Quick Takes: Dummies crash the Smithsonian

QUICK TAKES

Dummies crash museum

The crash-test dummies who promoted auto safety for 25 years in public service TV ads are headed to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration donated auto safety objects to the museum Wednesday, including a three-point safety belt from a 1961 Volvo and an energy-absorbing steering column from a 1967 Chevrolet.

The collection includes several costumes and “severed limbs” from Vince and Larry, the famous crash-test dummies. Their popularity inspired toy lines, cartoons and even a video game.

—Associated Press

Hoffman will press his ‘Luck’

Dustin Hoffman is going to try his “Luck” in the TV arena.

HBO announced Wednesday it is picking up the new drama series “Luck,” starring the Academy Award-winning star of “Rain Man,” “Kramer vs. Kramer,” “All the President’s Men” and “The Graduate.”

The pilot — written by David Milch and directed by Michael Mann — takes a look at the horse racing world’s owners, gamblers, jockeys and gaming industry players.

Production on the series begins this fall at Santa Anita Park and other Southland locales.

—Yvonne Villarreal

NBC confirms Morgan deal

During an appearance Wednesday morning on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” NBC Universal Chief Executive Jeff Zucker confirmed reports that the network is allowing “America’s Got Talent” judge Piers Morgan to pursue Larry King’s job on CNN.

Calling Morgan “an incredibly important talent,” Zucker said NBC has signed the British personality to stay on as a judge of the reality competition for three more years.

Morgan has emerged as the top choice of CNN executives to succeed King, who announced last month that he will be stepping down from his nightly show after a quarter-century on the air.

—Matea Gold

Seems Da Vinci painted it alone

A restoration project for Leonardo da Vinci’s “Virgin of the Rocks” has revealed new details and suggest the Renaissance artist may have painted all the picture himself, instead of with his assistants as previously thought, a London gallery said Wednesday.

The 18-month conservation project involved removing much of some badly degraded varnish that was applied to the painting in the late 1940s, enabling experts to take a much closer look at the picture’s brush strokes and styles, the National Gallery said.

The cleaning revealed the painting’s full tonal range, especially in the darker areas, and resulted in a clearer sense of how the artist intended for space to recede through the rocky landscape, the gallery said.

It also affirmed that Leonardo likely painted the entire picture himself and intended for it to be unfinished.

In the past, scholars believed the different levels of finish in “Virgin of the Rocks” showed that Leonardo was helped by assistants.

The painting dates from about 1491 to 1508 and is a later version of one on display in the Louvre in Paris.

—Associated Press

Brubeck set to play Newport

Pianist Dave Brubeck is scheduled to appear at the Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island next month.

Brubeck, who turns 90 in December, played at the first festival in Newport in 1954, and also performed at the 50th anniversary show in 2004.

He most recently played at the 2009 festival. Organizers said Wednesday that he will perform Aug. 8 alongside the Wynton Marsalis Quintet.

—Associated Press

Hockey comedy to open festival

The Toronto International Film Festival will kick off its 35th edition with “Score: A Hockey Musical,” a sports-themed comedy that returns the festival to its tradition of opening with a Canadian-made film.

The film, announced Wednesday as the opening screening for a festival that serves as the unofficial launch of Oscar awards season, is one of hundreds to be screened at this year’s festival, running Sept. 9-19.

The selection of “Score” follows criticism last year for the opening-night choice of British film “Creation,” a departure from past practice of opening with a Canadian film.

As if to try to make up for the controversy, “Score” promises to drip with Canadiana. It features cameo appearances by several Canadian celebrities, including the father of hockey great Wayne Gretzky, and the movie focuses on a sport often described as a religion in the northern country.

Directed by Canada’s Michael McGowan and starring Australian 1980s pop icon Olivia Newton-John, the film tells the story of a teenage hockey phenomenon who goes from obscurity to fame overnight, but soon finds that success comes with a price.

—Reuters