People

By Michele Orecklin

NEXT UP: BIG DADDY WARBUCKS

Some people watch the musical Annie and see a moppet belting out show tunes. Brooklyn-born rapper JAY-Z, whose latest release debuted last week at No. 1 on the Billboard album chart, saw something altogether grittier. "I watched the movie and was mesmerized," he says, referring to the scene in which the orphans sing Hard Knock Life. "They're too strong to let life bring them down. That's the ghetto right there." Inspired, Jay-Z sampled the song on his new album's title track, Hard Knock Life. Needless to say, the tune's original author was somewhat surprised by its new incarnation. "I thought musical theater was a million miles from rap," says Martin Charnin, "but I'm glad it's gone to a place I never imagined."

CHEW ON THIS

Apparently it is possible to be too thin in Hollywood. As evidence, we offer the travails of Ally McBeal star CALISTA FLOCKHART, who has lately been the subject of rumors suggesting she is suffering from anorexia. In the show's first season, Ally's notorious upper-thigh-grazing skirts revealed an Audrey Hepburn-like reediness. But a skeleton-hugging sheath at last month's Emmys and this season's still shorter frocks seem to indicate a frame even more devoid of substance. When Flockhart missed a day of work recently, idle minds began speculating that it was because of an eating disorder. Reps for Flockhart and Fox, McBeal's network, call the story "bogus," and Flockhart went on L.A. radio to insist that she is robust and well fed. Viewers will have to stay tuned to see how the story fills out.

YANKEE, COME HOME

When Atlanta fifth-grader BRENDAN DUNWOODY wore a New York Yankees shirt to class last week, he knew he was committing a small act of subversion. It was, after all, Braves Spirit Day at his school, and his teacher had warned the transplanted New Yorker against wearing his native colors. When he showed up in his jersey anyway, she promptly--and according to his father, appropriately--made him change his uniform. The local act of defiance turned into a media maelstrom when a New York paper picked up the story. The school began receiving harassing calls, while the Dunwoodys' answering machine recorded messages on behalf of David Letterman, Rosie O'Donnell and Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. "I thought it was a cute little story," says Brendan's father George. "But then the Governor of New York called from his car phone."

UNDRUGGED

From six strings to 12 steps. That's where guitarist ERIC CLAPTON will take his career this month when he opens the Crossroads Centre for drug and alcohol treatment on Antigua. Clapton is a recovering addict who has been sober for a decade. Now the man with the famously slow hand is extending it to others by using a significant chunk of his own money to found the 28-day treatment center on the idyllic island where he's had a second home for 15 years. One-third of the center's 36 beds will be reserved for low-income Caribbean islanders, whose care will be subsidized. As someone who has benefited from treatment programs, Clapton says he has become "addicted" to helping people. Fortunately, some addictions are healthier than others.

FEUD OF THE WEEK

NAME: SLY "AND THE FAMILY" STALLONE AGE: 52 OCCUPATION: Monosyllabic actor BEST PUNCH: Angered neighbors, including Madonna, by considering an offer to turn his $25 million Miami home into a luxurious 200-room hotel

NAME: MADONNA "AND CHILD" CICCONE AGE: 40 OCCUPATION: Polytheistic singer BEST PUNCH: Reportedly sent Stallone unkind word, via friend Ingrid Casares, of her displeasure over the potential invasion of her and Lourdes' privacy

THE WINNER: Madonna. She's tougher than Dolph Lundgren and Mr. T combined