NEWS LITE : SCHULZ WILL DRAW FINAL `PEANUTS'.

Charles Schulz will give readers one final ``Peanuts'' strip before he officially retires, his editor said Wednesday, a day after the cartoonist announced the end of his beloved comic strip.

Will Charlie Brown finally outsmart Lucy and send that football sailing? Will he win the love of the little red-haired girl?

``I haven't seen it yet; I can't tell you,'' his editor, Amy Lago, said. Then she thought a minute. ``Knowing Schulz, probably not.''

The farewell strip will be published Jan. 3.

Lago said she was unsure whether Schulz will draw the strip or put together a collage of characters Schulz has already drawn.

On Tuesday, Schulz announced that he planned to retire his 49-year-old strip.

He had drawn daily strips for use through Jan. 1 and Sunday strips for use through Feb. 13 before undergoing emergency surgery last month.

Doctors diagnosed him with colon cancer at that time, and the 77-year-old cartoonist, who took pride in meeting deadlines, decided to retire when he realized that he did not know when he would be well enough to withstand the pressure of daily work.

He also suffered a series of small strokes during his surgery and now has trouble with his vision while drawing, she said.

``You wouldn't know it to see him. He recognizes people and faces,'' she said, and he is able to draw, but something ``clicks in the brain'' making it difficult. He is expected to recover, she said.

Lago said she will not disclose the final strip or its storyline before it is published.

Hef's latest buddy Playmate material

Hugh Hefner's latest plaything is Brande Roderick, 25, who will show us why in the April issue of Playboy. She claims she got the shoot on her own merits with no help from the boss.

``I called Playboy and set up a test photo shoot on my own,'' said Roderick, who met Hef, 73, about 18 months ago at an L.A. nightspot. Apparently the 48-year age difference doesn't bother her in the least.

``He knows how to treat a woman,'' she said. ``He's the sort of man who opens a door for a girl and holds out a chair. I've never had a guy do that before.''

Perry gathering in his good ol' boys

As the calendar creeps toward the millennial apocalypse, many prudent (read: paranoid) Americans will hoard staples like food, water, candles and batteries.

Makes sense, right? Not to ``Friends'' goofball Matthew Perry. He tells TV Guide he'll be frantically beefing up his collection of ``old `Dukes of Hazzard' episodes, because you can never really have enough of them.''

Andrews sues over loss of voice

A voice that once brought the hills alive with music and taught children that ``a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down'' was destroyed by a doctor's scalpel, Julie Andrews says in a lawsuit.

``Singing has been a cherished gift, and my inability to sing has been a devastating blow,'' the 64-year-old star of ``Mary Poppins,'' ``The Sound of Music'' and Broadway's ``My Fair Lady'' said in a statement.

Her comments coincided with the filing of a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on Tuesday accusing Mount Sinai Hospital and two doctors of malpractice for destroying her singing voice in a botched operation.

Andrews, who won an Oscar for her role in ``Mary Poppins,'' is demanding ``substantial damages to compensate for loss of past and future earnings.''

Mount Sinai spokesman Mel Granick said hospital officials had not seen the lawsuit and could not comment. Neither of the doctors returned phone calls.

Andrews has been unable to sing due to what the lawsuit described as ``profound vocal difficulties, including severe hoarseness'' since she underwent surgery to remove noncancerous throat nodules in June 1997.

The operation was recommended after Andrews experienced difficulties with her throat and voice while performing seven to eight shows a week of ``Victor/Victoria'' between October 1995 and June 1997, the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit says Andrews was never told the operation carried the risk of permanent hoarseness, ``irreversible loss of vocal quality'' or other complications that might leave her unable to sing. Instead, it says, doctors said the operation would eliminate her throat and voice problems and permit her singing voice to be as good as ever

Brooks talks of retirement to spend time with little girls

Garth Brooks, the biggest-selling act in country music history, said Wednesday he probably will retire next year to spend more time with his three young daughters.

The surprise announcement came during an interview on The Nashville Network's ``Crook & Chase'' show.

``I never, ever thought in my life I'd say this, but music is not the first thing in my life any more,'' Brooks said. ``Those girls somehow come along and they just take your energy and all of a sudden all you want to do is you want to do things that make them smile.''

Brooks, whose daughters with wife Sandy are 3, 5 and 7, said he will ``lay low'' for nine or 10 months, plan a big party and ``probably announce our retirement at the end of next year.''

Brooks, 37, did not elaborate on what ``retirement'' means. He indicated he no longer would tour but still would write songs and, perhaps, movie scripts.

``Writing seems to be what my bag is,'' he said.

He said that when his daughters are grown he might return to touring. ``But right now, definitely I've got to step up and take care of my responsibility,'' he said.

A spokeswoman for Capitol Records, Brooks' record company, said the label would have no comment on his plans.

Brooks has hinted at retirement before. In 1995 hTe said he might curtail his career because of family obligations, but not long afterward he was back on the road.

Brooks' retirement would be a huge blow to a country music industry that has seen sales flatten in recent years after huge growth fueled by Brooks, who has sold 97 million albums during a 10-year recording career.

Brooks last toured a year ago, playing 100 cities and selling more than 5.3 million tickets. His top-selling albums are ``No Fences'' in 1990, which sold 16 million copies, and ``Ropin' the Wind'' in 1991, which sold 14 million.

Pavarottis appear because they must

Luciano Pavarotti and his wife, Adua, appeared in court Wednesday for one last attempt at reconciliation.

The court appearance in Modena, Italy, was required under Italian divorce law: ``We had to have this meeting, so we did it,'' the tenor told a media mob afterward.

Reaching a financial settlement will be next. Lawyers have denied news reports that Pavarotti's wife will seek more than $100 million.

Pavarotti has been living for several years with a young Italian woman who was once his secretary.

News Lite is compiled by Karen Duffy from Daily News staff and wire reports

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo: (1) Garth Brooks performs a private show for contest winners in Mobile, Ala.

Associated Press 

(2) Andrews