December 10, 1999

LEVITT: THERE ARE NO SURE THINGS: WARNS INVESTORS AT TOWN MEETING

Red-hot initial public offerings can spell disaster for small investors trying to get a piece of the action, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Arthur Levitt warned yesterday. Speaking before a...

NASDAQ SPINOFF GETS ALLY

Frank Zarb's nemesis just became his biggest ally. Alan Davidson, the man who was the most vociferous opponent to the National Association of Securities Dealers' plan to spin off the...

INFOSEEK SEX CASE CALLED MINOR FANTASY

LOS ANGELES -- The former Infoseek executive on trial for seeking more-than-virtual sex from a minor testified yesterday he was playing a "fantasy" game and not looking for underage relations....

BERTELSMANN PUTS YANK ON BOARD; OLSON ELEVATED IN RESTRUCTURING

Bertelsmann is making a slow-motion division of its worldwide, $6-billion book businesses among two key executives -- American Peter Olson and Germany's Klauus Eierhoff. In a restructuring that is not...

SCHUMER CHIEF WILL LOBBY FOR SILICON ALLEY

Washington's hottest young politico stunned the Beltway yesterday by rejecting Al Gore's plea to become his top spin doctor -- in favor of a job as Silicon Alley's first lobbyist....

PRIMEDIA CEO'S TALK FUELS 15% STOCK GAIN

Primedia's new chairman and CEO Tom Ropers charmed Wall Street yesterday in his appearance at the PaineWebber Media conference, triggering a 15 percent surge in the company's stock price. It...

SOUNDS OF SCIENCE ; STEREOLAB HITS CITY

SINCE forming in London in 1990, Stereolab has been one of the most musically adventurous bands in rock 'n' roll.Its principals -- guitarist Tim Gane and lyricist/vocalist/Moog player Laetitia Sadier...

HOLY ROLLERS ROCK IRVING PLAZA

ROCK REVIEW THERE was no sympathy for the devil at Irving Plaza Wednesday, when Christian rock outfit Jars of Clay played a concert that started slow but eventually found the...

MAKE IT A POINT TO MISS STRINDBERG'S 'JULIE'

MOVIE REVIEWS AUGUST Strindberg's "Miss Julie" is one of the least-filmed great plays, and with good reason. With the action -- mostly a lengthy discussion of sex and class --...

FOX BAILS OUT OF JET CRASH SHOW ; POVICH PROJECT HAD FAA OK

FOX has ditched its plans to stage the crash of a 747 jumbo jet rigged with explosives. The stunt was supposed to be the centerpiece of a controversial show called...

ONLY KIRK SHINES IN THIS DUD

MOVIE REVIEWS 'DIAMONDS" boasts a gem of a performance by Kirk Douglas as a stroke victim trying to stay out of a nursing home, but this hokey and contrived multi-generational...

THIS 'CIDER' LACKS JUICE

MOVIE REVIEWS NOVELIST John Irving has no one but himself to blame for the stillborn screen version of "The Cider House Rules," his great 1985 novel about a Maine orphan's...

DANCE FANS, 'SWING!' IS YOUR THING

THEATER REVIEW IF you like shows based on specific dances, you're in luck.Broadway is brimming with full-scale productions centered on such styles as disco, tango and tap. And perhaps the...

'DEUCE' DEALS IN LOW COMEDY

MOVIE REVIEWS WHY they called this movie "Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo" is slightly mysterious. After all, there's no such thing as a female gigolo (and the term preferred by the...

A BUNNY'S TALE; HEF MOVIE SHOWS BREAST DAYS MAY BE BEHIND HIM

"HEFNER UNAUTHORIZED" Sunday at 8:00 p.m. on USA Networks ONE of the most extraordinary things about "Hefner: Unauthorized" -- aside from the fact that it's narrated by this poor dead...

THE STARR REPORT

Ollie's sword fight Imagine Oliver North's surprise when he discovered that his U.S. Marine Corps. sword, stolen from him years ago, is up for auction on eBay.com (for $799). "That...

'WAR' CRIMES

MOVIE REVIEWS IN the fashion of directorial debuts by serious, talented English actors (think Gary Oldman's "Nil by Mouth"), Tim Roth's "The War Zone" is a relentlessly grim, rather heavy-handed...

