Allen’s ‘Sleeper’ Held Grains of Truth on Fiber

The recent report that fiber supplements may not help stave off disease and may, in fact, lead to the development of polyps got me to thinking about the 1973 Woody Allen movie “Sleeper.”

Especially the scene where Allen, unfrozen after 200 years in 2173, baffles a scientist by requesting a meal of wheat germ, organic honey and tiger’s milk.

Another scientist informs his colleague about the health food theories of the 20th century.

“You mean there was no deep fat?” responds the baffled scientist. “No steak or cream pies or hot fudge?”

“Those were thought to be unhealthy,” says the second scientist. “Precisely the opposite of what we now know to be true.”

GOP PLEDGE: Elementary school teacher Terri Lau of Toluca Lake wonders if she now has to give equal time to the Democrats. During the morning flag salute in her classroom, she heard a loud voice in the back say, “ . . . and to the Republicans, for which it stands . . . “

LOW FINANCE: Thomas Brandlin sent along a letter (see accompanying) announcing the credit line he was given by Providian National Bank. “It is interesting that Providian sent me this letter because I withdrew my application for a card over three weeks ago and am still waiting for the refund of the annual fee,” Brandlin said.

EXTRA HOT PROPERTIES: No telling what kind of furnishings are in the special room in a 1919 house that P.A. Smith of Glendora read about (see accompanying). Then there’s the Spanish-style house in Santa Monica (see accompanying)--please, don’t cause a scene by rejecting it!

MEMORIES: Anaheim may miss the Rams, but former NFL star Tim Green doesn’t miss Anaheim.

The city, in fact, made his list of the 10 worst places to play. “It was a baseball stadium,” he wrote. “The sun always shined. The crowds were anemic. Smog hung in the air like the must of an attic. Once the plumbing backed up during the game, and afterward there was six inches of raw sewage on the locker room floor.”

I almost hesitate to add that the title of Green’s book was “The Dark Side of the Game.”

MYNA MISUNDERSTANDING (THE RESTORED VERSION): Several readers cawed that I trimmed the punch line from the urban myth about the Hollywood producer who sends his mother a Myna bird for her birthday. He phones her after dinner to ask her if she liked the present and she says, “It was delicious.”

Here’s the part I left out:

“But, Mom,” the producer says, “the bird spoke 12 languages.”

Replies Mom: “Then why didn’t it say something?”

miscelLAny:

Columnist Dan Bernstein of the Riverside Press-Enterprise mentioned a crime report that told how police, searching the suspected getaway car in a bank robbery, “removed the car seats and upholstery looking for a mask and gun but did not find them. Police did find two burritos.”

Added Bernstein: “Both were loaded.”

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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, 202 W. 1st St., L.A., 90012 and by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com.