Defendants Were Just Clowning Around

Sunshine the Clown left a message on my phone machine--and it wasn’t a happy one. Seems she was ticketed for working alongside another clown on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica. Her violation? The law says that street performers must be 60 feet apart.

“The city says street performers are taking up too much space,” said a supporter, activist Jerry Rubin. “But that’s why she was working with another clown--to save space.”

Sunshine goes to court Monday.

Her message said:

I’m the clown that does everything in rhyme, it’s true/

And I’m gonna be holding a news conference too.

(Well, Sunshine, good luck to you.)

RUBS HER THE WRONG WAY: Margaret Brandt of Long Beach purchased a loofah sponge and says she’s glad she read the small print because, “I’ve saved myself some pain” (see accompanying).

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THE REASON SO MANY FILMS GO INTO THE TOILET? Scott Dewees of West Hollywood sent along a snapshot from a film location that shows either an awkward placement of signs or a commentary on the work being turned out by directors (see photo).

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THIS IS NOT AN ANIMAL RIGHTS ISSUE: You couldn’t have blamed Jason Hill for being reluctant to open his shopping bag after reading his sales receipt (see accompanying). Actually, the circled portion was an abbreviation for sheepherders bread.

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ENGLAND’S OLD BLUE EYES: Harpers magazine quotes a stunning lecture at a New York academic conference on Frank Sinatra (no joke) that traced how the “personal and professional lives” of Sinatra and author Charles Dickens “followed a similar pattern that is woven with extraordinary coincidences.”

Speaker Patricia Vinci pointed out that the two men had blue eyes and similar builds, both had fathers who took them into pubs, both wanted to be actors, both wore pinky rings and both were great performers (Dickens was a hit reading his books on stage).

What’s more, Vinci said that audiences “swooned when Dickens read the scene in ‘Oliver Twist’ in which Bill Sikes kills Nancy,” just as 100 years later, “audiences swooned when Sinatra sang about ‘Nancy!’ ”

Finally, when both men were in their 40s, they fell in love with teenage actresses. And--get this--Sinatra’s sweetheart, actress Mia Farrow, called him “Charlie.”

On the other hand, I would point out that Sunshine the Clown and Sinatra both performed in rhyme.

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WHICH REMINDS ME: I tried to talk him out of it for his own good, but Paul Ecker of Diamond Bar insists on being identified as the reader who last year rhymed Los Angeles with banjo-less.

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CELEBRITY PAVEMENT: Don’t know if you’ve heard, but a state Senate committee has approved a bill to name the junction of the Golden State and Ventura freeways after a famous cowboy singer. Which seems appropriate. When it becomes law, many commuters will be able to ride off into the sunset on the Gene Autry Memorial Interchange. And maybe break into a few bars of Autry’s signature song, “Back in the SigAlert Again.”

SAY. . . :Ever stop to think that Autry (“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”) and Dickens (“A Christmas Carol”) both had holiday hits? Talk about your similar lives. . . .

miscelLAny:

An Inglewood memorabilia store is selling T-shirts bearing the likeness of Dennis Rodman in a Laker jersey. They’re marked down to $9.99 from $17.99. Quite a drop for a player for whom the Lakers once had great expectations.

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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.