INTO THE NIGHT / BILL HIGGINS : MTV Awards: Where the Video Action Was

The Scene: Party Thursday night after the MTV Video Music Awards in Universal Studio Tour’s Streets of the World section. These are the adolescent’s Oscars. To be 15, to be there and, more importantly, to let your high school friends know you were there, was to die for. Of course, there’s no justice in the world: Most of the crowd was over 30.

Who Was There: Among the 3,000 guests packing the streets were Lisa Marie Presley, Kim Basinger, M.C. Hammer, Corey Feldman, Justine Bateman, Christian Slater, Shelley Duvall, members of Poison, Duran Duran, Faith No More and 2 Live Crew. In the midst of this youth attack was 82-year-old Milton Berle. Somehow he seemed to fit right in.

The Buzz: The fast and loose MTV awards makes the Grammys look like the “Lawrence Welk Show.”

Dress Mode: On the men, the look was black and baggy; on the women, black and tight and short and low. Among the fashion stand-outs was Kim Basinger, who one woman said “looks like Barbie in black leather.”

Quoted: An over-stressed event organizer said: “Listen, I’m a survivor. At the end of the world, it’s going to be me, Keith Richards and New York City cockroaches.”

Triumphs: MTV throws a great party: drug-free, democratic, doesn’t take itself too seriously. Glitches: When celebs arrive at a democratic, no VIP section party, they get mobbed by fans and autograph seekers. They then head for the exit as fast as their bodyguards can clear a path.

Entertainment: Blaring music, live performers, videos, carnival games, they were nothing compared to the people watching. It was like David Lynch meets Salvador Dali at Mardi Gras.