PEOPLE

By Belinda Luscombe

PITT'S PARTS, BRAD MAD

These days BRAD PITT may feel like spending seven years in Tibet, or at least somewhere a little less media-saturated than the U.S. The actor won a court order to prevent Playgirl from distributing any more copies of its August issue, which features two-year-old snapshots of him sunbathing in the nude with then girlfriend Gwyneth Paltrow. Unfortunately the judge did not order Playgirl to collect the 300,000 or so copies that were already in subscribers' mailboxes and on newsstands, thus creating a publicity bonanza for the flesh mag. Pitt is pursuing a lawsuit, despite the fact that the images are available on the Internet. Meanwhile, straight from the file marked Tales of the Expected, Duets, the movie starring Pitt and Paltrow, has been shelved, seemingly at the instigation of its director, Paltrow's dad Bruce.

NOT YOUR REGULAR PULP FICTION

For those stars who like the thought of being a published author but don't want to go to the trouble of hiring a ghostwriter, there is an alternative: children's books. This fall the two biggest pens are wielded by MICHAEL BOLTON and JOHN TRAVOLTA. Bolton's The Secret of the Lost Kingdom, the story of a prince who leaves his father's castle and lives as a peasant, will give readers heartache or heartburn, depending on how they feel about Bolton, particularly since Kingdom's long-tressed hero bears an uncanny physical resemblance to his creator. The singer wrote the story early one morning, inspired by spending a few nights in a British castle. Unlike Bolton, Travolta is no novice, having already penned articles for Esquire and Rolling Stone. His book, Propeller One-Way Night Coach, which he calls "fifty-fifty autobiographical," was written in 1992 for his son Jett, illustrated by Travolta and self-published for 75 friends and family. Warner Books, which, like many publishers, seems to find nothing sadder than an unpublished celeb, snapped it up and will print 250,000 more copies this October.

PARTY KNOWN AS PRINCE'S

When is a party more than a party? When a future King is throwing it, publicly, for his mistress. The British press was all atwitter about the implications of the fancy 50th birthday knees-up that CHARLES threw for CAMILLA PARKER BOWLES at his Highgrove estate. Camilla turned up early in a dazzling diamond necklace, possibly a gift from Charles, to greet guests--including her ex-husband. The bash was held in a 120-ft.-long marquee in Highgrove's meticulously tended gardens. Everyone was happy except perhaps the local vicar, who pointed out to the BBC a few days before the festivities that Charles as King would be an inappropriate Defender of the Faith if he continued to commit adultery. Didn't Henry VIII have this problem?