A prep course for the month-long World Cup soccer tournament, a worldwide pheno

 comment without first reading the book , '' Lefcourt said . `` The book is mean

t to be romantic and sweet and I think that Diana herself would be pleased . '' 

Lefcourt , 52 , a soft-spoken son of New York City , moved to Los Angeles in 197

2 . He had managed to sell a script for a murder mystery to Universal . `` Here 

I was , in L.A. , in my corduroy jacket , looking at Porsches , '' he recalled .

 The movie was not made , but by 1975 Lefcourt was writing for TV 's `` Eight Is

 Enough . '' He won an Emmy in 1985 for his work on `` Cagney and Lacey . '' In 

this country , the interest of `` Entertainment Tonight '' and other American sh

ows should help move the 25,000 copies that make up Random House 's first printi

ng . In Britain , where Sue Townsend 's humorous `` The Queen and I '' was a bes

t seller last year , the horrified response of recent days should light , or may

be scorch the path when Lefcourt arrives to promote his book on June 19 . -0- Bo

ok Talk From L.A. : Visitors to the American Booksellers Association 's annual c

onvention left Los Angeles this week with piles of books , catalogs , T-shirts a

nd publishing tales such as these : The next headache for President Clinton may 

come in the form of Bob Woodward 's `` The Agenda : Inside the Clinton White Hou

se . '' Woodward 's view at the top was described by one who has read the book a

s unflattering when it comes to Clinton 's decision-making skills . Simon & Schu

ster plans to put the book on sale immediately after `` 60 Minutes '' offers a f

irst peek Sunday .. . Chuck Hogan , a young writer who has been supporting himse

lf by working in a Boston video store , scored a $ 500,000-plus contract from Do

ubleday for his first novel . Film rights are now in play for `` The Standoff , 

'' praised by Doubleday publisher Stephen Rubin as `` pure action , a thriller a

bout a hostage negotiator who has to deal with a white supremacist in Idaho '' .

. . ( Optional add end ) Random House has ambitious plans for the October public

ation of Marlon Brando 's long-awaited autobiography . `` Brando : Songs My Moth

er Taught Me , '' which includes as many as 100 photos from the actor 's collect

ion , will be advertised extensively to support an anticipated print run of 500,

000 copies . But whether the enigmatic and reclusive Brando will step forward to

 support his own cause on the chat circuit appears doubtful . Random House publi

sher Harold Evans said that Brando has agreed to answer p repared questions in f

ront of a camera and this video will then be made available to interested media 

. Meanwhile , Hyperion intends to publish Peter Manso 's unauthorized bio of Bra

ndo , a book that Evans called `` a spoiling operation '' .. . Barbara Bush said

 she felt `` kind of guilty hiding behind the dog '' when she wrote the canine c

hronicle `` Millie 's Book '' ( and Millie , by the way , is `` absolutely wonde

rful , a great companion still '' ) . But when the former first lady 's autobiog

raphy is published by Scribners at summer 's end , she will be out on her own , 

with everyone from Barbara Walters to yes David Letterman planning to catch up w

ith her life outside the White House . Mrs. Bush presented an overview of her me

moir at an afternoon te a in Beverly Hills , Calif. , and boasted that she wrote

 every word on a laptop computer .. . Simon & Schuster Interactive took visitors

 aboard the Starship Enterprise as the publisher unveiled its lead CD-ROM title 

for the fall , `` Star Trek : The Next Generation Interactive Technical Manual ,

 '' a virtually real tour of the TV spaceship in which ROM-equipped Trekkies are

 sure to get lost for hours .

 Good thing it 's an extra-long truck , with a name like Nissan XE-V6 King Cab 4

X4 Pickup . Every bit of it means something important , though . Nissan , of cou

rse , is Japan 's second-largest carmaker . `` XE '' is an equipment level added

 for '94 that has most of the important items in the more expensive `` SE , '' b

ut fewer frills to keep the price down . `` V6 '' refers to the optional engine 

, which produces 19 more horsepower than the standard four-cylinder . It runs on

 regular gas , but gets 3 mpg less than the four-cylinder in the city and highwa

y . `` King Cab , '' not to be confused with king crab , means there 's extra st

orage space behind the main seats , along with two , strictly-for-occasional-use

 , jump seats . `` 4X4 '' means four-wheel drive , in this case engaged from wit

hin the vehicle via a floor lever . That 's better than systems that require goi

ng outside and locking the hubs , but not as good as the more modern full-time s

ystems or those engaged via pushbutton . The King Cab is available without the f

our-wheel drive for $ 12,489 with freight . So its name tells you quite a bit ab

out this truck . But it doesn't indicate that Nissan 's pickups are built in Ten

nessee , with engines built mostly in Japan and transmissions built entirely in 

Japan . Nor does the name indicate that , like any small pickup , the XE-V6 etc.

