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

TELEVISION

Pulling Dave’s Leg: After getting a set of hers-and-hers towels from David Letterman, Anne Heche and Ellen DeGeneres unveiled a Christmas surprise for the talk-show host: their new baby. The tot, in fact, belonged not to the world’s best-known lesbian couple but to a staffer on the Letterman show, which the two taped Tuesday. The joke came on the heels of some good-natured ribbing about their respective sexual orientations: “You’re a lesbian right now?” Letterman asked Heche, who has said she was heterosexual before meeting DeGeneres. “Yes, right now, this very second,” the actress replied. Heche then brought up a monologue in which Letterman kidded that he’d had only two sexual experiences this year: “So maybe you should change your sexuality,” she said. “Nah,” retorted Letterman. “I like being alone, frankly.” (The program airs tonight at 11:35 on KCBS-TV Channel 2.)

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Both Sides Now: In January, the Clinton administration plans to embark on a $195-million anti-drug media campaign that will eventually encompass TV, film, print, music and the Internet. Initially, it will target media outlets in 12 cities, including Atlanta, Baltimore, Denver, Houston and Washington, expanding nationwide at midyear. The government is asking media companies to match its investment in terms of time, space and programming initiatives, an approach frowned on by such groups as the American Civil Liberties Union, the Partnership for Responsible Drug Information and the media watchdog group Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting. No mention will be made of the hazards of alcohol, they point out. And participation in the project might skew the reportage. “Many experts believe our current approach to drugs has reduced civil liberties, tainted our foreign policy and bloated our prisons,” said Jeff Cohen, founder and executive director of the watchdog group. “The media should be journalists debating all sides of the drug war, not foot soldiers in it. This initiative will only increase their cheerleading.”

MOVIES

Fore!: Move over, Don Henley. Paul Newman is donating $500,000 to help preserve land in Easton, Conn., fighting an attempt by National Fairways Inc. to turn the 780-acre tract into a golf course and 103 luxury condominiums. The actor, a resident of neighboring Westport, said the money will come from proceeds from his Newman’s Own food products. Preservationists hope to buy the land--owned by water utility BHC Co.--for $10 million. “I’ve hiked this land,” Newman told the Planning and Zoning Commission on Monday. “I think the developers are being very shortsighted. Fifty years from now, the people who worked to save this land will be remembered as heroes.”

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Play Them Again, Sam: Six classic Universal Studios films--”Psycho,” “Jaws,” “American Graffiti,” “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” “National Lampoon’s Animal House” and “The Blues Brothers”--will be presented the nights of Jan. 21 through 24 at the Universal Amphitheatre. New 35-millimeter prints of the movies will be shown, accompanied by original movie trailers, vintage Woody Woodpecker animated shorts and special guests. The arena has installed a new state-of-the-art 60-speaker sound system for the event and is believed to have the world’s largest normal-format movie screen. The program was undertaken in conjunction with the studio’s film preservation and restoration program. “We’re able to give something back to film lovers who’ve not had the opportunity to see these films in a theatrical venue for many years,” said Dick Costello, president of Universal’s Strategic Marketing Group. Tickets for the series will go on sale Jan. 9.

POP/ROCK

Holding Firm: Gloria Estefan has turned down repeated appeals from the Vatican to sing in Cuba when Pope John Paul II visits in late January. “We will never sing in Cuba while Fidel Castro’s regime exists,” the singer’s husband, Emilio Estefan, told the Miami Herald. “The day Gloria sings in Cuba, she will do so because Cuba is free, and we trust that will happen soon.” The pope’s trip has triggered mixed feelings in Miami’s Cuban exile community, so much so that a cruise to Cuba, sponsored by the Roman Catholic archdiocese, has been canceled.

QUICK TAKES

At least 20 songs by the ‘70s Swedish pop group Abba will be featured in a stage musical to premiere in Britain in the spring of 1999. The working title of the project, produced by two of the band’s original stars, is “Summer Night City.” . . . Ted Turner and Jane Fonda are spending the holidays in Argentina, but before they left, Fonda celebrated her 60th birthday earlier this week in style. Turner gave his wife a $10-million foundation in her and her children’s names.