ELEPHANTS IN THE LIVING ROOM, BEARS IN THE CANOE

How to housebreak an elephant. . . and other essentials. Animal Kingdom Talent Services, Inc., the Hammonds' business enterprise, oversees the careers of the stag in the Hartford Insurance commercials, the bear in the Harem's beer ads, and Mignon the elephant who spent most of her first year in their living room, gaining 100 pounds a month and stomping to Janis Joplin records. Mignon's played the Biltmore, the opera, and local Republican gatherings, and chose her own sunbonnet on a shopping excursion to B. Airman's. Sasha the Kodiak is more fearsome, especially to film crews, but he pays his way, and Moose the stag has his share of success stories too. Earl Hammond comes from a family of animal handlers but Liz grew up on New York's West Side and apparently fixated on elephants early; both show real talent for the work they've chosen and will undertake almost any challenge altough he gets queasy in elevators and she's afraid of the dark. Here they relive their hairy escapades with disarming matter-of-factness. Minor perils, training tips, and an elephant that charms like a toddler.