GOING THE EXTRA 'MILE': STEPHEN KING STORY SOARS ON SCREEN THANKS TO TERRIFIC ENSEMBLE CAST

MOVIE REVIEWS THE GREEN MILE ½ Starring Tom Hanks, David Morse and Michael Clarke Duncan. Written and directed by Frank Darabont. Running time: 187 minutes. Rated R. At the Kips...

DAMN CELEBS HAVE GOT ME SEEING STARS!

THE Constitution, thankfully, protects Rosie O'Donnell's right to freedom of speech. The Constitution, thankfully, protects Hillary Clinton's right to praise Rosie for being her shill. But, thank God, it doesn't...

THE RISE AND FALL OF BOSTON CHICKEN

THEY say you shouldn't speak ill of the dead, and I suppose that should also apply to corporations that don't exist anymore. But as the bankrupt Boston Chicken prepares to...

GREAT GIFTS ARE IN THE CARDS

The Savvy Shopper reveals tips and trends for gift-buying in what is shaping up as the biggest holiday season of the '90s.W HAT do Kmart and Chanel have in common?...

GENIUS SON RENOUNCES WOODY AS FATHER: PALS

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. -- Woody Allen's child-prodigy son regularly tells schoolmates he wants nothing to do with his father -- and even denies they're related -- the boy's friends say....

HILL'S CAMP IS WEIGHING CLEMENCY IN POLLARD CASE

FIRST Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton is mulling a split with her husband -- over the Jonathan Pollard spy scandal. Mrs. Clinton and her advisers are weighing backing clemency for the...

AIDS KID'S GRANNY MAY FACE CHARGES

The grandmother of an AIDS-infected 12-year-old -- who allegedly assaulted five children sexually in a bid to spread the disease -- knew what he was doing, but did not report...

'EARLY' EXIT AT GUMBEL SHOW: CBS FIRES FOUR

CBS has canned four news veterans from "The Early Show," its struggling, $30 million morning program co-hosted by Bryant Gumbel and Jane Clayson. "This is no bloodletting," executive producer Steve...

NO GETTING 'ROUND IT: UNION SQUARE HAS GREAT FOOD

Each day until Jan. 1,The Post will look at a NewYork landmark on the eveof the new millennium.We'll talk to people whowork or visit here abouttheir lives, and their hopesfor...

BORIS BLASTS BILL OVER CHECHNYA & WARNS: 'WE STILL HAVE NUKES'

A furious Russian President Boris Yeltsin warned President Clinton to stop criticizing his brute-force offensive in Chechnya yesterday -- reminding him that Russia still has nuclear weapons. The physically ailing...

FBI: AGENTS FED PHONY FACTS TO RUSSIAN SPOOK

In a "classic counterintelligence operation," the FBI planted false information on Moscow after discovering that a Russian spy bugged the State Department. Law-enforcement officials said yesterday the campaign to confuse...

JOEL'S EX FEARS KID KILLER'S PAROLE

Notorious child killer Joel Steinberg is up for parole next month, and his ex-lover Hedda Nussbaum fears he'll be set free to hunt her down. "Hedda is afraid for her...

TOXIC-FISH SCARE TURNS US INTO BASS-KET CASES

IHAVE eaten guinea pig in Queens. I have eaten blood pudding (yes, it's a pudding made of cow blood) in a grimy pub in London. I have even eaten fried...

OPPORTUNITIES AND OBSTACLES FOR MAYOR

ANALYSISEvery day he's at City Hall presents Mayor Giuliani with a series of incredible opportunities -- and equally potent land mines -- on the road to the Senate. Take the...

7 MARINES LOST AT SEA AFTER CRASH

A military helicopter on a training exercise crashed in the Pacific Ocean near San Diego yesterday, and seven of the 18 Marines aboard were missing, officials said. Eleven Marines were...

FOREMAN COOKS WITH GAS IN $137M DEAL

Former heavyweight champ George Foreman has scored a big-bucks knockout -- he'll be paid $137 million for the permanent use of his name on a line of popular outdoor grills....

LOUIMA TO ADDRESS JUDGE AT VOLPE'S SENTENCING

Abner Louima will deliver an impassioned speech Monday at the sentencing of ex-cop Justin Volpe, who brutally sodomized him with a stick in a Brooklyn station-house bathroom three years ago,...

CITY PROBING ALL PROJECTS BY DEATH-COLLAPSE BUILDER

City building inspectors are reviewing all construction projects run by a controversial Brooklyn contractor under investigation for a building collapse that killed a worker, a top city official said yesterday....

