THE ARTSKennedy Center Honorees: Actor Kirk Douglas,...

THE ARTS

Kennedy Center Honorees: Actor Kirk Douglas, soul singer Aretha Franklin and Broadway producer-director Harold Prince are among five individuals chosen to receive the 17th annual Kennedy Center Honors. The annual awards--which recognize lifetime accomplishment in dance, music, theater, opera, movies and television--also will be presented to singer-songwriter Pete Seeger and composer Morton Gould. The recipients will be feted at a Dec. 4 gala in Washington’s Kennedy Center Opera House. The event, to be attended by President and Mrs. Clinton, will air at a later date as a two-hour special on CBS.

Gallery Appointment: Michele D. De Angelus, director of Santa Monica’s Eli Broad Family Foundation for the last 10 years, has been appointed associate director of PaceWildenstein’s planned gallery in Beverly Hills, according to gallery director Marc Selwyn. The new branch of the world’s largest art dealership is expected to open in April. Selwyn said the gallery “pursued” De Angelus because of “her knowledge of the community and her extraordinary reputation as a curator and connoisseur,” in addition to her work at the Broad Foundation, which has an internationally renowned collection of contemporary art.

A Mayoral Opening: Mayor Richard Riordan will be joined by Sir Paul Newall, the lord mayor of London, in public ceremonies today to officially open the multi-venue UK/LA 1994 Festival. The 11:45 a.m. ceremonies, at downtown’s California Plaza Watercourt, include music and theatrical performances by the MopTops, Will & Company and Ian Whitcomb.

STAGE

A Wild and Crazy Playwright?: Steve Martin’s play “Picasso at the Lapin Agile” will open at the Westwood Playhouse on Oct. 22, produced by Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Steppenwolf did the play’s premiere a year ago in Chicago, where it ran 21 weeks in a 300-seat theater and another three weeks on Steppenwolf’s 510-seat main stage. Although casting hasn’t been completed for the comedy about Picasso and Einstein, many of the original cast members are expected to appear. No, Martin himself won’t be in it.

TELEVISION

Caruso Relents on Emmy Show: Departing “NYPD Blue” star David Caruso will attend Sunday night’s Emmy Awards after all. Shortly after news of his pending “NYPD Blue” split became public, Caruso had said he would not attend the awards show despite the record 26 nominations for his series. Caruso, who will leave the show after four episodes, is nominated for best actor in a drama, along with his co-star, Dennis Franz.

MOVIES

Brothers II Film: “Menace II Society’s” acclaimed filmmakers Allen and Albert Hughes have finally cemented their follow-up project, tentatively titled “Dead Presidents,” for Caravan Pictures. The film will be loosely based on a short story from Wallace Terry’s 1980s bestseller “Bloods.” Set primarily in the inner city, “Dead Presidents” (the title is slang for cash) will center on Vietnam vet Haywood T. Kirkland. The 22-year-old twin brothers plan to start production in late October in New York and Thailand.

POP/ROCK

Boyz II Reign: R&B; crooners Boyz II Men’s new “II” album sold a whopping 303,000 copies last week, dethroning “The Lion King” soundtrack after its nine-week reign at the top of the nation’s pop chart. The Philadelphia quartet--which outsold the second-place “Lion King” by almost 139,000 units--also tops this week’s R&B; album and single charts as well as the Hot 100 Singles chart with its No. 1-selling “I’ll Make Love to You” song. And a surprise entry in the pop Top 10 this week: The Three Tenors’ “In Concert 1994” album, recorded at this summer’s Dodger Stadium mega-event, sold an estimated 117,000 albums to rank No. 4.

LEGAL FILE

Paris Finale: The Paris Opera agreed Wednesday to reinstate sacked conductor Myung-Whun Chung but said it would end his contract after the season’s first performances, his lawyer said. The settlement, reached after negotiations behind closed doors at a Paris appeals court, ended a controversy that began when Chung was dismissed last month in a contract dispute. According to the settlement, Chung will conduct Verdi’s “Simon Boccanegra,” but will be dismissed when the production closes.

Realism Gone Awry: A North Carolina appeals court has upheld a $487,000 award to Jackson Pinckney, an actor who said he was partially blinded by Jean Claude Van Damme during filming of “Cyborg.” The judge found “ample testimony that (Van Damme) wanted his fight scenes to look as authentic and realistic as possible and that he had a reputation for engaging in excessive contact in order to do so.”