NEWS LITE : QUESTING PAID OFF FOR EX-`TAXI' STAR.

Danny DeVito has found it.

In his new film, ``Living Out Loud,'' the actor-director-producer plays an elevator operator in search of a central meaningful thing to guide his life by, the indefinable it.

``I know that guys go through that, and some of them are never going to find it, whatever it is - that ephemeral, elusive thing just out of your grasp,'' DeVito said in Sunday's New York Daily News.

In his case, DeVito found it at Saturday matinees as a boy growing in Asbury Park, N.J.

``I always thought I could do it as a kid,'' DeVito said. ``I went to the movies all the time. It was like a thing I always thought about.''

It started for real when he left a job in his sister's beauty shop and went to study drama in the Big Apple.

``It was kind of a leap, but I had this wanderlust,'' DeVito said. ``I wanted to come to New York.''

Study led to stage work, which led to a supporting role in ``One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest,'' which led to his star-making role as surly cab dispatcher Louie DePalma on ``Taxi.''

He's gone on to work in films including ``Tin Men,'' ``Hoffa,'' ``Get Shorty'' and ``L.A. Confidential.''

Linda soothed him, McCartney recalls

Sir Paul McCartney credits his late wife Linda with keeping him sane after the Beatles split up.

``I felt completely useless when the Beatles broke up. I was probably on the edge of a nervous breakdown,'' he said, according to the Mail on Sunday.

``She gave me confidence. She said, you're great, you're OK,'' the singer-songwriter said of his American wife, who died of breast cancer in April at age 56.

After the 1970 band breakup, the McCartneys spent time at a farm in Scotland, where Linda McCartney taught her husband how to ride on horseback.

``We liked doing very simple and very down-to-earth things. During the time we spent up there I did a lot of sheep-shearing. It's the only time in my life I had shoulders,'' McCartney said. ``Through the nature in Scotland, through riding and through her support I did manage to get it back together.''

McCartney gave the interview to promote the Oct. 26 release of a solo album recorded by his wife.

Country legend out of hospital, battling

Johnny Cash is out of the hospital after a stay to determine how to best treat his Shy-Drager's Syndrome, a condition that can cause blackouts and tremors.

The 66-year-old singer best known for hits including ``I Walk The Line,'' ``Folsom Prison'' and ``A Boy Named Sue,'' spent about a week at Baptist Hospital in Nashville, Tenn., before his release Saturday.

Cash announced in November that he had Shy-Drager's Syndrome, for which there is no cure but which can be treated with medication.

What makes scary writers so prolific?

Kiddie horror story writer R.L. Stine of ``Goosebumps'' fame has a method for cranking out a new book every two weeks.

``I sit down every morning at 9:30 and I don't get up until I've written 20 pages,'' said Stine, who has written 80 books in six years.

He was in Minneapolis over the weekend promoting ``Seniors,'' a new book series for 10- to 13-year-olds.

With a new book each month, ``Seniors'' follows the graduating class of Shadyside High through a doomed final school year, with hapless teens biting the dust along the way.

Stine, 54, has spun his success with ``Goosebumps'' into a TV series, a Disney World attraction and a traveling ``Goosebumps'' stage play.

Sinatra symposium to feature Damone

Frank Sinatra once hailed Vic Damone for having ``the best pipes in the business.''

Now, the singer who credits Ol' Blue Eyes as his mentor and friend will perform at a conference devoted to the late entertainer.

Damone will appear at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., for the Nov. 12 conference ``Frank Sinatra - The Man, The Music, The Legend.'' Damone will headline a gala concert Nov. 13.

Magazine outlines strategies for staying InStyle

InStyle magazine, which usually devotes itself to pushing glitzy products it says are favored by the stars, has at last decided to help out the poor plain folks. The latest issue features ``100 Tips, Tricks and Things'' that constitute the ``Secrets of Style.'' Personals' top five (and hang in there, gents, these are unisex):

``If the vertical distance from the bottom of your earlobe to your chin is more than 2-1/4 inches, then you shouldn't have short hair.''

``How to know if a belt fits? The tab should fit comfortably into the third hole.''

``Never wear a white that's whiter than your teeth.''

``Never use scented candles at the dinner table.''

``Don't mention your weight on a date.''

Stereo thief returns loot with cash

A remorseful shoplifter this week surprised the owner of Wick's Custom Car Stereo in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

When Richard Wick got to work Thursday, one of the store's employees gave him a gold-colored envelope, which someone had left outside the store's front door. Inside was $100, an old stereo equalizer and a note, written in pencil, apologizing for stealing the piece of stereo equipment.

The note, which was signed ``Peace Offering,'' said the thief had been ``haunted'' by the equipment and wanted to return it.

``I've had stuff taken but I have never had anything returned with money,'' Wick said. Wick's Custom Car Stereo has been open for 20 years. ``I can't even think of anyone ever being returned.''

Wick is not sure when the equalizer was taken. In fact, he said he didn't even remember it being taken. He checked store records and found that the last time he had carried that type of equalizer was in 1989.

``It has to be at least eight to 10 years old,'' Wick said.

In its time, the equalizer was top of the line. Nowadays, it's a dinosaur, which Wick said he could probably get $50 for at most. Most car stereos nowadays have built-in equalizers, he said.

News Lite is compiled from Daily News staff and wire reports

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

PHOTO (1) Giant promotion

Workers in Bangkok climb on an oversized sofa displayed as part of a promotion for a furniture fair. The 21-foot-long, 10-1/2-foot-high sofa holds 30 people and weighs 1,146 pounds.

Apichart Weerawong/Associated Press

(2) Cash

(3) DeVito