The Virginian-Pilot 
                            THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT  
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Tuesday, October 22, 1996             TAG: 9610220369
SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B8   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: Compiled by Lewis Krauskopf

                                            LENGTH:  145 lines

PEOPLE [COLUMN]

Wallace and Gromit models returned after N.Y. spin The Oscar winners are no longer missing in New York. Wallace and Gromit, the 9-inch toothy plasticine man and his sidekick pooch from the British animated film ``The Wrong Trousers,'' were returned to creator Nick Park Monday after an unscripted ride in a taxi. ``I was resigned to not seeing them again,'' Park said. ``I thought, `It'll be a miracle if they do turn up.' '' Park had stashed the models and their red motorcycle and sidecar in a box that was put in the trunk of the cab. But the cab driver mistakenly drove off with the miniatures after dropping Park off at a Manhattan hotel Saturday. ``He must have thought this was a tool box,'' Park said. ``I chased him for a block in the pouring rain. I was pretty upset.'' The cabbie learned of his stowaways through media reports and took them back. ``He wouldn't take any money,'' said Arthur Sheriff, Park's publicist. ``I had set aside $500, . . . but he just wouldn't hear of it at all.'' Sheriff said the cab driver asked to remain anonymous. In ``The Wrong Trousers,'' which won an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film of 1993, the clumsy Wallace and his technologically savvy canine pal bring a sinister penguin to justice in a dizzy chase scene aboard a toy train. Wallace and Gromit are a national sensation in Britain, where they appear on T-shirts, greeting cards and in books. The British media took the pair's temporary disappearance very seriously. The mass-selling Sun tabloid ran the story today on Page 1 under the headline ``Lost in N.Y.'' PETA's fake ad fools angry magazine A recent advertiser in The New Yorker magazine got a little more creative than the magazine would have liked. In the Oct. 14 issue, an ad appeared for something calling itself ``Paul's Furs'' and offering a free fur video. ``Before you buy, let us show you our lively collection of fox, mink and raccoon,'' it said. ``You'll be astounded and could save thousands.'' But the Paul of Paul's Furs is former Beatle Paul McCartney and the advertiser is not a quaint New London, Conn., fur retailer, as the magazine was told when the ad was placed. Instead, it is actually the animal-rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and the video graphically depicts how, according to McCartney and PETA, animals are cruelly slaughtered in the name of fashion. The thousands in savings refers to animals' lives, not a savings for fur buyers. The New Yorker is not at all pleased about being duped. ``We would not have run an intentionally misleading ad,'' said Maurie Perl, the magazine's vice president for public relations. ``We don't deceive our readers. ``Our question here is why does PETA feel a need to do misleading advertising,'' Perl asked. ``Don't they feel that their message is legitimate?'' Dan Mathews, Norfolk-based PETA's director of campaigns, stands behind the tactic. ``It may seem deceptive, but it is an important reality check for people who turn a blind eye to animal suffering,'' he said. The video shows beavers drowning under water traps, minks having their necks broken and foxes being electrocuted. It was sent to 11 unsuspecting consumers who responded to the ad. The deception was legitimate because, Mathews said, the fur industry deceives consumers about the treatment of animals used to make furs. ``I think it is no more misleading than fur industry advertising portraying fur as this glamorous fabric. We do whatever it takes to get the information out to people,'' he said. ``Sure we sometimes play pranks to get people's attention.'' For his part, McCartney is quoted in a PETA news release saying, ``Prospective customers will see who pays the ultimate price for fur: the animals.'' Nobody better mess with me, oh except you, Mr. Butkus Rotund country star Johnny Russell is notorious for staying on stage longer than scheduled at the Grand Ole Opry and bragging that there ``ain't nobody big enough to get me off.'' He's been proved wrong. As soon as he delivered that line at Saturday night's live radio show in Nashville, Tenn., former linebacker Dick Butkus of the Chicago Bears walked up and marched the singer-songwriter off the stage, drawing laughter from the audience. Cult comedy show loses one of its human stars ``Mystery Science Theater 3000'' is losing the nasty scientist who inflicts awful films on hapless host Mike Nelson and his two sharp-tongued robots. Trace Beaulieu, who played the evil scientist Forrester on the offbeat comedy, is shedding his lab coat to work on a project with Event Comics and DreamWorks in Los Angeles. Beaulieu, 38, leaves behind a seven-year legacy that made the Sci-Fi Channel's MST3K a cult hit by forcing Nelson and two robots to sit through the awful flicks and pepper them with clever put-downs. ``It's fun to watch the shows now and go, `I don't remember that. Why am I wearing those pantyhose?' '' Beaulieu says in the Saturday issue of TV Guide. Profits from Newman's foods will feed the environment Paul Newman is giving $500,000 of his food profits to the environment. Newman, owner of the Westport, Conn.-based company ``Newman's Own,'' which makes popcorn, spaghetti sauce, salad dressing and other food bearing his name, has given the money to the Nature Conservancy's Connecticut chapter in Essex. Newman has donated more than $68 million of Newman's Own profits to charity since founding the company in 1982. This latest donation is the second-largest single contribution the company has made to charity, said chapter chairman Anthony P. Grassi. The organization will use the money to acquire tidelands along the Connecticut River to protect them from development. TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS Actor Jonathan William Lipnicki (``The Jeff Foxworthy Show'') is 7. Actor Michael Fishman (``Roseanne'') is 16. Rock musician Cris Kirkwood of the Meat Puppets is 36. Actor Jeff Goldblum is 44. Actress Catherine Deneuve is 53. Actress Annette Funicello is 54. Actor Tony Roberts is 57. Actor Derek Jacobi is 58. Actor Christopher Lloyd is 58. Sen. John Chafee, R-R.I., is 74. Actress Joan Fontaine is 79. ILLUSTRATION: Color ASSOCIATED PRESS photo

British animation stars, Wallace and Gromit, were returned to

creator Nick Park after an unexpected ride in a New York City taxi.

FILE [ART

This ad was run in the Oct. 14 issue of The New Yorker magazine,

which was told it was getting an ad from a retailer in New London,

Conn.

Color Photo

Paul Newman

KEYWORDS: PETA FURS by CNB