Dack Rambo

Matthew Weaver, a 19-year-old Santa Monica College student, is trying to put together a Christmas party for the homeless of downtown Los Angeles on Dec. 14. It's a project that Weaver concedes has met with some skepticism among his friends. Weaver's idea is to set up Christmas trees and provide a deejay and seasonal music as a backdrop for a handout of food and personal hygiene packages.

"We're talking some deaths," said Jeff Freilich. "We're talking some deaths, we're talking some disappearances, we're talking some escapes. And we're talking some happy endings." Jeff Freilich is executive producer of CBS' prime-time soap opera "Falcon Crest." Like other nighttime soap producers, Freilich has had to think about death more than usual these days. And elopements, relocations to remote islands, irreversible comas and that popular, all-purpose favorite, the mysterious disappearance.

LAPD Sgt. Pinky Meredith may have retired from his beat, but he hasn't left the Hollywood Christmas Parade. When the 54th traditional holiday parade gets under way Sunday at 6 p.m., Meredith will be there, just as he has been since 1947. Although he retired from LAPD three years ago after 36 years on the force, Meredith stayed on as security consultant for the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, which produces the annual Hollywood parade.