NOTEBOOK

By KATHLEEN ADAMS, CHARLOTTE FALTERMAYER, JANICE HOROWITZ, LINA LOFARO, TYLER MARONEY, LAWRENCE MONDI, MICHAEL QUINN, JEFFERY RUBIN, ALAIN SANDERS

VERBATIM

"Anytime someone says the word poll to him, he says 'Greg Norman.'" --Press secretary Mike McCurry on Clinton and the lesson of the golfer who blew a six-stroke lead to lose the Masters

"Everybody knows he was good at the beginning, but he just went too far." --Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott, on ESPN about Adolf Hitler

"It was a very mutual situation, which was the best way, and rather worrying as well because-let's face it, Diana was married, but not only was she married, she was married to the future King, which makes one look at it in a completely different viewpoint." --Former army captain James Hewitt, in a TV interview, on falling in love with the Princess of Wales

"Take a spoonful of sugar, darling." --New York Daily News critic Howard Kissel on Julie Andrews' Tony withdrawal

INSIDE WASHINGTON

GUZZLERS, UNITE: A BEER IN EVERY POTBELLY

NEWT GINGRICH scored a home run when he urged Bob Dole to lead a fight to repeal the Clinton gas-tax hike of 1993. Now Gingrich believes he has found something even more popular to roll back: beer taxes. At a meeting in his office on May 3, Gingrich discussed the idea of repealing George Bush's 1990 hike in tax on beer by the barrel. The Bush beer tax raised the price of a six-pack 16'. Gingrich believes a beer-tax cut, plus the gas-tax cut, is a sure way to help the G.O.P. court Joe Six-Pack and other American voters. Democrats are fuming, partly because they didn't think it up themselves. There could be a picnic of repeals by the Fourth of July.

VOX POP

If the presidential election were held today, and you had to chose between Bill Clinton and Bob Dole, for whom would you vote?*

Clinton 50% Dole 38% Not sure 7% Will not vote 5%

If the election for Congress were held today, would you vote for a Democratic or a Republican candidate?*

Democratic 46% Republican 39% Other 1% Not sure 11% Will not vote 3%

Do you have more confidence in the President or the Republicans in Congress to deal with the major issues facing the country today?

Clinton 45% Republicans 37% Both 3% Not sure 5% Neither 10%

Do you favor or oppose a proposal to raise the minimum wage from $4.25 per hour to $5.15?

Favor 78% Oppose 18% Not sure 4%

At the White House Correspondent's Dinner on May 4, Clinton took up the Dole child-care challenge by upping the ante. "Suppose...you go home tonight and you decide to order a pizza. Who do you trust to select the toppings? Bob Dole or Bill Clinton?" So we asked. The results:

Clinton 54% Dole 26% Not sure 20%

From a telephone poll of 1,011 adult Americans taken for TIME/CNN on May 8 and 9 by Yankelovich Partners, Inc. Sampling error is plus/minus 3.2%. *Asked of 826 registered voters. Sampling error is plus/minus 3.5%.

WHERE HAVE ALL THE FAT LADIES GONE?

Last week saw an impressive 10 Tony nominations bestowed upon Rent, a Broadway musical inspired by the opera La Boheme--relocated to New York City's East Village, minus that distracting Puccini music. It is not the first time pop culture has been so inspired. Broadway's Miss Saigon transplants Puccini's Madama Butterfly to Vietnam, and Disney is planning an animated version of Aida (with the arias of Verdi graciously moving aside for the songs of Elton John). Earlier, there were these operatic liftings:

Oh Rosalinda! This 1956 British film updates Johann Strauss's Die Fledermaus from waltz-era Vienna to post-World War II Vienna, adding a layer of international politics to the original's sexual politics. The movie concludes with a plea that the "guests" at the party--clearly referring to the occupying powers--"Go home!"

My Darlin' Aida Like Verdi's original, this 1952 Broadway musical is set in Memphis. No, not Memphis, Egypt--Memphis, Tennessee, during the American Civil War. The show's swift trip to oblivion was doubtlessly helped along by such inspirations as changing Aida's stirring chorus of Ritorna vincitor! (Return victorious!) to the somewhat more prosaic March On for Tennessee!

Carmen Jones The 1943 Broadway musical and its 1954 film adaptation (starring Harry Belafonte and Dorothy Dandridge) transformed Georges Bizet's hedonistic Gypsy cigarette maker into an African-American defense worker in a parachute factory during World War II. The lyricist: Oscar Hammerstein.

Hollywood Pinafore The 1945 musical somehow transplants Gilbert and Sullivan's most popular operetta from a British navy vessel to a Tinseltown movie studio. The villainous Dick Dead-Eye became Dick Live-Eye, an actor's agent; lowly sailors became lowly screenwriters, while Miss Buttercup was reborn as Little Miss Butter-Up, a pastiche of gossip slingers Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons.

