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entertainment mum 'i! LCDDDg UDDDtflDDDg DJf Exec was proud of signing Beatles, but classical is what he loved yeah yeah yeah Miller, Linda Ronstadt and other rockers before quitting in 1976 because he was basically just tired of the pop music world. "There was too much in it he just didn't like," says Brook. "The drugs, a lot of the lifestyles. He hated dealing with some of the people like Brian Wilson's fa-ther Marry, OST OF US GUYS IN THE mnsir-lnvinf wnrlrl unulrl 1KB havA rr trnnhla coH I i cr fny this epitaph: He signed the Beatles. For Brown Meggs, the Capitol Records executive who in November 1963 heard an advance copy of "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" and did sign the Bea tles, it wasn't any personal big deal.

Good business move, good for his career, good for Capitol, but personally, he'd take a good classical suite over the Bea DAVID HINCKLEY SHORTCUTS 5 Zj I WANNA SHAKE YOUR HAND: The Beatles were signed by Capitol in 1963 an event that would change pop culture forever. who he found extremely manipulative. The money was getting big then, too, and he felt like he wasn't doing what he got into the busi ness for. He'd say he might as well be selling light bulbs." By the time he quit, he'd already written two novels, and he would write two more before returning to CapitolEMI's Angel division in 1984 on the condition he would handle only classical music. "I really don't think he ever intended to go back," says Brook.

"But that was when CDs were starting, so he ended up spending his time on things like Maria Cal-las reissues. He loved it" If in the '60s he sometimes felt like he was riding the wrong train, tles, or any pop artist, every time. "He liked Bob Dylan," says his son Brook. "He liked Joni Mitchell and he certainly recognized the Beatles' talent But from the time he was a kid, classical music was it for him." Brown Meggs died Oct 8 at his home in San Francisco, at age 66, leaving behind a resume remarkable for its sharp turns. He rose to chief operating officer of Capitol, shepherding the company through boom years with the Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Band, Grand Funk Railroad, Steve names under each picture so he could look at it on the ride out and know who they each were." Meet the Beatles, indeed.

He rode in their limo to the Plaza that day and in the end, it was a bigger deal to him that he revived Angel. But things come around, too. Paul McCartney is now writing classical music a gentle irony Meggs no doubt appreciated, since he and Paul became good friends. In fact, McCartney once named one of his dogs Brown Meggs and that's the kind of tribute that makes a pretty good epitaph itself. VIDEO REVIEWS he still had the ears to hear reck 'n' roll coming, and it was Brown Meggs at 32 an up-and-coming boy-wonder executive who pulled the trigger that November day in 1963 and committed major Capitol money to distributing and promoting the Beatles.

Maybe someone else would have. He did thereby helping shape the next 34 years of popular culture. "When the Beatles came here in February 1964, my dad met them at the airport," says Brook. "His secretary took a copy of their first album, 'Meet the Beatles, and wrote their PARADISE ROAD Fox 115 rated Glenn Close leads a group of Western women in a Sumatra prison camp during World War II. To ease her fellow prisoners' ordeal, she forms a "vocal orchestra," whose beautiful performances slowly soften their rigid Japanese captors.

Bruce Beresford's film, based on a true story, is generally absorbing if unsurprising. GP. BATMAN ROBIN Warner 125 rated PG-13 The fourth installment in Warner mighty franchise is too loud and too long, and George Clooney doesn 't cut it as the new guy. He looks the part, but he also looks lost uncertain whether to play this stuff straight or for laughs. With Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr.

Freeze, Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy, Chris O'Donnell as the Boy Wonder and Alicia Silverstone as Batgiri. Christopher Cornell, Knigfit-Ridder WILD AMERICA Warner 102 rated PG This is solid, old-fashioned family entertainment that recounts the wilderness adventures of the teenaged Stouffer brothers, who went on to become the film makers behind the highly regarded PBS documentary series "Wild America." The stars are Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Devon Sawa, Scott Bairstow and Jamie Sheridan. C.C. -T- rj ..7:1 -i TOP 15 VIDEO RENTALS 1. "Liar Liar" (Universal) 2.

"Anaconda" (Columbia Tristar) 3. "Volcano" (FoxVldeo) 4. "Breakdown" (Paramount) 5. "The Saint" (Paramount) 6. "Gross Polrrte Blank" (Hollywood) 7.

"That Old Feeling" (Universal) 8. "Double Team" (Columbia) 9. "Dante's Peak" (Universal) 10. "The Devil's Own" (Columbia) 11. "Sling Blade" (Dimension) 12.

"B.A.P.S." (New Line) 13. "The English Patient" (Miramax) 14. "Murder at 1600" (Warner) 15. "Father's Day" (Warner) TUESDAY Sprung (Trimark) The Fifth Element (ColumbiaTriStar) Jingle All the Way (Fox) Addicted to Love (Warner) MOD MAN VS. MADMAN: Mike Myers Elizabeth Hurley in "Austin Powers" AUSTIN POWERS: INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY New Una 87 rated PG-13 Mike Myers jives, growls and really-grooves-baby his way from the Swinging '60s to the PC '90s in this priceless sendup of Bond Flint spy movies and psychedelia.

Myers plays the velour-clad titular British agent, who has come out of a 30-year cryogenic interlude to battle aspiring world dominator Dr. Evil, an equally inspired creation played by Myers as well. Elizabeth Hurley provides Emma Peelian pulchritude. Sequel, please. Gerry Putter NOWHERE New Una 85 rated The third in director Gregg Araki's "teen apocalypse trilogy," "Nowhere" is a hodgepodge of scenes that pretty much goes, well, nowhere.

It follows a lost generation of L.A. Gen-Xers with names like Pukeboy and Dingbat through a long night of sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll, rape and violence. The only real fun is spotting over-the-hill celebrity cameos by cast members of "The Brady Bunch," "The Love Boat" and "Three's along with Shannon Doherty of "Beverly Hills 90210." Robert Dominguez a 8 3 9.