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

Hurrah for ‘Babe’: As the pre-Oscar awards flurry continues, Universal’s “Babe” has picked up another laurel--this time by being named best picture by the American Lung Assn., which used 100 teenage reviewers from Los Angeles and Sacramento to rate 133 recent movies as “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” for including either minimal or harmful portrayals of tobacco. The reviewers found that 23% of the movies showed no tobacco at all, while more than half featured tobacco between 10 and 100 times. The movies found to glorify tobacco use the most were “The Mask,” “Milk Money,” “Wyatt Earp,” “Pulp Fiction” and “Getting Even With Dad.”

Merv Gets Into the Act: Talk-show host turned hotelier Merv Griffin has started yet another career with the formation of Merv Griffin Event Productions, a special event business providing stage and set designs, lighting, props, exhibits and catering. Griffin formed the company by purchasing and uniting three independent companies, caterer L.A. Affairs, Eclipse Lighting and the Roschu Prop House. The new venture’s first job will be to create the ambience for Miramax’s hot-ticket Oscar party at Spago on Monday.