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

ART

Gingrich Blasts Exhibition: House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) called Tuesday for the Phoenix Art Museum to close “Old Glory: The American Flag in Contemporary Art,” an exhibition including controversial artworks requiring viewers to walk over a U.S. flag on the floor (by Scott Tyler) and featuring a flag draped over a toilet (by Kate Millett). But the museum, which was besieged last week by an American Legion-sponsored protest, said it plans to continue the show as scheduled through June 16. Gingrich sharply criticized “Old Glory” during a speech in Georgia Monday, prompting the museum’s director Jim Ballinger to invite the congressman to see the presentation for himself. “I think it’s a sign of how much they don’t get it, that they think looking at it will make us happier. It will just make us angrier. The fact is they ought to close the exhibit,” Gingrich told reporters Tuesday. “I don’t have to look at a U.S. flag in the toilet to know it’s wrong.” A Gingrich aide said the former history professor based his opinions on clippings of articles and photographs published by the Arizona Republic. The exhibition organized by Phoenix curator David Rubin, contains 80 post-World War II artworks using the image of the American flag. “Old Glory, New Story,” a different group show of contemporary artworks reinterpreting the U.S. flag, showed without controversy at the Santa Monica Museum of Art last year.

TV/RADIO

KCET Pledges Down 5%: Los Angeles public television station KCET-TV Channel 28 received 19,512 pledges totaling nearly $1.63 million in its 23-day March fund-raising drive, the station reported Tuesday. The 1996 drive, which ended Monday, fell 5% from 1995’s take of nearly $1.73 million, so the station is looking at ways to make up for the $90,657 shortfall in its $43.7-million 1996 budget, a spokeswoman said. Despite KCET’s shortfall, PBS announced last week that pledges to local stations nationwide had set an all-time record this year of more than $49 million.

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New Rock Outlets: Pasadena-based KMAX-FM, Ventura-based KAXX-FM and Fallbrook-based KBAX-FM, all of which broadcast simultaneously on the 107.1 FM frequency, changed their format this week from sports/talk to “mainstream modern rock,” featuring the music of Top 40 rock acts including Alanis Morissette, Pearl Jam, Oasis, Smashing Pumpkins and the Dave Matthews Band. All three stations will use the on-air slogan “Y-107: Southern California’s Modern Rock.” The stations will broadcast without on-air personalities for at least a few weeks, but an Odyssey executive said programming will “evolve over the next few months.”

MOVIES

Fired in Colorado: A Colorado school board has fired a high school teacher for showing the R-rated film “1900” in his logic and debate class. The board rejected a hearing officer’s recommendation and testimony by the movie’s director, Bernardo Bertolucci. Teacher Alfred Wilder didn’t apply “good professional judgment” in showing the movie about Italian fascism, the Jefferson County panel said Monday as it voted unanimously to dismiss him. Officials objected to nudity, drug use and violence portrayed in the movie, which starred Donald Sutherland and Robert De Niro. Wilder, 61, was suspended in March 1995 after he showed “1900” without obtaining permission from the principal. Wilder’s lawyer, who told school board lawyers, “We’ll see you in court,” as he and Wilder stormed out of the meeting, later called the decision “fascist” and said it ignored “constitutional [free speech] protections.” Wilder has taught in Jefferson County schools for 26 years.

QUICK TAKES

Here’s another twist on singer-composer Tom Waits’ appellate court victory against Third Story Music over unauthorized use of his music in commercials. Third Story Music attorney Evan Cohen points out that while Waits won a judgment of nearly $89,000 against the music firm, he was also ordered to return $20,000 previously awarded him by a lower court when the appellate court ruled he was not entitled to claim emotional distress. . . . The family of slain tejano singer Selena has sued a Corpus Christi, Texas funeral home, claiming it exploited her death and mismanaged arrangements. An employee of Seaside Memorial Park and Funeral Home photographed Selena’s body and sold copies, according to the Texas lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages. The funeral home had no comment although it was preparing to hold a press conference. A family spokeswoman said the photos were never published. . . . Mel Gibson’s “Braveheart” cashed in on its five Oscar wins by topping this week’s Billboard video rentals chart. Meanwhile, “Babe,” which won an Oscar for special effects, tops the video sales chart. . . . Millionaire publishing heir Steve Forbes will follow up his failed bid for the Republican presidential nomination by hosting NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” on April 13. When asked what he would do with the $5,000 stipend given to guest hosts, Forbes, who spent $30 million of his own money in his presidential quest, quipped that he’d use it to help pay off his campaign debts. . . . Effervescent TV host Kathie Lee Gifford is the first woman to receive the annual Irvin Feld Humanitarian Award of the National Conference of Christians and Jews. Gifford, who was to be honored Tuesday in New York, was recognized for being “committed to improving the human condition.”