IT’S NIXON AGAIN: Richard Nixon is making...

IT’S NIXON AGAIN: Richard Nixon is making news among stamp collectors. . . . A new Christies catalog depicts a misprint of last year’s stamp of the late president, with his name inverted and the perforation bisecting his head. Such printing errors are rare--and quite valuable--and the Nixon stamp is a doozy: “The most spectacular major error invert this country has yet seen,” says noted stamp expert Ken Lawrence. No word yet, he says, on precisely how many of the stamps exist.

TOM’S PEOPLE: There’s a reward coming up for merchants in downtown Orange who let a Hollywood production company convert their stores into a ‘60s look last month for an upcoming Tom Hanks movie. They’ll be guests at a private screening being planned for this fall of the Hanks movie, “That Thing You Do.” . . . Some of the street closures that hurt business during the 12-day shoot--at Christmas shopping time--went on longer than expected. The problem was controlling the large crowd of Hanks fans who showed up to watch.

BUGS & OSCAR: Corona del Mar animator Chuck Jones calls it “shockingly wonderful” that he’s been voted an honorary Oscar by the Academy Awards people. . . . Jones, 83 and still working, says he’ll proudly accept on behalf of all five original directors of the first cartoon unit at Warner Bros. That’s where Jones created Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd. . . . Says Jones: “We were truly all for one, one for all.”

STEAMING ISSUE: Even a good tamale can be hazardous to your health, county officials are warning. Robert E. Merryman, director of the county’s environmental health division, says to beware of some of those new galvanized tamale steamers. . . . Some have too much zinc or lead. If the food in them is left on the rack only--as intended--it’s OK, Merryman says. It’s when the food is immersed in the steaming water that contamination can occur--and lead to vomiting or nausea. . . . Merryman invites people to call his office--(714) 667-3600--with kitchen health questions.