MOVIES - Dec. 17, 1994

Oscar Music: What do standards such as “Thanks for the Memory,” “Over the Rainbow” and “Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing” have in common with more contemporary pop offerings like “I Just Called to Say I Love You,” “Beauty and the Beast” and “Streets of Philadelphia”? They’re all songs that have taken home Hollywood’s most coveted statuette, the Oscar. All 60 of the previous Oscar-winning songs will be released Feb. 28 in “The Envelope Please . . . Academy Award-Winning Songs (1934-1993),” a five-CD box set from Rhino Entertainment. The compilation’s release comes right in the midst of Oscar season--two weeks after the Feb. 14 announcement of this year’s nominees, and six weeks before the March 27 telecast.

How Many Did You See?: If you think you’ve caught most of the year’s movies, statistics released Friday by the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. may come as a surprise. The organization, which presents the annual Golden Globe film and television awards, tallied up the releases from the 1994 calendar year. Eligible for this year’s awards: 157 feature films, including 89 dramas and 68 comedies, plus 33 foreign language films. Also eligible are 98 TV series--47 of them dramas and 51 comedies--and 72 miniseries and TV movies. The Golden Globes will be held at the Beverly Hilton on Jan. 21, with a broadcast that same night on cable’s TBS. Nominations will be announced Thursday.

MUSIC

Mystery Solved?: Fifty years after his disappearance during a flight over the English Channel, celebrated big-band leader Glenn Miller was remembered in a celebration Thursday at England’s American Military Cemetery near Cambridge. But the speculation over Miller’s disappearance, and presumed death at the age of 40, remain. The accepted view is that Miller, a U.S. Army major, died when the single-engined Norseman, in which he was a passenger, crashed into the Channel. But in 1976 an alleged witness claimed that Miller had instead boarded a different plane, and stories at the time suggested that he was murdered in Paris or that he was still alive in France or Spain. This week, another “witness” surfaced. Victor Gregory, a former Royal Air Force bomber pilot, told reporters that he had seen Miller’s Norseman crash into the sea after being caught by the jettisoned bomb blast. Said Gregory: “There’s never been a mystery. It was the only Norseman in the area. The times are exact. That was Glenn Miller crashing.”

STAGE

NYT Critic Post Open: David Richards, who took over the powerful role as the New York Times’ chief theater critic last year, is returning to the Washington Post, where he held the theater critic job five years ago. A replacement has not been named, but Times cultural news editor Dan Lewis was recently quoted in the New York Observer as saying that second-string critic Ben Brantley has been getting more exposure through “the sheer force of his good writing.” At the Post, Richards will become a national cultural affairs correspondent, writing arts and entertainment news and feature stories, essays and profiles from New York, Washington and other spots around the country. He will start the position in January.

More Shakespeare Shake-Ups: The New York Shakespeare Festival’s No. 2 executive, managing director Jason Steven Cohen, ends his 22 years with the organization at the end of the month. Cohen’s forced departure is a continuation of sweeping replacements and realignments since George C. Wolfe became festival producer after the abrupt ousting of festival founder Joseph Papp’s successor, JoAnne Akalaitis, in early 1993. A festival publicist described the move as “part of ongoing restructuring” and said no replacement for Cohen was planned.

Burnett on Broadway?: “It’s a long shot” is how Carol Burnett’s spokeswoman termed rumors circulating on Broadway this week that Burnett will co-star in the new Ken Ludwig comedy “Moon Over Buffalo.” “Carol’s read the play, she likes it a lot and that’s as far as it’s gotten,” the spokeswoman said. Burnett has said recently that she would like to do a New York stage role. “Moon Over Buffalo,” about an acting couple of dubious distinction, is expected to open in the spring.

QUICK TAKES

“Today” anchor Bryant Gumbel has a new contract to stay with the NBC program. Gumbel, who had reportedly been pursued by Fox to head that network’s upcoming late-night show, took a few days off from “Today” when his contract expired two weeks ago, but returned to the program while negotiations continued. . . . Jim Newman, financial reporter for KTLA-TV Channel 5’s “Morning News” and business editor at KFWB-AM (980), takes to the stage at Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts tonight as a special guest star in the national touring company of “The Will Rogers Follies.” Newman, who is a distant relative of Will Rogers on his mother’s side, steps into the role of Wiley Post, Rogers’ friend who piloted their fatal flight. . . . The Westwood Playhouse is offering a $2 discount to Steve Martin’s comedy “Picasso at the Lapin Agile” through Jan. 8. To receive the discount, patrons must bring a new, unwrapped children’s art supply item (such as paint, a coloring book or crayons). Donations will go to patients at the Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles.