* Olivier in the Open: Biographer Donald...

* Olivier in the Open: Biographer Donald Spoto has signed with Harper & Row to write a book about the late Laurence Olivier. The book, “Enchantment: The Life of Laurence Olivier,” reportedly will quote associates and friends about Olivier’s declining health in his latter years, his stormy marriage to Vivien Leigh and his friendships and rivalries with actors, including Marilyn Monroe, Kirk Douglas and Dustin Hoffman.

* Give and Take: The good news is that the Republicans have sent out a fund-raising letter from Washington, that includes a $25 check for the recipient. The bad news is that by cashing the check, the recipient agrees to let the party automatically take $12.50 a month out of his bank account. Only the 11th paragraph of a three-page letter (paid for by the National Republican Senatorial Committee) and the small type on the back of the check give the bad news, Republican spokeswoman Wendy DeMocker admitted. Bob Slagle, Texas Democratic Party chairman, called the effort “too fraudulent to be funny.”

* Book Ban: Poet Allen Ginsberg and author Quincy Troupe protested the implementation of a law that would ban “indecency” on public radio 24 hours a day. The writers told their objections to the Federal Communications Commission in New York Tuesday in response to the law that was passed in 1988 but never enforced. A previous law--the one that’s being enforced now--applies only to broadcasts between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. “Broadcasting censorship of my poetry and the work of my peers is a direct violation of our freedom of expression,” Ginsberg said. Troupe collaborated with trumpeter Miles Davis on his autobiography.

* No Help Here: Ann Landers says “a lot of people need professional help,” including those who write excessively long letters to advice columnists. “Sometimes I’ll get people who write 14 pages or so, but those people are probably psychotic,” she said. “I tell them they need professional help.”