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Thursday, February 25, 1999 4:39:59 PM EST

• Starr story on the small screen?
• New Sinatra CD captures 'Rat Pack' rule
• Family contests will giving Bronson $300,000
• First 'Seinfeld,' now J. Peterman

Starr

HOLLYWOOD (CNN) -- CBS is considering the story of Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr for a television special to air on the network, according to Variety's Army Archerd.

Starr led the Whitewater prosecution efforts against President Clinton that reached a crescendo with the president's Senate impeachment trial. In Thursday's edition of Variety, Archerd reports that "The Trial of Kenneth Starr" is the brainchild of Oscar- and Emmy-winning producer Edgar Scherick and famed prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi, who led the Charles Manson prosecution.

Sinatra

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A live recording of one of a series of outrageous cabarets Frank Sinatra performed in 1962 with "Rat Pack" mates Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. is set to be released on compact disk on February 26. The remastered disk, "The Summit -- In Concert," captures not only the songs and politically incorrect banter among the superstars but the sounds of clinking cocktail glasses and flicking cigarette lighters in an age when it was still cool to smoke and booze.

The performance was one of 16 shows the trio performed from November 26 to December 2, 1962, at the Villa Venice in Wheeling, Illinois. The events attracted some of the 1960s glitterati, including boxer Sonny Liston, Playboy-in-chief Hugh Hefner, and Sinatra's buddy, reputed mob boss Sam Giancana. The release of the CD comes nine months after Sinatra passed away at the age of 82.

Bronson

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (CNN) -- Relatives of Audrey Jean Knauer, a star-struck fan who died in 1997 and left Charles Bronson her entire estate worth nearly $300,000, are contesting her hand-scrawled will. Knauer, 55, who never met or corresponded with the tough-guy actor, scribbled her wishes on a list of emergency phone numbers before she died in 1997. She asked that nothing -- not "blood, body parts, financial assets" -- go to her mother, Helen, and whatever Bronson didn't want be given to Louisville's public library. Bronson has already received about half the money, but Knauer's sister, Nancy Koeper, filed a lawsuit two months ago, saying Knauer was mentally unfit and the money should go the family.

The real J. Peterman

LEXINGTON, Kentucky (CNN) -- J. Peterman, the upscale catalog business that was parodied on "Seinfeld," is officially going out of business. A federal judge on Tuesday approved plans for the company to liquidate its assets and begin going-out-of-business sales.

Peterman has been operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy court protection since January 25. "Sometimes you pull it out in the ninth inning, sometimes you don't," said John Peterman, who founded the offbeat catalog that offered subscribers a fantasy lifestyle through its quirky marketing of its clothes. "I was here at the beginning, and I'm here at the end." The company became a household name when "Seinfeld" character Elaine Benes (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) worked for J. Peterman during the sitcom's final three seasons. The last "Seinfeld" aired last May.

Reuters contributed to this report.