Inqlings: Theatre Alliance to use "casting couch"

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The Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia is collecting them for a public-service announcement. Starting Thursday, it will go out around town over the next month with a red sofa, which it will staff with theater celebrities acting as interviewers.

The first such "casting couch" - a "Karlstad" model from Ikea, to be precise - will be midday Thursday in JFK Plaza (15th Street at JFK Boulevard). Actor Fran Prisco will host as Jen Childs of 1812 Productions and Johnnie Hobbs Jr. of the University of the Arts interview Mayor Nutter, Film Office head Sharon Pinkenson, and State Sen. Larry Farnese. Passersby will be invited to share their own stories. The alliance will post videos to the Web, and the public can choose the top interviews for inclusion in the PSA, which will premiere this fall at the Barrymore Awards. For a schedule of the casting couch, see www.theatrealliance.org.

The Dark Fields

, the

Robert De Niro

-

Bradley Cooper

movie that will start shooting here next month, will be a boon for local restaurants. Not only will the Marathon Grill at 1818 Market St. host a day's shooting, but so will Del Frisco's Double Eagle steakhouse at 15th and Chestnut Streets. Both shoots will be on Mondays, typically a slow day for restaurants. Cooper's girlfriend,

Renee Zellweger

, lunched alone at Del Frisco's on Thursday while Cooper took meetings at the nearby production office.

Price-sensitive Pennsylvanians are supersizing their booze and are switching to cheaper brands, judging by sales figures of vodka from the Liquor Control Board. Sales of half-gallons of premium Grey Goose were up 1.3 percent over last year, while sales of the fifth size (750 ml) were down 4.7 percent. Sales of the half-gallon size of bargain brand Vladimir were up 3.2 percent, while the sales of its liters were down 2.3 percent. More dramatic were the figures for the midrange brand Ketel One, whose half-gallon sales were up 3.2 percent while the fifth was down 5.7 percent. The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States recently reported that vodka accounts for one-third of spirits sold and is American's favorite kind of liquor.

Snow sends listeners to all-news KYW-AM (1060), and the surge was noted in February's Arbitron ratings. Newsradio was second among listeners ages 12 and up, narrowly trailing adult-contemporary WBEB-FM (101.1). KYW scored its highest average audience share in two years as the town got snowstorms in three of the month's four weeks. B101, also the top-rated station in the advertiser-friendly demographic of people ages 25 to 54, managed to overcome the fact that many offices and stores, where much listening is reported, were closed for several days.

Other observations:

The top five stations among listeners ages 18 to 34 were alternative WRFF-FM (104.5), a tie between hit music WRDW-FM (96.5) and WMMR-FM (93.3), B101, and hits WIOQ-FM (102.1).

The top five among listeners 25 to 54, after B101, were KYW, urban adult-contemporary WDAS-FM (105.3), WRFF, and classic hits WOGL-FM (98.1).

Life is somewhat cooler for

Sister Mary Anthony

of St. Katherine of Siena in Northeast Philadelphia, who submitted her scalp to clippers two weeks ago for a St. Baldrick's Foundation fund-raising event at Q BBQ & Tequila in Old City. Nine boys joined the sister in the shave, in honor of

Zachary Nolter

, a 12-year-old who is in remission from acute lymphoblastic leukemia. "I've definitely gotten looks," says Sister Mary, who finds the buzz cut "a new experience."

Samuel Dalembert

of the 76ers was spotted Thursday at the BJ's warehouse store in Conshohocken. Tall man, tall order: his cart was brimming with snack foods and about 50 DVDs.

Fran Dunphy deftly handled a heckler who blamed him for messing up his NCAA bracket as the Temple coach attended Thursday's outing of the Young Professionals Group of Coaches vs. Cancer at the Irish Pub at 20th and Walnut Streets. Dunphy's wife, Ree, cochairs the commitee with Judy Martelli, wife of St. Joseph's coach Phil Martelli. The event was a happy hour held to raise awareness for the BasketBALL Gala on April 17. Dunphy ended up taking photos with the guy, who called himself a Temple fan.