People

By Desa Philadelphia

BUSH AUTHOR IS AMBUSHED

James H. Hatfield has probably heard the adage, "Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones." He aimed at G.O.P. presidential front runner GEORGE W. BUSH, but got his own facade shattered. In a new book, Fortunate Son, Hatfield claims Bush was arrested for cocaine possession in 1972 but his father, former President George Bush, orchestrated a cover-up. The Bushes adamantly denied the accusation. Hatfield, it now seems, was doing some covering up of his own. St. Martin's Press recalled the book when a newspaper report revealed that the author is on parole after being convicted of trying to have his boss killed, a charge St. Martin's said it had confirmed. Hatfield initially maintained that he was being confused with someone of the same name, but then stopped commenting, on his lawyers' advice. Maybe he could write a memoir instead: Unfortunate Con.

NEXT, DATES WITH ROB PETRIE!

Back in 1995, MARY TYLER MOORE declared she was done with Mary Richards. "I decided that I was not going to play any more characters with whom I was totally familiar," she said. That was then. Two years ago, Moore and VALERIE HARPER tried to sell ABC on a sitcom reprising their Mary Tyler Moore Show characters. The network passed, but it green-lighted a movie, and last week Moore and Harper were in New York City filming Mary & Rhoda, which will air during the February sweeps. In the movie, Mary and Rhoda Morgenstern reunite two decades after leaving Minneapolis. They're single again, with Felicity-esque daughters. If viewers tune in, they may even get a regular slot. Go Mer!

HELP THESE FAMOUS FOLKS REACH A NEW FAN BASE

In today's celebrity-obsessed world, it may never be too early to start your children on learning their stars--and we're not talking astronomy. See if you (or the kids!) can match these celebrity children's authors and their new books! 1. MARIO CUOMO; 2. MARIA SHRIVER; 3. DEBORAH NORVILLE; 4. BOB DYLAN.

I DON'T WANT TO SLEEP TONIGHT (A) PLOT: Reading inspires sweeter dreams than television

THE BLUE SPRUCE (B) PLOT: A boy and his father try to save a dying spruce

MAN GAVE NAMES TO ALL THE ANIMALS (C) Plot: How Bear, Cow, Bull entered our vocabulary

WHAT'S HEAVEN? (D) Plot: A girl learns where dead loved ones go

Answers: 1 B), 2 D), 3 A), 4 C)

PRIVATE PARTS TO PUBLIC PARTING

It's bye-bye Booey for the King of All Media and his Queen: lustful radio shock jock HOWARD STERN and his wife ALISON are separating after 21 years, ending one of the most curiously enduring of public marriages. Stern regularly used Alison as on-air fodder, moaning about their sex life--she'd been known to call up and rebut him--and once hurtfully joked about Alison's miscarriage. Yet through all the stripper interviews and hearty rounds of Butt Bongo, the professional lech vowed he was faithful to his wife, portrayed in his autobiography and 1997 movie Private Parts as a dedicated partner who gave as good as she got. The Sterns offered little detail about the "amicable" split. For America's top exhibitionist, it seems, some parts remain private.