Easter Bunnies Often Get an Earful as They Hop to It

--Easter Bunnies have a big problem that can leave them with egg on their faces--they’re all ears. David De Jac of Buffalo, N.Y., who makes and rents bunny costumes, says getting through a doorway can be a real headache for his customers. He calls the resulting seasonal injury--which caused his company to switch to floppy ears--Easter whiplash. “They’d wear them out of the store and, as they were going out the door, they’d almost take their head off,” he said. De Jac, who co-owns D.C. Theatricks, says people tend to lose touch with reality when they don a bunny suit. “When you have this whole thing on, you’re not a person anymore,” he said. “The person inside is a lot less inhibited. . . . They’ll do a little jig for the kids and kneel down in the mud to give out candy.”

--Mikhail Baryshnikov does not have to take care of his former manager for the rest of her life, a New York state appeals court ruled. In fact, the court decided, Remi Saunder must repay $11,000 that the ballet star lent her. Saunder, who used to be Baryshnikov’s general manager and a consultant, had sued for $1.8 million.

--Prince Charles still knows how to boogie. Throwing royal decorum aside, the heir to the British throne got down on his knees with a group of youngsters at Middleton-on-Sea, England, and joined them in break-dancing. “He’s very good. He got his foot movements right,” said Dwayne Smith, who enticed the prince into joining him and two other youngsters. “He asked me to give him some dancing lessons.”

--Pearl Bailey really has something to sing about these days. Bailey, 67, is about to be graduated from Georgetown University in Washington with a theology degree. “I think learning is one of the greatest things,” she said. “I’m so tired of people associating entertainers with all the boozing, all the drugs.”

--Never mind about the beef--where’s the robot? That’s what Peter Hughes, who is creating an automated hamburger helper for a burger chain, refuses to say. The six-armed creation will prepare meals to order, take money, make change, even sing to customers if the food takes more than 15 seconds to arrive. Hughes, president of Hughes International Inc. with offices in Hunt Valley, Md., and London, says he cannot reveal which chain has hired him without losing the contract. “It’s a very big publicity stunt,” he said. Sometime between December and February, the robot should be in place in one of the chain’s current midtown Manhattan outlets. The $100,000 robot will scurry around the restaurant on a track, from which it can also sweep floors and clear tables, he said. And what will it sing? If it’s Christmastime, carols. If it’s the Fourth of July, “The Star Spangled Banner.” And if it’s just an ordinary day, the hamburger chain’s advertising jingle.