Show Business

Phyllis Diller has it -- the "spirit of 76," she says.Ms. Diller was talking about her age, but she's not ready to slow down. After all, the comedian had a slow start in show business and, as a late bloomer, Ms. Diller figures that she has some catching up to do.She's all over, performing in this country and abroad, making movies and appearing on television. Her rigorous schedule is now bringing Ms. Diller to Atlantic City, N.J., where she begins a six-day engagement at Harrah's Casino Hotel tomorrow.

"Watch this!" says Ira Zimmerman as he stoops on his kitchen floor and makes a hoop with his arms.His orange tabby Ben sits at attention until prompted and then leaps cleanly through his master's arms."We teach everything to jump around here," says Mr. Zimmerman as the cat returns to the kitchen counter of the Glenelg home and resumes eating out of a silver trophy cup.Mr. Zimmerman, now 42, won the cup when he was 12 by teaching a horse to perform similar feats, and he has been collecting trophies ever since.

KATHERINE Ann Power, the '60s revolutionary who recently turned herself in, has been sentenced to eight to 12 years in prison for her role in killing a policeman. The punishment has had a chilling effect on show business because Judge Robert Banks told her, "I enjoin you and prohibit you from any activity of any nature which can generate profit to you for the crimes you committed."Literary agents, book publishers, TV and film producers could not believe that a judge would interfere in the biggest growth industry in the country today -- cashing in on heinous crimes committed by heinous people.

The big question for Bob Hope is why?Why, at 89 years of age, with every accolade and all the money anyone could want, is he still doing phone interviews with reporters to try to promote his latest TV special? Why is he still working this hard 25 years after most people have retired?"I don't consider it hard," Hope said after some hesitation, as if the question was one of the strangest he had ever heard. "I'm not doing anything now but talking to people around the country about the special that's coming up. . . . And I have to tell you, by the way, that this is the greatest special yet."

Is David Letterman destined for prime time?There is mounting evidence that NBC is now trying to find a way to keep both Jay Leno, host of "The Tonight Show," and David Letterman at the network. One way to do that: Move Mr. Letterman to prime time.Reports were circulating in Hollywood Wednesday that NBC was considering the creation of a Monday-through-Friday prime-time show with Mr. Letterman as host. Under such a plan, Mr. Leno could still remain as host of "The Tonight Show," while Mr. Letterman, who's made no secret of his unhappiness with his late night slot, could boost his visibility dramatically.

Washington. -- Spike Lee called on African-American students and workers to play hooky to see his new movie on the life of Malcolm X when it opens this week. (What? It hasn't opened yet? Haven't we been wearing his ''X'' caps for about a century now?)Black conservatives dutifully called press conferences to denounce the suggestion, which, of course, only helps hype the movie more. Mr. Lee responded that his movie is no worse than ''Gone With the Wind,'' which his teachers forced him to see. How about that for moral equivalency?

This week, the man probably most responsible for boostin television's sagging sitcom genre eight years ago takes on a new role: game show host.Why would Bill Cosby, one of America's most popular comedians, decide to fill those shoes in a revival of the classic 1950s staple "You Bet Your Life"?"

Burbank, Calif. -- If Vicki Lawrence's talk show bombs, don't blame it on a lack of publicity.She has been all over the country flogging the syndicated product, "Vicki!," which premiered yesterday on WJZ (Channel 13).And she has developed the interview into an art form, giving everybody the same core, in almost the same words -- yet somehow making it seem interesting and fresh.Maybe it's the salty language.Here she is looking like a country-club lady at her show's offices in the NBC studios: spectacular nails, copper-colored dress matching her tan skin and flattering her red hair, and she's talking about the show:"I want to keep it very light, loose.

MIAMI -- Retirement didn't sit well with Molly and Lady. A life of leisure in their pen at Key Largo's exclusive Ocean Reef Club just couldn't match the excitement of their show business career.So they high-tailed it out of there and took 8-year-old Bacall with them. Now they're making a come back -- three shows a day at the Links at Key Biscayne."They seem to be coming up at 10, 12 and 5 o'clock. That's exactly their show schedule," said Rick Trout, Ocean Reef's senior dolphin trainer, who cares for Molly, Lady and Bacall.

The two of them, mostly clothed at the moment, are standing in the doorway of the 408 Show Bar on The Block and defending the charms of life in the city's erogenous zone.''Close The Block?'' the first one asks.She has read the morning newspaper, where it says that this city councilman, Wilbur ''Bill'' Cunningham, whom she has never even met, has introduced a bill that would phase out all erotic endeavors on this street by July 1995.''What for?'' the second one asks in a voice like faulty plumbing.