TELEVISIONBeatles Documentary Coming to ABC: A five-hour...

TELEVISION

Beatles Documentary Coming to ABC: A five-hour TV special about the Beatles will air on ABC over two nights in November. The documentary--made by Apple, a company owned by the three surviving band members and the estate of John Lennon--is described as “the definitive history of the Beatles . . . told in the band’s own words.” It includes two much-publicized new Beatles recordings, “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love,” which feature Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr performing additional instrumentation, vocals and arrangements to two unreleased songs recorded by the late John Lennon.

*

Letterman to Lose Director: Some bad news for David Letterman, whose lead in the late-night ratings is becoming narrower every week: He’s losing director Hal Gurnee--one of his top lieutenants. Gurnee is also an associate producer of CBS’ “The Late Show” and is considered an integral part of the program. “It’s more than pointing the cameras in the right direction; Hal just knows how to make the show funnier,” said one industry insider. “He’s been a big help to David ever since they started out at NBC.” Gurnee reportedly just wants to try something new and has agreed to stay with the show through next week’s visit to London. Letterman also recently got a new head writer, Donick Cary, a veteran of the show who moved up when Rob Burnett took over as head writer for the Bonnie Hunt sitcom that Letterman’s company is doing for CBS. . . . Meanwhile, “CBS This Morning” will take up residence at Letterman’s home base, Broadway’s Ed Sullivan Theater, while “The Late Show” is in London.

*

Straight From ‘X Files’: Fans of Fox-TV’s “The X Files” have two coming opportunities to grab hold of “X Files” memorabilia. The first is a weeklong silent auction beginning Friday on the World Wide Web (Internet addresses: https://www.fxnetworkscom/fx/fx-top.html or https://www.delphi.com ). The second is an hourlong live auction on cable’s fX, airing May 19 at 7 p.m., with Sotheby’s auctioneer Bob Monk taking the bids. Available items include autographed scripts, signed FBI badges and the trench coat often worn in the series by star Gillian Anderson. Auction proceeds benefit Cable Positive, cable TV’s support organization for people with HIV and AIDS.

THE ARTS

Conservative NEA Plan: Conservative House Republicans who were bent on abolishing federal subsidies to the arts won a symbolic victory Wednesday, when a House panel voted to phase out the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities. But members of the Economic and Educational Opportunities Committee made clear they expect the Senate to keep both agencies alive and sufficiently funded. “We’ve got to get this thing to conference,” said Rep. Steve Gunderson (R-Wis). “Everyone is well aware the Senate is expected to take a very different view with regard to funding for the arts.” Wednesday’s proposal would reauthorize the NEA and NEH through fiscal 1998 with significantly reduced funding levels, then eliminate funding for both agencies by 1999. The Senate reauthorization is expected to go to committee by the end of the month.

*

Critics Snub ‘Sunset’: Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Sunset Boulevard,” which earlier this week was announced as the outright winner of two Tony Awards and nominated for nine others, including best musical, was categorically dismissed by the prestigious New York Drama Critics Circle in its awards. The critics voted, 16-1, on Tuesday not to bestow a Drama Critics Circle Award for best musical for 1995. For best play, however, the critics chose Briton Tom Stoppard’s “Arcadia.” Terrence McNally’s “Love! Valour! Compassion!” was named best American play. . . . Meanwhile, “Sunset Boulevard” star and Tony nominee Glenn Close will be honored in New York today by the New Dramatists playwright workshop. Previous recipients of the group’s annual award for outstanding contribution to New York theater include Neil Simon, Jessica Tandy and Stephen Sondheim.

*

Back to ‘90s Reality: Monday’s flash of art market excitement failed to hold at Sotheby’s New York auction house on Tuesday when the night’s top lot, a painting of two women by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec that had been expected to sell for $5 million to $6 million, failed to find a bidder. In all, 15 works went unsold Tuesday, and the night’s total offerings rang up only $43 million, below the pre-sale estimate of $50 million to $68 million and well short of Sotheby’s Monday night take of $65.22 million. Tuesday’s top price was $3.74 million paid for Claude Monet’s painting of the French village of Vernon, which topped its pre-sale estimate of $2.5 million to $3.5 million. The highly successful Monday night sale, which included $29.15 million paid for a Picasso--the highest auction price since 1990--had spawned hopes that the art market might be returning to the boom days of the 1980s.

POP/ROCK

Billboard Chart: The soundtrack to Los Angeles rapper Ice Cube’s “Friday” film sold an estimated 124,000 copies last week to hold on to the No. 1 position on the nation’s pop chart for the second consecutive week. Movie soundtracks dominated the Top 10, with “Forrest Gump” nabbing No. 4 with sales of 83,000 and “The Lion King” placing No. 10 with 53,000 copies sold.