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

JAZZ

Memories of Ella: Just three days after Ella Fitzgerald died at the age of 78, Verve Records is coming out today with a new compilation of her work, “Love Songs: Best of the Verve Songbooks.” But the timing is coincidental with the release date scheduled months ago, a Verve spokesman said. The 16-tune album includes ballads by Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, Duke Ellington and others selected from Fitzgerald’s massive, 16-CD Songbook collection.

THE ARTS

NEA Visits L.A.: Jane Alexander, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, brings her “American Canvas” to Los Angeles for two days this week, with Thursday’s session open to the public at the Central Library’s Mark Taper Auditorium. Representatives of the arts, education and government will be among participants exploring the links between arts and society, starting at 9:30 a.m. On Wednesday, Alexander’s group will meet at 12:30 p.m. at Inner-City Arts, where space is limited and reservations required. The focus will be on the arts and children. This is the second of six “American Canvas” meetings that the NEA is conducting nationwide to examine the role of arts.

MOVIES

Never Too Late: Phil Alden Robinson, the director of “Field of Dreams,” gave the commencement address Sunday at Union College in Schenectady, N.Y.--but more than that, while he had the podium he returned two library books he borrowed in 1970, plus fines. “At 10 cents a day, it comes to $1,900,” he said. “Perhaps [college President Roger Hull] will accept these very expensive little volumes as a contribution to the new library.” Robinson graduated from the school in 1971.

TELEVISION

Getting Clued In: The A&E; Network isn’t clueless when it comes to 19th century novelist Jane Austen. The network announced Monday that pre-production has begun on a “faithful adaptation” of Austen’s romantic comedy classic “Emma.” A&E; didn’t mention it, but a less faithful recent adaptation of the novel was the film “Clueless,” a modern update of “Emma,” and there is also a Miramax film version of the novel due out Aug. 2. A&E; said its co-production with Meridian Broadcasting Ltd. will be filmed in England and will come from the same creative team that did the A&E;/BBC miniseries based on Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice,” producer Sue Birtwistle and writer Andrew Davies. Emma will be played by Kate Beckinsale, currently appearing in the film “Cold Comfort Farm.” The new production is slated for airing in 1997.

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Beaming Down South: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and Kate Mulgrew will join other actors from the four “Star Trek” TV series Sept. 7-8 for a weekend celebration in Huntsville, Ala., marking the 30th anniversary of the space odyssey. “Star Trek 30: One Weekend on Earth” is being produced by Paramount Pictures and timed to coincide with the anniversary of the premiere of the TV show on Sept. 8, 1966. “It’s Woodstock for Trekkies,” said Neil Newman, a vice president for Paramount Pictures’ Viacom Consumer Products. He said ticket prices probably will range from $30 for a single event to $300 for a weekend package, including astronaut training and visits by several former Apollo astronauts, including Alan Shepard and Fred Haise.

POP/ROCK

More Farm Aid: Singer Willie Nelson, whose somewhat annual Fourth of July Farm Aid bash returns to Luckenbach, Texas, this year, is asking his fellow music stars to help out drought-stricken farmers and ranchers by donating a day’s work to an emergency fund. Nelson, who grew up in farming country in central Texas, said the drought now blistering the U.S. Southwest and Southern plains is the worst he’s seen. The daylong Farm Aid concert and picnic will feature such stars as Waylon Jennings, Leon Russell, Robert Earl Keen, Billy Joe Shaver and Asleep at the Wheel. In addition, Nelson said he was sending letters to other musicians, asking them to “do their own Farm Aid benefit” by giving a day’s proceeds from their performances to the Farm Aid organization, which is handing out emergency grants to farmers hit by the drought.

QUICK TAKES

“E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” will be re-released Oct. 1 by MCA/Universal Home Video on three THX remastered editions, one dubbed in Spanish, coupled with 10-minute and 30-minute interviews and never-before-seen footage of Steven Spielberg’s 1982 classic. The price will be $14.98 or $19.98, depending on the version. A laserdisc will come out a week later with added features, such as original theatrical trailers, and will be priced at $149.98. . . . An unpublished, signed photograph of Swedish-born actress Greta Garbo sold for $2,560 Monday at a Stockholm auction commemorating 100 years of Swedish film. The undated photo, believed to be from the 1920s, was addressed to a friend and signed with Garbo’s childhood nickname, Gurra--an abbreviation of her real surname, Gustafsson. The picture was bought by a Swedish collector.