 etc. rides a lot rougher than most cars and is generally less stable , particul

arly in aggressive driving . And that , again like most competitors , it lacks a

n air bag . Or that the dashboard is new for '94 but lacks a cupholder , though 

the optional console is an acceptable substitute . The name indicates nothing ab

out price , either , which can be steep . Our tester listed for $ 17,984 with fr

eight , a plastic bed liner and optional air conditioning , tilt wheel , cruise 

control , tachometer , AM-FM stereo/cassette player , fancy wheels and several o

ther cosmetic and convenience items . Power windows and locks are not available 

in the XE-V6 etc. etc . Automatic transmission would add $ 1,000 . The five-spee

d is typical of those in light trucks , with a very low first-gear ratio for off

 roading , and with long throws compared with those of most cars . The name give

s no hint , either , of the quality of Nissan 's trucks , which is above average

 , according to J.D. . Power and Associates . Nor does the name indicate that th

e King Cab has the medium-sized of three cargo box lengths offered in Nissan pic

kups . It 's about an inch longer than the standard bed , but 14.6 inches shorte

r than the long bed . But , then , a more specific name like `` Nissan XE-V6 Kin

g Cab 4X4 Medium-Sized Bed Hard Riding Not Too Cheap But Pretty Good Quality Ten

nessee-Built Air Bag-Less and Cupholder-Less '' pickup might have to be continue

d on the next truck .

 Engine : 3.0-liter V-6 , 153 horsepower . Transmission : Five-speed manual , re

ar- or four-wheel drive . Safety : Manual belts , side-impact beams , rear antil

ock brakes . Weight : 3,765 pounds . Box Size : 74.6 inches long , 59.8 inches w

ide . Base Price : $ 16,989 , including destination charge . EPA Mileage : 15 mp

g city , 19 mpg highway .

 Incongruous or what ? The hotel dining room is posh , brocaded in silks , and t

hrough its stately aisles rush liveried waiters with the muted aplomb of funeral

 directors . Swanky bouquets detonate their expensive colors on each linen-shrou

ded table , and the silverware and crystal gleam like diamonds in a tiara . And 

there , in the middle of it all , sits .. . Laverne ? Yes , Laverne that is , Pe

nny Marshall , with those sad Brooklyn eyes and the look of being endlessly put-

upon , sitting in a funk of exhaustion so dense it would , a few days later , ca

use her to collapse and briefly enter the hospital . Her eyes are blue , her hai

r is blond , she 's tan as a surfer and yet everything about her says Brooklyn .

