People

By Michele Orecklin

THE ROYAL SPRINGER

Jerry Springer, who gained fame by pandering to the basest aspects of human nature, is being adopted by purveyors of high culture. For one of his first productions, the newly installed director of the Royal National Theater in London has chosen an opera based on Springer's talk show. A version of the opera debuted at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland this summer and is being reworked for an April opening in London. The new opera is expected to include such crowd pleasers as a kick line of Ku Klux Klansmen and a diaper fetishist. One hopes that this newfound respectability won't ruin Springer's reputation.

AN END OF INNOCENCE

Winona Ryder will be giving no jailhouse interviews. At her sentencing last week for shoplifting last December at the Saks Fifth Avenue store in Beverly Hills, Calif., Ryder avoided jail time and instead was given three years' probation and ordered to perform 480 hours of community service and pay more than $10,000 in fines. When stopped by security guards in the store, Ryder was also found to have a collection of prescription drugs in her bag that would have made Elvis proud, including Percodan, Valium and Endocet. Her lawyer said the medications were for pain management. The judge chastised Ryder for not taking "personal responsibility" for the incident. The actress was deferential to the judge but made outraged and disbelieving faces as the prosecutor spoke. The judge also ordered Ryder to undergo psychological and drug counseling--in other words, to get back to the normal routine of celebrity life.

THE M.J. FILES The Devil and Mr. Jackson; Or the Spider Made Him Do It

Anyone who doubts that MICHAEL JACKSON can still influence popular culture should consider this: before last month, the world had never heard the term baby dangling, but since Jackson appeared on a Berlin balcony with his infant son, it has become part of the vernacular. So one wonders how long it will be before impressionable youth start hobbling around on crutches. That is how Jackson arrived last week at a courthouse in Santa Barbara, Calif., where he is being sued for $21 million by a concert promoter who contends that the singer broke his contract by canceling two shows. Jackson explained that his bandaged foot was the result of a spider bite--but not one inflicted by one of his pet tarantulas. Possibly still woozy from the experience, he made faces and hand gestures on the stand, though he was lucid enough to allege that it was the promoter, Marcel Avram, who called off the concerts. The following day, Jackson failed to show up for cross-examination. His lawyers explained that he had a medical problem.

UNEASY IS THE RACE FOR THE CROWN

Not so long ago the most controversial thing about beauty pageants was the swimsuit segment. As the latest Miss World contest proved, those simple times are over. Hundreds died in riots last month after a Nigerian journalist suggested the Prophet Muhammad might have approved of the pageant and maybe even found a wife among the contestants. The pageant was moved from Nigeria to London, and on Saturday Miss Turkey, Azra Akin, ended the whole nightmare by walking away with the tiara and $150,000 prize. Pageant co-host Sean Kanan, an actor from the U.S. soap The Bold and the Beautiful, made brief mention of the violence that preceded this outcome, saying, "Our thoughts go out to the families that suffered." Akin, who plays the flute, added, "I think it is good for a woman to have this position." It may also be good for her to have bodyguards.