Plaintive Singers Croon a Universal Tune: We’re Entitled to Those Royalties

Did you notice that the lead plaintiff among the singers claiming royalties from Vivendi Universal is Peggy Lee. One of her hits, of course, was “Is That All There Is?”

No slowing down: And some people can’t bother to stop for stop signs, as the flattened one found by Alan Frisbie illustrates (see accompanying). Norma Kleiner noticed that an anonymous resident went so far as to attach a plea to a sign in Westport, Conn. Larry Stirling, meanwhile, came upon a cowboy version in Miles City, Mont.

Maybe the answer is more signs at the same corner, such as the group snapped by Katie Shiban. Alas, they were actually in the back of a truck advertising an airline that had “pulled out all the stops.”

All chocolate, all the time: The Next Stage offers such unusual bus expeditions as the Aroma Tour (citrus goods in the Produce Market and other “good smells” around the Southland), the Insomniacs Tour (an all-night jaunt) and Chocolate-Covered L.A. (stops at factories and restaurants that make the candies).

Of the Chocolate Tour, which includes See’s candy served on the tour bus, owner Marlene Gordon said: “It could be a good last hurrah before joining a gym.”

Even Gordon can’t predict all the sights, especially on the Insomniacs Tour (price: $35).

There was the man on Olive Street who was hanging from a lamp post and threatening to jump--though he was just a few feet off the ground. A nude jogger, with only a towel around his neck, ran out of his way to greet one tour bus on 9th Street. “I guess he was a true exhibitionist,” Gordon said.

On another occasion, she was serving refreshments to her customers at Union Station when a street person got in line.

After receiving a bagel and coffee, he told Gordon: “I sure do thank you, ma’am. I had no idea Union Mission was serving in Union Station.”

Pioneer Valley businesses: In the new book “Movie Love in the ‘50s,” author James Harvey writes that the late director Douglas Sirk (“Imitation of Life” and others) said his “happiest time in Hollywood” came while living in the San Fernando Valley in the 1940s.

“He and Mrs. Sirk (mostly Mrs. Sirk, he emphasized) ran first a chicken farm and then--when the chickens at last defeated them--an alfalfa farm,” Harvey writes.

I wonder if any of those victorious birds were related to the infamous Freeway Chickens who later patrolled the shoulders near the junction of 134 and 101?

miscelLAny:

The movie “The Shipping News” has a scene in which some drunken men in a fishing town destroy a boat. That’s the only explanation Hank Rosenfeld can figure for the designation he noticed in the credits: “Stunt Looter.”

Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LA-TIMES, 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.