NEWS LITE : TALK OVER SALARY GETTING ANIMATED.

D'OH!

No, make that dough!

That's not Homer Simpson groaning. That's the actors who provide the voices for Fox' animated hit ``The Simpsons.'' They've banded together to hit up the boss for a raise next season. A big raise, according to Friday's Variety, the show business daily.

Fox Broadcasting Co. and the show's studio, Twentieth Century Fox Television, declined to comment on the report that the actors were demanding raises that would put them at $100,000 an episode.

That's about what each cast member of NBC's live-action hit ``Friends'' gets per episode - after their celebrated holdout a couple of seasons back. Currently, ``Simpsons'' voicers earn less than $35,000 per episode for two half-days of work, Variety said.

The holdouts are said to include Homer (Dan Castellaneta), Apu (Hank Azaria), Bart (Nancy Cartwright) and Principal Skinner (Harry Shearer), Variety said.

``We're in private negotiations with these guys and we expect to reach an agreement so production can begin,'' said a Fox source, speaking on condition of anonymity. ``Their contracts expired and we expected a demand.''

Marge (actress Julie Kavner) is under contract and is not among the holdouts, the source said.

President's pundits put through hoops

He slogged through a thicket of questions about nuclear weapons, peace in Northern Ireland and the Asian economy. It wasn't until a reporter mentioned the NCAA men's basketball tournament that President Clinton really perked up.

``Utah's a great team,'' he exclaimed, referring to the second-round opponent of his beloved Arkansas Razorbacks, who won their opening contest Thursday night against Nebraska.

Presidential aides pulled and tugged at reporters to get them out of the Oval Office after a photo-taking session with a Clinton guest, but the president was in a mood to talk basketball.

``It's a great tournament,'' he said. ``It's the most interesting tournament we've had in some time, really.''

Celebrity dreams to reach overdrive

Imagine Cher tooling around in a black 1956 Ford F-100 pickup truck. Now, imagine yourself in the driver's seat - made of sumptuous black leather set off by sterling silver buttons.

Cher's pickup is one of more than a dozen celebrity vehicles - including Elvis Presley's 1966 Chrysler Imperial - on the auction block during the March 21 and 22 Auction '98 classic and collector car event at the Imperial Palace Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

A red 1955 Ford Thunderbird once owned by Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, a 1965 Rolls-Royce limousine once owned by John Lennon and presidential parade cars used by Franklin D. Roosevelt and Dwight D. Eisenhower are also up for grabs.

Restoration of Cher's pickup was meticulously directed by the entertainer and took 18 months to complete, auction President Don Williams said Friday.

Country accent placed on charity

Next time you pick up a concert ticket or album to hear a singer such as George Strait or Trisha Yearwood, you might be helping some lesser-known country music people.

Their label, MCA, and several other record companies have expressed interest in contributing to building a retirement community similar to what the Screen Actors Guild has for its members in Southern California.

A task force sent out 4,000 questionnaires to industry members this week to gauge interest.

Museum given sweater made from clone's wool

Dolly, the cloned sheep, gave the coat off her back to the National Science Museum in London on Friday, with a little help from 12-year-old Holly Wharton.

Holly, who designed a brightly colored sweater made from Dolly's wool, won a nationwide contest with her blue, green and white image depicting two identical sheep grazing in a field.

Holly modeled the sweater for Friday's presentation to the museum. She was accompanied by actress Jenny Agutter, who said it was a good advertisement for the pioneering work in genetics by Dolly's creators and by the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, which helped organize the competition.

Agutter is a carrier of the hereditary disease cystic fibrosis, which she said might one day be treated with the technology that produced Dolly.

Dolly was created by scientists at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland, using cells from a sheep's udder. She was the first mammal to be cloned from a cell taken from an adult.

Her creation ignited calls from around the world for more regulation of scientists using cloning techniques.

Italian girl devotes life to `Titanic'

Twelve-year-old Gloria goes to the movies every day. Same time, same place, same movie: ``Titanic.''

So far, the girl has seen the hit film about 50 times, leading the pack of Italy's fervent ``Titanic'' fans. And she's still not tired of it. She even has cats named Jack and Rose.

The budding movie buff was discovered by the newspaper La Repubblica.

``She comes to the 9 o'clock feature every night,'' said Giancarlo Malferrari, the owner of the only movie theater in Castelfranco Emilia, a town of 11,000 in central Italy. ``And every weekend, she watches two shows in a row.''

Now the theater has started saving her favorite seat and even letting her in free.

Neither he nor La Repubblica used the girl's last name, citing Italy's privacy law.

Gloria told La Repubblica it isn't heartthrob Leonardo DiCaprio that attracts her, but the character he plays: Jack Dawson, a struggling artist who wins his passage on the Titanic in a poker game.

``Jack is cuter than Leo,'' she said. ``And it's for real, it's a true story. That's what makes it so beautiful.''

Gloria's mother, a cleaning woman who works at night, hasn't seen ``Titanic'' yet, but she's not worried about her daughter's obsession.

``She's not doing anything bad,'' she told the newspaper, adding that Gloria has to do her homework first every night.

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

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

PHOTO (1) Holly Wharton, 12, models a sweater she designed made from cloned sheep Dolly's wool in London with actress Jenny Agutter.

Associated Press

(2) Homer

(3) Cher