PEOPLE

By MARTHA PICKERILL

FIRST BEAU FOR THE FIRST DAUGHTER?

The heart aches for CHELSEA CLINTON. No sooner does she settle on a college than everyone begins speculating that her choice had nothing to do with Stanford's organic chemistry department but everything to do with some romantic chemistry she may have with a popular freshman named MARC MEZVINSKY. The shaggy-haired hunk squired her around campus last month, escorted her and a group of friends to a frat party and is rumored to have lined up a White House internship this summer.

Leave them alone! say their mutual pals, who report that the teenagers have been friends--just friends--since meeting in Hilton Head, S.C., last December. Next fall, it will be up to the Secret Service to keep the prying press away from Chelsea's freshman mixers.

CALL IT THE KNICKS' NEW TAG-TEAM OFFENSE

It was one for the record books--it just wasn't the kind of record the NEW YORK KNICKS were looking to set. Game 5 of a best-of-seven playoff series between the Knicks and the MIAMI HEAT turned into a sport that closely resembled professional wrestling. The b-ball brawlers were an unlikely duo: the Knicks' Bible-toting Charlie Ward and the Heat's P.J. Brown, winner of the league's citizenship award. Near the end of the game, Ward backed into Brown, almost upending him. Brown then hooked an arm around Ward's waist, flipped him as if he were a cheerleader and threw him to the floor. Knicks Patrick Ewing, Allan Houston, Larry Johnson and John Starks left their bench, a lesser N.B.A. no-no. The N.B.A. gave a record five Knicks a one-game suspension. Miami's Brown was suspended for two games; Ward for one.

REPORTING FRANKLY

Even folks normally devoid of sympathy for chipper, conspicuously married talk-show host KATHIE LEE GIFFORD winced last week as her battle with the Globe escalated into an ugly war of attrition. Kathie Lee vehemently denied the tabloid's cheesy allegations that her husband, football Hall of Famer FRANK GIFFORD, had cheated on her, saying that next the tab would report on her alien baby fathered by co-host Regis Philbin. The tabloid responded by self-righteously publishing what its editors say is shots from a videotape of Frank Gifford's tryst with a 46-year-old consultant in a ritzy New York City hotel. The Globe staff maintains that by maligning their reporters' research, the Giffords were simply asking for it. "They called the story a 'complete fabrication,'" said editor Tony Frost. "Our hands were forced into showing we had the proof." But it never seems to take very much to force the Globe's hands. The Giffords called on the public to respect their privacy, but this time they did not confirm or deny the story's authenticity.

PANNED IN CANNES

To first-time movie director JOHNNY DEPP, pride of auteurship beats a glowing review any day. "Regardless of what people think of the movie, it's my film," said the director of The Brave. At his Cannes Film Festival press screening, Depp experienced a noble tradition of the 50-year-old festival: booing at the end of a crummy picture. During his spell in Cannes, Depp toted around the Hollywood Reporter, which roundly panned his work. Marlon Brando co-stars with Depp in the grim tale of a poor Native American who agrees to be in a snuff film to earn $50,000 for his family. The pinch-me part for Depp was climbing the Palais steps with girlfriend KATE MOSS to show the film officially. "To be accepted by those people was one of the best moments of my life," he said. No matter what they thought of his film.

CHUCK D BRINGS THA NEWZ

You'd think a guy who once rhymed New York Post with "burned us like toast" might be a little wary about a career in the news biz, but CHUCK D of the rap group Public Enemy just signed up to be a reporter on cable's Fox News Channel. Chuck (Carlton Ridenhour) aims to snag younger viewers: he's rap's answer to David Brinkley. "Young people are not optimistic," Chuck says. "We've got to figure out ways to inform them. They're gonna be running things really soon." His first mission (he won't call it an assignment) was to revisit the Philadelphia site of Colin Powell's volunteerism rally to see if the locals are better off now that famous people have painted over their graffiti. "A lot of politicians and bigwigs came by and did their thing," says Chuck. "Everybody looks for the quick, quick, quick story, but results happen over a long time." Rap fans, don't despair--Chuck will still kick out the jams in between missions.

SEEN & HEARD

How did Jodie Foster's brother earn the nickname Buddy? In his book Foster Child, Buddy Foster explores Jodie's sex life, their mother's affair with a woman and many family secrets. Last week the actress called her brother "a distant acquaintance motivated solely by greed and sour grapes." He's no Buddy now.

CNN talk host Larry King, 63, swears off marriage every few years, but then hope triumphs over experience. His latest intended is Shawn Southwick, 37, who will become Mrs. King No. 7. They met in front of Tiffany in Manhattan, but now she is sporting a gumball-size diamond from Harry Winston, down the street.

PRINCESS OF TIDES

Powered by baby food and bananas, 22-year-old SUSIE MARONEY of Australia became the first woman to swim from Cuba to Florida in her second attempt at that odyssey last week. Inside a sharkproof cage attached to the good ship Reel Lady, Maroney crawled 112 miles in 24 1/2 hours. In the wee small hours she hallucinated, seeing monkeys in the water. And to distract herself from the hammerhead sharks cruising by, she mentally replayed Seinfeld episodes. Upon arrival in Florida, her tongue swollen from salt water, her skin tattooed with jellyfish stings, she said, "So many times you think, 'I just don't want to keep going.'" Then she passed out cold. Later Maroney announced plans to swim some 140 miles from Cuba to Mexico. Good thing Seinfeld is back next season; she'll have fresh dialogue for the trip.