Stuart Karl

As flashy a bunch of Angelenos we're likely to see all year choppered south last week for cocktails in a tent staked near MacArthur Boulevard at the San Diego Freeway. The occasion was a kickoff party for the as-yet-unbuilt Sports Club/Irvine, tossed by club developers Nanette Pattee Francini, Michael Talla and mega-millionaire Marvin Davis (who's so rich he has a guy with him who says things like, "If you write about Mr. Davis, just call him a 'businessman'!

You know what the video store of today looks like: rows of movies, and just a sampling of anything else. But Stuart Karl says the video store of tomorrow will be different. "If you look at a bookstore now and imagine all the books replaced with videos, that's how it's going to be. It will probably balance out at about 50-50: 50% movies, 50% alternative." Take Karl's word for it.

Lorimar-Telepictures said Wednesday that it has accepted the resignation of three top executives in its successful home video subsidiary, after evidence surfaced that the men have a financial interest in a company that has been a supplier to Karl Lorimar Home Video. The resigning executives include Stuart George Karl, 33, the founder, president and chief executive of the Irvine-based subsidiary; Courter Shannon, 26, the unit's executive vice president, and Gary D.

Newport Beach video entrepreneur Stuart Karl Jr. pleaded not guilty Monday to a 12-count federal indictment accusing him of funneling nearly $200,000 in illegal contributions to former presidential hopeful Gary Hart and several congressional candidates. Karl, refusing to discuss the case, walked briskly past reporters who had gathered outside the federal courthouse in Santa Ana. "He is not saying anything to anybody," said John Vardeman, one of three attorneys who accompanied Karl.

Gary Hart acknowledged today that his campaign had received contributions from as many as four employees of video producer Stuart Karl, in violation of election law, and was returning the money. "We are returning those contributions to Mr. Karl," Hart told reporters. "This was in violation of not only the restrictions placed upon campaigns by the Federal Election Commission but also my own standards for campaign practices, and we're going to return that money."

A wealthy California television film producer pumped thousands of dollars into Gary Hart's 1984 presidential bid and secretly subsidized a key Hart aide early in his present campaign, the Miami Herald said today. The newspaper reported that video producer Stuart Karl flew the former Colorado senator in Lear jets, paid a $3,000-a-month salary to Hart aide Dennis Walto while Walto traveled with the candidate in 1986 and 1987, and covered numerous costs in Hart's effort to win the 1984 nomination.

Two former executives of the home video division of Lorimar-Telepictures Corp. who resigned this week said Thursday that they do not believe their financial interest in one of the division's suppliers amounted to a conflict of interest. Meanwhile, industry analysts said Thursday that the resignations by the three key executives of the Irvine-based Karl-Lorimar Home Video unit make it far more likely that Lorimar will move its Orange County division to the company's Culver City lot.

Things have always moved pretty fast for Stuart Karl, Orange County's boy wonder of the video business, and the limelight is nothing new for him. Said one former employee and admirer, interviewed before the Miami Herald reported Wednesday that Karl may have been involved in improper campaign contributions on behalf of presidential candidate Gary Hart: "Stuart loves that publicity."

After hearing testimony over a three-month period, a federal grand jury in Los Angeles is expected to be asked soon, perhaps today, to vote on whether to issue an indictment in connection with video entrepreneur Stuart Karl's fund raising and other financial support for Gary Hart's 1984 presidential campaign, sources said Wednesday.