March 12, 1992

Walt Fisher's bulbs were running neck and neck with Pamela Lammot du Pont Copeland's, and she has a gardener. It's doubtful that she stays up at night adjusting the lights over the old Ping-Pong table in the basement. But it must be said: Mrs. Lammot du Pont Copeland's "Blue Blaze" hyacinths were the bluest of all. She won the blue ribbon for Class 210.

Responding to public anger, the Hertz Corporation announced yesterday that New York City residents who want to avoid surcharges can pay a $25 one-time fee for the company to check their driving and employment records to determine whether they are what Hertz is calling "responsible renters." But Hertz said that it would keep its surcharges -- $56 a day for residents of the Bronx, $34 for Brooklyn residents, $15 for those who live in Queens and $3 for Manhattan -- because they appear to be achieving their purpose, scaring off renters who cause a disproportionate number of accidents and later suits against Hertz by people who are injured.

With his back against the wall after crushing losses to Gov. Bill Clinton in most of the Super Tuesday contests, Paul E. Tsongas flew to the Midwest yesterday and began pummeling him on questions of character that refuse to subside. If Mr. Clinton wins next Tuesday's showdowns in Illinois and Michigan and goes on to take the Democratic Presidential nomination, Mr. Tsongas said, "we're going to put up our most vulnerable candidate, whom Republicans will have no hesitancy in investigating in great detail."

WHEN they wanted an elegant look for their 1972 film "Savages," the producer Ismail Merchant and the director James Ivory had ordinary tableware wrapped in tinfoil so it would gleam in the background. Since then, obviously, a lot has changed. For "Howards End," which opens tomorrow, the film makers borrowed so much antique silver that they required the services of a guard to make sure the props didn't wander. It is fitting that "Howards End," which takes its title from the pastoral family retreat central to E. M. Forster's 1910 novel, should be the film that most spectacularly emphasizes the Merchant-Ivory team's attention to domestic detail. In addition to that ubiquitous silver, the film also makes abundant use of antique china and crystal, potted palms, leather-bound volumes, lace antimacassars and elaborate period costumes for its interior shots, not to mention the vintage cars and trains, striking architecture, wicker furniture and luxuriant flower gardens that add color to its outdoor scenes. From the abandoned castle on the grounds of one country estate to the apple charlotte brought by a servant to a student in his rooms at Oxford, the film's decorative touches serve as delicate, precise complements to its main events.

William Crowley, a corporate finance specialist for Goldman, Sachs & Company in London, is scouring the globe on behalf of a big client with vast resources, new management and an uncertain future: the Russian Government. Since Moscow hired Goldman, Sachs on Feb. 17, Mr. Crowley has been coordinating the effort of dozens of Goldman's bankers to contact blue-chip corporations and to expedite Western investments in Russia. He has fielded hundreds of phone calls and faxes from Chicago to Frankfurt to Sydney.