Ad Doesn’t Speak Local Language
Today’s curiosity du column is a car company’s billboard (see photo) that associates one of its speedy models with a certain freeway -- a concept that must have been dreamed up by someone in the East. A local would know that, to Southland commuters, the 5 is synonymous with slowing down, not speeding up.
More hot air: Sure, it gets a little warm in the San Fernando Valley.
But Wendell Wittler of North Hollywood says that, even so, the temperature gauge at Van Nuys High has been throwing out some crazy numbers lately, not the least of which was a suspect reading at 8:52 one morning (see photo).
Bathroom humor: Jane Goldstein of Sierra Madre saw a sign (see photo) that prompted her to comment: “And to think, I always believed portable toilets used some sort of modern technology!”
Meanwhile, Robert Barron of Rancho Palos Verdes sent along a shot snapped by fellow traveler Errol Krem at a 19th century railroad station in the Devon area of England (see photo).
“I suspect,” Barron wrote, “that in the 1800s it was a reminder to men to button up as they left the loo. On the other hand, it may have been addressed to some Victorian cross-dressers.”
Dog daze: Now for some good news: It isn’t true that Taco Bell halted the commercials starring the wise-cracking Chihuahua because the pooch was crushed to death when it ran into the path of a dollying film camera.
Nor because the animal was turned into a frozen patty while flying in the cargo hold of a commercial airline.
The San Fernando Valley Folklore Society (snopes.com) checked into the widespread rumors and found they were just that.
The truth is that the dog, named Gidget, got the ax (so to speak) because sales were declining.
Showing true Hollywood grit, Gidget bounced back from that career setback to grab a role in the movie “Legally Blonde 2.”
“Rumors about the deaths of critters who have become pop culture icons are nothing new,” noted the society’s Barbara Mikkelson.
“For years we heard that upon completion of the series, Arnold Ziffel, the pig in the television sitcom ‘Green Acres,’ had been barbecued and served as the entree at the final cast party.”
miscelLany: I’m sure the porker wasn’t on the menu. Still, I don’t recall Arnold appearing in any subsequent TV series.
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