David Copperfield

What's the difference between a magician and an illusionist?"When you call yourself an illusionist, you get paid 20 percent more!"So jokes magician, make that illusionist, David Copperfield. He's in town this weekend, when his tour stops at the Lyric. Copperfield follows his joke with the phrase "LOL." That's computer-talk for "laughing out loud." Copperfield is speaking via e-mail. (At least we hope it's Copperfield, and not some illusion performed by a publicist.)All kidding aside, there is a difference between magicians and illusionists.

It falls to my lot to write little front-page capsules for The Sun , directing readers to articles of interest inside the paper. Last night, one of the likelier-looking ones was John Fritze's article explaining that veteran congressman Roscoe Bartlett of Western Maryland had made clear his intention to run for re-election in his remapped district. I summarized that and, for the boldface lead-in, wrote: BARTLETT IS WILLING . Today I learn from Mr. Fritze that a number of readers wrote to him to say that the allusion to Dickens* had gladdened their hearts.

NBC has a pair of hilarious sitcom repeats, CBS has a magician with a talent that extends beyond his illusions, ABC has mom. You decide."The Story of Mothers and Daughters" (8 p.m.-9 p.m., WMAR, Channel 2) -- Mothers and daughters talk about each other and their effects on each other's lives. If you call your mom tonight and she's sobbing, you'll know why. The rest of us may find it all a bit much, but hey, my mom'll love it, and that makes it OK by me. ABC."The Magic of David Copperfield XVI: Unexplained Forces" (8 p.m.-9 p.m., WJZ, Channel 13)

David Copperfield sued for sexual assault A Seattle woman has sued magician David Copperfield, contending he sexually assaulted and threatened her while she was a guest on his private island in the Bahamas. Copperfield's lawyers, Angelo Calfo and Patty Eakes, deny the allegations and say the lawsuit is "extortion for money, plain and simple." No criminal charges have been filed. The Seattle Times describes the woman as a 22-year-old fashion model and former Miss Washington USA contestant.

THEATER MALCOLM AND CAESAR Julius X, a new play that uses text from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar to illuminate the political power struggle that led to the assassination of Malcolm X, opens tonight at the Theatre Project. The work was commissioned from writer Al Letson Jr. by the theater, which brought him together with Baltimore director and educator Troy Burton, managing director of the Eubie Blake Center. Burton's large cast includes returning Theatre Project artists Dana Bowles, Robert Lee Hardy, Joshua Dixon and Melvin T. Russell.

THE CHARLES DICKENS COLLECTION 2: The Pickwick Papers, Dombey and Son, David Copperfield, The Old Curiosity Shop -- BBC Home Video / $49.98 For a 19th-century Victorian guy, Charles Dickens produced novels that are unusually cinematic. As the four videos in The Charles Dickens Collection 2 amply demonstrate, Dickens' stories are characterized by evocative atmospheres, muscular plots and a quick pace that rattles along as efficiently as a Hackney horse pulling a cab down cobblestone streets.

It falls to my lot to write little front-page capsules for The Sun , directing readers to articles of interest inside the paper. Last night, one of the likelier-looking ones was John Fritze's article explaining that veteran congressman Roscoe Bartlett of Western Maryland had made clear his intention to run for re-election in his remapped district. I summarized that and, for the boldface lead-in, wrote: BARTLETT IS WILLING . Today I learn from Mr. Fritze that a number of readers wrote to him to say that the allusion to Dickens* had gladdened their hearts.

Rosalee T. "Kitty" Countess, a retired usher and cloakroom attendant whose cheerful and unflappable demeanor endeared her to Lyric Opera House patrons for more than two decades, died in her sleep Sunday at Milford Manor Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Pikesville. She was 87. Born and raised in Baltimore, Miss Countess was a graduate of St. Peter Claver parochial school and, after leaving Frederick Douglass High School, worked as a housekeeper with her mother during the 1930s. During World War II, she was a riveter building airplanes at the old Glenn L. Martin Co. plant in Middle River.

David Copperfield sued for sexual assault A Seattle woman has sued magician David Copperfield, contending he sexually assaulted and threatened her while she was a guest on his private island in the Bahamas. Copperfield's lawyers, Angelo Calfo and Patty Eakes, deny the allegations and say the lawsuit is "extortion for money, plain and simple." No criminal charges have been filed. The Seattle Times describes the woman as a 22-year-old fashion model and former Miss Washington USA contestant.

I SPENT the first day of spring in a magic shop on South Charles Street in Federal Hill, watching a 15-year-old ventriloquist and magician named Spencer Horsman and thinking: I would kill for this kid's future. A few nights earlier, Spencer had appeared on "Lance Burton's Young Magician's Showcase" on the Fox Family channel, performing a wild trick in which he stuffed his dummy Dexter into a music box and - presto! - Dexter emerged flatter than Wile E. Coyote after a steamroller runs over him. Now he was doing card tricks, pulling aces out of mid-air and doing complicated shuffles with the patter and poise of someone decades older.

