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

POP/ROCK

Fable on the Rocks: Singer Mariah Carey and record executive Tommy Mottola disrupted one of the music industry’s Cinderella stories Friday when the pair announced they have “mutually and amicably” agreed to a trial separation. One of the biggest-selling recording artists of the ‘90s, Carey, 27, got her show-biz break when she gave a demo tape in 1988 to Mottola, 46. A Columbia Records executive at the time, he has since become president of Columbia’s parent company, Sony Music Entertainment. The couple were married in 1993, with Carey’s gown modeled after the one Britain’s Princess Diana wore in her ill-fated nuptials to Prince Charles. Carey, whose albums have been released by Columbia, started her own, Sony-affiliated label, Crave Records, earlier this year. Friday’s announcement raised immediate questions in the industry over whether Carey might try to break away from Columbia. But a Sony spokeswoman discounted that speculation, noting that the singer will release a new album for Columbia in the fall. According to the statement released jointly by both parties, “They look forward to continued success in their professional relationship. . . . This is a very private matter which neither party will discuss further.” The couple have no children.

The Knife and the Damage Done: Rocker Neil Young has postponed his 16-country European concert tour after cutting the tip of his left index finger in a kitchen accident at his Northern California home this week. Young, who slipped while cutting a ham sandwich in half, needs three weeks off from guitar playing for the wound to heal, doctors said. But he will be ready to head this summer’s North American H.O.R.D.E. tour as scheduled; it kicks off July 11 at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, Calif., and comes to Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre on July 17. Young, 51, plans to reschedule his European tour, which was to have begun June 9, for the fall. Commenting on his culinary mishap, Young said: “I’d have eaten the [sandwich] in one piece if I’d known that cutting it in half would jeopardize the tour. It’s macaroni and cheese from now on.”

MOVIES & VIDEO

Restored Ending: The original ending of Robert Aldrich’s film noir classic, “Kiss Me Deadly,” will be seen publicly for the first time in more than 40 years when MGM Home Entertainment releases the movie to video Aug. 12 with a restored 82-second sequence that is said to greatly change the film’s interpretation and meaning. Rumors had persisted for years that another ending existed for the 1950s film, which stars Ralph Meeker as detective Mike Hammer. Spurred by those rumors as well as suspicion that the conclusion was “tampered-looking,” film editor Glenn Erickson urged Aldrich’s biographer, Alain Silver, to search for the film’s original ending. Silver learned that Aldrich’s personal print had been donated to the Director’s Guild of America after his death in 1983. Using that DGA print, the MGM video will feature both the restored and altered conclusions to the film.

PERFORMING ARTS

Shilkret Takes Cerritos Post: Wayne Shilkret, executive director of the Pasadena Symphony Assn. since 1990, has been named executive director of the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, effective July 21. Shilkret, 63, was previously executive director of performing arts at the Ambassador Foundation, and general manager of the Hollywood Bowl. He will replace Victor Gotesman, who ran the Cerritos Center from its opening in 1992 through last November. Shilkret’s “depth and breadth of experience is what we were looking for,” said Kurt Swanson, who heads the city’s community and cultural services department and has been the center’s acting director. “He’s very adept in programming as well as marketing and seems to have a good financial sense.”

Dividing Nureyev’s Assets: Rudolf Nureyev’s family and his lawyer are fighting over the late dancer’s $7 million in U.S. assets. Family members have filed a federal court lawsuit alleging that wills and other papers signed by Nureyev in his final months to create the Chicago-based Rudolf Nureyev Dance Foundation should be declared invalid. The relatives claim Nureyev’s lawyer, Barry Weinstein, took advantage of the dancer’s feeble condition and established the dance foundation for personal gain, making himself president and giving his wife and daughter jobs. Michael Moirano, a lawyer for the foundation, who plans to fight the suit, said Nureyev “didn’t trust many people, but he trusted Barry.” Nureyev died of AIDS-related complications in 1993 at age 54.

QUICK TAKES

Two KTZN-AM (710) radio hosts move to sister station KABC-AM (710) this weekend. Kevin Ross, a Los Angeles deputy district attorney who was on KTZN Saturday nights from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m., tonight takes over that same time-slot on KABC. And Doug McIntyre, formerly heard on weeknights, switches to KABC’s Sunday schedule, airing from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. . . . Screenwriter Joss Whedon (“Speed,” “Toy Story”) will make his directorial debut on the season finale of the WB series “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” which he executive produces. The episode airs Monday from 9-10 p.m. . . . Singer Eddie Rabbitt (“I Love a Rainy Night,” “Drivin’ My Life Away”) is recuperating at home in Nashville after surgery last week to remove a cancerous tumor on his left lung. Rabbitt, 52, said doctors have told him the prognosis is excellent.