Quick Takes - Nov. 27, 2012

Broadway’s holiday feast

Most Broadway shows had a lot to be thankful for

this past Thanksgiving: Box office receipts jumped more than $6 million from the previous week.

The Broadway League, the national trade association for the Broadway industry, released data Monday that showed most shows roared back from a post-Superstorm Sandy listlessness, pulling in $27,019,880 for the week ending Sunday, far better than the $20,881,272 it earned during the seven-day period before.

The perennial No.1 show, “Wicked,” was the biggest winner, generating the highest eight-performance week in Broadway history. It saw its gross rise $692,343 to finish the week at $2,290,819.

—Associated Press

Anna Nicole’s daughter models

The 6-year-old daughter of the late Anna Nicole Smith is walking in her mother’s shoes, taking a starring role in the spring ad campaign for Guess Kids.

Guess? Inc.’s creative director, Paul Marciano, said that Dannielynn Birkhead has the “same playful spirit” that her mother would carry onto a set.

The brand hired Smith in 1992, and she appeared in its sexy denim-wear ads through 1993. She was a relative modeling unknown at the time, although earlier in 1992 she was on a Playboy magazine cover.

Smith died in 2007.

Dannielynn’s campaign also stars Peyton Edmunds, the daughter of music industry veteran Babyface. The ads will start appearing in magazines, on billboards and on buses in January.

—Associated Press

Amy Winehouse play is canceled

A play about Amy Winehouse that was to premiere in Denmark in January has been canceled after the late British singer’s family blocked its use of her music and photos.

Winehouse spokesman Chris Goodman said Monday that the family had never granted the theater company permission to use the singer’s materials.

The play “Amy” was written by 11 Danish playwrights and was to have opened on Jan. 30 in a 220-seat theater in Copenhagen. It was based on interviews, concerts, Winehouse’s letters and newspaper articles.

Winehouse, known for her beehive hairdo, died from alcohol poisoning in July last year at age 27.

—Associated Press

Actor asks that you not watch

Angus T. Jones, the “Half Man” part of “Two and a Half Men,” has managed to keep a fairly low profile during the CBS sitcom’s 10 seasons on the air. But now the 19-year-old actor has become the latest source of controversy for the series, urging people not to watch it.

In a testimonial video recorded for the Christian-themed website Forerunner Chronicles, Jones said, “I’m on ‘Two and a Half Men,’ and I don’t want to be on it. Please stop watching it; please stop filling your head with filth.”

“People say it’s just entertainment,” Jones said. “Do some research on the effects of television and your brain, and I promise you you’ll have a decision to make when it comes to the television.”

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Jones received a pay bump to $350,000 per episode when he signed a one-year contract for the show’s 10th season in May.

Neither Warner Bros. Television nor CBS released a comment on the video. But a spokesman for the network said production was proceeding as usual and noted that Jones’ character, Jake Harper, is not in every episode this season, having joined the Army.

—Patrick Kevin Day

Rare camera sale tops $2 million

A camera used by a photographer who documented the life of artist Pablo Picasso has sold for a world record price of $2.19 million, an Austrian photo gallery says.

The Westlicht gallery said Monday that the Leica M3D belonged to David Douglas Duncan, a 96-year-old former photographer for Life magazine who was a close friend of Picasso and published hundreds of exclusive photos of him.

Manufactured in 1955, the camera is one of four ever made, and the price is a world record for a commercially produced camera.

—Associated Press

Services set for Larry Hagman

“Dallas” star Larry Hagman will be remembered this week during private, invitation-only services in Dallas and Los Angeles.

The television actor known for his roles as slick oilman J.R. Ewing on “Dallas” and Maj. Tony Nelson on “I Dream of Jeannie” died Friday of complications from cancer. He was 81.

Hagman’s personal manager, John Castonia, said Monday that the memorial services will celebrate the Fort Worth native’s life. He declined to provide details.

Meanwhile, the company that operates Southfork Ranch in Parker, Texas, the setting of the Ewing family home on “Dallas,” said it would hold a public memorial for Hagman on Sunday.

—Associated Press