THE CHARLES DICKENS COLLECTION 2: The Pickwick Papers, Dombey and Son, David Copperfield, The Old Curiosity Shop -- BBC Home Video / $49.98 For a 19th-century Victorian guy, Charles Dickens produced novels that are unusually cinematic. As the four videos in The Charles Dickens Collection 2 amply demonstrate, Dickens' stories are characterized by evocative atmospheres, muscular plots and a quick pace that rattles along as efficiently as a Hackney horse pulling a cab down cobblestone streets.

THEATER MALCOLM AND CAESAR Julius X, a new play that uses text from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar to illuminate the political power struggle that led to the assassination of Malcolm X, opens tonight at the Theatre Project. The work was commissioned from writer Al Letson Jr. by the theater, which brought him together with Baltimore director and educator Troy Burton, managing director of the Eubie Blake Center. Burton's large cast includes returning Theatre Project artists Dana Bowles, Robert Lee Hardy, Joshua Dixon and Melvin T. Russell.

Rosalee T. "Kitty" Countess, a retired usher and cloakroom attendant whose cheerful and unflappable demeanor endeared her to Lyric Opera House patrons for more than two decades, died in her sleep Sunday at Milford Manor Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Pikesville. She was 87. Born and raised in Baltimore, Miss Countess was a graduate of St. Peter Claver parochial school and, after leaving Frederick Douglass High School, worked as a housekeeper with her mother during the 1930s. During World War II, she was a riveter building airplanes at the old Glenn L. Martin Co. plant in Middle River.

W.C. Fields, by James Curtis. Knopf. 448 pages. $35. W. C. Fields, by reputation and repetition one of America's most famous boozers, was also one of its most prolific comic performers. On stage, screen and radio, he was a master of physical and verbal comedy, and throughout his years in Hollywood, Fields was fully engaged in his career, intimately -- even obsessively -- involved in the writing, production and editing of the dozens of movies and shorts in which he appeared from 1915 to the 1940s.

Bambino's birthday Granted, Opening Day is still months away. But you can get into the swing of baseball things at the 108th anniversary celebration of Babe Ruth's birth. At noon today, toast the Sultan of Swat with birthday cake and champagne at the Babe Ruth Museum, 216 Emory St. Admission to the museum is free from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Festivities continue tonight from 6 to 10 at Big Bats Cafe, 216 St. Claire Place, Kent Island (410-604-1120). There'll be trivia contests, door prizes, drink specials and celebrity bartenders.

"Scarlett O'Hara was not beautiful," wrote Margaret Mitchell in the opening lines of Gone With the Wind. But that didn't stop David O. Selznick from casting Vivien Leigh, who was, in the part. Lovers of the novel were appalled. Just as, when the casts for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and The Fellowship of the Ring (opening in December) were announced, some devotees of the novels of J.K. Rowling and J.R.R. Tolkien howled. Lots of people, when they read novels, imagine them as movies, which leads to disappointment when the novels become films.

Should police live where they work?After reading Fraternal Order of Police President Gary McLhinney's April 6 letter responding to Mayor Kurt Schmoke's and Police Commissioner Thomas C. Frazier's criticism of a survey taken by his group, I am outraged at the underhanded politics Mr. McLhinney continues to practice at the expense of the people he is sworn to protect.What facts does Mr. McLhinney have to indicate that police officer rotations would be ineffective? Personnel rotations have been practiced in the armed forces for decades because it provides a professional challenge to the work force and eliminates job complacency.

A ruddily astringent Michael Caine delivers a memorable performance in "The Cider House Rules," the first adaptation of a John Irving novel to be written by the author.Readers of the 1985 best seller will find a pared-down and compressed version of the book, but Irving has taken care to preserve its most crucial story lines, philosophical elements and tone.In this handsome production, brought vividly to life by Lasse Hallstrom ("My Life As a Dog"), Irving finally seems to receive the screen treatment his books deserve.

I SPENT the first day of spring in a magic shop on South Charles Street in Federal Hill, watching a 15-year-old ventriloquist and magician named Spencer Horsman and thinking: I would kill for this kid's future. A few nights earlier, Spencer had appeared on "Lance Burton's Young Magician's Showcase" on the Fox Family channel, performing a wild trick in which he stuffed his dummy Dexter into a music box and - presto! - Dexter emerged flatter than Wile E. Coyote after a steamroller runs over him. Now he was doing card tricks, pulling aces out of mid-air and doing complicated shuffles with the patter and poise of someone decades older.

A ruddily astringent Michael Caine delivers a memorable performance in "The Cider House Rules," the first adaptation of a John Irving novel to be written by the author.Readers of the 1985 best seller will find a pared-down and compressed version of the book, but Irving has taken care to preserve its most crucial story lines, philosophical elements and tone.In this handsome production, brought vividly to life by Lasse Hallstrom ("My Life As a Dog"), Irving finally seems to receive the screen treatment his books deserve.