Muscle man Arnold Schwarzenegger recently convinced his...

Muscle man Arnold Schwarzenegger recently convinced his wife Maria Shriver to try on a couple of minks at the Torie Steele Boutique in Beverly Hills. The TV personality was rewarded for her effort. After sampling several furs, the couple left coatless--but not for long. Schwarzenegger called back that night after closing time. “We happened to be here working late,” Tom Bruno of the boutique told Listen. “He said he wanted a full-length black mink with extra shoulder pads put in. He came back and picked it up the next morning.” Merry Christmas, Maria.

Even superstars need cowboy boots. But it was still a shock to the managers at Falcon Head Custom Design to find Sean Penn and Madonna in their Brentwood store last Friday night. The two came in wearing faded jeans, with Madonna sporting a long johns top, a cap with an upturned brim, and what looked like a powder-blue bathrobe, the manager (who calls herself simply Saeeda) tells Listen. The chanteuse ordered plain black suede cowboy boots with white top-stitching. “The couple was very unassuming and very soft-spoken,” Saeeda recalls. And fast. Madonna had her foot measured for a size 7 1/2 C boot in about 10 minutes--then disappeared with her spouse. The boots cost $550, Saeeda says, “but Madonna won’t get them for two months.”

The Beauty Beat: After we spotted the adorable toes of Pia Zadora, having a pre-New Year pedicure at Aida Gray’s emporium in Beverly Hills, Listen wandered over to Aida Thibiant’s face place to learn that we’d missed seeing the “Dallas” contingent there. Victoria Principal and Linda Gray had both been in for holiday beautification, we were told, as had Lesley Ann Warren and comedian George Carlin. What does Carlin come here for, we asked? “He gets facials just like everyone else,” Thibiant said. Next stop was Georgette Klinger’s salon, where we found the beauty story of the year. Not man, not woman, but Lamb (as in Lamb Chop) had been in. The beauteous puppet had succumbed to an eyelash tint and curl, a present from Shari Lewis’ husband, Jeremy Tarcher, who also treated his wife and daughter, Mallory, to a day of luxury skin care.

Thumbing through the spring catalogue for continuing education at Otis/Parsons, our fascination level rose considerably when we got to Page 7. There we spotted course No. E1701A, “The Romance of Espionage: Hitchcock and the Moral Thriller.” A brief description reveals that during 12 sessions, which cost $210, participants will be exposed to screenings and analyses of major Alfred Hitchcock films. Leader of the course is author, lecturer and Hitchcock authority Donald Spoto, who is also a former faculty member of the New School of Social Research in New York. Scheduled celluloid masterpieces include “The Man Who Knew Too Much,” “Notorious,” “The Lady Vanishes” and “North by Northwest.” Those who just want the celluloid plus a brief introductory commentary can sign up for course E1702A, “Spying on Spies: Political Thrillers of Alfred Hitchcock.” Both the $50 and the more expensive approach to vintage Hitchcock will play on Tuesday evenings beginning Feb. 3.

Bob Scribner,West Coast makeup director for NBC, is about to share some of his secrets with the public. Starting Monday, Scribner will lead a $350 UCLA Extension course called “Makeup for Television.” Scribner, who puts Johnny Carson’s makeup on for “The Tonight Show,” has also made Brooke Shields, Jimmy Carter, Gerald and Betty Ford, President and Nancy Reagan camera ready. Prior to joining NBC, Scribner worked in films and put the finishing touches on “Star Wars” actors Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher. No slouch in films or TV, he was nominated for an Emmy for his work on NBC’s 60th anniversary show where a staggering 120 stars had to be artfully made up. His latest venture will meet, appropriately enough, at Cinema Secrets in Burbank.

The folks at Cool Car Corp. have been pondering your scuffy heels--those unattractive marks suffered in the auto while pumping the accelerator and brakes. And they’ve invented a product called Scuff Guard--a strip of fleece that attaches to the car floor with Velcro and protects the shoe from scratches. The L.A.-based firm specializes in “simple impulse items--but they’re always good sellers,” account executive David Jasinski tells Listen. In fact, this is the same firm that came out last year with those cardboard sunscreens for the dashboard. The new product sells for $6.99 at drugstores and shoe repair shops.

Never a dull moment over at Century City, which has a fresh look thanks to eight new stores and five remodeled ones. Among the newcomers are some unusual retail entries, including a fashion venture by automotive entrepreneur John M. Steigler. You might recognize the name, or the voice, from his Mercedes-Benz commercials on radio. Now he has opened Steigler, a snazzy boutique where men can find the Hugo Boss collections and women can dip into, among other things, accessories and jewelry by Nina Ricci. From what we hear, you can’t miss the place. There’s a 1931 Mercedes parked inside the front window. Other recently opened shops include Wilke’s Sport, a division of San Francisco’s Wilkes Bashford; Splash & Flash, a store where the winning combination is swimwear and eveningwear; Talbot’s, the Massachussetts-based specialty store that deals in “tasteful clothing for women” and G.HQ. for Men, a division of Judy’s, offering designer menswear. For the pet brigade, there’s a new addition called Chien et Chat, which deals in such rarities as antique bird cages and diamond-studded animal collars. If you need the rare animals to go inside the cage or the collar, Chien et Chat reportedly has them too.

With all the recent hoopla about the burgeoning art scene here, let’s not overlook the fashion angle. Gurppo GFT, an Italian manufacturing company with a client list that ranges from Amrani to Valentino, is making a donation to MOCA, the new Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art. It’s a pocket knife. OK, OK, so it’s not just any knife. This one is signed by Claes Oldenburg and is identical to a 41-foot-long version he floated down the canals of Venice (the other Venice) last year. Oldenburg christened his sculpture the Knife Ship and it’s due to sail into MOCA’s port after a stopover, through January, at New York’s Guggenheim Museum.