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PLAYING A NUMBER ON A MEMBER: Ken Johnson of Burbank received a note from one credit card company about a change that didn’t seem like much of a change (see accompanying).

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ON THE ROAD: Vacationing in Australia, Charles Kaplan took a snapshot of a sign that could have been worded more gracefully (see photo).

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GOAL: A TWO-CAR FAMILY: A couple of decades ago, a Huntington Beach widow founded what would seem like a natural for the Southland--the Freeway Singles Club (see accompanying).

She got the idea after seeing a “charming, gray-haired man” in the next lane at a red light at Bolsa Avenue and Springdale Street and realizing that there was no classy way to make an approach.

Her club enabled members (for a $35 charge) to paste a large, numbered sticker on their car windows. That way, if one member was attracted to another during the morning commute on the Santa Ana Freeway, he or she could jot down the number and send a letter to club headquarters. The letter would be forwarded. (A photo was also requested--of the driver, not the car).

I lost track of the Freeway Singles Club, which apparently ran out of gas a few years later. Sad to say, I don’t believe the founder ever linked up with the charming, gray-haired man.

ONLY IN L.A.--MAKING THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE: I received a note from Curtis Wilson, who won this column’s contest earlier this year for the most imaginative suggestion for a New Year’s Eve sight in L.A.:

Light up the Hollywood sign, letter by letter in the final nine seconds before midnight.

Wilson was amused that the city is planning to do just that, more or less. “Someone stole my idea,” he said. “Maybe I should take them to court (ha, ha, ha).”

I was also surprised, considering all the other wonderful suggestions from Only in L.A. readers that have been ignored:

* For an MTA slogan contest: “When You Absolutely, Positively Have to Be There Overnight.”

* A name for the movie studio then being formed by moguls Steven Spielberg, David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg: “More Money Than God, Inc.”

* A nickname for the region’s high-tech industry, which was being sought by a group formed by Mayor Riordan: “Hard Drive City.”

* And, finally, a new name solicited by the L.A. Trial Lawyers Assn.: “Earnest Attorneys Trying in Los Angeles.” Or EAT-L.A.

miscelLAny:

If an El Toro airport becomes a reality, I hope that officials will agree with Paul Hoagland, the winner of a column contest to rename the facility. Hoagland wanted something with star quality to rival John Wayne Airport. He proposed that El Toro be renamed, in honor of “a true aviation expert,” Dumbo International Airport.

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Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LATIMES Ext. 77083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, Times Mirror Square, L.A. 90053 and by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com.