NEWS LITE : DISNEY MEMORABILIA ENTHUSIASTS JUMP AT CHANCE TO GET GOOFY.

Frank and Marilyn Pancotto's kitchen in North Carolina is decorated with a Mickey and Minnie motif. The dining room is resplendent in ``Beauty and the Beast'' decor and the living room has a decidedly ``Snow White'' and ``Fantasia'' flair.

Robert Sher doesn't have enough room for all his Disney memorabilia in his New York City apartment, so he keeps much in storage. Dan Casteel has thousands of Disney figurines and 190 animation cels in his Clifton, N.J., home.

If there were a support group for these people, it would be called Disneyholics Anonymous. Instead, these Disney collectors and 2,000 other Disney fanatics find their support, and hundreds more items to buy, each year at the Official Disneyana Convention.

This year's convention, held at Walt Disney World, wrapped up Friday.

``It's something inside you that as a kid was never satisfied. This helps you feel like a kid again,'' said Dr. David Burnsides of Columbus, Ohio.

He and his wife, Mary Lou, spent $6,000 on Disney collectibles and merchandise at the seventh annual convention.

Attendees known as ``ConventionEars'' paid at least $1,185 for a week of seminars, theme parks visits, speeches, auctions of Disney memorabilia and spending sprees on Disney merchandise. There were special appearances by the actors who give voice to Mickey and Minnie, Disney animators and Diane Disney Miller, Walt's oldest daughter.

At this year's auction held Wednesday night, a businessman from New Canaan, Conn., paid $22,000 for a flying elephant car from the theme park Dumbo ride.

Closet-kept skull finally laid to rest

The skull of an 1898 murder victim got a decent burial at last.

The macabre remnants of the unsolved 100-year-old slaying were saved as evidence, then sat around in a county courthouse closet in Bucksport, Maine, undisturbed for nearly a century before the burial Friday.

``For me, this brings closure to something we should be ashamed of,'' local history buff Nancy Wasson said. ``We, the residents of Bucksport, have been remiss in letting this sit for so long.''

The slaying of Sarah Ware, a 52-year-old domestic servant remembered as a cigar smoker, has intrigued local residents since she disappeared the night of Sept. 17, 1898. Her body was found in nearby woods about two weeks later.

The skull, which separated from the corpse when the decomposed body was lifted, was cleaned by the victim's brother-in-law, George Ware, who was the town undertaker.

News accounts at the time attributed her death to blows to the head, so the skull and some vertebrae fragments were saved as evidence. Four years later, a man was put on trial and acquitted.

About 40 people turned out for the service Friday morning.

``Your murderer has not escaped,'' said Clayton Wadsworth, a local florist who donated wreaths and bouquets. ``He's probably long dead and gone in this world, but he shall stand before the judgment seat of God on that last day.''

Beatty film a hit at Italian festival

Warren Beatty's political comedy ``Bulworth'' won warm reviews at the Venice (Italy) Film Festival, which entered the final day of competition Saturday.

Variety, the entertainment newspaper, said ``Bulworth'' and Yugoslav director Emir Kusturica's ``Black Cat, White Cat'' were contenders for the coveted Golden Lion.

The festival awards will be announced today.

On Saturday, the last of 19 films in the competition were screened: ``Bulworth,'' ``Place Vendome'' with Catherine Deneuve, and ``Lovers of the Arctic Circle'' by Spanish director Julio Medem.

The Italian critics gave ``Bulworth'' a thumbs-up, saying Beatty's film about a California senator who goes crazy in the middle of a primary campaign had an unexpected freshness.

``Black Cat, White Cat'' drew one of the longest ovations of the festival when it was screened Friday. The colorful, surrealistic tale of two families organizing a wedding in a Gypsy community along the Danube River was made with nonprofessional actors.

Kusturica, a Sarajevo native, won a Golden Palm at Cannes in 1995 for ``Underground,'' a movie about the Balkans conflict.

Carson comedy inspires show host

Conan O'Brien has no problem looking foolish on TV, taking a lesson from late night talk show legend Johnny Carson.

``There's this trend in comedy the last 15 years that people want to be more cool than funny,'' O'Brien says in the Sept. 18 Entertainment Weekly. ``At the beginning of Carson's show there was a montage of him in ridiculous outfits wearing a wig or a giant Carnac hat.''

The ``Late Night'' host makes fun of himself in his comedy monologue regularly and does offbeat, unglamorous skits with sidekick Andy Richter. But poking fun at his own foibles is just one way the self-described ``horribly repressed Catholic'' goes against the grain.

``I'm saddened when the audience is happy,'' he said. ``I'm amused when we take a happy audience and do something weird that upsets them or confuses them.''

Scholars get boost from Microsoft loot

Bill Gates, the richest man in America, appreciates the value of an education, even if he never got a college degree.

The software mogul is donating $20 million to Duke University, his wife's alma mater.

The gift, announced Saturday, will be used to set up the University Scholars program, providing financial aid and fellowships to dozens of undergraduate, graduate and professional students.

Melinda French Gates received a bachelor's degree from Duke in 1986 and a master's degree in business administration in 1987 and has served on the school's trustee board since 1996.

``Bill and I hope our gift will ensure the best and brightest students have access to an outstanding university experience without regard for economic status,'' Melissa Gates said.

Bill Gates, the nation's richest person, had an estimated worth of $50 billion in June. He attended Harvard University but left before graduating to found Microsoft Corp. He and a friend gave $25 million to Harvard in 1996 and, a few months ago, Gates donated $2 million to a small school in Spokane, Wash.

Actor accepted film before stardom hit

Portraying a high-stakes poker player in ``Rounders'' made Matt Damon keep a straight face.

``It's strange to play a guy whose biggest skill is having a perfect poker face,'' Damon says in the Sept. 18 Entertainment Weekly. ``I'm sure people will accuse me of having a poker face throughout the movie, but that's kind of the risky sign-on at the beginning.''

Damon, who co-starred in ``Good Will Hunting'' and shared a screenwriting Academy Award for it with Ben Affleck, said he hadn't hit it big yet when the starring role in ``Rounders'' came his way.

``I wish I could say it was part of some master plan,'' Damon said. ``I was just a guy with my hat in my hands, looking for work.''

News Lite is compiled from Daily News staff and wire reports

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2 Photos

PHOTO (1) Warren Beatty poses for photos in Venice, Italy, where his film ``Bulworth'' is in the city's film festival.

Francesco Proietti/Associated Press

(2) O'BRIEN