DATE: Thursday, March 6, 1997               TAG: 9703060039

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, ENTERTAINMENT WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  186 lines

STERN WARNING MOVIEGOERS, BEWARE: ``PRIVATE PARTS'' THE FILM VERSION OF HOWARD STERN'SBEST-SELLING AUTOBIOGRAPHY, OPENS NATIONWIDE ON FRIDAY. "YOU'RE LOOKING AT THENEW FACE OF HOLLYWOOD," SAYS THE SHOCK-JOCK-TURNED-ACTOR. "NEXT YEAR, IT'S THE OSCARS!"

THEY LET Howard Stern make a movie?

Howard Stern's ``Private Parts'' is as inevitable as sunrise tomorrow, arriving at theaters Friday. The news has spread through the land with the same alarmist speed as Paul Revere riding through the countryside warning that the Brits were coming.

Reactions range from sheer horror to ecstatic expectation.

Fresh from finishing his four-hour morning radio show, Stern arrived at the Righa Royal Hotel in New York, flanked by his cast of radio cronies: Robin Quivers, Fred Norris (sometimes known as ``The King of Mars'') and Jackie ``The Joke Man'' Martling. They didn't look tired from the morning's work.

``I'm not afraid to do a movie,'' Stern said, plunging right into the subject at hand. ``I'm the guy who went on MTV and showed his butt cheeks, so I should be afraid of making a movie? I'm not afraid of anything.''

The first thing you notice about the self-proclaimed ``King of All Media'' is the black mane of hair - a mixture of Anna Magnani and Tiny Tim. The next thing you notice is how tall he is - 6-foot-5, and skinny. He's wearing the trademark granny-specs sunglasses that give him a kind of over-the-hill rock-star look.

Then, of course, there's the booming radio-announcer voice which fills the room with his enthusiasm about his ``Private Parts.'' His handlers try to calm him, saying that he's talking too loud. Stern's enthusiasm is unstoppable.

``A lot of people want me to fall on my ass,'' he said candidly. ``But they're going to be shocked. The movie is really good - and not at all what they expect. You're looking at the new face of Hollywood. Next year, it's the Oscars! The movie will make $150 million. It'll be No. 1 in America.''

There is some basis for his confidence. The movie, which chronicles his own life through childhood, college, dating and marriage to wife Alison, and a progressive march through varied radio stations, culminates with his present status; Stern reaches 18 million radio listeners each morning on his syndicated show.

``Private Parts,'' the autobiography upon which it is based, was was a best-seller in 1993. When he showed up for a book-signing appearance in New York, 10,000 of his fans also showed up - blocking Fifth Avenue and virtually shutting down a section of town.

But Stern's brand of smart-alecky no-holds-barred radio has also drawn avid critics. James B. Twitchell, author of ``Carnival Culture: The Trashing of Taste in America,'' says that Stern is a part of the ``dumbing down of America sparked by minds that have been softened by too much television watching.''

Stern originated the so-called ``shock jock'' trend in talk radio that has spawned thousands of imitators permeating every radio market in the country. Delighting in knocking self-important celebrities and varied ethnic groups he has been called both sexist and racist.

People magazine calls him ``the poet laureate of urban American white trash'' while the Detroit News identified him as ``the subspecies of Everyman who wants to give the universe an upraised middle finger.''

Stern himself acknowledges the criticism and adds self-deprecating comments about his anatomy (small) and sex life (mostly alone).

``I don't regret anything. I'm not offended by words. The people who call me racist or sexist are usually the people who haven't listened to my show. The people who listen are either fans or voyeurs, and the voyeurs don't usually hate me. There are people who simply don't get it. I'm making fun of all the taboos in our society. If I was truly a racist, would I say the things I do? We used to talk about how dull and uninteresting radio was - guys who just play records. I bring a little humor to people during the most miserable time of their week - on the way to work. People who would really like to tell the boss off are the people who like me.''

He's actually a dedicated family man who lives in Long Island, has three daughters and has been faithful to his wife for the 18 years of their marriage.

``I was this geek who couldn't get laid when I was in college and, now that women are around everywhere, I'm faithful to my wife. Life is like that.''

In his ongoing feud with Spike Lee, he said, ``his movies are out of focus and lame. They make no sense. He's a troublemaker who complains and bitches about the white man. He's totally unprofessional. You never see Steven Spielberg use race to raise money for pictures.''

On the French, one of his main targets, he rails that they are ``snail eaters whose only hero besides a hunchback is that little bastard Napoleon. And what's with Jerry Lewis being a genius? And they're hiding that child rapist, Roman Polanski.''

He once said that the KKK didn't offend him ``because they're so ineffective and useless - just guys trying to attract girls, like being in a rock band.''

On the day after his wife had a miscarriage, he made jokes about it on the air.

But in person, he comes across as calm and non-profane.

