Famous People

That woman in the turquoise leggings. Isn't she someone? Of course she's someone, but isn't she someone?What about the short, athletic man with the flat nose? Or that one, with the incredibly well-cut arms?And that guy in the bagel shop, the one with the expressive features and what appears to be a heavy layer of pancake makeup at 7 a.m. -- he must be an actor, right?Suddenly everyone in Baltimore looks famous to me. Or at least vaguely familiar. It is late summer, after all, time for the Capistrano-like return of "Homicide."

Whenever Ron Bruckman wants to reel in some free, gossipy entertainment literally out of thin air, he moseys down to the basement of his Carroll County home, flips a few switches and lets the good times roll.Perhaps today he'll tune into Sly Stallone bad mouthing a Hollywood pal over the telephone, not in a movie but live from some private jet. Or maybe a general with loose lips will blab a military secret, like the one Bruckman heard on the eve of the Persian Gulf war. Possibly a careless CEO will drop a hot stock market tip you won't read about for weeks, or, closer to home, the cops will be chattering about an impending drug raid.

The Fourth of July is over. You've celebrated. You've watched the fireworks. You've barbecued and stuffed yourselves on the chicken and the beef and the hot dogs. You've been to the beach. But did any of you pay homage to my main man Calvin Coolidge? I think not.Born on July 4, Coolidge has been maligned for his taciturnity and the total lack of any significant policies or decisions during his administration."He didn't do anything," humorist Will Rogers quipped, "but that's what we wanted done."

"Palimpsest." by Gore Vidal. He calls it a memoir, not an autobiography. He takes great delight in setting everybody straight. It's very amusing - with vignettes about all kinds of famous people.Oh, it's a gossipy little thing, I'd recommend it if you happen to be interested in the 1950s and 1960s world of sophistication.- Nona Porter, a first-grade teacher at Grace and St. Peter's school in Baltimore. She is a mother of five and grandmother of nine children.

Cal Ripken Jr. was there. So were Kristi Yamaguchi, Mickey Mantle and Michael Jordan. Even Babe Ruth swung a bat or two.I saw these famous people and many others at the "wax museum" recently at Freedom Elementary School.During February, Freedom third-graders studied biographies, reading about famous people in sports, politics, science, music, art, literature and medicine.After researching the life of a famous person and writing a report to show what they had learned, the students became the historical figures during the wax museum event.

As I turn on the TV, just before the 11 o'clock news, I see something that, frankly, astonishes me.On prime-time TV, in a land we call America, I see actor Dennis Franz's naked behind. This is not something, by the way, I particularly wish to see so close to bedtime. In fact, I don't want to see it near lunch either.And yet, from what I'm told, Franz's derriere is a prime-time staple on the highly regarded "NYPD Blue."On this particular night, Franz is joined in the shower by a woman, whose backside, at least to this eye, is more viewer friendly.

Fat with ads, flush with upscale readers, Architectural Digest has long been a marketing director's dream. This is why Conde Nast shelled out many millions of dollars last year to acquire it and folded HG, its own competing shelter book.The people at Time Inc. know a large and lucrative niche when they see one, too. They also know the best way to begin one franchise is to spin it off from another. All of which accounts for In Style, a publication that explicitly bills itself as "a new magazine from People."

Simon Says:Since all babies are cute, why aren't all adults?*If men had had to wear stockings, pantyhose would have been invented decades earlier.*I have yet to see a television show that equals the adventure, humor, and romance of "Spin and Marty."*Until I visited one of those upscale kitchen gadget stores, I never realized I needed an avocado peeler.*I am still new to gardening, but I think I have this correct: You should plant one vine for each tomato you want, right?*If Maj. Gen. Harold N. Campbell actually told an audience in the Netherlands that Bill Clinton was "gay-loving," "pot-smoking," "draft-dodging," and "womanizing" then Campbell should be court-martialed immediately.

In addition to nuclear weapons and a slimmed-down ozone layer, the 20th century has brought the world a new kind of fame. It's faster, it's broader and it's shallower. It's the kind that's responsible for Elvis sightings, the "Geraldo" show and the idea that "superstar" is a valid career goal.As the year 2000 approaches, fame itself is becoming famous. Who better to discuss the dynamics of fame in the 20th century than seven famous people, who gathered Monday night at the Joseph Papp Public Theater for what the panel's moderator, Clive James, promised would be "a sharply contested yet shapely symposium"?

What do actors, politicians, athletes, TV journalists and guppies have in common?They all have to learn how to deal with life in a fishbowl. Peering eyes. Alert ears. Probing questions."Fame is a double-edged sword," said Charles Figley, a psychologist and family therapy professor at Florida State University. "On the one hand, fame is a measure of your worth as a performer. But on the other hand, fame jeopardizes your privacy, freedom and safety; and the situation is much worse when your young children's lives are at stake."