Dolly

Well, well, hello, Dolly, indeed. The irrepressible matchmaker has waltzed back into Orange County in a warmly affectionate, gloriously showy revival of the Michael Stewart and Jerry Herman musical comedy at Sebastian's/West Dinner Playhouse in San Clemente. Happily, this version takes "Hello, Dolly!" back to its very human story, based on Thornton Wilder's play "The Matchmaker."

You know those big rolling camera rigs that cinematographers use? Think of a tiny version of those, and you'll get a sense of the iStabilizer Dolly . This is a mobile rig for smoothly shooting HD video with your cellphone or any device that shoots HD video, including cameras and smaller camcorders. This sturdy 8-by-5-by-3-inch device has a metal base with four roller blade-like wheels, an 11-inch-long eight-jointed arm for locking in various camera angles, and a spring-loaded cradle that grips your device and screws into a tip on the arm using the standard universal tripod thread found on popular cameras and camcorders.

In high school, "Wall-E" director Andrew Stanton played the shy Yonkers store clerk Barnaby in the Jerry Herman musical "Hello, Dolly!" Decades later, two of the show's lesser-known songs would play a pivotal part in the critically acclaimed Disney/Pixar animated hit. Though "Wall-E" does feature a new song, "Down to Earth" by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman over the end credits, the two tunes that factor in both the film's themes and plot --...

Larry L. King, a writer and playwright whose magazine article about a campaign to close down a popular bordello became the hit Broadway musical "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" and a 1982 movie starring Burt Reynolds, died Thursday. He was 83. King, who had emphysema, died at a retirement home in Washington, D.C., where he had lived for six months, said his wife, Barbara Blaine. He wrote his most famous piece, about the demise of the Chicken Ranch brothel in Texas, in 1974 for Playboy magazine.

USC's image is again hoist by its own petard. This time by the words of coaches Lori Nelson and Dolly Rouse. RACHEL BRYANT DRUTEN Palm Desert

What a disappointment it was to watch NBC's movie "Wild Texas Wind" (Sept. 23), a story of a battered woman. It should have been called "The Dolly Parton Musical Show." After numerous costume changes, Dolly intermittently tried to act between songs. This movie was about a very serious issue that needs to be addressed. Jan Jankowski, Torrance

As a practicing clown for 30 years I say in all seriousness, and with all due respect for all parties involved: To label the "Trial of the Century" a "circus" is an insult to the circus. KEN S. GOSSELIN "Dolly the Clown" San Fernando

Question: I have a 1983 Nissan Sentra station wagon with a 5-speed manual transmission. I would like to know whether I can tow it in the conventional manner with all four wheels on the ground or whether I have to use a dolly to lift the two front wheels off the ground. I have talked to several mechanics, who have given me conflicting advice. I am somewhat disabled and it would be a problem for me to use the dolly. Is it safe to not use one?--F.H.B. Answer: You could cause serious transmission damage, costing hundreds of dollars in repairs, by not using a dolly.

I found the producers' moans about the scarcity of good new plays both laughable and maddening "The Boom in L.A. Theaters: Will It Turn Out to Be a Bust?," by Barbara Isenberg, March 31). Last year, I wrote personally to each of those very producers quoted in the article asking if they would like to have first crack at a Los Angeles production of my play "The Dolly." I enclosed in my letters review blurbs, all raves. ("The Dolly" was given a stunning production last year in San Francisco by the American Conservatory Theatre and has been nominated this year as Best Original Script in the Bay Area Critics Awards.

The story begins with the sounds of lovemaking -- of life renewing itself -- while death silently pays a visit to an adjacent room. What follows in the Geffen Playhouse's West Coast premiere of "Franny's Way" is a meditation on life's precariousness. It's a gentle tale, perhaps too gentle, for it's easy to reach the end thinking: What was that, and why did I bother to watch it? Long silences and little gestures are as important to the telling of this story as any of the words set to paper.

