People: Nov. 11, 1996

NO, IT WASN’T HER VOICE

First there was The Nanny, the show. Then The Nanny, the cartoon. Now it’s The Nanny, the behind-the-scenes marital collapse. FRAN DRESCHER and her partner husband of 17 years, PETER MARC JACOBSON, have decided to put asunder a relationship that began when they were 15 and in a high school play. “There is no third party involved,” said their publicist. “Peter and Fran hope this separation will be a positive and growing experience.” The union always seemed to be that, with the duo progressing from working as hairdressers to creating their hit TV show and producing a movie. Drescher had said she hoped they’d become the next Lucy and Desi, “but with a difference: we plan to stay together.”

TO MEND HER HEART

SYLVESTER STALLONE has made millions and built a thriving career out of looking invincible. But with the news that his new daughter SOPHIA ROSE has a hole in her heart, he suddenly appears quite vulnerable. While the condition sounds bad, it’s not life-threatening, and in some cases corrects itself. Still, Sophia Rose, the eight-week-old daughter of model JENNIFER FLAVIN, may need open-heart surgery later in life and in the meantime might be more prone to respiratory infections. For now, she’s at home with her parents. Stallone has two children with Sasha, his first wife: Sage Moonblood, 20, and Seth, 17, who’s autistic. A spokesman said Stallone and Flavin were “concerned but optimistic.”

ANY RUBY SLIPPERS?

Shoes weren’t the only thing IMELDA MARCOS collected. A Philippine court has ruled that $12 million worth of jewels that once belonged to the Iron Butterfly must be auctioned before year’s end. Marcos (and her children) opposed the sale but claimed it was only because the tiaras, necklaces, gem-encrusted bags and other bijouterie were her “personal belongings,” not because she was particularly attached to them. “I have never been a material girl,” Marcos told TIME in a recent interview. “My father always told me never to love anything that cannot love you back.”

SEEN & HEARD

If Allen Ginsberg is not the oldest person to appear on mtv, he must be its oldest poet. Ginsberg’s Ballad of the Skeletons video, directed by Gus Van Sant, with contributions from Paul McCartney and Phillip Glass (everyone loves an elderly hipster), shows Ginsberg, 70, spouting off about politics in a saggy Uncle Sam hat while old black-and-white newsreels spin past. That should really rock the vote.

Thomas Pynchon fans, who have only had a piece in Esquire and liner notes for a few albums to remind them of why they liked 1990’s Vineland so much, can take heart. Mason & Dixon, the latest by the recluse (the only photos of him are from old yearbooks), will be out in April. The novel is about the surveyors whose names mark the antebellum North-South divide. Sorry, no author tour.

MAYBE THIS “NICE” THING IS GETTING A LITTLE OUT OF HAND

At the beginning of the year, ROSIE O’DONNELL was a stand-up comic best known as a Madonna pal who had been in a few movies and K Mart commercials. Now she has a nice talk show, a nice book deal worth a reputed $3 million, a nice son Parker, and most of the readers of Seventeen thinking she’d be a nice President. Who better for Annie Leibovitz and the folks at Vanity Fair to turn into Glinda the good witch? It’s not even her first time in the role. “When I was in the first grade I wanted to be Dorothy, but my teacher cast me as Glinda,” says O’Donnell. “I was devastated.” She doesn’t look thrilled this time either. Smile, Rosie. At least you’re not in Kansas.

GEORGE DECIDES TO PLAY HARDBALL

GEORGE CLOONEY, tired of being haunted by paparazzi’s videocams, tried playground tactics: when a bully picks on you, stop dating his sister. Clooney struck a deal with Paramount Pictures–in writing–that Hard Copy would no longer cover him, or he’d boycott Paramount’s other, puffier show, Entertainment Tonight. The deal lasted six months. Then Hard Copy did a story on Clooney’s girlfriend Celine Balidran. The actor quickly imposed a ban on ET and spoke about it publicly, even berating Paramount executive Frank Kelly for making the deal at all. “A so-called news format show will agree that they will not be covering me in any future stories, if I do his other show,” his letter to ET said. “Now that’s amazing!” Other stars, including the cast of ER, Dean Cain and Whoopi Goldberg (whose letter to ET started, “As much as I love you guys…”), have joined the boycott. Paramount won’t comment, but ET ran a previously taped snippet from Clooney after the ban. So there.

HE’S BACK

What’s the statute of limitations on being caught in flagrante in an adult theater? About three years, it seems. PAUL REUBENS, who was arrested in such circumstances in 1993 and whose children’s show, Pee-wee’s Playhouse, was yanked off the air, will create a new show with the producers of such hits as Roseanne and Cosby. And Pee-wee videos return to stores this week.