Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Songwriting greats Alan and Marilyn Bergman aren't taking much time to bask in the glow of Barbra Streisand's widely praised, new "What Matters Most" tribute album of their songs. They're in the midst of working on a new version of "Queen of the Stardust Ballroom."

The Emmy-winning television movie about a lonely widow who finds love with a postal worker was transformed into the Broadway musical "Ballroom" in 1978, with songs by the Bergmans and Billy Goldenberg. Now it's being planned as a Broadway vehicle for Tyne Daly, with revamping including, says Alan, "five or six new songs" — "at least," adds Marilyn — on which they're collaborating with Marvin Hamlisch.

"We love to work with Marvin," Marilyn says. "He's a great composer and great fun to write with. He's funny. He's so enthusiastic."

When will the show get going? "As soon as we're finished," Alan says with a laugh.

The Oscar-, Emmy- and Grammy-winning couple, who've been contributing to the Great American Songbook for more than 50 years, have also been meeting this week with another favorite collaborator, Michel Legrand. He flew in from France to discuss a new project.

And they're writing songs for a prospective animated film of the children's book "Broadway Chicken." In case you didn't guess, according to Alan, "It's about a chicken who becomes a Broadway star."

Hmm, imagine the possibilities. "Cluck Be a Lady Tonight"? "While You Were Peeping"? "Keep Your Sunny Side Up"?

MEANWHILE: The Bergmans favorite muse is, of course, Streisand, who recorded dozens of their songs — including such classics as "The Way We Were" and "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" — before "What Matters Most."

The new album contains immortal Bergman tunes that Streisand hadn't recorded before — like "Windmills of Your Mind" and "Nice 'n' Easy." They knew nothing of her plans for the record until "it came up in public," Marilyn recalls.

"We were at the Motion Picture Academy one night, as part of a little panel discussion that Quincy Jones moderated, that Barbra and Alan and I were doing. (Streisand) said, suddenly, apropos of I don't know what — 'My next album is going to be a tribute to you guys.'"

It is, says Marilyn, "thrilling and moving." And they have a lot to say about Streisand's treatments of their songs.

For example, her rendition of "Nice 'n Easy," which they originally penned for Frank Sinatra, is "much closer to the way I heard the song in my mind when we wrote it," Marilyn says. "I heard it slow, as a ballad. I remember being at the Sinatra session. We were surprised he allowed writers to come. We were kids — maybe he thought it would be an education. The first time I heard the arrangement, I thought, 'Oh! That's fast!' I wasn't so sure — but it became a classic record.

"Somebody said that Sinatra sang about falling in love, and Barbra sang about making love," Marilyn continues. "I think that rings true. I think his version was kind of a sexy romp, and Barbra's record is very seductive."

Also surprising to the team is Streisand's take on "Windmills of Your Mind," which she bravely opens a capella. She doesn't need to hide behind orchestrations, points out Alan: "She has a great voice." And Marilyn adds, "It's richer. Whatever experience you gather in all your years comes through in your voice, and she's lived."

PLAYING IT SMART: Jean Smart, who's joining the cast of Kathy Bates' "Harry's Law" in the recurring role of a prosecutor — she'll be seen in the first three episodes of the new season — says she's also considering taking on a play this fall.

"It's not a comedy," she tells us, though she doesn't want to go into detail as of yet. She adds, "It's good to get the chance to flex your stage muscles, and it's been so long since I did a play."

Smart flexed her acting muscles in a whole different way as Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, in tomorrow's (Aug. 27) Hallmark Channel original movie, "William & Catherine: A Royal Romance." She's glad the charming movie presents a more positive, warmer and more fun image of Camilla than has historically been the case in the media. "I think people are coming around to her," Smart says.

Well, her version, at least.

DOING THE WAVE: Oscar-winning filmmaker Curtis Hanson is gearing up for an October production start in Santa Cruz, Calif., for his "Mavericks" movie about surfing icon Jay Moriarity and his quest to ride the colossal Northern California winter swells known as Mavericks. This is the feature in which Gerard Butler will play Moriarity's mentor, Frosty Hesson, while 22-year-old Jonny Weston will play teenage Jay. (The real Moriarty conquered the mighty Mavericks but died at age 22 in a diving accident.) Forty-one-year-old Scottish hunk Butler has been snapped sharpening his surfing skills several times this summer, Malibu to Maui.

To find out more about Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith and read their past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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