Beatles rock! Far out: [NORTH SPORTS FINAL, C Edition]

Abstract

Good news for rock lovers, at least those in orbit. The International Astronomical Union has authorized naming four asteroids for Beatles John, Paul, George and Ringo. The floating foursome were discovered by astronomers Brian Skiff and Edward Bowell, who have claimed almost 250 asteroids from Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Ariz., including "Shakespeare," "Michelangelo" and "Sagan," as in Carl. The Beatles aren't the first in music, however. "Eric"-as in Clapton-beat them to it. Please, folks, no tomatoes

Good news for rock lovers, at least those in orbit. The International Astronomical Union has authorized naming four asteroids for Beatles John, Paul, George and Ringo. The floating foursome were discovered by astronomers Brian Skiff and Edward Bowell, who have claimed almost 250 asteroids from Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Ariz., including "Shakespeare," "Michelangelo" and "Sagan," as in Carl. The Beatles aren't the first in music, however. "Eric"-as in Clapton-beat them to it. Please, folks, no tomatoes

As moviegoers boo, hiss and scream at TV commercials on the big screen, Walt Disney Co. comes to life like Old Yeller fighting off wolves. The company recently banned blatant commercials in theaters featuring Disney films. Now it has announced a poll showing that fully 90 percent of moviegoers despise non-movie commercials. "They've been booing, and the reaction has been getting worse and worse," said Jeffrey Katzenberg, Disney Studios chairman. "A commercial is a commercial, and one of the reasons we go to the movies is to get away from them." Not mentioned is a big-screen advertising ploy called "product placement" (i.e. subtle commercials)-which are prominent in Disney films. Steinem biography axed

Intrigue surrounds a decision by New American Library publishing house to scuttle a biog of feminist Gloria Steinem. According to Penthouse magazine, author Elizabeth Forsling Harris wrote that Steinem had ties to the CIA in 1959 and '61. Harris, a co-founder of Ms. magazine, described her onetime partner as a "man-izer" with a penchant for rich men. Penthouse implies that the book was canceled because of a threat of legal action from an unnamed objector. A Library spokesman said the author missed copy deadlines. It happened one nightie

After the wall came tumbling down, so, apparently, did straight-laced communist notions. West German catalogue publisher Uli Rothermund recently sent four trucks loaded with 160,000 catalogues featuring sex aides and exotic underwear to four East German cities starved for merchandising news. In all four cities, lines of eager customers were hundreds of yards deep. Said Rothermund: "They ripped the catalogues out of our hands." N.Y. Philharmonic fills post

That embarrassingly long search for a new music director at the New York Philharmonic is over. Kurt Masur, principal conductor of the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig, East Germany, has been named to replace Zubin Mehta, who announced almost 17 months ago that he would leave the Philharmonic by mid-1991. Masur's five-year appointment begins a year later, the Philharmonic's 150th season. Born in Brieg, Silesia (now in Poland), Masur, 62, is a leader in East Germany's intellectual New Forum political movement. Abroad, he has drawn consistently good reviews as guest conductor, including appearances with the Chicago Symphony. He will remain principal conductor of the respected Gewandhaus Orchestra through 1994-its 250th anniversary and his 20th year as principal conductor-before taking over at the slumping Philharmonic. PHOTO (color): AP Laserphoto. Recycled, litter-ally: A lot of horsepower has gone into artist Jim Gary's prehistoric creations. Gary, of Farmingdale, N.J., constructs his dinosaurs, dragonflies and a bumper crop of other animals from discarded automobile engines and body parts. They are on display at the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of Natural History until mid-August.