People

By Benjamin Nugent

CURIOUS. SO MANY GEORGES

The 60th anniversary of Curious George fell at a busy time for the country's No. 1 George. But other noted Georges gathered at the Children's Museum in Manhattan to read aloud. Politico GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, writer GEORGE PLIMPTON, former TV-anchor PHYLLIS GEORGE and comic GEORGE WALLACE were there, although Carlin, Foreman and Boy weren't. Politico George is used to spending time with monkeys. "People send me Curious George paraphernalia," he said. Plimpton found relief from turbulent times: "Children's literature," he said, "is not much stricken by outside things." This year, however, money to be raised from an auction of yellow hats (it's a George thing) will help the museum remain free to the families of fire fighters, police officers and EMTs.

Free Juice, Again

The way St. Francis attracted the birds, others attract high-profile felony trials. Last week a Florida courtroom bore witness to a scene photocopied from the one that riveted a nation in 1995: O.J. SIMPSON mouthing the words thank you to a jury that had just rendered a not-guilty verdict. The charges this time were battery and auto burglary. Simpson's neighbor Jeffrey Pattinson alleged that the former NFL star ran a stop sign, nearly causing an accident, went verbally ballistic on him when Pattinson honked his horn and finally yanked his glasses off. Simpson said Pattinson drove up behind him, sat on his horn and "went off" when approached. Wound alleged by plaintiff? A scratched temple. Such carnage! The best evidence was Simpson's fingerprint on the glasses, and the only witnesses were Simpson's kids, who were not called to the stand. Simpson said that when he called to tell them the verdict, "they were happy. They're kids," he added. "They're trusting."

BURTON GOES FROM MARTIAN TO MERCHANT IVORY

The betrothal of director TIM BURTON and LISA MARIE, his alien in Mars Attacks! and TV vamp in Ed Wood, made odd sense. Who else could be Burton's wacky muse? Three words: HELENA BONHAM CARTER. The monkey business didn't start until after the release of Burton's film Planet of the Apes, in which Bonham Carter (left, at the movie's premiere) and Marie played foxy simians. (During the shoot, notes Bonham Carter's rep, "she was in latex from head to toe.") That's the way things began between Bonham Carter and then-married Kenneth Branagh too, after Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Is there something about almost-humanoids that brings out the animal in her? Warning: Mrs. Heston is fully aware of her right to bear arms.

OPRAH MAKES CORRECTIONS TO LITERARY EGO

For a novelist, a phone call from OPRAH WINFREY is like a house call from the prize patrol: the big check has arrived. The author appears on Oprah's show, and sales go through the roof. But not long after JONATHAN FRANZEN's literary best seller The Corrections got the nod, the writer got cold feet: "She's picked some good books, but she's picked enough schmaltzy, one-dimensional ones that I cringe," he said. Oprah's justice was swift. She did not withdraw the seal of approval, but she did the next worst thing: "Jonathan Franzen will not be on the Oprah Winfrey Show because he is seemingly uncomfortable and conflicted about being chosen as a book-club selection. It is never my intention to make anyone uncomfortable or to cause anyone conflict." (Translation: Take that, egghead.) Franzen apologized, to no avail. Now his publisher is the one cringing.