Film Had No Plot but Followed a Script

Even the rejected entries for Smogdance, Pomona’s offbeat film festival, are interesting, spokesman Dan Dobrin says. His all-time favorite was a “not-shown delight [of last year] called ‘Get a Job,’ by Javier Casillas. It consisted entirely of a shot of a job listing on a bulletin board, followed by footage of the application itself being filled out in ink and handed in. Had we shown it, Andy Warhol would be beaming in his grave.”

MOO ON SMOGDANCE: This year, “Animals and Plants” are one of the three categories of Smogdance, which screens Nov. 13 and 14 at the DA Center for the Arts. Dobrin said several of the films feature “scary encounters with owls and cows.”

HE’S NO. 1 IN EVERYBODY’S BOOK: I ran into Laguna Beach’s self-appointed greeter and asked him how he was.

“Perfect,” he responded. “Just like you.”

While the 68-year-old white-bearded poet was only telling me something I had secretly believed, I learned that is how he has addressed passersby on Pacific Coast Highway for the last two decades.

His name is Number One unnamed Archer--his legal name. But don’t get the idea that he took this moniker as an affectation (see accompanying).

“My parents gave it to me,” he said. “They didn’t expect twins.”

Number One’s twin was naturally named Number Two.

“That’s because he was born after me,” explained Number One.

I had sought out the greeter because I wanted to find out how he was going to welcome the 2000s at the stroke of midnight Dec. 31.

“I’m going to be asleep,” he answered. “At my age I’m only out during the day.”

THIS YOUTH MOVEMENT IS GETTING OUT OF HAND: Shirley Serna pointed out that in this fast-paced world, even 10-week-old puppies are considered antiques (see accompanying).

SANTA MONICA EAST? Santa Monica College is often regarded as the Community College to the Stars, with such alumni as James Dean, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Dustin Hoffman (who recently held a fund-raiser for the school).

But Pasadena College, celebrating its 75th anniversary, has its own set of showbiz alumni. The Pasadena Star-News listed such actors as George Reeves (TV’s Superman), William Holden and Nick Nolte, not to mention director John Singleton, comic Stan Freberg, and singers Kenny Loggins and Eddie Van Halen.

Oh, yes. Another Pasadena College student was Jack Larson, who was my inspiration. He played cub reporter Jimmy Olson on TV’s “Superman.”

TENNESSEE WEST: Jody Fox of Laguna Beach sent along an excerpt of a biography of Tennessee Williams that mentioned that the playwright lived for a time in that city before World War II. Author Lyle Leverich said that Williams, then 28, worked at a bowling alley in Laguna, setting pins.

Stella!

“It was a job that suddenly ended, however, when he sustained an injury to his kneecap,” Leverich wrote. “He had failed to get out of the way of a strike quickly enough.”

miscelLAny:

Mention here of streets with such names as Thisa Way and Thata Way in Silverado Canyon brought a note from Ric Wayman of Bellingham. “Reminds me of where I grew up in Baldwin Hills,” he said. “We lived on Bradna Drive, and the streets on either side of us were Overhill and Overdale.”