People

By Michele Orecklin

BE KIND, REWIND

If your own family holidays don't satisfy your need for dysfunction, you may be in luck. An as yet unidentified thief has stolen home videos of MICHAEL JACKSON and his two children taken last Christmas and New Year's and has been attempting to sell them to news outlets. Footage taken of the family at a Euro Disney hotel last July was also pilfered. The tapes, for which the thief is demanding a $100,000 ransom, were stolen recently from a hotel room in France. Jackson's lawyers have threatened "immediate action" against any publication tempted to publish the photos, and declared Jackson's intention to prosecute rather than pay ransom to the tapes' abductor.

LIKE A COSTLY CANDLE IN THE WIND

As the Yankees took the field for Game Four of the World Series, Christie's auction house opened bidding on an "eternity band" given by Joe DiMaggio to MARILYN MONROE. The bidding proved more competitive than the game, with the diamond ring scoring $770,000 from an anonymous buyer. Among the less eternal items, which nevertheless sold big during the auction of Monroe memorabilia, were a makeup case (with used cosmetics), which sold for $266,000, and six pictures of her dog that fetched $222,500. Singer Mariah Carey laid out $660,000 for a piano, and designer Tommy Hilfiger ponied up $112,000 for jeans and cowboy boots. The sale's highest price went to an item with perhaps the least to show for itself: owners of a collectibles shop paid nearly $1.3 million for the all-but-bare dress Monroe wore in 1962 when she sang Happy Birthday to President Kennedy.

A ROSE FADES TO GRAY

Baseball abhors a pariah vacuum, so after PETE ROSE received a resoundingly redemptive round of applause before Game Two of the World Series, new villain JIM GRAY burst out of the bull pen. Rose was on hand for his induction into baseball's All Century Team. It was meant to be a happy event. But in a postceremony interview, NBC reporter Gray peppered Rose with questions about his lifetime ban from the sport. Bad call. Angry fans flooded NBC with complaints, and following Game Three, Yankee Chad Curtis snubbed Gray on-air after hitting the game-winning home run. By Game Four, Yankee management had intervened to call a truce. You know you're in trouble when you need George Steinbrenner to broker your peace.

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT

WHO: Actor Matthew McConaughey

WHERE: Austin, Texas

OFFENSE: Resisting arrest. When police arrived at the actor's home after neighbors complained of loud music at 2:45 a.m., they found him naked, dancing and playing the bongos, all legal activities. But he struggled with police when they tried to handcuff him after spotting what they believed was marijuana paraphernalia. He spent part of the night in jail and paid a $1,000 bond. No drug charges were filed.

WHY THIS IS NOT SURPRISING: He starred as a stoner in the film Dazed and Confused; his acting career appears stalled; and friend Sandra Bullock once called him "the mayor of all good times."