Sly’s No-Show Provides Rocky Time For Students

Sylvester Stallone reneged on a deal, and he may have lost some fans in the process.

The “Rocky”-“Rambo” star had promised to visit some 20 Syracuse, N.Y., students who had won a district science environmental competition. The highlight was supposed to have been him handing them the $10,000 prize.

But he didn’t make it. “Scheduling problems,” it seems.

Stallone has tried to make amends. He’s offered to let the students visit the set of the film that he is shooting this summer. But it’s doubtful that many will take advantage, what with the cost and vacations plans already having been set.

“He ought to send up a jet and fly them down there,” sniffed irritated parent Joe DelVecchio.

Loose talk

Daphne Zuniga (“Melrose Place”) on meeting her fans (in P.O.V. magazine): “A stranger approached me in the supermarket and said I should have had a .38 instead of the kind of gun Jo had. It’s like, no introduction, just here’s the advice. I also get sent lots of pictures and comic books. One lunatic sent me a machete.”

Can we talk, and we can, about her nasty demeanor?

Joan Rivers turns 59 today.

We just hope that he has an industrially thick skin

Speaking of Joan Rivers, and we will, expect the catty comic to announce her engagement on Saturday to Wall Street magnate Orin Lehman. It would be her second marriage, his third.

Besides, he gets serious only with Marlon Brando

On the other hand, don’t expect talk-show monarch Larry King to get married again anytime soon. Especially not to Cyndy Truhan, ex-wife of ex-baseballer Steve Garvey. “We’ve been friends for 18 years,” he said. “We’re two single people who are dating.”

That’ll certainly give them enough to pay the rent

One of the biggest hits on Broadway in recent years has been the musical “Rent,” whose author, Jonathan Larson, died of an anortic aneurysm Jan. 25. Now comes word that Larson’s family is suing two New York hospitals for malpractice. The suit claims that over a four-day period, the two hospitals mistakenly treated Larson for food poisoning and a viral infection. The family wants $250 million.

I say, old sport, this is rollicking good fun, what?

Here’s a new Brit-royal name in the new: 18-year-old Peter Phillips, son of Princess Anne, was involved in a brawl at a Scottish bar recently. Some 30 men, among them Phillips and his rugby teammates, mixed it up during a post-game celebration. According to one witness, Phillips, “a big, strapping lad… didn’t play a part in starting the fight, but when the fists were flying he gave as good as he got.”

Life isn’t always phenomenally fun for Travolta

While his forthcoming movie “Phenomenon” was withdrawn from the Seattle International Film Festival (ostensibly to be recut), John Travolta left the Paris set of his current production, “The Double.” The reason: His son, 4-year-old Jett, underwent “minor surgery” on his ear.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 color photos

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Compiled by staff writer Dan Webster