May 19, 1995

AN American blonde of television and tabloid fame looks down from a billboard here, her lips parted, her hands cradling a meaningful-looking gun. "Don't Call Me Babe!" reads the ad copy for her new film, offering a prime example of this town's brand of humor. All right, call her Doctor of Philosophy, but somebody had better behave in babelike fashion if this year's Cannes International Film Festival is to meet its glitter quota. It looks like an uphill battle this year, but Cannes is always game. Several major factors account for the slow start of the 48th annual festival, not least the fact that Wednesday night's grand-opening feature, "The City of Lost Children," by the makers of the 1991 French film "Delicatessen," is a horror. Then there is the significant public relations problem of the French Presidency, since Francois Mitterrand ceded power to Jacques Chirac just as "The City of Lost Children" was supposed to set flashbulbs popping. Dutiful coverage of Jeanne Moreau, the president of this year's Cannes jury, marked the only real press attention this festival has thus far attracted. Books about Mr. Mitterrand have even supplanted movie-star hagiography in local stores.

When customers arrived at some motor vehicle offices yesterday, there were no workers around to help them. And when Governor Whitman arrived at her office here, she found a 6-foot-long pink slip. Both surprises were delivered by employees upset about losing their jobs to private contractors. The Division of Motor Vehicles has gone to court, asking a judge to bar more walkouts by the workers.

The Chrysler Corporation raised its quarterly dividend by 25 percent today, to 50 cents a share, less than one-eighth the increase sought by its biggest and most meddlesome shareholder, Kirk Kerkorian. And Robert J. Eaton, Chrysler's chairman and chief executive, said he would prefer that Mr. Kerkorian just sell his 10 percent stake and disappear, because the billionaire was disrupting the auto maker.

The man who walked into the Hudson City Savings Bank here at 9:41 A.M. yesterday carried a knapsack and a note. The note said that he had a gun. That was enough to persuade the bank teller to put $3,800 into the knapsack. The man walked out into the morning and disappeared.

Trade Battle Widens The fight between Washington and Tokyo over trade widened as Japan won support in Europe and Eastman Kodak filed a complaint. Page D1. Giuliani Warns of New Cuts Mayor Giuliani said he would move ahead with deeper budget cuts if, as seems almost certain, he does not receive enough state aid. Page B1.