This Folk Tale Could Make You Scream, Too

You knew there’d be a Halloween-themed urban folk tale bouncing around the Internet. “This one is hot,” said Barbara Mikkelson of the San Fernando Valley Folklore Society, which exposes hoaxes.

She has been trying to allay the fears of students who have contacted the group about a rumor that a deranged character dressed as Bo Peep will run amok tonight on a college campus. (And this Bo Peep isn’t looking for her sheep.) In most versions it’s a Midwest campus next to a cemetery. So the story hasn’t created much of a stir at either UCLA, which is next to the Veterans Cemetery, or USC, which is next to the Coliseum, the cemetery of NFL teams.

The rumor supposedly dates back to 1968, when a psychic started it on a talk show. I won’t believe it until I read it in the Drudge Report.

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ANGELENOS ON THE ROAD: Mac Lynn Larsen of La Crescenta sent a shot taken in Forks, Wash., which I saved until today (see photo). There’s even something scary about a town named Forks, if you ask me.

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TRYING TO STAMP OUT SEX SCANDALS: Sonia Tremont sent along a puritanical warning that appeared on a daisy seeds package (see accompanying).

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HERE’S MY TWO CENTS: The most recent owners of the landmark Pasadena Playhouse, in case you didn’t hear, have filed for bankruptcy. This isn’t necessarily bad for the theater, though. What the next owners should do, in the best traditions of show biz, is exploit the situation. Schedule some productions whose titles reflect the theater’s financial problems. Shows such as:

* “Sweet Charity”

* “Threepenny Opera”

* “I Can Get It for You for Wholesale”

* “Butterflies Are Free”

And, of course:

* “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying”

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MADE FOR THE WESTSIDE: Continuing today’s edition of the Only in L.A. Gardening Guide, Leonard Gottlieb of Mar Vista reports that he bought a packet of nasturtium seeds at a Santa Monica nursery and noticed that they had been developed to thrive “under stress” (see accompanying).

Observed Gottlieb: “With the stress from the O.J. and McDougal court cases, and from Monica’s Brentwood residence, the flowers should do exceedingly well.”

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COUNTDOWN: Continuing this column’s playback of history’s 10 most famous movie lines, as voted by a group of critics, here are Nos. 7, 6 and 5:

* 7. “I could dance with you ‘til the cows come home. On second thoughts (stet), I’d rather dance with the cows until you came home.” (Groucho Marx, “Duck Soup”)

* 6. “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” (Tom Hanks, “Forrest Gump”)

* 5. “Would you be shocked if I changed into something more comfortable?” (Jean Harlow, “Hell’s Angels”). Only if it were a Bo Peep costume.

miscelLAny:

Did you see the report that businesses that depend on National Basketball Assn. teams haven’t been affected much by the players’ strike? Gee, I would have thought that with the Clippers idle, No-Doz would have had a big drop in business.