I Want My Johnny Mercer

Without covering a single Eddie Vedder number, without once singing such lyrics as "I'll take all the blame/Aqua seafoam shame," 67-year-old crooner TONY BENNETT has become a decidedly hep alternative-rock act. Bennett has been winning fans among the flannels-and-nose-ring set ever since he served as a presenter at last year's mtv Video Music Awards, and he recently appeared at a concert in L.A. alongside Belly and Bad Religion. Now Bennett is about to get his very own mtv Unplugged special. "It's funny," he says, "because I've always been unplugged."

SEEN & HEARD

It is a role begging for, say, Brad Pitt, and yet it's being written for Whoopi Goldberg. Screenwriter Budd Schulberg, currently updating his script for the 1957 film A Face in the Crowd, is re-tailoring the lead role for Ted Danson's zany ex. In the original movie, Andy Griffith plays a hick turned TV demagogue overnight.

The latest celebrity to enter the Betty Ford clinic: Hall of Fame baseball player--and Hall of Fame carouser--Mickey Mantle. A statement issued by his manager said Mantle, 62, was receiving treatment for "a 43-year battle with alcohol abuse."

Once upon a time, many, many tabloid scandals ago, Burt Reynolds and Loni Anderson embarked on a vituperative divorce. There's a happy ending, though. The two have agreed to a settlement in which the Barbie-ish Mrs. will reportedly receive $2 million and a vacation house.

Make Way for Madeleine

Although she was blessed with beauty and the good luck that got her discovered as she passed out leaflets in a theater, MADELEINE STOWE did not instantly become a star, a la Julia Roberts. But after more than 10 movies, Stowe is finding fame, and she doesn't view the wait with bitterness. "I was really a very bad actress for very many years," she says. Acclaimed for her work in Short Cuts, Stowe is now starring in Blink, and will appear this spring in the western Bad Girls. And like all real stars, she has bought a ranch.

Stiff Upper Lip

It took an attack by an Australian angry about his country's treatment of Cambodian boat people to transform PRINCE CHARLES in the eyes of his people from a dithering cad into an unflappable semihero. Greeting 10,000 Australia Day celebrators in Sydney, the prince--whose favorable rating in British polls recently sank to 17%--remained imperturbable when a student leaped from the crowd, aimed a gun at him and fired two blanks. The assailant was immediately seized by the police. The day after the event, Britain's cruel and unforgiving press universally praised Charles for his sangfroid. The shooting incident "may have done more for the prince's reputation than a legion of public relations staff," said the Independent Television News.