Political Intrigue on ‘Dobie Gillis’ Set

News flash: Energy conservation, of course, was on people’s minds long before the current electricity crisis. State Sen. Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) recalled a letter she received from a constituent last winter.

“This woman thought all menopausal women should stop taking their hormonal therapy,” Kuehl said, “because then they would have hot flashes and wouldn’t have to turn on the heat.”

Zoo revolt: In her former life, Kuehl was a comedic actress who played love-struck Zelda on TV’s “The Many Lives of Dobie Gillis.” I got to talking with her about how much Universal Studios has changed since she was under contract there in the early 1960s.

Tourists could take a tram tour back then, but there was no theme park. If a show was being shot, she said, the actors “were the entertainment.”

The performers were supposed to stop what they were doing and wave. “It was very disruptive,” Kuehl said.

One day the actors decided to get even.

“We all dressed up in ape suits and sprang out” at a tram, she said.

Alas, the ploy proved counterproductive. “Those suits were very hot,” she explained. “And the tourists loved it.”

Good looks lose at the polling place: Speaking of “Dobie Gillis,” Kuehl became a regular on the series after the departure of another cast member who is now active in politics: Warren Beatty.

Some Democrats have urged Beatty to seek office. Actually, he has--at least, his character, snobby rich kid Milton Armitage, ran against Dobie for junior class president in one episode. Armitage lost, muttering afterward: “Washed up at 17.”

I asked Kuehl if she’d ever heard Beatty talk about his fictional political career. She said no, adding that he seemed “somewhat sensitive” about the “Dobie Gillis” phase of his career.

Unclear on the concept: Today, we share these contradictory items with you (see accompanying), including:

* A couple of structures that sure look like doors (submitted by Richard and Sharon Kobayashi of Orange).

* A not-so-hands-free fan (Darryl Snyder of Northridge).

* A puzzling shoe offer (Betsy Emanuel and Hal Bryman). Bryman wondered which shoes he was

entitled to, “the shoes that don’t fit or the ones they don’t have?”

Dot’s the truth: That puncturer of myths, the San Fernando Valley Folklore Society, to be found at https://www.snopes.com, is taking aim at the story that Caltrans employee Elbert Botts became rich from his famous invention.

You know, Botts dots, those raised-lane markers, millions of which line the roads of California. Actually, the Folklore Society points out, Botts, who died in 1962, was just a diligent chemist “who worked a 9-to-5 job.” No truth to the rumor that “he sold his idea to Caltrans” and shrewdly insisted “on payment of a small royalty per dot installed.”

Well, I hope Botts was at least given a souvenir dot.

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miscelLAny: A couple of readers told me about a curious colonoscopy ad on the radio, and I finally heard the blurb myself. The seemingly serious ad is narrated by a guy who calls himself “Benjamin Dover.” Get it? Ben Dover. An, uh, inside joke?