By Guy D. Garcia

He is inarguably the biggest man on campus, and who would want to argue with him anyway? North Carolina State University Senior Tab Thacker, 22, packs 447 1/2 Ibs. into a frame that is 58 in. (chest) by 54 in. (waist) by 77 in. (height). "I never eat a whole lot at a time, but I eat continuously," he explains. Thacker is almost as able-bodied as he is awesome. An All-America collegiate wrestler, he is fresh from pinning down the N.C.A.A. heavyweight title with his 31st consecutive win of the year. His next goal is the Olympics. "I'd like to be the best heavyweight wrestler in the world," he says. He already may be the largest college grappler of all time--past, present and even future. Starting in 1986, the N.C.A.A. will ban any wrestler who weighs more than 275, to reduce the risk of injury. Off the mat, though, Thacker maintains he is really a gentle giant. Says he: "I have a 400-lb. body and a 500-lb. heart."

Each of them was the Marilyn Monroe of her day, so Photographer Richard Avedon was assigned to shoot the real Marilyn posing as Theda Bara, Clara Bow, Marlene Dietrich, Jean Harlow and Lillian Russell for a 1958 spread in LIFE. Later, Avedon mislaid the negatives. Then, last December, as he was unpacking books in the library of his new home at Montauk, N.Y., out plopped the photos. He was not so fond of the Dietrich on second viewing, but the four others still charmed him, and he is issuing them as posters at $100 a set ($200 signed). The pictures will be reintroduced next month at Artexpo NY in Manhattan. For Avedon, the memory of photographing a legend was never lost, however. "We worked only at night for over a month," he recalls. "She was relentless and always beyond my imagination."

Dorothy and Toto will be somewhere over the rainbow again, and so will the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion. But OZ, which is now shooting in London, will be neither a musical nor a faithful retelling of the 1939 classic that starred Judy Garland. Based upon three of the books by Oz Creator L. Frank Baum, the $20 million "live-action adventure fantasy" promises to be something of a Star Woz, with veterans of that more modern epic creating special effects and producing the movie for Walt Disney. ("Toto, I really don't think we're in Kansas any more.") Dorothy will be played by Fairuza Balk, 9, a Vancouver schoolgirl who emigrated to Canada from her native California. There will be a host of new characters, including Tik Tok the robot and Billina the talking hen. Sounding already like a seasoned pro, Balk is not brought up short in the least by the prospect of filling Garland's ruby slippers. "I am Dorothy," she says. "I saw the film. Judy Garland was in one of my dreams and said to me, 'This part was mine. I know you'll play it well.' "

Watching the boss do the hula is a far shake from the typical corporate incentive plan, but it was motivation enough for the 65,000 employees of Wal-Mart Stores, a discount retail chain. Last year Billionaire Wal-Mart Chairman Sam Walton, 65, was told the company was aiming for a pretax profit of at least 8% (3% is the industry average). "You'll never do it," he told employees. "If you do, I'll do I the hula on Wall Street." Well of course they did, and "no one forgot the promise," notes Walton. Which is why, despite blustery, 29DEG weather last week in Manhattan, there on the steps of the Merrill Lynch building was a wiry gent from Arkansas in a blue suit putting on a raffia hula skirt and leis. "I'm freezing," said Walton. "But how can I avoid doing it now?" Though the word undulate had obviously never before crossed his hips, he drew a deep breath and paid his debt with a performance that can only be praised as fair and square. So far, Walton has refrained from making promises for next year. --By Guy D. Garcia