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It's a touchy subject, but one that goes back as far as Madonna. The pop princess, 18, doesn't want to talk about lip-syncing, but reviewers have pointed out her occasional lack of real vocals on-stage. The fast-paced, highly choreographed dances that Spears and other young pop acts perform take such energy, they acknowledge, they can't dance and sing for real all the time.

Where is Anita Hill, whose allegations of sexual harassment by Clarence Thomas made her a famous face?
Gloria Sylva, Hollister, N.C.

Hill teaches law and public policy to graduate students at Brandeis University but hasn't forgotten the divisive 1991 hearings over Thomas' appointment to the Supreme Court. "My entire life was turned upside down," she says. "Everything was put into question -- my professional life, my private life, my credibility, my capabilities. I really wasn't sure what was going to become of my life." A Court TV commentator and popular speaker, Oklahoma native Hill, 44, now lives outside Boston in a 113-year-old house she's renovating. Still single, she tells us, "I don't have a boyfriend, but it's not because I have anything against boyfriends. I do date, but there's no one now who is that one special someone."

I've been searching for a copy of the 1979 drama The Champ, starring Rick Schroeder and Jon Voight, but can't locate it anywhere. Is there some plan for a re-release since Schroeder is so popular on NYPD Blue and Voight's daughter, Angelina Jolie, is always news?
Darlene Reed, Salem, Ohio

Smart as your idea is, MGM, the studio behind The Champ, has no such plans. Still, the folks there couldn't explain why the PG-rated tearjerker is so scarce. Both Voight and Schroeder -- an adorable 8-year-old back then -- won Golden Globe Awards for it in 1980. We found copies of the movie up for auction at Amazon.com (signed movie posters, too) but no copies for direct sale.

Why do female country singers like Faith Hill and Trisha Yearwood seem to get more press and prestigious gigs than my favorite, Shania Twain?
Chris Jennings, Lansing, Mich.

Hill and Yearwood have new albums this year and are on tour promoting them. But Twain, 34, who's had her share of headlines and was Entertainer of the Year at last year's Country Music Association Awards and this year's Academy of Country Music awards, is taking a break while working on a fourth CD. She toured for two years in support of 1998's Come on Over, and it paid off big: With 26 million copies sold worldwide, it is the best-selling country album of all time. Twain's hometown of Timmins, Ontario, is so proud that it plans an $11 million "interpretive center" in her honor.

I miss watching Ann Compton, the former White House correspondent for ABC News. Don't tell me she left the network.
Barbara Spencer, Kankakee, Ill.

She just moved into new roles: national correspondent for ABC News Radio and chief Washington correspondent for ABCNEWS.com. In 27 years with ABC, Compton, 53, has covered five presidents and raised four kids (now ages 14-20). She'll still cover the president but won't travel so much, and that's a good thing, she tells us. "One night I sat down at the dinner table and my children and husband were talking about things at school and in the neighborhood, and I felt as if they were speaking a foreign language. I felt like a stranger at the table. I thought, 'I've been gone too much.' "

I only recently saw Richard Dreyfuss in Mr. Holland's Opus and wondered whether he has any new movies in the pipeline.
Anita Boughton, Nashville

Dreyfuss, 50, is next in The Crew, a Mafia comedy set in Miami's South Beach. Waiting for release is a drama set in the South American rain forests, The Old Man Who Read Love Stories, from the Luis Sepulveda novel. That one's a "small" movie lacking a distributor. Dreyfuss was in Toronto last month making yet another film, but he planned to get home to L.A. in time for next week's Democratic convention.

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THIS WEEK'S BIRTHDAYS
August 6: Soleil Moon Frye, 24; Geri Halliwell, 28
August 7: Charlize Theron, 25; David Duchovny, 40
August 8: Princess Beatrice, 12; JC Chasez, 24; Deborah Norville, 42; Dustin Hoffman, 63
August 9: Chamique Holdsclaw, 23; Gillian Anderson, 32; Deion Sanders, 33; Whitney Houston, 37; Melanie Griffith, 43
August 10: Antonio Banderas, 40; Rosanna Arquette, 41
August 11: Hulk Hogan, 47; Jerry Falwell, 67
August 12: Casey Affleck, 25; Pete Sampras, 29