POP/ROCK - Jan. 8, 1994

Boss Song: Pop star Bruce Springsteen says he agreed to write the opening song to the movie “Philadelphia” to help the film’s message of tolerance and compassion for people with AIDS reach a broad audience. “(Director Jonathan) Demme called me and said, ‘I made this picture and I want it to play in the malls,’ ” said the singer. “I’m some salt on the steak.” Springsteen, whose song is called “Streets of Philadelphia,” added: “I think the picture is great, and there’s an audience waiting for it. The country is waiting for something that’s going to address these questions of tolerance and of how people are going to live together in the future.”

STAGE

‘Sunset’ Disc: Performances of the Los Angeles cast of “Sunset Boulevard” will be taped for an original cast album on PolyGram, to be recorded “in the very near future,” according to a spokesman for producer-composer Andrew Lloyd Webber. No release date is set yet. The original London cast album is already on sale, but this will mark one of the few occasions when a Los Angeles cast album will be released independent of the planned Broadway production of the same musical.

MOVIES

Paper Lion: Turner Entertainment Co. donated an enormous collection of movie scripts spanning nearly 70 years in the history of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Friday contained in 1,500 boxes. According to academy officials, the gift of 50,000 individual items is the largest-ever single donation of archival materials to its Margaret Herrick Library. Authors and playwrights represented in the collection include F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dorothy Parker, Dashiell Hammett, P.G. Wodehouse, Aldous Huxley and William Saroyan.

* ‘Midnight’ Dawns Again: In honor of its 25th anniversary, the Oscar-winning classic “Midnight Cowboy” will have a limited release by United Artists. The John Schlesinger-directed drama, which is the only X-rated film to receive the best picture Oscar, will be presented for the first time in Dolby Stereo and using new prints struck from the original negative. The film, which stars Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman, will open Feb. 24 at the two theaters where it first played for over a year: the Mann Bruin in L.A. and N.Y.’s Baronet.

MUSIC

Plea for Help: American opera star Barbara Hendricks, who gave a New Year’s concert in Sarajevo, appealed Friday to President Clinton to “stop the barbarism” in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The Arkansas native urged the President to visit Sarajevo. “One can never be prepared for the reality of everyday life here,” she said in a letter to Clinton and U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali. “You must see it with your own eyes.”

TELEVISION

Fox Goes Local: Fox Broadcasting Co. announced that beginning Jan. 31, its affiliates will temporarily present their own choice of programming in the network’s beleaguered late-night time period (11 p.m.-midnight). The affiliates will resume network broadcasts upon the launch of a new Fox late-night program. Since the demise of “The Chevy Chase Show” last fall, Fox has been airing repeats of “In Living Color” and “Code 3” in the time period.

* ‘Homicide’ Ratings Soar: Robin Williams fired up the ratings Thursday night on the second-season premiere of NBC’s Emmy Award-winning series “Homicide: Life on the Street.” The acclaimed cop drama, which did not catch on with viewers last season, received an 18 rating and 28 share of the audience, according to overnight Nielsen Media Research ratings. “Homicide” soundly beat its competition: ABC’s “PrimeTime Live,” which had a 13.7 rating, 22 share, and CBS’ “Second Chances,” which scored a 7.1 rating, 11 share. For the 29 markets measured, one ratings point equals 476,572 homes.

* Post-Super Bowl Fare: NBC will air episodes of its Tuesday evening sitcoms, “The Good Life” and “The John Larroquette Show,” immediately following its telecast of Super Bowl XXVIII on Jan. 30. The post-game slot, considered a plum because of the huge built-in audience, has often been used for series premieres. NBC opted against debuting a show this year, instead trying to give wider sampling to the two first-year comedies, which find themselves in difficult time periods.

QUICK TAKES

The Museum of Television & Radio’s 11th Television Festival is set for March 2-19 at the L.A. County Museum of Art. Events scheduled for the festival, which salutes TV programming and those who create it, will be announced Feb. 1. . . . Avery Brooks (“Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”) will star in a return engagement of the acclaimed play “Paul Robeson” at the Westwood Playhouse from Jan. 28 to Feb. 9.