We can almost hear the Joker laughing:...

We can almost hear the Joker laughing: Insiders spotted a sly reference in the 1989 Warner Bros. film “Batman.” It’s in the scene where Bruce Wayne tells his butler during a cocktail party, “Alfred, they need some more wine in the front room. And someone named Mrs. Daly needs a copy of the menu.”

Nancy Daly, by no coincidence, was the wife of Tom Daly, the Warner Bros. chief. Now, fast-forward from Gotham City to Tinseltown. The Dalys are currently in the midst of a contentious divorce. And she is dating someone who has been compared to Bruce Wayne--another rich guy on a quest to save a city. Mayor Richard Riordan. Holy coincidence!

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Batman and Richard: Here are some more similarities:

* Both are philanthropists.

* Both live in mansions filled with books.

* Both ran for mayor (Batman in the TV series).

* Batman saves women in distress; Riordan saved Barbie (the Mattel Corp.).

* Batman must deal with the Joker; Riordan with the City Council.

But as for similarities in crime-fighting skills, it’s too soon to make a comparison.

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The divorce industry: A West Covina company has a proposal on how to remove that ex-spouse from the family scrapbooks (see photo).

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List of the Day: Summer being the season for adventurous treks, Outside magazine salutes several intrepid souls, including:

* Plennie Wingo, who “spent most of 1931 and 1932 escaping the Great Depression by walking backward from Santa Monica to Istanbul, Turkey,” (interrupted by a steamer voyage across the Atlantic). “I would be willing to sell the rights to use my feet after I die to anyone that would want them--maybe some museum would,” said Wingo, who won a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records. (Still no takers last we heard.)

* Joe Bowen, who trekked 3,008 miles on stilts from the L.A. Coliseum to Kentucky in 1980 to raise funds for the Muscular Dystrophy Assn.

* Ben Garcia, who rode a souped-up lawn mower from Maine to L.A. in 1986. Garcia was on a crusade against the nuclear arms race but his intentions weren’t always clear to everyone. During his two-month jaunt he said he turned down “4,000 requests” to mow lawns.

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Which Heidi fans tuned in?A movie titled “Heidi” ran on the Disney channel Wednesday night, but it was the latest version of the children’s classic. It wasn’t the adult saga of the alleged madam to the stars. That probably won’t be made into a movie for a few more weeks.

miscelLAny:

Batman defeated the Penguin in his election campaign, despite the fact that the Penguin kidnaped the election commissioners. The Caped Crusader then resigned in favor of his friend, Mayor Linseed.