Regular viewers of “The Colbert Report” know that when musical guests drop by the show, Stephen Colbert isn't content to sit there asking question: He likes to sing along. In recent months Colbert has performed alongside Bonnie Raitt, Placido Domingo, Toby Keith, Harry Belafonte and Elvis Costello, to name just a few. So when country legend Dolly Parton sat down for a chat with Colbert to plug her new book, “Dream More,” it was all but inevitable they'd sing a duet.

Click here to download TV listings for the week Nov. 25 - Dec. 1 in PDF format This week's TV Movies   CBS This Morning Baseball player R.A. Dickey; Larry Fink, BlackRock. (N) 7 a.m. KCBS Today Warren Buffett; Scarlett Johansson; Phillip Phillips performs. (N) 7 a.m. KNBC Good Morning America Dolly Parton performs; Donald Driver; performance by the Muppets. (N) 7 a.m. KABC Live With Kelly and Michael Helen Hunt; Bryan Adams performs.

Keith H.S. Campbell, a noted biologist who was a key member of the British team that cloned Dolly the sheep, has died. He was 58. The University of Nottingham, where Campbell worked, said he died Oct. 5 but released no other details. In 1991, Campbell began researching animal cloning at the Roslin Institute near Edinburgh, conducting experiments that led to the 1996 birth of Dolly the sheep, the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell. He was credited with an important insight that made the experiment work: Campbell realized it was necessary to make sure that the donor cell and the egg were both in the same stage of development, Ian Wilmut, the scientist who led the Roslin team, told The Times in 1997.

Amiable and upbeat though it is, the documentary "Hollywood to Dollywood" lacks a compelling reason to see it. Unless you are a Dolly Parton zealot, which its two protagonists definitely are. Twin brothers Gary and Larry Lane, originally from a small town in North Carolina but now bona-fide Hollywood residents, are devoted to Parton, both as a performer and as a nonjudgmental source of inspiration. The twins are gay, but unlike Parton, their religious mother apparently does not accept them the way they are. For the last four years, they have put their "heart and soul" into a movie about their life, and they are bound and determined to have Ms. Parton star in it. So they and Gary's partner, Mike Bowen, rent a massive RV they nickname Jolene and take off on a 2,200-mile, eight-state road trip down Interstate 40. Their destination?

Writer-producer-director-editor Bryan Michael Stoller's labored family comedy "First Dog" tells the potentially fun story of Danny (John-Paul Howard), a foster child befriended by the president's missing dog, Teddy. The film, though, quickly becomes mired in half-baked obstacles and awkwardly staged set pieces as Danny travels alone from California to Washington, D.C., to return Teddy to the White House. En route, Danny catches rides with rowdy teens, Paula Nelson's (Willie's daughter)

Dolly Parton All-Nite 9-To-5'er Where: The Cinefamily at the Silent Movie Theatre: 611 N. Fairfax Ave., L.A. When: 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., Sat. Price: $12; free for members Info: (323) 655-2510; cinefamily.org

With the huge rise in popularity of young female country stars such as Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood taking home Grammys and other awards and climbing to No. 1 on Billboard charts, it's difficult to imagine a time when the women of country music did not appeal to such a wide audience. But before Swift, Underwood and Miranda Lambert, there were a handful of women like Dolly Parton paving the way for female country stars. "Dolly created a very powerful and realistic role model picture of artist and songwriter for aspiring young female country artists.

MOVIES 1991: The Year Punk Broke Filmmaker Dave Markey's documentary of tagging along with Sonic Youth on a summer festival tour of Europe is a snapshot of classic indie rock, with appearances from Nirvana, Dinosaur Jr., the Ramones, Courtney Love and more. Markey will participate in a Q&A after the screening. Cinefamily, 611 N. Fairfax Ave., L.A. 6:30 p.m. $12. (323) 655-2510. http://www.cinefamily.org. MUSIC Dolly Parton With a fresh record out and a world tour that includes her Hollywood Bowl headlining debut, the 65-year-old country veteran runs counter to the idea of surrender.