NOTEBOOK

By BY CHARLOTTE FALTERMAYER, JANICE M. HOROWITZ, BELINDA LUSCOMBE, JEFFERY C. RUBIN, ALAIN L. SANDERS, LEWIS M. SIMONS AND SIDNEY URQUHART

THAT'S SHOW BIZ

WINNERS

OPRAH WINFREY Back at the top of Forbes list of richest celebs: $171 million in 1995-96 earnings

ALANIS MORISSETTE Her Jagged Little Pill has tied Whitney Houston's 1985 album as the top seller by a woman

BILL CLINTON He nets $4 million for Democrats at lavish Hollywood biggies' cash-raising bash

& LOSERS

NOBUYUKI IDEI Executive turmoil, box-office flops, poor profits; movie headaches won't let up for Sony prez

WAL-MART Albumed out: chain bans new Sheryl Crow release for lyrics implying it sells guns to kids

BOB DOLE Dole Man campaign rendition of Soul Man is silenced after Soul owners cry foul

RAW DATA

Perusing a recent edition of the Washington Post, readers may have suspected a proofreaders' revolt. Not so, says the paper, just a regular teaser to test your attention. An earlier one said, "Oops, Wrong Section."

AMERICA: HOSPITAL TO THE WORLD

Boris Yeltsin is not the only foreign leader who has solicited American medical assistance. Other world leaders have had no qualms about coming to America for care:

--Singapore's President Ong Teng Cheong, suffering from a lymphoma between his brain and skull for which he'd been treated back home, went to Stanford medical center last December for post-treatment evaluation.

--Nepal's former Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala received a checkup at Washington's Walter Reed Army Medical Center in April 1994 after collapsing for the second time in six weeks.

--El Salvador's former President Jose Napoleon Duarte, suffering from a cancerous stomach ulcer in May 1988, flew to Walter Reed on a U.S. Air Force C-141 equipped as a flying hospital.

HEALTH REPORT

THE GOOD NEWS

-- Fosamax, a drug already shown to be effective in treating OSTEOPOROSIS in postmenopausal women, may prevent the condition from occurring in the first place. Touted as a safe, nonhormonal alternative to estrogen, the drug prevented bone loss in the hip and spine of 95% of women studied. To keep working, Fosamax requires daily dosing--for years.

-- A new treatment can save PREMATURE BABIES born with underdeveloped lungs. Doctors fill the tiny, collapsed air sacs with an oxygen-rich liquid that enables the lungs to expand. The liquid eventually evaporates.

-- Starting next month, a nonsurgical approach to ABORTION will be tested on 3,000 women. Two drugs are taken, one a cancer drug that stops the rapid cell division of the embryo.

THE BAD NEWS

-- As if cramps and bloating were not enough, research shows that ASTHMATIC WOMEN of childbearing age are more likely to suffer severe attacks right before and during menstruation. A rapid drop in estrogen, which prompts changes in the immune system and elsewhere, may be to blame.

-- Though the manufacturer disputes the finding, a study shows that the CALCIUM CHANNEL BLOCKER isradipine, prescribed for high blood pressure, may slightly increase the risk of stroke, angina and heart attack.

-- PCBs, already linked to neurological defects in infants and young children, may have long-lasting effects: 11-year-olds exposed to the contaminant prenatally are more likely than other kids to have low IQ scores and lag behind in reading.

COUCH PURCHASES

Priceless art not your thing? The Home Shopping Network recently opened the Museum of Modern Shopping in St. Petersburg, Florida, including samples of the top sellers over the past 3 1/2 years. Actress Connie Stevens was surprisingly popular. Another surprise--no cubic zirconia. The top 10:

PRODUCT UNITS SOLD

1 Connie Stevens Forever Spring Ginseng Pack 315,955 2 Adrien Arpel 4-in-1 Skin Care Complex 301,311 3 Quick N Brite Cleaner 264,649 4 Smart Chopper 260,396 5 Tony Little Ab Isolater 225,458 6 Connie Stevens Forever Spring Collagen Skin Quencher 223,936 7 Smart Mop Set 211,589 8 Adrien Arpel Kaleidoscope compact 201,381 9 14K Oval Ear Studs with choice of gemstone 194,259 10 Lifeway's Ginseng Royal Jelly 186,698

LOCAL HEROES

ED MILES, 52; ALEXANDRIA, VA.; Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation

Miles, who lost both legs in a mortar explosion in Vietnam in 1969, directs a program that builds prostheses and wheelchairs for amputees in Cambodia, many of them victims of land mines. "Amputees are thought to be quite valueless by Cambodian society," he says. "Giving them a limb is a great thing. Even greater is giving them an opportunity to learn a trade and support their families."

DANIEL SANTOS, 21; SPRING VALLEY, N.Y.; volunteer fire fighter

Driving on the Tappan Zee Bridge, Santos saw Maria Cappozza, 24, jump off the 140-ft.-high span into the Hudson River. He stopped, handed his wallet to a bystander and leaped in after her. Although the impact knocked him out briefly, he reached Cappozza; a boat sent from shore pulled them from the water. Says Spring Valley fire chief Robert Schultz: "He saw a woman in distress and did what he is trained to do."

49 YEARS AGO IN TIME

Rookie of the Year

When Jackie Robinson joined the Dodgers, he not only broke the racial barrier, he also set new standards in baseball: "He looks awkward, but isn't. He stops and starts as though turned off & on with a toggle switch. He seems to hit a baseball on the dead run. Once in motion, he wobbles along, elbows flying, hips swaying, shoulders rocking--creating the illusion that he will fly to pieces with every stride. But once he gains momentum, his shoulders come to order and his feet skim along like flying fish. He is not only jackrabbit fast, but about one thought and two steps ahead of every base-runner in the business. He beats out bunts, stretches singles into doubles. Once Jackie made second on a base-on-balls; he saw that the catcher had lost the ball, so he just kept on going." --Sept. 22, 1947

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

ANITA BRYANT, 56; BERRYVILLE, ARKANSAS; singer, former antigay activist

In 1977 the onetime Miss America runner-up launched a successful crusade to repeal a gay-rights ordinance in Dade County, Florida. Though the Christian right held her up as its poster girl, her Bible beating turned off the public at large. Along with her popularity, she eventually lost a $100,000-a-year contract with the Florida Citrus Commission. Her 20-year marriage to manager Bob Green also ended. Bryant had once denounced divorce as a sin; today, it seems, she's been reborn. In 1990 she married former NASA test crewman Charlie Dry, a childhood sweetheart from Tishomingo, Oklahoma. Last year the two purchased the Anita Bryant Theater in Branson, Missouri, where she performs country oldies and gospels each week to growing crowds. She shies away from discussing homosexual issues these days, and was unavailable for comment last week because of a minor car accident. But she told the Washington Post in May, "What I did, I feel today still was right."