Naked in November.(Women's Institute calendar in Rylstone, England)

No one in the sleepy Engish village of Rylstone was surprised when the local chapter of the Women's Institute put out its annual calendar in 1999. After all, this fusty group produced a fund-raising calendar every year, typically with bucolic scenes of village greens, hills and mailboxes. But that year they tried a new approach: each month featured a different member of the club performing one of its traditional activities--knitting, baking, flower-arranging--in the nude (albeit with strategically placed props to protect their modesty). Their goal: to raise funds for the local hospital in memory of leukemia victim John Baker, whose wife, Angela, is one of their members. The calendar was an instant hit, selling nearly 300,000 copies in Britain and the United States combined, raising [Pound sterling]578,000 for the Leukemia Research Fund--and sparking a furious race among major film studios to secure the rights to the story.

Disney won, and the resulting film, "Calendar Girls," has been warming hearts and heating up box offices all over Britain since it opened in September. It earned [Pound sterling]1.8 million on its opening weekend alone, and is expected to be this year's biggest British-filmed hit when it arrives in America in December. Starring Helen Mirren and Julie Walters, "Calendar Girls" is a female version of "The Full Monty," featuring bold middle-aged women (they range in age from 45 to 65)--and with just as much fictionalization. New scenes were added for dramatic clarity and others--like conflicts among the women--have been resolved on celluloid, if not in real life. ...