Happy Days

"Do you know what it's like to never have had someone turn to you and say, 'I love you'?"Eight months after filming, these words, softly uttered by Aurora Greenway's housekeeper in the new film "The Evening Star," still bring tears to Marion Ross' eyes.As well they should. For not only do they signal a defining moment in this long-awaited sequel to "Terms of Endearment," they also are the words that landed Ross a role in the movie, the biggest part she's ever had in a feature film -- and they're the words that just might land her an Oscar.

TORONTO -- When Toronto Blue Jays second baseman Felipe Crespo swung and missed at Randy Myers' final pitch yesterday, clinching the Orioles' first playoff berth in 13 years, there was no crazy human pile in the middle of the infield, no mad rush of players from the dugout.No, the Orioles, a team mostly composed of veterans, shook hands. Cal Ripken walked over to shake Roberto Alomar's hand, Myers shook with catcher Mark Parent, and then they all shook, one line of players headed toward the outfield, one toward the dugout, as they would after a game in May and June.

Keep the beatTreat your ears to the exotic sounds of percussion-based music at the Second Annual Baltimore Rhythm Festival on Saturday at St. John's Church, at St. Paul's and 27th streets, from 10: 30 a.m. to midnight. Enjoy drum-care workshops and live noon performances from Girls Just Wanna Have Drums and Live-It-Not-Diet Cafe Drummers. Move back inside for an evening of international music. Day tickets, which include all workshops and evening performances, cost $20. Evening tickets are $10 in advance, $12 at the door.

"Happy Days" are back on Nickelodeon. Meanwhile, Fox keeps trying to come up with a decent sitcom."The Fresh Prince of Bel Air" (8 p.m.-8: 30 p.m., WBAL, Channel 11) -- The casts of "Diff'rent Strokes" and "The Jeffersons" show up as Will Smith and Company say goodbye to prime time in this repeat of May's season- and series-ender. NBC."Melrose Place" (8 p.m.-9 p.m., WBFF, Channel 45) -- Richard isn't dead! Jake and Allison become a couple! Amanda and Peter keep on keeping on! Yep, the beautiful, nasty people are back for a fifth season, with two new regulars in tow: Rob Estes (Mr. Jodie Bissett in real-life)

Oh, dear, happy days are here again. Again.Before they were done, Hillary & Co. had Bob Dole sounding like the Village idiot.If Louis Farrakhan thinks that Libya was ever going to fork over a real $1 billion, there's a bridge in Brooklyn, N.Y., that someone might try to sell him.The Raven turns out to be a species of vulture that will pick your pocket clean.Pub Date: 8/30/96

There was a home run derby instead of a ballgame at Camden Yards yesterday.Everyone hit one, it seemed, except the guy the Orioles really needed to hit one -- Bobby Bonilla, who left eight runners on base and struck out to end the game.The home run derby was a tie. The Orioles and Oakland Athletics each hit three.Every run in Oakland's 6-3 win scored on a home run."I don't remember ever seeing that before," said Orioles bullpen coach Elrod Hendricks, who has only been in professional baseball since 1959.

Tomorrow is Labor Day, the most underrated holiday of all.Isn't it fitting? A day set aside to honor working people asks nothing more of us than that we sit back, take it easy and do whatever the heck we want. No cards to send, no presents to buy, no spiritual angst, no stress-laden convergence of family members from the four corners of the globe.If everybody wants to get together for a crab feast, fine. But no one's going to get bent out of shape if you take the kids for a ride or escape alone to a museum instead.

Dr. Lenox Baker, 92, former chief orthopedic surgeon at Duke University and a pioneer in treating children with cerebral palsy, died of pneumonia June 2 in Durham, N.C. He was a member of the Duke faculty from 1937 to 1972 and was chief of orthopedics from 1937 to 1967.Jacob S. Katz, 95, a former deputy police commissioner in New York City, died Monday at a retirement home in Columbia. He had an engineering degree and took part in developing the "911" emergency telephone system. He also was involved in the design of the new headquarters at One Police Plaza in New York.

CHICAGO -- The Beatles wouldn't spark excitement like this, even if they played a comeback concert. Ross Perot's decision to pursue the presidency looks like a footnote by comparison.Only one man could arouse the frenzy that permeated Chicago yesterday: Michael Jordan. Only he could do all of these things:* Prompt bookmakers in Las Vegas to drastically improve the odds that a .500 team would win the NBA championship.* Cause sportscasters to interrupt programs for special reports and send talk radio into a tizzy.

Sometime today, I'll call my mother to wish her a happ Mother's Day and after a few seconds she'll say: "Are you still using Sweet 'N Low?"Then she'll go on and on about saccharin, how they even admit it's a carcinogen on the back of the little pink packets and how scientists feed this stuff to white mice in these research laboratories and the mice literally keel over on their treadmills, convulsing in the most agonizing death throes before winding up...