hmmm... well, after uninstalling Apache2 (thinking it might have somthing to do with that) and then installing Apache 1.3 and getting the same results I have finally figured it out.
register_globals was off.
Good news is ... problem solved.
Bad news is ... all the apps I have written need to now be re-written to comply with the safer standard of leaving register_globals off.
Can you tell I'm a newbie? hehe...