Postal Carrier Finds a Way Through Animal Kingdom Maze ... and Delivers

It’s easy to make fun of postal goofs, as I did the other day. But it’s even easier to forget how often the post office manages to deliver misaddressed letters to the correct destinations. Jean Beaver recalls that when she lived on Tigertail Drive in Rossmoor, she wrote to a swim school for a brochure.

And she received it, even though it was addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Tiger. On Beavertail Drive.

She has to play the whole game, every game: If you think the players are tired by the 14th inning of a baseball game, how about the organist? Dodger Stadium’s Nancy Bea Hefley was equal to the task during Thursday night’s four-hour match with the Reds.

“At the top of the 12th inning, she played, ‘12th of Never,’” reports season ticket holder Michael Horowicz. “In the middle of the 12th, with most of the fans gone, she played, ‘Alone Again, Naturally.’ She followed those with ‘Rock Around the Clock’ and ‘I Could Have Danced All Night.’ Then, in the middle of the 14th,” Horowicz said, “we had something unusual: a second seventh-inning stretch, and Nancy Bea played ‘Take Me Out to the Ballgame’ for the second time.”

By then, I would have had trouble sounding convincing while singing one lyric in the baseball song: “I don’t care if I never get back....”

Let us prey on typos and other curiosities: In still another attempt to increase this column’s audience, I’m instituting a religion section. Today’s offerings (see accompanying) are:

* A car that runs with real authority (snapped by Barbara Aspenson)

* A weird yard sale (Ann Orcutt of Fullerton)

* A place where parking is so scarce that even saints can’t march in

* And, a church where, H.J. Loether of Rancho Palos Verdes observes, “the pastor invoked the 11th commandment in order to avoid traffic problems.”

A college didn’t do its homework: I’ve read that colleges are becoming aggressive in attempts to recruit star students, but some appear to be going too far. Emily Leventhal of Long Beach recently received a letter that said: “Do the math and you’ll see that the sooner you get your master’s degree, the more extra money you can earn. So isn’t it time you got your MBA from Keller Graduate School of Management?” Responds her father, Tom: “I would love to see Emily get her master’s degree, but I think she should finish the third grade first.” Emily is 8 years old.

Speaking of strange communications: Paul Shefrin of L.A. passed along a response that his friend Alan Radin received after applying for a credit card from Capital One Bank. The bank said “we regret” that the applicant “is reported as deceased.” Which, of course, was news to Radin.

Marquee madness (cont.): Barbara Meyer writes: “If you can stand one more theatre sign ... In 1939 (I was 11), one combination made the Newark Evening News: TARZAN FINDS A SON/NAUGHTY BUT NICE.”

miscelLAny: You call yourself a caring person, but did you know that open convertibles pose special problems for cell phone addicts? Dennis Mahoney noticed a young driver “who was holding the phone to his face with his right hand and covering his ear with his left hand to shut out the freeway noise.” As for steering wheel duties in that car, you know the old expression: Leave the driving to the knees.

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Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LA-TIMES, ext. 77083; by fax at (213) 237-4712; by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, 202 W. 1st St., L.A. 90012; and by e-mail at [email protected].