More proof we live in nervous times:The...

More proof we live in nervous times:

The Pasadena Playhouse, which is showing “Camping With Henry and Tom,� has posted a sign in the lobby that says, “Gunshots will be used at this performance.�

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SPEAKING OF FLYING BULLETS: “I was sitting in the Zagreb, Croatia, airport, waiting for my flight, and an older couple sat next to me,� says Times reporter Tracy Wilkinson. “They were teachers from Minnesota, in their early 60s, who had come to visit their Air Force son, who was stationed with NATO peacekeeping forces in Zagreb. They told me about going to the former war zones of Croatia and looking at the damage, etc. When I said I worked for a Los Angeles newspaper, the husband said he’d been stationed in Southern California when he was in the military but had no interest in going back. Los Angeles, he said, was just too dangerous.�

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WHICH REMINDS US: There was a military seminar in San Diego several months ago that was titled “The Perils of Peacekeeping: Bosnia, Los Angeles, Rwanda, Somalia.�

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THAT EAST COAST SNOBBISHNESS: The New York Times, in a story on Hungarian discus thrower Balazs Kiss, noted that he attended USC. And when it quoted him as saying of rival Lance Deal, “I am very impressed by Lance’s job,� the newspaper reported that Kiss spoke “in his best Hungarian Valley-boy speak.�

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BEFORE MAPS TO THE STARS’ HOMES: Secret hideaways and bodyguards are the facts of life for celebrities these days. But a glance at L.A. business directories of the 1920s and 1930s shows that it wasn’t always so. Back then, you could find the home addresses of such famous names as Clark Gable, Mae West, Bela Lugosi and Roscoe Arbuckle, also known as Fatty (see accompanying).

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HE JUST WENT DOWN TO THE CORNER FOR A PACK OF CIGARETTES? Lori and Alex Levi of Pasadena wondered if they had come across an adult version of milk carton appeals. It was a blurb on the back of a sales slip that was supposed to say, “This Could Be Your Ad!� Instead, someone inadvertently gave the pitch a family touch (see excerpt).

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STAR OF STAGE, SCREEN AND GARAGE: Lately we’ve begun to notice garage sale notices that contain more than just the address and the obligatory promise of wonderful treasures. They also include a photo of the residents, as well as their names (“Bob and Deb,� or some such thing). Must be the Hollywood influence. Everyone wants to be on a marquee. Or are we being a West Coast snob?

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IF ONE DOESN’T WORK, TRY THE OTHER: Stuart Muller of Pacific Palisades notes that in the GTE Yellow Pages for West L.A., the “Marriage, Family, Child and Individual Counselors� section is followed by “Martial Arts Instruction.�

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WHAT COULD BE MORE AMERICAN? As KNBC viewers waited for the judges’ scores during the gymnastics competition the other night, they were shown another set of figures across the bottom of the TV screen: the winning Lotto numbers.

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BOB DOLE’S MOVIE PICKS: Did you see where Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole saw “Independence Day� in Century City--and said he liked it? Of course, he’s trying to separate himself from Washington, which is destroyed in the movie.

miscelLAny:

After we published an item about a widow who received a letter addressed to “Monty W. Deceased,� Ellen Rainier of South Gate received a botched piece of junk mail from an insurance company. The letter referred to her as “Ellen Living.� But Rainier wasn’t totally displeased. She notes that the mailer shaved 30 years off her age.