Keeping Abreast of Certain Myths
Did a passenger on an L.A.-to-San Francisco flight encounter swelling in her inflatable bra?
That story has been popping up lately, so the San Fernando Valley Folklore Society did some research.
The society, pointing out the lack of verifiable details, doubted the veracity of the tale.
But folklore society co-founder Barbara Mikkelson noted that “in light of the breast implant controversies and accidents over the past 10 years,” it’s interesting that the story dates back to at least the 1950s when it appeared in a Herb Caen column in San Francisco.
Mikkelson wrote on the group’s Web site (snopes.com) that a variation of the yarn resurfaced in a 1988 episode of TV’s “Delta Burke,” when a woman is cautioned against receiving silicone implants. “A Pan Am stewardess I know had hers done,” Burke says, “and they exploded on takeoff.”
Mikkelson added that a more recent variation “has the collagen-enhanced lips of either Barbara Hershey or Cindy Crawford exploding on an airplane.”
MOVING ON TO MALE APPAREL: KNX radio newsman Ron Fineman heard a fashion reporter at the Screen Actors Guild Awards ask actor Jack Lemmon, “Who are you wearing?”
Lemmon--to his credit--didn’t realize it was a reference to his tux maker.
Fineman overheard someone else grumble, “L.A. is the only place where it can be grammatically correct to ask WHO you are wearing.”
CRYSTAL BALL-GAZER ROW? An anonymous reader snapped a shot of an intersection that sounds other-worldly (see photo).
MUST BE AN HMO SPECIALTY: A listing for a specialty of “infernal” medicine on a flier caught the eye of Damon Swank of Rancho Palos Verdes. (see accompanying).
THANKS FOR THE WARNING: Warren Davidson of Rancho Palos Verdes received a note from the local trash collector, which advised of a change in service and apologized in case it actually improved the operation (see accompanying).
READ A GOOD VANITY PLATE LATELY? Spending as much time as I do on the freeway, I’m constantly studying the personalized placards of drivers, trying to unravel their meanings (and avoid going stir-crazy in the congestion). Here are the stories behind a few that have been displayed on the KNX1070.com Web site:
* H20UUP2: Mike Bray, Huntington Beach (What are you up to?)
* XISBUFF: Thomas Higgins, Lakeside (Tennis buff--X being the Roman numeral for 10)
* LTTRBOX: Jane Wilson, Carlsbad (“I am constantly hauling my four kids--my litter--around in my boxy-looking minivan.”)
* SKYSCUM, Len Zak, Torrance: (“This is the name of a skydiving team that jumps at the Perris Valley Paracenter . . . I have been a Sky Scum member for 10 years.”)
* HUCARIZ: Dana Jeitler, Torrance (“Who cares? Don’t take life so seriously.”)
SCHOOL DAZE: My solution for the problem regarding the abortive Belmont Learning Complex construction project: Transform the L.A. Unified School District headquarters near the Civic Center into Belmont. Convert the Belmont project site into school district headquarters.
miscelLAny:
Remember those Albertsons market ads touting its “marriage” to Lucky’s? Columnist Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Examiner wonders if, in light of the passage of Prop. 22, that marriage will no longer be recognized in California. It’s a same-sacks relationship, he explained.
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Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LATIMES, Ext. 77083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, Times Mirror Square, L.A. 90053 and by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com.