 Go figure . You can take the woman out of Brooklyn , but you can't take Brookly

n out of the woman . Marshall , like her colleague Ron Howard , has the entwined

 good luck/bad fortune to be forever identified by a television role ; no matter

 that , like Howard , she has since leaving the tube built an extraordinarily su

ccessful career as a film director . After a shaky start on `` Jumpin ' Jack Fla

sh , '' she segued neatly into three first-class projects `` Big , '' `` Awakeni

ngs '' and `` A League of Their Own . '' To these she brought her learned-on-TV 

professionalism , a shrewd sense of comedy and feeling , and rigorous toughness 

. Now , fighting off the exhaustion that attended the ordeal of finishing her la

test film , she 's out on the hustings beating up some attention for it . It 's 

`` Renaissance Man , '' with Danny DeVito as a former ad man who 's forced to ta

ke a job on an Army post teaching some dim basic trainees the art of `` comprehe

nsion , '' which he does through the use of Shakespeare 's `` Hamlet . '' `` I l

iked what it had to say , '' says Marshall , firing up a cigarette and sucking d

own a lungful of tar , then expelling it in a blast of haze . `` It 's a teachin

g movie , like ` Goodbye , Mr . Chips ' and ` To Sir With Love . ' The Army is t

he last place for a lot of kids to go to get a chance to become someone . '' She

 also was attracted to the character DeVito plays , a Detroit advertising man na

med Bill Rado who , in his 50s , loses his job and has to start over . `` He los

es his job at that age ; it 's like losing everything . But he manages to surviv

e and even triumph ; it shows that it 's never too late to find something that i

s meaningful for you . '' ( Begin optional trim ) That almost sounds like Marsha

ll herself , who after 7 prosperous years on television lost her job , with few 

prospects . How on earth did she go from whiny , adenoidal Laverne to the person

 who gets to yell `` Action '' ? `` I wish I could say it was something I 'd wor

ked my whole life to get and that I was really prepared for . But what happened 

was that they were having a lot of trouble with ` Jumpin ' Jack Flash ' and had 

just fired the director . And someone saw me eating dinner with Whoopi Goldberg 

and said , ` Oh , she can get along with Whoopi . ' So I got the job , even thou

gh at the time I 'd only directed a few TV shows . I was in way over my head , b

ut somehow I got through it . '' The next three films were big , Oscar-nominated

 hits , of the sort that would make a male director employable for the rest of h

is life . But here she is , handing out interviews in a dining room to get the p

roject a few more yards of ink . The script came to her from Jim Burnstein , a p

rofessor of English in the Detroit area , who actually had spent some time in th

e '70s teaching Shakespeare to air national guardsmen at a base in Michigan . ( 

End optional trim ) `` I chose Danny for two reasons . First of all , because he

 was the complete antithesis of everything that said ` Army . ' And second , bec

ause in teacher movies , the guy who loves Shakespeare always has graying temple

s and a perfectly clipped accent . I wanted the Shakespeare lover to sound like 

a normal person , a regular guy . For the same reason , when I use the St. Crisp

ian 's Day speech from ` Henry V , ' I put it in the mouth of someone else who s

ounds like me Lilo Brancato Jr. , who has that New York sound . '' Ultimately , 

she says , the purpose of `` Renaissance Man '' is practical . `` When I was in 

school , boy , did I not want to flunk . Teachers had power , and if you had hom

ework , you handed it in geometry , history , math ; it didn't matter , you hand

ed it in . I didn't care about any of those things , just as the kids in the mov

ie might not care about Shakespeare or ` Hamlet . ' But I learned the discipline

 of learning and that applied across the board , and it became a necessary skill

 for everything that came afterwards . `` Now the teachers don't have the power 

to enforce anything , and you can see the results . The movie is finally about t

hat : doing your homework , studying hard and learning the discipline of educati

on . ''

 The week 's Top 10 national video rentals are : 1 . `` Mrs. Doubtfire '' 2 . ``

 A Perfect World '' 3 . `` Carlito 's Way '' 4 . `` Malice '' 5 . `` Cool Runnin

gs '' 6 . `` The Three Musketeers 7 . `` The Remains of the Day '' 8 . `` Addams

 Family Values '' 9 . `` The Fugitive '' 10 .

 The last video you 'd expect to need a giant ad campaign is `` Jurassic Park , 

'' the world box-office champ . You 'd think that an ordinary campaign plus word

 of mouth would be enough to trigger stampedes to video outlets . But when it de

buts on video Oct. 4 , priced at $ 25 , `` Jurassic Park '' will be supported by

 a whopping $ 65 million promotional and advertising campaign . Overkill ? A was

te of ad dollars ? Andrew Kairey , MCA/Universal 's senior vice president of mar

keting and sales , doesn't think so . `` Nothing is an easy sell , '' he said . 

`` You have to make consumers aware of the tape and make it an attractive purcha

se . '' This video , though , has to be the lock of the year in the video market

 . The betting is that `` Jurassic , '' which will be routinely discounted to th

e $ 14 to $ 15 range , will gobble up the sales record of Disney 's `` Aladdin ,

 '' which has topped 24 million copies . Yet video retailers are unhappy about o

ne aspect of MCA/Universal 's promotional plan a tie-in with McDonald 's . Start

ing Nov. 18 , by making a purchase at the hamburger outlet , you can buy for $ 6

 one of four MCA/Universal videos : `` The Land Before Time , '' `` An American 

Tail : Fievel Goes West , '' `` Back to the Future '' or `` Field of Dreams . ''

 Each tape will include a $ 2.50 mail-in rebate on a `` Jurassic Park '' video .

