GRAPEVINE

By DAVID ELLIS

Les Zuke, director of communications for cigarette giant Philip Morris, was calmly addressing planners of the company's Benson & Hedges blues festival in New Orleans when an unexpected visitor entered the room. "You are killing my people!" the woman shouted, turning over tables and ranting that advertisements and promotions aimed at minority smokers are immoral. After 30 seconds, order was restored, and the stunned p.r. staff learned that the outburst was only a drill. Zuke had paid a New York actress $5,000 to stage the disturbance to help event organizers learn how to handle the real thing. "I felt this would be a very dramatic way for me to make points about the issues that face us in the tobacco industry every day," he said.

With reporting by DANIEL S. LEVY