GAY IT AIN'T SO! HILL EYES ST. PAT'S MARCH

Gay rights took center stage in the Senate race yesterday as Hillary Rodham Clinton said she would march in the St. Patrick's Day Parade, while Mayor Giuliani remained mum on...

733% GAIN? WHO WANTS TO BE A BILLIONAIRE?

The VA Linux Systems computer company broke all records for gains in an initial public offering yesterday -- its shares rocketed 733 percent and made the company's chief an instant...

MAPS PINPOINT AREA'S CANCER HOT SPOTS

Staten Island has the highest lung-cancer rate of the five boroughs.Staten Island has the highest lung-cancer rate in the five boroughs. And Rockland County has the highest breast-cancer rate in...

GROCERY: 'ENGLISH ONLY' WAS SLIP OF THE TONGUE

Management at the popular Upper West Side Fairway market yesterday blamed a short-lived "English only" policy on an errant supervisor -- after enraged workers went public with their case. The...

KOCH TELLS MTA BRASS: DON'T CAVE IN TO UNION! ; RECALLS '80 BATTLE WITH 'BASTARDS'

Former Mayor Koch yesterday urged transit officials not to cave in to strike-threatening "bastards" as the city crafted plans to ban autos on some streets if there's a Dec. 15...

CREW'S LAWYERS STALLED PROBE: EX-SUP'T.

A spokesman said Amato suspended the teacher because of suspected sexual misconduct, expecting Crew's staff to investigate. An ex-district superintendent who didn't press charges against a teacher accused of sexual...

EX-GAL PAL HELPED COPS FINGER DOC IN WIFE'S SLAY

Evidence from an old girlfriend helped crack the long-cold case against a prominent plastic surgeon -- accused only now in the 1985 murder of his Upper East Side wife, sources...

U.S. REPS WAITING TO MEET RAFT BOY'S DAD

Hundreds of thousands of Cubans marched yesterday in the largest demonstration yet to demand the United States return 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez -- as American officials in Havana hoped to meet...

BACKYARD HORROR: 'PLEASE HELP ME!'

Hasbrouck Heights nurse Marge Jengo got the chilling news first from her terrified 15-year-old son -- "Ma, a plane's crashed!" Jengo, who was home at the time, rushed to her...

INJURED KID: COPS

A teacher's aide was arrested yesterday for breaking the wrist of an 11-year-old special-ed student with whom he was arguing, cops said. The violence occurred at PS 177 on 188th...

N.J. AIR-CRASH INFERNO KILLS 4

A small plane trying to land at Teterboro Airport crashed in a thunderous and fiery explosion between two homes in a populous New Jersey suburb last night, killing two men...

OUTPOURING OF LOVE FOR KID WHO LIVED WITH DEAD MOM

People all over the nation and the world have opened their hearts to the 9-year-old Memphis boy who lived with his mother's body for a month. From the Big Apple...

QDM OUT TO SOLVE AGE-OLD PROBLEM

THERE IS a national movement afoot by hunters who are taking the job of managing wildlife into their own hands. The Quality Deer Management Association was started in Georgia in...

SUDDENLY, NETS FEELING BULLISH ; LOOK TO STAY HOT IN CHICAGO

CHICAGO -- Get Shaq back. C'mon, Tim Duncan, try to block this one. Watch that "sissy" talk, Penny Hardaway and the rest of the Suns. Vince Carter and other assorted...

ESPN'S TOP VOICES FINALLY TAKE STAND AGAINST SHOWOFFS

FROM the Department of Better Late Than Never, there seems to be a revival of sorts and sports at, of all networks, ESPN. That's right, ESPN, at long last, sounds...

YANKS FOR NOTHIN', BOYS ; BOMBERS' COMPETITION IS GETTING WORSE

ANAHEIM -- Two months from pitchers and catchers and already the Yankees are pulling away from the AL competition. And it has little to do with what they are doing....

OH MY! NO MCDONOUGH? ENBERG WON'T FILL SEAN'S SHOES AT CBS

CBS is in the process of making a big mistake. It's about to replace versatile play-by-play man Sean McDonough on its depth chart with NBC veteran Dick Enberg. CBS' signing...

