Entertainers

Bottom line: Baseball players are entertainers, and star entertainers get star salaries. If your readers persist in whining about the obscenity of current baseball salary levels, let's point them in the direction of the Disney outfit, where the head guy just reaped a massive, nine-figure windfall by cashing his chips before a new president could hit him for his fair share of taxes on the loot. That's obscenity. And a major league baseball game is still a family bargain compared to a day at Disneyland.

To Larry Stewart and all you sportswriters who are counting: Lay off! Michael Jackson is an eccentric, generous genius. What more do you want from our entertainers? LYNN ESCHBACH Thousand Oaks

Sunday night is one of the most dismal for television viewing unless you happen to be into sports and/or religion. Some smart TV executive should resurrect the variety show hosted by one of the greatest entertainers of all time, Sammy Davis Jr. It would be a welcome relief from music videos, mindless sitcoms, violence and bloodshed which dominate the little screen. It also would bring us the best in entertainment without going to Las Vegas. Jim Klein, Los Angeles

The passing of Jordan is marked with a note of extreme sadness. Contrary to today's "entertainers" who seemingly can't perform without screaming unadulterated filth at their audiences, Fibber and Molly could take the simplest of life's aggravations (a leaky faucet, a squeaky rocking chair, etc.) and build an entire hilarious show around such mundane themes. That was talent. That was entertainment. Rest easy, Mr. Jordan. LANNY R. MIDDINGS San Ramon

A weekend telethon for the United Negro College Fund raised more than $6 million in pledges, about $2 million less than last year's telethon, a spokesman said today. The event, which featured a telephone call from President Reagan, an appearance by the Rev. Jesse Jackson and performances by such entertainers as Bill Cosby, Diahann Carroll, Ben Vereen and B. B. King, brought in $603,000 from Los Angeles-area viewers alone, spokesman Mike Haynes said.

Joseph Kaliff, 80, syndicated Broadway columnist who helped found the Caricaturists Society of America. He sketched every U.S. president from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Lyndon B. Johnson and entertainers such as Grace Kelly, Marilyn Monroe, Gregory Peck and John Wayne. In the 1950s and '60s Kaliff wrote a column called "Magic Carpet Over Broadway," which was syndicated to more than 90 weekly newspapers. On Friday in New York.

A measure designed to clarify Anaheim's law regarding sex-oriented businesses received final approval this week by unanimous vote of the City Council. The purpose of the code revision, City Atty. Jack L. White said, is to make it clear that violating the law is more serious than just jeopardizing city-issued business permits that allow nude juice bars and other adult establishments.

"On the Boardwalk: the Venice Video." Country People Productions. $19.95. Jeff Jackson's vivid 45-minute documentary gives a sense of how much fun it can be to stroll along the Venice (California) boardwalk on a warm afternoon. People-watching is the primary pastime. With its street entertainers and characters, Venice resembles one of those hippie-era "happenings." In scattered interviews, visitors and boardwalk regulars gush about the area--whose dark side Jackson touches on just briefly.