HILLARY BASHING: After criticism for telling a...

HILLARY BASHING: After criticism for telling a crude joke about the First Lady at a recent fund-raiser, developer William Lyon laid low on Clinton humor at Monday night’s tribute to him by the Building Industry Assn. (D6) But millionaire developer George Argyros, the emcee, sure didn’t. He got lukewarm chuckles when he made Lyon, a retired Air Force Reserve general, the goat in a joke that had the First Lady and Lyon naked together. Bigger laughs came when he read a “White House” letter: “Dear General Lyon, You are hereby stripped of your rank.”

GATES BASHING: More bad jokes are coming up, but for a cause. Sheriff Brad Gates is used to being in the hot seat, but he’s volunteered to be a target one more time. It’s a Gates roast Thursday night, to benefit the San Juan Capistrano Historical Society. . . . Society president Tony Forster says of Gates: “We won’t let him off easy.”

DUKE APPEAL: Harry Carey Jr. was one of a handful of Western film stars at the Lone Pine Film Festival’s salute to John Wayne last weekend (F1). Carey, who co-starred in “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon” and other Wayne films, explains why the late Newport Beach actor was such an enduring screen legend: “He was born with that kind of magic. Duke had an aura about him. You can’t acquire that; Duke had it, Gable had it, and of these guys today, (Jack) Nicholson has it.”

ONE TO GO: When Angels fans bemoan the good ones that got away, the list might start with Nolan Ryan, Wally Joyner, Jim Abbott or Dave Winfield. But what about Jim Fregosi? Fregosi was the first Angels manager to pick up a division championship, in 1979. Owner Gene Autry fired him just over a year later when he didn’t get another. . . . Fregosi shouldn’t be too unhappy though. He’s turned a dismal Philadelphia Phillies team into a success, and is one win away tonight (C1) from taking them to the World Series. And no Angel manager ever did that for the Autrys.