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

THE ARTS

Sotheby’s Stung?: Sotheby’s auction house suspended several senior staff members Thursday in response to an undercover TV “sting” allegedly showing an employee of the 253-year-old company helping to smuggle a painting out of Italy. According to the Times of London, the expose--scheduled to air on Britain’s Channel 4 Thursday night--shows Sotheby’s Milan-based Old Masters expert, Roeland Kollewijn, offering to smuggle a painting by Giuseppe Nogari to the U.K. for $700. A senior Sotheby’s director, George Gordon, then reportedly is shown taking delivery of the painting in London. In a statement issued from London, Sotheby’s acknowledged that some of its internal rules “may have been broken” and said the company is conducting a “fuller investigation.” Sotheby’s also condemned the TV program’s makers methods, saying they “appear to have attempted on several occasions to have deliberately enticed Sotheby’s employees into breaching” company procedures. The company would not name the employees who have been suspended.

*

Clinton Seeks NEA Boost: President Clinton has requested a $36.5-million increase in funding for the National Endowment for the Arts in his fiscal 1998 budget, which went to Congress Thursday. The NEA’s annual appropriation was slashed by Congress from $162.3 million to $99.5 million in 1996 and stayed level for fiscal ’97. Clinton’s request follows a pro-arts statement in his State of the Union address earlier this week: “ . . . Instead of cutting back on our modest efforts to support the arts and humanities, I believe we should stand by them . . . so that we can remain the world’s beacon not only of liberty but of creativity long after the fireworks have faded.” NEA Chair Jane Alexander applauded Clinton’s funding request Thursday, calling his support of the arts “crucial to our creative spirit as a nation.”

*

Doolittle Dance Season to Continue: The death last weekend of impresario James A. Doolittle will not substantially change his upcoming Music Center dance season, Sandra Kimberling, Music Center Operating Company president, said Tuesday. “There are some [contractual] details that need to be addressed, certainly, but there is every confidence that the season will go forward as planned.” Among the companies scheduled for 1997-98 are the American Ballet Theatre, the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, Ballet Folklorico de Mexico, the Houston Ballet and the Cleveland San Jose Ballet. Discussions between Music Center officials and Doolittle’s Southern California Theatre Assn. about future dance seasons will take place in the next several weeks.

MOVIES

Advancing the Cause: Two-time Oscar-winning director Milos Forman was tapped by the Artists Rights Foundation Thursday to receive the fourth annual John Huston Award in recognition of “leadership in advancing the cause of artists’ rights both in this country and abroad” through his support of the 1989 Berne Treaty. The treaty gives authors legal grounds to object to alterations of their works (such as colorization) after their release. The honor will be presented April 18 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, following a two-day International Artists Rights Symposium at the Directors Guild of America in Hollywood. Forman’s selection was announced by his “The People vs. Larry Flynt” star, Woody Harrelson. Previous recipients include directors Fred Zinnemann, Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese.

*

Miss Spider’s Movie: Universal Studios has bought the rights to David Kirk’s popular storybook character Miss Spider and plans to make her “a cornerstone of our children’s entertainment business” by using it in theme parks, videos, CD-ROMs and other products. First up will be a motion picture, currently in development; author Kirk will write the original screenplay and executive produce. Kirk’s first two books, “Miss Spider’s Tea Party” and “Miss Spider’s Wedding,” together have sold more than 1 million copies. A third, “Miss Spider’s New Car,” will be released by Scholastic Inc. in September.

*

Oscar, the Documentarian: The ever-evolving Oscar eligibility rules just got tighter for documentary filmmakers. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Thursday announced a new set of requirements for nonfiction features and shorts released this year: a six-month window between a film’s theatrical release and any television showing, and notification to the academy of the theatrical run before it actually takes place. Academy President Arthur Hiller said the changes should help stem a wave of made-for-TV documentaries submitted for award consideration, adding: “We need to find ways to pare our field down from the current 70 to the 20-odd films each year with a legitimate theatrical existence.” The academy often has flirted with controversy in tinkering with the documentary rules. Guidelines for this year’s awards, for instance, required that contenders have a weeklong run at a theater in the Manhattan or Los Angeles area by last Oct. 31, which led to a surge of nonfiction releases in the fall.

QUICK TAKES

Actors’ Equity has selected John Holly as its new Western regional director--a job generally considered one of the key positions in Southland theater. Holly, former executive producer of Ford’s Theatre in Washington and Theatre Under the Stars in Houston, will replace George Ives, who is retiring, in April. . . . Country singer Reba McEntire has signed a three-year movie and TV deal with Universal Studios. McEntire also announced a deal with MCA Records for another seven albums. . . . The “bad boy” of British rock, Oasis lead singer Liam Gallagher, 24, plans to wed British actress Patsy Kensit, 28, in London on Monday, according to British newspaper reports. The two have been engaged since the summer. . . . About 75 church-goers protested Tuesday night outside a concert in Lubbock, Texas, by the rock group Marilyn Manson, whose hit album is titled “AntiChrist Superstar.”