LEGAL FILETesh Tussle Ends: “Entertainment Tonight” co-anchor...

LEGAL FILE

Tesh Tussle Ends: “Entertainment Tonight” co-anchor John Tesh and Paramount Television have avoided a scheduled courtroom showdown by settling a conflict over Tesh’s request to take the summer off to pursue his music career. “Mr. Tesh will be able to honor both commitments to his concert schedule and his co-anchoring duties this summer,” the studio said in a statement released Thursday. Earlier in the week, Paramount had moved for a temporary restraining order to prevent Tesh from taking a three-month hiatus. Tesh, a pianist and composer, wanted the time to promote his best-selling album and concert video, “Live at Red Rocks,” with a national tour. Tesh has agreed to reschedule some concert dates, and Paramount will give him a few extra days off. In addition, an “E.T.” crew will tape several segments on the road with Tesh that will be featured on the syndicated program.

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Kushnick Drops Suit: Helen Kushnick--formerly Jay Leno’s manager and short-lived executive producer of “The Tonight Show”--has agreed to dismiss a libel suit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court in which she contended that her reputation was damaged by statements contained in “The Late Shift,” Bill Carter’s book that recounted the battle between Leno and David Letterman to succeed Johnny Carson. . . . Meanwhile, the lawsuit of former Carson sidekick Ed McMahon against the Star tabloid will go to trial Aug. 23 in Los Angeles Superior Court. McMahon has filed an additional slander claim against one of the alleged sources of a 1993 article that depicted McMahon as drunkenly stumbling off an airplane. The Star later retracted the story.

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Gossett Seeks Restraining Order: Actor Louis Gossett Jr. wants a restraining order against a woman he says is sending him racist hate mail. The actor filed the request in Los Angeles Superior Court Thursday against Mary Kay Nelson, who identifies herself in the letters only as “Crazy Mary.” Nelson has been in jail since her arrest Jan. 4 on charges of battery on a police officer and resisting arrest.

PHILANTHROPY

Orange County Windfall: Laguna Beach philanthropist William J. Gillespie stunned the Orange County arts community Thursday by promising more than $6.6 million to five cultural organizations. Gillespie will give $2.8 million to the Orange County Performing Arts Center, $1 million to the Pacific Chorale, $940,000 to the South Coast Repertory Theatre, $680,000 to the Orange County Philharmonic Society and $1.2 million to the Pacific Symphony. The orchestra will also receive an unspecified amount from a previous Gillespie pledge of $2 million to fund its music director’s chair. Gillespie, the grandson and heir to a founding investor in Farmers Insurance Group, was said to be acting out of concern that Orange County’s bankruptcy and political efforts to cut back the National Endowment for the Arts would deprive the arts organizations of money they need to flourish.

AUCTIONS

IBM Art: Prized American paintings in the IBM International Collection broke records Thursday at Sotheby’s New York auction house, bringing the total for its monthlong sale to $31 million. Frank Benson’s “The Sisters” ($4.2 million), George Bellows’ “Easter Snow” ($2.8 million) and Winslow Homer’s “Diamond Shoal” ($1.8 million) set records for the artists. The 70 American works offered garnered $19.1 million. The collection has sold contemporary, Impressionist and Latin American art in previous weeks. IBM, which still has about 4,000 works of art, has decided to abandon a half-century-old tradition of art collecting, a spokesman said.

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Stones Nugget: A 1961 recording of then-unknowns Mick Jagger and Keith Richards performing “La Bamba” fetched $81,000 Thursday at a Christie’s auction in London. Jagger and Richards were only 17 when they made the recording. The jam session--recorded the year before they formed the Rolling Stones--also included lively versions of Chuck Berry’s “Little Queenie” and Elvis Presley’s “You’re Right, I’m Left, She’s Gone.” The tape was sold by an unidentified pal of Jagger and Richards who recorded the session in his living room.

QUICK TAKES

Paul McCartney’s “Oobu Joobu Radio Series” premieres Sunday with a special two-hour edition at 8 a.m. on KLSX-FM (97.1). The one-hour program--developed, directed and hosted by the former Beatle--will then air Sundays at 9 a.m. through Labor Day. . . . Cable’s Independent Film Channel will air the closing-night awards ceremony of the 48th Cannes Film Festival live on Sunday at 10:15 a.m. It will repeat at 6 p.m. on Bravo. . . . The release date of Allen and Albert Hughes’ Vietnam vets drama “Dead Presidents” has been shifted from July to autumn. “This is a prestige film that is better suited to a fall release, when we feel it will have the best opportunity in the marketplace,” said Dick Cook, president of Buena Vista Pictures Distribution and Marketing. . . . The 1,500-seat theater at Las Vegas’ Mirage Hotel has been renamed for Siegfried & Roy, because of the magic they’ve worked at the box office. The illusionists have drawn 3.6 million people and generated $250 million in revenue since 1990, Steve Wynn, Mirage Resorts Inc. chairman, told stockholders Thursday.