Japanese money has finally arrived in Tinseltown. After months of rumors that Sony might buy MCA, parent company of Universal, JVC/Victor Co. has become the first to get its foot in the movie industry door.
JVC put a reported $100 million behind a brand new studio, Largo Entertainment, to be headed by ex-20th Century Fox president Lawrence Gordon.Gordon will own half of the new company, but JVC puts up all the cash.
-Labor troubles continue to darken Las Vegas marquees. George Carlin is the latest big name refusing to cross Musicians' Union picket lines. Carlin canceled an eight-night stand. Others who've walked include Dean Martin, Rodney Dangerfield, Burt Bacharach, Dionne Warwick, Connie Francis, Sammy Davis Jr. and Jerry Lewis.
Two of the results: Bally's Celebrity Showroom is currently closed, while Tropicana's famed Folies Bergere goes on with canned music.
-Musicians may respect Dangerfield for his stand, but he claims in court that he can't get any respect from Caesar's Palace and its lawyers.
Dangerfield, who is suing the hotel for $225,000 over a steambath incident in which his eyes were allegedly burned, got nowhere in a recent settlement conference. The comic claims the accident in a steambath adjacent to his dressing room forced him to cancel three shows last March.
The hotel shows absolutely no respect for Dangerfield in its countersuit, calling him a "malingerer" and a "hypochondriac."
-Mississippi Gov. Ray Mabus saw Orion's upcoming "Heart of Dixie" about the civil rights struggle and the first black student on the Ole Miss campus - and he loves the flick. Mabus asked the producers to premiere the Ally Sheedy-Francesca Roberts picture in Oxford, Miss., and they'll do it.
-An upcoming ABC-TV version of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's "The Final Days" apparently will be far from the final exposure of ex-President Nixon's troubles. The TV show's star, Lane Smith, is considering repeating the role on Broadway, as Woodward-Bernstein brainstorm a legitimate theater version.
-Did "Parenthood" induce parenthood? Leeze Gibbons of "Entertainment Tonight" took in the flick on the day her baby was due. Midway through, contractions began. Just after the picture ended, Gibbons gave birth to an 8-pound, 8-ounce girl.
Said her publicist, "She stayed and watched the whole thing. What a trouper!" The baby's name is Jordan Alexandra, the first child for Gibbons, 32, and husband Chris Quinten, a 32-year-old British actor.
-Real estate beat: Joan Rivers has sold her Bel-Air mansion to producer Ted Field, who also is buying Michael Landon's Malibu place.