PEOPLE WATCH

Forgotten Riddle?: The widow of musician Nelson Riddle sued Electra Records, saying that label has refused to credit her husband as the original arranger of the song “Unforgettable.” In a suit filed in Manhattan federal court seeking unspecified damages, Naomi Riddle alleges that the company has refused to credit her husband for a version of the Nat King Cole ballad recorded by Cole’s daughter Natalie in 1991. Riddle was listed as the arranger on Nat King Cole’s 1953 version of the song.

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First Fan: Barbra Streisand said she wanted her concert in Landover, Md., to be distinctly “nonpartisan,” even though she was playing to an audience that included the country’s top Democrat--President Clinton. Clinton nodded to the music and flashed a thumbs-up toward the stage Thursday, seeming especially taken with Streisand’s rendition of “Happy Days Are Here Again,” which was accompanied by video footage of headlines touting some of his Administration’s biggest accomplishments. Clinton and the First Lady were surrounded at the concert by an entourage of Cabinet members and other high-ranking officials so large that a bus was added to the presidential motorcade.

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Goodby, Norma Jean: The estate of Marilyn Monroe won a temporary restraining order blocking the auction of more than 60 items that belonged to the star. The estate questioned the ownership of the items, which would have been sold by Odyssey Auctions. Included: Monroe’s personal address book and a letter that contains a reference to a possible relationship between her and Robert Kennedy. The auction will still take place today in Hollywood, with other Hollywood and rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia on the block.

MOVIES

Cat’s Meows: The voices of Natalie Cole, Scott Bakula, Kathy Najimy, Ed Asner, Hal Holbrook and Don Knotts will be featured in an upcoming animated movie, “Cats Don’t Dance.” Described in Friday’s announcement as a 1930s-style Hollywood musical, it will feature songs by Randy Newman and choreography by Gene Kelly. The film is planned for a 1996 release, and will be the second animated film from Turner Pictures and David Kirschner Productions. The first, called “Pagemaster,” is due Christmastime.

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Thailand Makes ‘List’: Steven Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List” will premiere in Bangkok today, after a reversal by Thailand’s Police Censorship Board, which had originally objected to the scene with nudity in the Academy Award-winning film. The board approved the film for viewing after an appeal by the film’s distributor, which is bound by Spielberg’s demand that the film be shown either in its entirety or not at all. Earlier this week, Spielberg’s production company said it would withdraw all its films from distribution in Malaysia, whose censors had refused to show “Schindler’s List” unless several cuts were made.

THE ARTS

Schedule Changes: The Old Globe Theatre in San Diego has announced two changes in its summer schedule. William Congreve’s “The Way of the World” will take the Aug. 31-Oct. 2 outdoor slot, previously set aside for a compilation of Shakespeare’s “Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2”--which will be slated for the theater’s 60th anniversary season next year. And a revival of David Storey’s “Home” will play the Cassius Carter Centre Stage Sept. 14-Oct. 23.

Chicago Pulls Picasso Show: Claiming that key works of art are unavailable for loan, the Art Institute of Chicago has canceled plans to present the L.A. County Museum of Art’s popular exhibition “Picasso and the Weeping Women: The Years of Marie-Therese Walter and Dora Maar.” The Institute declined to specify which loans had fallen through or if the works would be included at other sites presenting “Weeping Women.” The show--which opens June 12 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York--was a hit this spring at LACMA, where it was the 12th best attended exhibition in the museum’s 29-year history.

QUICK TAKES

B.B. King will perform at an invitation-only concert in Beijing today at the opening of China’s first Hard Rock Cafe. . . . A free-lance photographer sued Michael Jackson and two of his bodyguards Friday, alleging he was assaulted and his film was confiscated after he photographed the entertainer in New York City’s Central Park. . . . A Los Angeles jury has rejected a $120,000 lawsuit against Tom and Roseanne Arnold accusing Tom Arnold of striking a nurse at a psychiatric hospital in 1991. The Arnolds denied the incident occurred. . . . Science-fiction author Ray Bradbury won the 1994 Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award. . . . Janice Lyle Ph.D. has been appointed executive director of the Palm Springs Desert Museum. . . . The sixth annual Chicano Music Awards, produced and hosted by KPCC deejay Sancho, will at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium on May 21. The ceremony recognizes an artist who has contributed to the community; this year’s recipient will be Belvedere Junior High School teacher Adolfo Martinez, a musician who plays with the band Chico. Latin jazz, mariachi and rock bands will perform at the event, which will raise money for college scholarships.