For a Hollywood Extra, Acting Can Be a Snooze of a Career

Now for the not-so-

glamorous side of Hollywood. A student in Adrienne Omansky’s free acting class for seniors found a job as an extra in the movie “Ali.”

He reported to a warehouse in the San Fernando Valley that had been converted into a boxing arena. Designated a grade C extra, the lowest form, he sat in the back of the arena amid rows of seats that also contained cardboard cutouts of people.

He blended in so well that one day, when the cast broke for lunch, no one noticed that he was asleep among the cutouts--until he fell out of his chair.

He was unhurt, by the way. There was no need to summon the ringside physician.

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ALL-INCLUSIVE: “Here’s a picture from All Saints Church in Sin Valley,” wrote a mischievous Paul Rutan of Tujunga (see photo).

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MORE NEWS FOR SINNERS: Bettina Hall of Capistrano Beach noticed an ad for bar glasses that would be ideal for people trying to give up drinking (see accompanying).

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ATTENTION SHIRLEY MacLAINE: A Pasadena reader found an ad for some photo equipment that has a multi-lifetime guarantee (see accompanying).

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SLURPING SOUNDS: I mentioned the battle cry of Peter the Anteater, the UC Irvine mascot, as “Zot!” but KPCC talk show host Kitty Felde writes:

“As an alumnus of UC Irvine, I should correct your version of our fight song. In my day, we sang/shouted” this rousing cheer:

Anteaters,

Anteaters,

Phludludludluh!

Felde said the latter sound was their “imitation of the tongue action of an anteater slurping up a bug.”

She added: “Now that I think of it, maybe the fight song isn’t rousing enough for national television, which may be the REAL reason UCI wasn’t invited to the March Madness party [NCAA basketball tournament].”

And I’m left to wonder how I could have misspelled “Phludludludluh” as “Zot.”

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HAPPY ENDING: In a neighborhood newspaper’s police log, Kevin Hentzen of Laguna Niguel found this heartwarming ending to a missing-car saga: “A woman found her car in a parking stall where she had originally parked it.”

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.