 Retailers simply don't want McDonald 's meddling in the video business . Not on

ly is a tape sold at a fast-food outlet money out of their pockets , it also pri

mes consumers for further purchases at such restaurants , rather than video stor

es . And the low price undercuts the retailers , prompting fears that customers 

will balk at paying the average store cost of $ 15- $ 20 for a video . MCA/Unive

rsal 's Kairey defends the rebate deal , arguing that it sends consumers back to

 video stores . `` They have to purchase the ( ` Jurassic Park ' ) tape at a ret

ail store , which increases traffic at the retail level , '' he said . -0- VIDEO

BITS : The early returns are in on `` The Return of Jafar , '' Disney 's direct-

to-video sequel to `` Aladdin . '' The company reports that nearly 5 million of 

the 8 million units shipped were sold in the first week . Consumers were obvious

ly responding to the ads and ignoring the negative reviews. .. . MCA/Universal i

s following in Disney 's footsteps with a direct-to-video sequel to its 1988 ani

mated feature `` The Land Before Time . '' The tape , `` The Land Before Time : 

Great Valley Adventure , '' is due Dec. 27 at $ 20 . -0- SPECIAL INTEREST VIDEOS

 : The best of the Jackie Onassis tapes is A&E 's documentary `` Jacqueline Kenn

edy Onassis , '' priced at $ 20. .. . The market is jammed with tapes that are t

he video equivalent of elevator music , but `` Coral Sea Dreaming '' is much bet

ter than the norm . It features gorgeous visuals of the Great Barrier Reef accom

panied by an intriguing score . From Small World Music for $ 30 . ( 800-757-2277

 ) . .. . Cabin Fever Entertainment has just put out four new Laurel and Hardy t

itles at $ 10 each : `` Scram ! , '' `` Their First Mistake , '' `` Towed in a H

ole '' and `` Twice Two. '' .. . On June 15 , CBS-Fox will put out , at $ 15 , `

` Dream Team II , '' showcasing the National Basketball Association players on t

he team participating in the world basketball championships in Toronto Aug. 4-14

 . -0- TECH NEWS : Portable CD players are a lot more attractive these days . Th

e hot models are equipped with anti-shock memory buffers , which cut down on sou

nd skipping that happens when the machine is moved around . These machines , whi

ch had been retailing in the $ 300 range , are selling as low as $ 150 from Sony

 and Sanyo/Fisher . Also , more companies , such as Kenwood and Panasonic , have

 introduced models this year . Two more have joined the bandwagon . Aiwa has a $

 190-model coming next month and Magnavox has one , priced at $ 219 , due in ear

ly fall . -0- WHAT 'S NEW ON VIDEO : `` Short Cuts '' ( Columbia TriStar ) . For

 about three hours , co-writer-director Robert Altman weaves together myriad min

i-dramas about unhappy Californians , featuring a star-studded cast including An

die McDowell , Robert Downey Jr. and Madeline Stowe . The film earned Altman an 

Oscar nomination for best director . If you prefer movies with linear story line

s and few subplots , you 'll likely have a hard time getting into this one . `` 

Firecreek '' ( Warner , $ 30 ) . An excellent but often overlooked 1968 Western 

about a kindly sheriff ( James Stewart ) battling a gang of bad guys , with Henr

y Fonda playing the chief villain .

 It would be wonderful to report that the Image Entertainment release of Billy W

ilder 's `` The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes '' ( $ 60 ) is the 1970 film as 

