Jailhouse actor? Marvin Mitchelson, divorce attorney to...

Jailhouse actor? Marvin Mitchelson, divorce attorney to the stars, may be embarking on a new profession. He has a part in “Toothpick Scrutiny,� a movie that begins filming Sunday.

Don’t expect many retakes, inasmuch as Mitchelson was recently sentenced to 30 months in prison for tax fraud. Prosecutors re-nicknamed Mitchelson, who is free on bail, the West Coast Leona Helmsley.

Mitchelson, who gained fame representing the girlfriend of actor Lee Marvin in a palimony case, plays a lawyer in “Toothpick.� Screenwriter Jake Kasdan would say only that the movie is “about the hardships of love.�

List of the day: As natives here know, Time’s cover piece (see photo) isn’t the first article to imply that the last great days of the city of L.A. are upon us. Some previous grim prophecies involving the City of Angels:

* “California: The Endangered Dream,� 1991, Time.

* “California: American Dream, American Nightmare,� 1989, Newsweek.

* “Why the Future No Longer Looks So Golden in California,� 1978, Fortune.

* “The City of Angels Is Finding It Has a Devil of an Image,� 1976, Wall Street Journal.

* “L.A. Turnoff: Driving Through the Days of Future Passed,� 1976, Rolling Stone.

* “In Search of L.A.,� 1972, Playboy (which asked whether L.A. represented the “most awesome--or the most appalling--of our dreams�).

* “L.A. The Chemically Pure,� 1913, Smart Set (which said L.A. was “overrun with militant moralists, connoisseurs of sin, experts of biological purity�).

* “Is the West Discontented?� 1896, Overland Monthly.

Re-good luck!We know of at least one L.A. optimist, who is opening his apartment complex--again, we think. (See photo).

Hanging on for deer life: Charles Berliner was driving east on Wilshire Boulevard near the Veterans Administration complex on Friday when a deer jumped over a fence and ran across eight lanes of traffic.

Berliner, a Santa Monica resident, slammed on the brakes of his 1981 Datsun and skidded around in a 180-degree turn. Miraculously, neither he nor the other drivers hit the animal (or each other).

“I came so close to hitting it, it wasn’t funny,� said Berliner, a regional rep for the United Scenic Artists Union. “It was so big that I was looking up at it from the driver’s seat.�

The four-legged jaywalker bounded off to the north and the hills around the VA grounds.

He’s going to Disneyland--and staying there: Mickey Mouse was supposed to visit the USC campus and monkey around with the football team Friday to promote the school’s appearance in the Aug. 29 Disneyland Pigskin Classic. But the rodent canceled, possibly out of fears that a decision in the Rodney G. King civil rights case might be announced. A Mighty Duck would’ve never backed out.

miscelLAny:

Thirty-nine years ago this week, ribbon-cutting ceremonies were held to dedicate the soon-to-be-opened Hollywood Freeway, connecting downtown L.A. and the San Fernando Valley.