AMAZIN'S GO FOR OROSCO

Finding a first baseman to replace John Olerud and keeping an ear to the Ken Griffey Jr. saga won't be the only items on Mets GM Steve Phillips' plate when...

LUCKY PICK 6 BETTOR WINS 432G

Bettors poured $492,414 into yesterday's pick 6 pool, chasing the two-day carryover of $155,701, and one lucky ticket holder -- wagering through the Philadelphia Park off-track hub -- hit all...

ATWATER ACCEPTS REDUCTION

A year ago, Steve Atwater seethed when Broncos defensive coordinator Greg Robinson started taking him off the field on third-down passing situations, replacing him with younger, quicker legs. Atwater, an...

WALKING WOUNDED ON THE MEND

GIANT NOTES Three of the Giants' half-dozen injured defensive starters returned to practice yesterday, including gimpy-kneed Pro Bowlers Jessie Armstead and Michael Strahan. Although there wasn't a single change on...

WILD CHUCK IN A TOUGH FIX ; SPORTS SHRINK: NO EASY ANSWER FOR KNOBBY

If Chuck Knoblauch decides to solve his throwing problem with a trip to a sports psychologist, there is no guarantee the Yankee second baseman's tosses to Tino Martinez will be...

O'NEILL FINALLY GRASPS YANKS' ACHIEVEMENT

It's taken almost six weeks for Paul O'Neill to begin grasping the magnitude of what the Yankees achieved by copping back-to-back World titles. When it comes to getting a solid...

MATES FEEL PATRICK WILL BE A BIG HELP

KNICK NOTES As the Knicks finished their practice session yesterday at Purchase College, none of them knew Patrick Ewing had already decided he would make his long-overdue return tonight vs....

WATCH OUT FOR FLYING FISH

JET NOTES Word out of Miami is that the Dolphins are going to open up their offense and turn it into a pass-happy machine against the beleaguered Jets' secondary. The...

STORM'S BARKLEY GETS GOOD NEWS

Unlike Jets coach Bill Parcells, St. John's coach Mike Jarvis doesn't have to worry about how to salvage his season. When Red Storm point guard Erick Barkley crumpled to the...

IT'S PAT-DEMONIUM ; SURLY EWING DISSES MEDIA, SHUNS MATES ON EVE OF HIS RETURN

The questions can end about the date of Patrick Ewing's return. Patrick will be back in uniform tonight against Philly at the Garden. Finally. But so many other Patrick-related questions...

COLLINS BEAMING WITH CONFIDENCE

The Giants say it was no fluke. Last weekend the heretofore offensively challenged Giants put a 41-28 whipping on the Jets, their highest-scoring outburst in over four years. While nobody...

CUT PAT SOME SLACK ; EWING DESERVES A BREAK

DESPITE a blitz of one-liners at Patrick Ewing's expense, I've never had a problem accepting his obscure estimated time of arrival back on the Knicks' active roster. Despite numerous grievous...

CINCY LOVES SATTERFIELD

CHICAGO -- Since the first day the Cincinnati Bearcats played a pickup game, the upperclassmen have been squabbling over who gets to play with freshman Kenny Satterfield of Rice High...

YANKEES HAVE INTEREST IN BELTRE

A lot of things have to happen for stud third baseman Adrian Beltre to don Pinstripes, but the Yankees are expected to be major players if Beltre is declared a...

KERRY KEEPS WORKING TO IMPROVE SHOT

NETS NOTES CHICAGO -- Yesterday was Kerry Kittles' day. For the past week or so, Kittles and fellow Net starting guard Stephon Marbury have remained after practice and engaged in...

SCRATCHED MORRISON AWAITS HIS FATE

CHICAGO -- Call this the Trade Windy City. The Devils are expecting a big deal to come down any moment, and last night's scratching of Brendan Morrison, the subject of...

FELIX LOWERS TRADE VALUE

Canadiens 4 Islanders 2 If only Felix Potvin could block shots as effectively as he blocks out trade talk distractions, the Islanders might not be the worst team in the...

MARTY FINALLY ZEROS IN

Devils 4 Blackhawks 0 CHICAGO -- This road romp was full of Devil rarities, and they helped Martin Brodeur notch another shutout, something that has been coming hard for him...

FELIX FOCUSES ON PRESENT

It seems that Felix Potvin is better at blocking out trade-talk distractions than he is at keeping out goals. With rumors swirling that the 28-year Islander goaltender will be dealt...