Whatever Dave’s Doing, It Involves Carol Brady

David Letterman was in town last week filming skits to be used during the week his show will broadcast next month from CBS’ Television City. From what we hear, one of the bits involves Letterman, a running joke about Florence Henderson and valet parking at the Regent Beverly Wilshire.

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Oscar Green: In the past few years, an increasing number of charities have tried to ride Oscar’s coattails on Academy Awards night. While Hollywood uses the evening for hype, the charities make use of it for fund raising.

Now that all the expenses have been paid, here’s the bottom line on 1994’s Oscar-night charity affairs:

* The party at Maple Drive for the Elton John AIDS Foundation (underwritten by Cartier) netted $200,000 for patient care.

* The AIDS Healthcare Foundation party at the Directors Guild netted $70,000 for clinic and hospice care.

* Women in Film’s party at the Regent Beverly Wilshire raised $41,800 for the organizations work in supporting and promoting professional women in the entertainment industry.

* El Rescate’s party at the Mondrian Hotel netted $25,000 for aiding Central American immigrants.

* The party in the CAA lobby for the Bobby Brooks Foundation netted $22,000 for Cities in Schools to launch a learning center in Newark, N.J.

* The party at Roxbury for the L.A. Chapter of the American Red Cross netted $10,000 for disaster relief.

To put the Oscar-night dollars in perspective, according to the Hollywood Reporter the cost of airing a 30-second commercial during the Oscar telecast was $630,000.

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Bigger Bucks: And speaking of money, the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation hopes opera lovers will pay big to hear their favorites. Tickets for “Encore! of the Three Tenors” (Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti conducted by Zubin Mehta) July 16 at Dodger Stadium begin at $2,500 each. Packages--which include 20 prime tickets, an “opportunity for private meeting with stars,” a chance to buy otherwise unavailable World Cup soccer tickets, and two tables at the post-concert dinner--go for $150,000.

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Rink-Side Stories: As a coda to the Tonya Harding-Nancy Kerrigan tragicomedy on ice, not one, but two comic books outlining the story are now on newsstands. One from the River Group includes a “Whack Attack” fold-out diagram that follows the plot against Kerrigan from inception to Lillehammer. The other from He Said/She Said Comics takes Tonya story from one side of the book and her ex-husband’s, Jeff Gillooly, from the other.

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Ruling Party?: Although the details of the imperial visit haven’t been finalized, it looks as if the Emperor and Empress of Japan will be in L.A. at the end of June. Although the Japanese Embassy in Washington would not confirm this, there’s a formal dinner tentatively scheduled for June 20 to be hosted by local and state officials.