THE ARTSGovernor’s Arts Awards: Soon, Steven Spielberg...

THE ARTS

Governor’s Arts Awards: Soon, Steven Spielberg won’t have anything but an Oscar left to win. The director of “Schindler’s List” has been chosen to receive yet another Lifetime Achievement Award, this time as part of the fifth annual Governor’s Arts Awards. Spielberg joins a list of art world heavyweights also being honored at a March 25 gala in Beverly Hills, including noted Los Angeles-based visual artist David Hockney, patrons Iris and B. Gerald Cantor, American Youth Symphony founder Mehli Mehta and writer Alice Walker. In addition, 100-year-old ceramic artist Beatrice Wood will be honored as a “Living Treasure,” and actor Hal Holbrook will be recognized for his work in the performing arts. Recipients will receive awards designed by noted sculptor Robert Graham, a previous winner. The awards benefit the California State Summer School for the Arts, an annual eight-week arts training program for high school students.

TELEVISION

Forrest Sawyer Hit by Malaria: “Day One” anchor Forrest Sawyer, who thought he was suffering from a bad flu, finally checked himself in to a New York hospital and has been diagnosed as having malaria. Despite taking precautionary shots, Sawyer apparently picked up the bug while in Vietnam for an early-January edition of “Day One” featuring a reunion of U.S. and Vietnamese veterans of the bloody 1965 Battle of Ia Drang Valley. At least one of the U.S. vets who went to Vietnam with the ABC newsmagazine has also come down with the disease.

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‘Central’ In, ‘Monty’ Out: “South Central,” Fox’s new half-hour series exploring the daily struggle of a single mother trying to raise her family in South-Central Los Angeles, will debut April 5 at 8 p.m. The show will replace the low-rated Henry Winkler comedy “Monty,” which has been canceled. “Monty” had its final airing last Tuesday. . . . Also debuting in April is the CBS hourlong drama series “Christy,” based on the Catherine Marshall best-selling novel and starring Kellie Martin, Tyne Daly and Tess Harper. The show premieres April 3 with a two-hour episode, before moving into its regular 8 p.m. Thursday time slot.

MOVIES

Cruise Toys With Harvard Image: Tom Cruise traded his pin stripes and dress whites for a bra and hot-pink pumps as he accepted the man of the year award from Harvard University’s Hasty Pudding club Tuesday night. Cruise, who played Harvard-schooled lawyers in “The Firm” and “A Few Good Men,” donned the pumps after his hosts joked about the 5-foot-9 actor’s reputation for not wanting to share a stage with anyone taller. Men in drag then ran up, kissed Cruise and gave him a bra with a bright red satin Harvard insignia on each cup. Cruise put it on over his tuxedo, and joked: “I know for certain that (this award) . . . has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I just played two Harvard grads.”

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MPAA Expands Anti-Piracy Efforts: Pirated videocassettes valued at more than $18 million were seized by the Motion Picture Assn. of America in cooperation with federal and state law enforcement officials during 1993, and in May the FBI closed down the largest unauthorized video duplication operation ever uncovered in the United States. That Virginia-based operation alone could have cost American film companies an estimated $60 million in annual income. The information is contained in a report on anti-piracy efforts issued Wednesday by the MPAA. Included are 1993 criminal cases against six people charged as the result of raids at 49 California locations in June, during which 20,000 alleged pirated tapes were seized.

POP/ROCK

Liz Phair Debut Tops Critics’ Poll: Chicago singer-songwriter Liz Phair’s debut rock album, “Exile in Guyville,” is the first album by a woman since Joni Mitchell’s 1974 “Court and Spark” to finish first in the Village Voice’s annual poll of more than 300 pop music critics. “Guyville” was trailed in the balloting by Nirvana’s “In Utero,” PJ Harvey’s “Rid of Me” and the Breeders’ “Last Splash.” Rounding out the Top 10 were albums by the Pet Shop Boys, Dr. Dre, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, De La Soul, U2 and Digable Planets.

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Gangsta Rap Faceoff: The debate over the social impact of gangsta rap music continued Wednesday in a Capitol Hill hearing headed by Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun (D-Ill.). In an effort to explore the alleged link between gangsta rap and crime and disrespect for women and gays, C. Delores Tucker, chairwoman of the National Political Congress of Black Women, singer Dionne Warwick and other gangsta rap critics faced off against representatives from Rock the Vote, Source Magazine and the Recording Industry Assn. of America.