Sneaks ’93 : Where Does an 8-Ton Dinosaur* Sit at Morton’s? (You Guessed It . . . A Specially Reinforced Power Table)

What has “Jurassic Park,” the movie , wrought for the publishers of Dino Times? An expected increase in circulation from 3,000 kid subscribers to perhaps half a million. What has the upcoming movie meant for the recent discovery in China of the world’s oldest armored dinosaur? It will take its name-- Jurassosaurus nedegoapeferkimorum --from the actors in the film. What will it mean to dinosaur museums all over the country? Lines longer than the unpronounceable species-genus designation in the previous sentence.

The summer arrival of Amblin Entertainment/Universal Picture’s “Jurassic Park” is causing rumblings throughout the paleontology community. Scientists who’ve lived and breathed the musty smell of old bones are now drooling at the chance to become part of the promotional campaign to hype the film--and their profession.

Once director Steven Spielberg hired the Dinosaur Society--on whose board “Jurassic Park” author Michael Crichton sits--as scientific consultant to the film, excitement spread fast in paleontology circles that perhaps the film could prove a boon to this “under-appreciated, under-funded” group of scientists, said Don Lessen, editor of Dino Times, which is published by the nonprofit society.

Once “Jurassic Park” was announced, Lessen, for one, didn’t wait around for the Amblin marketing folks to call. He sent them copies of Dino Times with the idea a special “Jurassic Park” edition might be distributed to moviegoers at theaters.

“I never expected to hear back from them,” Lessen said during a recent interview while in town from New Bedford, Mass., for meetings with Amblin marketing people. “Steven took a special liking to the publication. Dinosaurs get commercialized all the time, it’s nice to see the science behind them be acknowledged.”

The director took such a liking to “Dino Don”--Lessen’s newspaper pen name--he invited him to visit the otherwise closed set and agreed to review a prototype special edition Dino Times that would feature a Q&A; with the kid stars, an interview with Spielberg, movie stills and a “Dino Don” column about what it was like watching the filming.

Spielberg’s enthusiasm for the prehistoric beasts and the people who study them also resulted in a $25,000 donation to the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing.

The Dinosaur Society suggested it, knowing how the scientific community of bone-studiers there was hard up for money. In exchange, the Chinese scientists named the 170-million-year-old dinosaur unearthed in northwest China with this Spielbergian moniker: Jurassosaurus nedegoapeferkimorum --”nedegoapeferkimorum” comprising the surname letters of cast members Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Bob Peck, Martin Ferrero, Ariana Richards, Wayne Knight and Joseph Mazzello--followed by the Latin orum . (Spielberg left his initials out.)

Paleontologists working in museums around the country are trying to persuade Amblin and Spielberg to allow some “Jurassic Park” props to be part of a traveling dinosaur exhibit they’d mount to coincide with the movie’s opening in June. The L.A. County Museum of Natural History, for one, is in discussions with Amblin.

Up until now, Spielberg has been reluctant to allow anyone other than the filmmakers to see the movie’s robotic rubber-and-foam-over-wire-mesh Tyrannosaurus Rexes and velociraptors (by model maker Stan Winston.)

Amblin marketing consultant Marvin Levy said loans of the dinosaurs is iffy, but scale models, sketches and certain other props may be made available.

Paleontologists are hopeful benefit premieres can be held for museums to raise money for their science, but Levy said none is planned by Amblin at this point.

The rotunda of the Museum of Natural History in New York will be the site of one party. Top MCA-Universal brass including president Sid Sheinberg, Universal Pictures Chairman Tom Pollock, Spielberg and cast members will be schmoozing with 1,000-plus merchandisers Feb. 10 at the annual Toy Fair to add glitz to the planned merchandising campaign.

Few details were available. Unless you’re with Kenner Toys--or any of the 40 other licensees making miniature prehistoric animals, clothes, video games, etc.--tickets are very hard to come by. *Tyrannosaurus Rex, like our cover boy, was known to weigh between six and 10 tons, according to the Encyclopaedia Brittanica.