OUT OF THE LOOP
Even second-generation actor Josh Brolin doesn't know how his dad, James Brolin, popped the question to La Diva Barbra Streisand. "He won't tell me," says Brolin, 29, who costars with Mira Sorvino in the thriller Mimic, opening Aug. 22. "He knows it will slip out of my big mouth." With all the secrecy surrounding the impending nuptials, at least Brolin has seen proof that the engagement is official. "My dad and Barbra recently went on a little trek to Arizona," says Brolin, "and they stopped by to show me the engagement ring." He and his stepmother-to-be had gotten off to an auspicious start. "It was my birthday," Brolin recalls, "and she came out of the kitchen with a cake she had made herself." Streisand? Baking? Guess it's not only the mirror that has two faces.

A GUY THING
Jasmine Guy, who played snobby Whitley Gilbert on NBC's sitcom A Different World, gets close to her fans in the front rows of a national touring production of the musical Chicago. "God bless them, they get spit on and get the nice nostril views," says Guy, 35, who plays Velma Kelly, the role that won Bebe Neuwirth a Tony for her Broadway performance. "I went back-stage after seeing [the Broadway revival], and I asked Bebe, 'How do you do this every night? This is going to kill me!' " But Guy has been getting raves from some vocal audience members. "My sister Monica came," she says. "I couldn't see her, but I heard her. She was screaming my name, and I was like, 'It's not a rock concert.' "

AVERSION THERAPY
Teen twosome Kel Mitchell, 18, and Kenan Thompson, 19, stars of Nickelodeon's sketch-variety show All That, get a taste of the big screen in the new comedy Good Burger. But filming a movie version of their TV skit about a fast-food joint nearly made them toss their cookies. "There was over 1,750 pounds of meat, and some of the burgers would stay out there for a long time," says Thompson. "I felt sorry for the extras who had to eat them with cold, clammy fries." Adds Mitchell: "It was so gross, because when I'd scoop out ice cream in the movie, it was really vegetable shortening with food coloring. And when I poured milk on cereal, I used Elmer's glue so the flakes wouldn't get soggy." So has the experience altered their eating habits? "You know, I prefer chicken these days," says Thompson. And Mitchell? "I like fish."

GORGEOUS GEORGE
Brendan Fraser (Encino Man) wasn't exactly big on bananas while playing the vine-swinging hero of Disney's new fantasy film George of the Jungle, a live-action version of the 1967-70 TV cartoon. "Actually, I had a craving for chocolate bars because I knew I wouldn't see any of them while I did the movie," says Fraser, 28. "For months I was on the George Diet. George couldn't cheat. He couldn't eat junk food. And I had to work out like a maniac—I spent six months training before we started. I guess George's jungle had a StairMaster in it." But Fraser was determined to stick to his regimen. "When you're wearing a loincloth in a movie, you just have to look good," he says. "I didn't want to have to wear an anatomically correct rubber muscle suit."