Side show

ALL SHOOK UP: Tourism must be in dire straits if people aren't going to Graceland.

Fifty workers at Elvis Presley's Memphis home are being laid off because of a 15 percent decline in attendance since Sept. 11.

"Since almost a third of our visitorship is from outside the country, we have seen significant effects and have put into effect a number of reductions and cutbacks," Jack Sodden, the head of Elvis Presley Enterprises, said in an Associated Press report.

HEY, HEY, HEYDAY IS GONE: Another slice of the '70s that should stay in the '70s: Bill Cosby has finished co-writing a script for a Fat Albert movie and now is deciding whether he should do the voices of Albert, Bill and Mushmouth, as he did for the cartoon series.

"I don't know if my Fat Albert, if it's a little too full and robust now and old, and what I would like to try is perhaps to find or have auditions for someone who could really imitate what's on the track," Cosby, 64, told AP Radio.

The movie will be part animation and part live action. It's scheduled for summer 2003 release.

I'd be much more interested in a chicken heart movie. (Check out Cosby's album Wonderfulness, 1966)

SOMEONE GOT PAID TO THINK THIS UP: A followup to a recent item about America's obsession with breath fresheners:

Myntz! are thinner-than-paper strips, about 7/8 of an inch by 1 1/4, flavored with something minty that melt in your mouth on contact.

It feels like cellophane is covering your tongue or the roof of your mouth -- whichever part it hits -- and the lingering sensation is that of having burned your mouth by eating something that was way too hot.

Each 1 1/4- by 1 3/4-inch pack contains 24.

So don't hold back on those onions at lunch.

INSPIRATION: "She came in and said, "I'm looking for something to wear on my lips and nipples that won't wear off.' I looked at her and was like, "What are you talking about?' "

-- Jean Ford, co-founder of BeneFit cosmetics, about how an exotic dancer spurred the company to develop in the 1970s the first quirky product that put it on the map. (The product is a lip and cheek stain called Benetint, and the company still sells it.)

BECAUSE YOU'VE BEEN INSPIRED: The Jennifer Lopez clothing line is at Dillard's in International Plaza. You can buy the T-shirt with J.Lo's face on it. Or the T-shirt with J.Lo's eyes on it. Or the sweater with "J.Lo" in big letters on the front. Or the jeans with "J.Lo" on them in fake jewels near the waist. Or the . . .

Predicted shelf life: Two more months. Tops.

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