THE AMERICAN DREAM

A U.S. Cabinet delegation arrived in Mexico City last week to discuss illegal aliens, money laundering and drug trafficking. Exhaustive--and exhausting for Secretary of State Warren Christopher, HHS Secretary Donna Shalala, Attorney General Janet Reno and Treasury Under Secretary Lawrence Summers.

HEALTH REPORT

THE GOOD NEWS

--Sex is safe for people with a history of heart disease. The odds that SEXUAL ACTIVITY will trigger a heart attack in someone who has already had one is a mere 1 in 50,000, the same risk incurred by getting out of bed in the morning.

--The FDA okayed a treatment for ENLARGED BENIGN PROSTATES that avoids drugs or surgery: zapping the gland with microwaves to kill excess tissue.

--Keeping patients warm during SURGERY can reduce infection. Anesthesia inhibits the body's ability to regulate temperature, yet operating rooms tend to be kept chilly so heavily gowned surgeons won't sweat under the bright lights. If a patient's temperature is kept normal, blood flows more easily to the skin to fight germs.

THE BAD NEWS

--Not all EXERCISE MACHINES are created equal. A study of popular equipment finds that the treadmill burns the most calories per hour, followed by the stair stepper, rowing and cross-country ski machines. Stationary bikes burn the fewest.

--Italian researchers report that women who work rotating shifts may have trouble with CONCEPTION, with twice the normal risk of experiencing delays of 10 months or more getting pregnant.

--Research shows that HIV much more readily infects the blood of subjects inoculated with tetanus vaccine. The finding suggests that people whose immune systems are challenged by other infections--the flu, a parasite or other disease--might be more susceptible to the AIDS virus.

Sources--GOOD NEWS: Journal of the American Medical Association; Food and Drug Administration; New England Journal of Medicine BAD NEWS: Journal of the American Medical Association; Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine; New England Journal of Medicine LOCAL HEROES

JOHN TORRENCE, 37; ORANGE, CALIF.; embroidery-shop owner After putting in a full week at his shop, he devotes 50 hours to heavy lifting across the border. A member since he was 21, he is now president of Corazon, a volunteer program that replaces the shanties of poor Mexican families with sturdier dwellings. Under his leadership, Corazon has more than quadrupled the number of homes it builds (65 last year). But, he says, "it's not the houses we care about; it's the people inside."

PETER ROSE, 68, AND JEANNE ROSE, 54; TUCSON, ARIZ.; retirees Peter Rose lost two teenage children to a blood disease. "People were awfully nice to me when I needed help," he says. "This was a chance to give back." The retired stock-broker and his current wife Jeanne, a former teacher, are volunteer pilots for AirLifeLine, an organization that transports ambulatory patients who cannot afford to travel for critical care. Since 1990 the two have escorted dozens of patients for treatment.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

MILAN PANIC, 66; NEWPORT BEACH, CALIFORNIA Former Prime Minister of Yugoslavia

When the rags-to-riches U.S. immigrant returned to his Balkan homeland in July 1992 to be Prime Minister and challenge Slobodan Milosevic's power, some cynics saw it merely as a way to protect the Yugoslav interests of his company, ICN Pharmaceuticals. Panic may have been naive--he lost a fraud-wracked presidential election against Milosevic on Dec. 20, 1992, and was ousted as P.M. nine days later--but his idealism was genuine. Today Panic has "no interest in politics," he says, preferring to act as an informal economic adviser to the region. He also still runs ICN, but his tenure has been troubled. Since 1993, he has twice been sued for sexual harassment and has successfully fought a challenge to his chairmanship. Last week ICN announced that a grand jury is probing Panic's sale of $1.2 million worth of ICN stock in 1994 after receiving unfavorable news that was not disclosed to other shareholders. Panic says he is "absolutely confident" he will be cleared.

40 YEARS AGO IN TIME

THE MYTH OF MARILYN

This week's HBO movie is only the most recent evidence of a popular obsession that began when Monroe was still Norma Jean: "One day, when Norma Jean was twelve and getting sick and tired of her 'county dresses' and the boys who called her 'Norma Jean the Human Bean,' she borrowed a blue sweater from a girl friend. 'When I walked into the classroom,' she says, 'the boys suddenly began screaming and groaning and throwing themselves on the floor.' In the schoolyard at lunchtime the swains stood around her three deep...Norma Jean was in a daze. 'For the first time in my life people paid attention to me,' she says. 'For the first time I had friends. I prayed that they wouldn't go away.'" --May 14, 1956

--By Kathleen Adams, Charlotte Faltermayer, Janice Horowitz, Lina Lofaro, Tyler Maroney, Lawrence Mondi, Michael Quinn, Jeffery Rubin, Alain Sanders