People

By Michele Orecklin

NEW MOUSEKETEERS MAKE UP FOR SOME BAD ONES

Sure they looked wholesome, but a few original Mouseketeers came to no good after leaving the club. Now stars of the show's '90s version are proving Mouseketeer alumni can be productive members of society

BAD MOUSEKETEERS

DARLENE GILLESPIE: Convicted on 12 counts of securities fraud

DOREEN TRACY: Posed nude for a men's magazine

BOBBY BURGESS: Spent 21 years dancing on Lawrence Welk

GOOD MOUSEKETEERS:

KERI RUSSELL: Won Best Actress Golden Globe for her role on Felicity

BRITNEY SPEARS: Has the current No. 1 CD in the country

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE: Member of the top-selling boy group 'NSync

THERE'S MORE CHER THERE

CHER is proof that nothing in American culture ages as well as icons and punch lines. Currently her single Believe is No. 2 on the Billboard charts and "Cher hair"--ironed flat, middle parted--crowns trendsetters everywhere. Even contemporary designer Tom Ford of Gucci, Cher reports, told her she inspired his latest '60s-inflected collection. The multimedia onslaught will continue when her film, Tea with Mussolini, starring Dames Judi Dench and Joan Plowright, opens in the spring. Cher admits to being awestruck by the titled ensemble. "When you get around them, you don't care who you are, you're just boring." Hey, does Dame Judi have tattoos?

SHE'S A PRETTY RICH WOMAN

You can't keep a good-looking actress down. At least you can't keep her salary down. According to the Hollywood Reporter, JULIA ROBERTS will become the first female to break into the formerly all-male $20 million club for the forthcoming film Erin Brockovich. Roberts joins such handsomely remunerated actors as the two Toms (Hanks and Cruise), Jim Carrey and Mel Gibson. The film, based on the true story of a legal secretary who takes on an environmental-pollution case and wins one of the largest class-actions ever, will be directed by Steven Soderbergh and co-produced by Universal and Sony, with each paying half the actress's salary. Now Roberts can pay for her best friend's wedding--and the honeymoon.

FEUD OF THE WEEK

WHO: THE CAST OF BAYWATCH OCCUPATION: Titillating 1 billion viewers each week BEST PUNCH: Attempting to spike ratings, the show relocated to Avalon, Australia, where security guards kept locals off the beach during filming and banned skateboarding while the stars napped

WHO: RESIDENTS OF AVALON, AUSTRALIA OCCUPATION: Surfing, protecting their privacy BEST PUNCH: Opposed to the bikini- and Speedo-clad interlopers, 1,700 residents turned out at a high school gym to noisily protest the show's relocation plans, shouting, "Just get out and don't come back"

WINNER TEENAGE BOYS OF QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA, WHERE THE SHOW WILL NOW MOVE