Readers Derailed by X-Rated Error
Talk about a company skateboarding on thin ice.
Nick Stein, 18, subscribes to Big Brother, a magazine for skateboarders, but he didn’t receive the June issue on time. Instead, a porno publication was sent to his home in Pacific Palisades.
Larry Flynt Publications, which publishes Big Brother, said it was a mistake and apologized for the “grievous error.”
“Dear Big Brother Subscriber and Parents,” began a follow-up form letter. “An error occurred at our printer whereby the wrong publication was mailed in place of the Big Brother June issue. The magazine mailed in error was an adult publication and should be destroyed immediately.”
Stein’s father had already taken care of the destroying part.
SCORING HIGH ON THE LAUGH METER: Don’t assume the Lakers are the only pro basketball team in L.A. receiving national exposure these days. In the movie “Love and Basketball,” one character’s father plays for the lowly Clippers. “Last time they won, Dr. J. was a nurse,” wisecracks one fan.
THE VERY IDEA: With Mother’s Day so close, I was shocked to find out about a disrespectful sign, snapped by Ray Desbrow of Alhambra (see photo).
HAVE YOUR CAKE BUT. . . . Among the sporting memorabilia sold at the telephone, mail and fax auction of Leland’s of New York the other day:
* A Heisman Trophy awarded to USC running back Charles White in 1979 ($184,000).
* A piece of cake from the wedding of Joe DiMaggio and his first wife, actress Dorothy Arnold, in 1941 ($1,742). The irreverent catalog described the 59-year-old slice as “chocolate with vanilla petrified icing. . . . Sounds like something out of a Seinfeld episode.” (See accompanying).
And, perhaps the most unusual item:
* “Champ Prophylactics, an unopened pack of four from this 1950s black market product that shows a boisterous Ted Williams swinging for the fences” ($994). The catalog adds that “Ted was not paid for use of his image for this, but to this day still gets a chuckle when he sees one.”
The last item, by the way, came from the collection of Charlie Sheen, actor, baseball fan and former client of Heidi Fleiss. This is not a joke.
CELL MADNESS: I witnessed it at the corner of Spring Street and Bellflower Boulevard in Long Beach: A guy stopped at a red light spotted a buddy in the next lane. Did he honk? No, he called him up on his cell phone to say hello.
PLENTY OF ROOM FOR THE IN-LAWS: Charlotte Poe found a “cosmetic fixer” advertised in Santa Barbara. And judging from the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, it would require a heckuva lot of fixing (see accompanying).
MILLIONAIRES AND REGIS ARE ON EVERYONE’S MIND: Evelyn Hill of Malibu writes: “While in the elevator on the way to keep an appointment with his doctor at Cedars Sinai Medical Center, my husband asked me what floor button to push. ‘Four, I think,’ I answered. ‘Is this your final answer?’ he asked. ‘Final answer!’ I said.
Without missing a beat, a stranger standing next to us asked, ‘How confident are you?”’
Alas, Hill confessed: “There wasn’t time left to use my lifelines.”
miscelLAny:
You wouldn’t ordinarily expect a radio commercial for a hospital to begin with someone saying, “I don’t get heart attacks--I give ‘em!” But that’s the opening of a Centinela Hospital spot by none other than former Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda, who goes on to admit that he did in fact get a heart attack a few years ago.
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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.