Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, May 12, 1994                   TAG: 9405120037
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

PEOPLE

The letter, hand-written on the Kennedy's Palm Beach stationery around '61, reads: "Dear Marilyn ... understand that you and Bobby are the hot item! We all think he should bring you with him when he comes back east."

Tuesday, Smith replied: "The suggestion that the letter verifies an affair is utter nonsense. . . . I am shocked anyone would believe such innuendo about a letter obviously written in jest." Bobby and John F. Kennedy's relationship with Monroe has long been the subject of speculation-and family denials.

Odyssey Auctions will offer the letter from the Monroe estate in Hollywood this weekend.

Happy days are here again - Barbra Streisand is back on tour.

Streisand wore her political heart on her sleeve as she opened her first U.S. concert tour in 28 years Tuesday night before a sold-out crowd of 18,000 at the USAir Arena in Landover, Md.

She sang "Happy Days are Here Again" while huge TV screens flashed pictures of President Clinton, headlines citing some of his accomplishments and a photo of Nelson Mandela.

She also sang many other old favorites, including "People," "On a Clear Day" and "The Way We Were."

Drew Barrymore's marriage took three hours to put together and 30 days to break up.

Barrymore, 19, filed for divorce Tuesday from Jeremy Thomas, citing irreconcilable differences.

Barrymore was standing in an alley around 2 a.m. on March 20 when she decided she wanted to marry Thomas, 31, her boyfriend of six weeks. At 5 a.m. they were hitched inside Thomas' bar by a minister they found through a 24-hour hot line in the Yellow Pages.

The divorce petition says the couple separated April 19. It asks that Barrymore be exempted from support payments and have her maiden name restored.

Barrymore, granddaughter of the actor John Barrymore, starred in "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial." She is now a Guess jeans model and co-stars in "Bad Girls."