GRAB LIBRARY CARD, CHECK OUT ... A FILM?

Book reading in Los Angeles is suspicious activity. Book readers are assumed to be either a) producers looking for ideas or b) poseurs.

Screenplays, now that's what we want to see people perusing in Starbucks, yellow highlighter in hand. A book? Well, would it make a good script?

You'd think this would be a problem for our public libraries, which, of course, are loaded with books. Fortunately, the libraries are also loaded with films - toss those highlighters! - you can check out for gratis.

And to promote the system's lineup of films, which range from classics to oddities, the government-access TV station L.A. Cityview will show 20 of them during the next few months at 9 p.m. Fridays (check local listings for channel).

Sponsored by the cities of Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Torrance and West Hollywood, ``City Cinema'' will be hosted by KNX radio entertainment reporter Tom Hatten. Many recall that Hatten hosted KTLA's ``The Family Film Festival'' for 15 years.

Hatten, a former actor, says ``City Cinema'' will feature insights into the old films and some interviews with actors. The talk will come in three segments - two minutes before the movie rolls, eight minutes in the middle and two minutes at the end.

Hatten says he decided to host the show because he likes to help the library.

``I've worked with the library a lot in the past,'' he says. ``When I was hosting movies on Channel 5, I did a lot of research at the libraries.''

The movies that will be shown are part of the public domain, which means they are not copyrighted to a studio or individual. Hatten says the selection of public domain films is slim because most studios began to aggressively protect properties after the advent of television in the late 1940s.

The series includes some gems, noteworthy if not for quality for the weird production stories, like 1943's ``The Outlaw'' starring Jane Russell. (According to Hollywood lore, director Howard Hughes demanded construction of a super-bra to emphasize Russell's ample bust). And then there's 1960's ``Little Shop of Horrors'' starring Jack Nicholson. Directed by ``King of the B's'' Roger Corman, the movie, as legend has it, was made in two days.

So set the VCR. Highlights in the lineup include the MGM musical adaptation of Jerome Kern's life story, ``Til the Clouds Roll By'' (Sept. 13); ``Our Town,'' starring William Holden (Sept. 27); the 1937 version of ``A Star Is Born'' (Oct. 4); the cult classic ``Little Shop of Horrors'' (Dec. 13); and ``The Outlaw'' (Jan. 10).

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Photo: Much attention was paid to a certain section of Jane Russell's anatomy - guess which part - when she made her film debut in ``The Outlaw.''