Arts and entertainment reports from The Times, national and international news services and the nation’s press.

MOVIES

Gambling on ‘Casino’: Martin Scorsese’s “Casino,” a violence-laden Las Vegas story starring Robert De Niro and Sharon Stone, has been resubmitted to an appeals board after the Motion Picture Assn. of America’s ratings board awarded it an NC-17 earlier this week. The appeals board, composed of industry members, was meeting Friday afternoon to decide whether to sustain the initial rating, which would considerably hamper the movie’s commercial prospects, or award it an R. Universal Pictures plans to open the three-hour film on Nov. 22.

ART

Artwork Destroyed: Four of 28 sculptures by Colombian artist Doris Salcedo intended for the prestigious Carnegie International exhibition opening in Pittsburgh on Sunday were destroyed by U.S. Customs Service officials at New York’s John F. Kennedy airport. Inspectors hammered off pieces of the sculptures, made from furniture encased in concrete, in an unsuccessful search for narcotics. Customs officials have apologized for the damage, which was discovered only after the sculptures were uncrated in Pittsburgh. The Carnegie Museum plans to file a claim with the federal agency.

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San Diego Charges After Art: Los Angeles artist Alexis Smith’s “Men Seldom Make Passes at Girls Who Wear Glasses,” a 1988 wall painting of Marilyn Monroe wearing sunglasses with football players on the lenses, was purchased by San Diego’s Museum of Contemporary Art. The work will be permanently installed on the wall of the museum’s new grand entrance, designed by architect Robert Venturi and opening next spring. Smith, who recently returned from two months in Bellagio, Italy, at the Rockefeller Foundation Study Center, said: “It’s one of the pieces I am personally most attached to and proud of.”

LEGAL FILE

Love in Court: Courtney Love was in the mood to play games as her assault trial began in Orlando, Fla. Wearing a black ruffled suit, the rock star whispered from the defense table Thursday: “Hey, prosecutors. Psssst. . . Can I be O.J. and you be Christopher Darden?” The lawyers didn’t answer. Love, lead singer of the band Hole and widow of Kurt Cobain, is charged with slugging several youths standing in front of the stage before a concert in March. She could get two years in prison. Love pleaded guilty in September to assaulting a singer in another band, but was spared a jail sentence.

TELEVISION

Leaving ‘Crossfire’: Michael Kinsley, who has been a co-host of CNN’s “Crossfire” for the past 6 1/2 years, will step down, perhaps as soon as Dec. 1. Kinsley, 44, said he is “burned out” after all those years as the liberal counterpart to such conservative partners as Pat Buchanan, Robert Novak and John Sununu. Kinsley declined to say what he plans to do next but stressed, “It’s not TV.”

STAGE

‘Fair Lady’s’ New Higgins: Ian Ogilvy will play Henry Higgins in the upcoming Theater League production of “My Fair Lady” at Glendale’s Alex Theatre, Dec. 12-17. He replaces David Birney, who withdrew because of a TV series conflict. Ogilvy, best known for TV’s “The Return of the Saint,” won a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for a 1990 revival of “Present Laughter.”

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Old Globe Fills Season: The Old Globe Theatre in San Diego has filled the last remaining slot in its winter season with Noel Coward’s “Private Lives,” slated for March 2-April 7 in Cassius Carter Centre Stage. The Old Globe also announced that Harold Gould will star in the Cassius Carter staging of “The Substance of Fire,” Jan. 13-Feb. 18.

QUICK TAKES

Comedians Jeff Foxworthy and Sinbad have been named hosts of the 23rd annual “American Music Awards” set to air Jan. 29 on ABC. . . . Artists John Outterbridge and June Wayne, and Henry Hopkins, chair of the UCLA Art Department and director of the UCLA/Armand Hammer Museum of Art, are the inaugural recipients of the first Artist-Nominated Awards, which will be presented today at Santa Monica’s Side Street Projects. The awards, voted on by artists throughout L.A. County, are designed to recognize those who lend specific support to the arts and local artists. . . . Singer Barry White, 51, was hospitalized earlier this week in Las Vegas with symptoms of exhaustion and the flu. He canceled an appearance on a “Soul Train” anniversary special while he underwent tests; he was expected to be released this weekend. . . . Vicki Lawrence, Leeza Gibbons, Tyne Daly and Florence Henderson are among the stars set to take part in the game-playing and face-painting at the Celebrity Family Carnival today at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame Plaza in North Hollywood. Proceeds from the event, which is open to the public (admission is $5 for adults and $3 for kids), will go to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, Caring for Babies With AIDS and the Aileen Getty Foundation/Homestead Hospice.