FIRST OFF . . .

Thirty Academy Awards show tickets set aside for executives of 20th Century Fox were apparently stolen from the academy Tuesday by a man posing as a Fox messenger. Academy spokesman Bruce Davis said the tickets are numbered so anyone showing up with stolen tickets at tonight’s show will be stopped. Meanwhile, ticket brokers in Los Angeles were competing openly for the invitation-only tickets and selling them to outsiders for as much as $2,000 each. Ads in local newspapers have promised “top $$$” and confidentiality to ticket holders, and apparently, there have been willing sellers. A representative for Good Time Tickets said Tuesday afternoon that there were Oscar show tickets available in all sections of the Shrine Auditorium, with prices ranging from $1,000 for a pair of seats in the balcony to $4,000 for two in the choice orchestra section, where most of the nominees will be seated. Davis said ticket selling has been “an ongoing irritant” for the academy and added that the academy’s policy is to ban anyone caught marketing their tickets from future shows.