2 HUDSON BIOS COMPLETE THE RACE TO BOOKSTORES

It was almost a dead heat. The race to get the first Rock Hudson biography published and in the nation’s bookstores ended last week with the unauthorized “Idol” sneaking in first in some areas and the authorized “Rock Hudson: His Story” hitting the shelves first in others.

Neither book was due before late July, but with their publishers--”Idol’s” Villard Books and “His Story’s” William Morrow & Co.--straining at the yoke, both were delivered a month early and bearing the same jacket price of $16.95.

“It was a neck-and-neck race,” said Villard publicity manager Jessie Ristic. “From manuscript to publishing, we crashed it (“Idol”) through.”

The books, each exploiting Hudson’s homosexual life style and his lingering death of complications from AIDS, nearly beat their formal publicity campaigns to the market. The authorized book got a nice send-off with back-to-back covers promoting excerpts in People magazine, but author Sara Davidson doesn’t make her maiden talk-show appearance for this book until Monday on NBC’s “Today Show.”

Jack Vitek, co-author of “Idol,” got nearly a week’s jump with an appearance Tuesday on “CBS Morning News,” but published excerpts from “Idol” won’t appear until the August issue of Ladies Home Journal.

ABC’s “Good Morning America,” the other network book-launching platform, decided to play the neutral ground. It had entertainment columnists Liz Smith and Marilyn Beck on its Tuesday show, comparing the two books and discussing the propriety of gathering the intimate details of a dead star’s life and turning them into items for a literary estate sale.

A quick call-around of Los Angel es area book stores reveals that “Idol” and “His Story” can both use whatever publicity they get. Stores in Hollywood reported brisk business, with the authorized book doing best, while booksellers elsewhere reported little or no interest in either one.

“I think we’ve got a lot of books we’re going to return,” said a clerk at B. Dalton in the Beverly Center. “We have both books prominently displayed, and they’re not moving.”

“We just got the authorized one in Thursday, and it hasn’t taken off all that quickly,” said Michael Sgriccia, manager of Brentano’s in the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. “People ask about it, but it isn’t doing what we anticipated.”

Both publishers say their books are off to fast starts, with Morrow’s publicity director Lela Rolontz claiming a 5-to-1 sales advantage over Villard. Morrow, whose authorized book has the benefit of a jacket blurb stating that Hudson’s share of profits will go for AIDS research, shipped about 200,000 copies of “His Story.” Ristic said Villard shipped 60,000 copies of “Idol.”

There hasn’t been such heated competition over the spoils of a star’s personal life since . . . well, three years ago when Steve McQueen’s widow and two other authors wrote biographies of his life.

Which Hudson book is better?

Morrow’s Rolontz said “His Story” is better because it was written with the cooperation of the three people who were closest to Hudson when he died. Ristic said “Idol” is best because it was written by dispassionate journalists uncommitted to the self-interests of anyone.

“Idol” co-author Jerry Oppenheimer said the authorized book is both too vicious and too kind to Hudson, and accused Davidson’s three key sources--Hudson’s secretary, Mark Miller, his friend, George Nader, and his former lover, Tom Clark--of interpreting history to suit their images of themselves.

“They paint Hudson as being very effeminate,” Oppenheimer said in a telephone interview from his home in Chevy Chase, Md. “He was just the opposite. He never used that vernacular.”

On the other hand, Oppenheimer said, Hudson is portrayed in Davidson’s book as being very concerned about his now-infamous kissing scene with Linda Evans in an episode of “Dynasty.” On the day of The Kiss, Davidson writes, Hudson “used every gargle, mouthwash and spray he could lay his hands on,” and she quotes Nader as saying the kiss had actually landed harmlessly on Evans’ cheek.

Not so, Oppenheimer said.

“Rock was not concerned about the kiss at all. He bragged to one person, ‘I planted a big juicy one on her,’ ” Oppenheimer said. “He wasn’t concerned. By then, his mind had been affected by the disease.”

In reading the two books, it is clear there was more research done--more old friends, lovers, directors, producers and co-stars interviewed--for the unauthorized book than Davidson’s and it is easily the better written. “Idol” lacks some of the gruesome 11th-hour detail of “His Story,” but it is a more complete profile of the star and, ironically, a more sympathetic one.

Oppenheimer said he doubts that Hudson had much input into Davidson’s book, which purports to be his autobiography. He said the actor, one of the most private men in Hollywood, never wanted a book written on his life. Even if he changed his mind--on the counsel that by revealing his homosexuality, he would somehow be fighting both prejudice and a lethal virus--it’s hard to imagine him willingly portraying himself as the arrogant, drunken, obsessively promiscuous character that emerges from “His Story.”

Morrow’s Rolontz said Davidson will not be available for interviews until after her “Today Show” kick-off and she begins her cross-country promotional tour.

It has been less than a year since Hudson’s illness was made public, and only nine months since it killed him. His career and his secret life have already been dissected as thoroughly as the shuttle disaster. Do we really need two books to wrap it all up?

“If the guy was straight and died of a heart attack, there would have been a biography,” Oppenheimer said. “We’re dealing with a superstar who had a secret life and was struck down with the most dreaded disease we’ve seen in decades. It is a major story.”

SUMMA CUM LOUDLY: “Back to School,” the new Rodney Dangerfield comedy, rode a tidal wave of good reviews to the biggest opening weekend in Orion Pictures’ eight-year history.

“School,” in which Dangerfield plays a clothing magnate who enrolls in college to help his son improve both his grades and his sex life, grossed $8.9 million in 1,605 theaters to become the weekend’s No. 1 film.

“Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” which fared only slightly less well with critics, was the No. 2 film, taking in $6.3 million in 1,330 theaters.

“Manhattan Project,” the only other new movie in wide national release, got off to a very bad start, earning $1.5 million in 827 theaters.

With the exception of “Top Gun,” the box-office returns were dramatically off for “Cobra,” “Raw Deal,” and others in the first wave of summer releases.

“SpaceCamp” and “Invaders From Mars,” both meeting deadly reviews and thin audience turnouts two weeks ago, slid 46% and 55%, respectively, and likely will not be around long.

Meanwhile, among more serious efforts, “A Room With a View” continued to do well (an average of $4,522 in 109 theaters) while the well-reviewed English thriller “Mona Lisa” opened to an average of $24,480 in four theaters.