Power 101: Power Aides

Behind every powerful person in Hollywood are people who are perhaps even more powerful: the sprucers, flexers, and adorners-people who listen but don't ever tell. Now, if only they'd be a little less discreet...

POWER TRAINER
TODD PERSON
* Age: 33 * A few of his clients: Ron Meyer, Jeanne Tripplehorn, The Beverly Hillbillies' Diedrich Bader, Jon Bon Jovi * How he got there: ''I didn't have the study skills to go to medical school.'' * Why he's powerful: Because people talk under torture, and torture (training runs through the L.A. hills, hikes up and down the Valley) is his business. * Power prattle: ''I'm their cheerleader—I'm their friend,'' Person says of his clients, and, at up to $200 an hour, ''I can produce staggering results.'' He's well rewarded: ''I get invited to the best parties.'' The top invitation: Sony exec Jon Peters flew Person to Hawaii for a week to train him and his girlfriend.

POWER PARTY PLANNER
MARY MICUCCI, OWNER OF ALONG CAME MARY
* Age: 45 * A few of her clients: Most recently, the Emmys; studio film premieres (The Fugitive, Rising Sun, The Beverly Hillbillies) * How she got there: ''A friend asked me to cater a small sit-down dinner. My only food experience was coming from an Italian background: I don't cook at all, but I'm warm and vivacious.'' * Why she's powerful: Because this ''party producer,'' as she's known in L.A., knows who gets invited to what. * Power prattle: Recently, Micucci says, she executed a James Bond-themed party for 200, complete with 40 actors, 22 stuntmen, 7 gymnasts, a fleet of helicopters, and 2 sky divers. Though she won't say how much she charged for that nifty event, she does own up to doing private parties that cost as much as $500,000.

POWER TEMP AGENCY OWNER
JULES YOUNG, OWNER OF FRIEDMAN ENTERTAINMENT AGENCY
* Age: 51 (''But I look 31.'') * A few of his clients: William Morris, CAA, Twentieth Century Fox, Paramount, Columbia, Sony, Disney, Warner Bros. * How he got there: The ex-schoolteacher saw an ad in the Los Angeles Times for an employment counselor. ''Six weeks later, I bought the business for $15,000 and fired the person who hired me.'' * Why he's powerful: Because he has placed an assistant ''with every major celebrity from Madonna to Faye Dunaway,'' and they have stories to tell. * Power prattle: ''Once a producer wanted someone to go on location with him, and I said, 'No hanky-panky?' He was a nice man, married 30 years. At 3 a.m. I got a call from the woman, saying, 'He's banging at my door.''' Sometimes the overtures are welcome. ''I sent a temp to a top executive, and six months later he left his wife. I called him up and said, 'You owe me a fee.' We all got a big laugh out of that.''

POWER DECORATOR
MADELINE STUART OF H. DOLIN STUART, INC.
* Age: 34 * A few of her clients: Lisa Henson, CAA's Jay Moloney, Jason Alexander, Columbia's Mark Canton * How she got there: Stuart wanted to avoid becoming a decorator because that's what her mother does. But, she says, ''After I ran a record company into the ground, I faced the inevitable.''* Why she's powerful: Because ''I know which clients watch TV from bed, and which ones don't have a door to the toilet.'' * Power prattle: Stuart, who can spend a day orchestrating a million-dollar remodeling or finding special pillow piping for Joel Silver, says of Hollywood, ''It's all completely incestuous—I get passed around like an opium pipe.'' But there's a downside to most of her clients knowing each other: ''I can never use the same trim twice.''