the co-writer/director originally intended it . Alas , it is not . But it is as 

close as we are likely to come in the foreseeable future , unless Holmes himself

 unearths the original roadshow edition shot by the fabled director but never re

leased by United Artists . What Image 's laser wizards have done , however , is 

reassemble as closely as possible a glimpse of what might have been had the stud

io kept faith with the director of `` Some Like It Hot '' and `` Sunset Boulevar

d . '' The original `` Private Life ... , '' written by Wilder and longtime coll

aborator I.A.L. Diamond , was a two-hour , 45-minute exploration of the previous

ly untold private life of Arthur Conan Doyle 's legendary master of deductive re

asoning . Wilder said that he designed the film as a symphony in four movements 

, structured around a prologue in which Dr. Watson 's grandson discovers four of

 his grandfather 's unpublished stories from 221B Baker St. . One of many road-s

how films that dotted the late '60s to lure `` Laugh-In '' and `` Welby '' couch

 potatoes into theaters for `` event '' movies , it had the misfortune to follow

 several failed events ( `` Star ! , '' `` Paint Your Wagon '' ) , and so the st

udio hacked it down to two hours and five minutes . What was trimmed was the pro

logue and two cases that helped reveal what Wilder intended as `` a serious stud

y of Holmes , '' an attempt to explain the cerebral , ascetic `` dope addict '' 

and `` misogynist . '' Starring as Holmes is Robert Stephens ( Wilder 's origina

l choice was Peter O' Toole ) and Colin Blakely ( Peter Sellers was the original

 choice for the good doctor ) . The missing elements are diabolically frustratin

g . First , the producers of the two-disc laser found the video of the missing `

` The Dreadful Business of the Naked Honeymooners '' but not the audio track . T

he clever reconstruction includes the video with subtitled dialogue from one of 

the found original scripts . As such , it 's a chance for true interactivity for

 aspiring thespians and Holmes fans : Just assign the parts to viewers in your l

iving room . Then , the producers found only the audio of the second missing seq

uence , `` The Curious Case of the Upside Down Room . '' No video was ever found

 . The audio alone is wonderfully effective , like listening to an old radio pro

gram . All in all , the missing pieces seem to come together to give us more tha

n a hint of what Wilder originally had in mind . The film itself , in a sharp di

gital film transfer using the original 2.35:1 Panavision aspect ratio ( annoying

 to those who hate large black borders and narrow video ) , is an enjoyable piec

e of work even in its abbreviated version . The atmospheric Miklos Rozsa score c

an be heard without dialogue and sound effects since it has been isolated on the

 right digital and analog tracks . Music cue sheets also are included . Excellen

t liner notes detail Wilder 's vision , from writing the film itself to using Ro

zsa 's passionate Violin Concerto , Opus 24 . The concerto , originally written 

for Jascha Heifitz , ultimately served as the skeleton around which the movie wa

s fleshed out . -0- LASERBITS : New Movies Just Out : `` The Piano '' ( LIVE , l

etterboxed , $ 40 ) ; `` The Remains of the Day '' ( Columbia TriStar , $ 40 ) ;

 `` Short Cuts '' ( New Line , $ 50 ) ; `` The Joy Luck Club '' ( Hollywood/Imag

e Entertainment , letterboxed , $ 40 ) ; `` A Dangerous Woman '' ( MCA/Universal

 , $ 35 ) . Coming Soon : Paramount 's `` Wayne 's World 2 '' with Dana Carvey a

nd Mike Myers is due Wednesday ; Columbia TriStar 's `` Rudy , '' starring Sean 

Astin , is scheduled for June 22 , at $ 35 ; Buena Vista 's `` Aladdin , '' rele

ased through Image Entertainment , will be released Sept. 21 , at $ 30 , with a 

letterboxed THX special edition going for $ 50 ; `` Tim Burton 's Nightmare Befo

re Christmas , '' also on Image , will be released Nov. 16 , at $ 30 and in a $ 

100 collector 's edition .

 HOLLYWOOD Good morning , Normandy ! This is an invasion . The D-Day documentari

es , black-and-white newsreel footage and testimonials from military veterans an

d former riveting Rosies are this spring 's blitzkrieg , dusting off memories wh

ile massing on television in such force that you can hardly keep count . With th

e 50th anniversary of the Allies ' liberating invasion of France so near , U.S. 

media are hitting Normandy with everything they 've got , waves and waves of cam

era crews scurrying across its beaches like sand crabs . Although the elements o

f spectacle are ever present , it 's encouraging , at least , to see television 

cover an event not of its own making . The invasion cost the lives of 23,000 Ame

rican troops . `` Only those who were there know how horrendous it was , '' ABC 

's Peter Jennings reported on videotape from the French coast during Wednesday n

ight 's `` Turning Point . '' Surely most on the home front never understood the

 horror . Especially the children . Reared on simplified war movies that were as

 dispensable as popcorn and isolated from the actual killing fields by their geo