``I'm two guys. The real me is probably the guy on the radio. I'm not sure. But the only time I think about my life, and issues, is when I'm on the radio. The rest of the time, I'm probably playing a part. But I'm a sweet guy. I'm really pretty dull at home. Ask Alison. What I try to do with humor is show the absurdities of the differences between people.''

Ivan Reitman, the highly successful producer of such comedies as ``Ghostbusters'' and ``Space Jam,'' is the force behind the movie ``Private Parts.''

``All across Hollywood,'' Reitman said, ``people ask me, `Ivan, why are you making this picture?' Actually, I think Howard has the making of a movie star. He's not an actor, and that's probably good. But the tone of this picture had to be right. I didn't want it to be either silly or demeaning to him. I didn't want it thrown together in a hurry. We went through some 40 scripts. But what I wanted is to capture the institutionalized madness of the radio show. Howard is a very intelligent commentator. Howard is irreverent, but he says what most of us would like to say, but don't have the nerve.''

The movie traces the growth of Stern from college geek to celebrity geek, with a surprising lack of raunch. Will its level-headed approach satisfy Stern's more avid fans?

``I think it's a human story, but we have the Dial-a-Date scenes and some of the more raucous routines,'' Reitman said. ``But we never had a discussions about how many breasts should we show, or anything like that. I wanted it to be the development of a phenomenon - with a very human guy.''

Stern chimes in, ``This is not a Pauly Shore movie. I turned down movie offers over and over. I didn't see how a movie could be made from `Private Parts.' I know nothing about acting. I'll admit that I want attention. I want to make a good grade. We always wanted to make an A when we were in school. It's true, as in the movie, that my father yelled at me all the time - and called me `MORON' and `STUPID.' Making this movie, and have it be based in real life, is my way of proving to my father that I'm finally OK. My father loved me, but he was worried about me. He thought I'd never be able to make a living. I still seek my father's approval.''

Stern feels that the real humanity of the movie, though, is his wife, Alison.

``The real issue in our lives is the radio show. I go home and I say `I know I've been bad, but. . . you know.' All guys do that.''

On the show, he has spanked women's bare bottoms and cavorted with strippers. He often talks to his wife on the phone during the show; in these altercations, she more than holds her own.

Mary McCormack, the actress who plays wife Alison, claims ``I'm Howard's first kiss, outside his marriage. We played the first date, and that included a kiss. I met Alison, but I didn't totally imitate her in the movie. I never met his children. I think they're very carefully protected. I was going for her spirit, not the total essence.

``But Howard is not the same guy as that guy on the radio. He meditates. He's quiet. He's very generous, as an actor - and I do think he's an actor.''

Betty Thomas, director of ``Private Parts,'' says that Stern was no problem on the set.

``He is not a trained actor, so sometimes he had no idea of how to get where I wanted him to get, but he got there,'' she said.

Thomas, a former member of the ``Hill Street Blues'' cast who directed the hit ``The Brady Bunch Movie,'' admits that she was mystified when she was offered the job.

``I'd never heard `The Howard Stern Show.' The first thing I did was meet the women in his life. I talked to Alison and I talked to Robin Quivers. After that, I felt all right about taking the job. Howard is a very vulnerable, sensitive man. He was always asking me what other roles he could play. I told him I felt he could play a cowboy. I didn't tell him that it would probably be a nerdy cowboy.''

The most calming influence on Stern's public life is Robin Quivers, his sidekick for most of the years he's been on the air.

``She's the backbone of the show,'' he said. ``Without her, I'd be nowhere.''

Quivers, a black woman, says that she continues to get criticism for being on the show.

``I think people are confused about what a racist is,'' she said. ``Racists don't say anything. They're very secretive. Howard knows where he's coming from - and he's no racist. I don't agree with everything he says. In fact, I don't agree with a lot of what he says, but Howard has a truth and an emotional center.

``I first went on with him because I wanted to read the news. Disc jockeys don't get to talk at all. They just play records. I wanted to talk. So I went on with Howard. I reacted to him. I've been reacting ever since.''

It is Robin who sums up Stern most succinctly: ``Howard always wanted to be loved. He always wanted to be Joe Cool - to be a big man on campus. He thinks he deserved that. He didn't understand why people didn't love him. He still doesn't.''

Whether the movie is a hit or not, it's not likely that Howard Stern is going away anytime soon. He's under contract to do the radio show for four more years. CBS has offered him a Saturday night show opposite ``Saturday Night Live'' but for the time being, he's turned it down.

``I've never really gotten the television audience I can get,'' he said, ``but I wouldn't leave radio right now.''

But how long can we be shocked by Howard Stern? What is there left for him to do?

Quivers, who has to react to him daily, answered: ``I'm shocked now that he's not maturing - that he still has such childish attitudes.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photos]

PARAMOUNT PICTURES

HOWARD STERN...

RYSHER ENTERTAINMENT

Howard Stern and his engineer Fred Norris portray themselves in the

early '80s at a radio station in Washington, D.C., in ``Private

Parts.'' The film is based on Stern's best-selling autobiography. KEYWORDS: INTERVIEW PROFILE

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