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

THE ARTS

New LACE Director: Irene Tsatsos, a curator and arts administrator formerly based in Chicago and New York, has been appointed executive director of Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, a nonprofit arts center in Hollywood. Tsatsos, who began at LACE Monday, succeeds Brian Karl, who resigned in April. “We chose her because she has a lot of experience in the art world and she will bring a strong curatorial vision to our organization,” said Gary Mezzatesta, LACE board chairman. Tsatsos was a coordinator of the “1997 Biennial Exhibition” at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. Among prior positions, she was affiliated with nonprofit arts institutions in Chicago.

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Marsalis Scores: Basketball fan and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer-trumpeter Wynton Marsalis is getting together with the National Basketball Assn. to create a series of “I Love This Game” commercials for the 1997-98 National Basketball Assn. season. Marsalis, who is artistic director for jazz at Lincoln Center in New York, will also compose new music and appear in public service announcements for the NBA’s “Team Up” program to encourage young people to volunteer for community improvement activities. In the “Team Up” spots, Marsalis and the program’s spokesman, New York Knicks guard Allan Houston, will point out similarities between basketball and jazz.

TELEVISION

Talk-Show Woes: “Arthel & Fred,” the syndicated talk show with Arthel Neville and KNBC-TV Channel 4 sports anchor Fred Roggin, is in dire straits. The poorly rated series, which premiered Sept. 8., taped 17 episodes that will take the show through November. At that point, its fate will be determined by All American TV, which co-produces the show with KNBC.

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Night of the Living Elvira: Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, will make a special return visit to the Los Angeles TV station that launched her act when she hosts a special horror double feature (“The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and “Freddie’s Dead”) Halloween night (Oct. 31) at 10 p.m. on KCAL-TV Channel 9. KCAL was called KHJ when Elvira held court as the fright night hostess from 1981 to ‘86, introducing some 120 horror flicks during that period.

MOVIES

More Troubles for Downey Jr.: Robert Downey Jr. has been ordered to appear at a Dec. 8 L.A. court hearing to be told his penalty for violating his parole for drug use. The actor’s probation was revoked Friday after his drug counselor said that Downey violated a court order by using drugs and alcohol last month. Downey could be sent to jail for as much as three years or ordered to a drug treatment facility. Downey spokesman Alan Nierob said the actor helped his own case by admitting to the relapse. Downey is starring in several upcoming films, including “One Night Stand,” “The Gingerbread Man” and “Two Girls and a Guy,” which he made after a string of drug arrests. Downey, who earned a best actor Oscar nomination in 1993 for “Chaplin,” just finished filming “U.S. Marshals” and is about to start work on “Blue Vision.”

STAGE

NAACP Nods: The Beverly Hills/Hollywood NAACP’s 1997 theater awards nominations honoring productions featuring African American producers and performers are out, with “Ragtime” and “Show Boat” winning 10 each. South Coast Repertory’s “Crumbs From the Table of Joy” garnered nine nominations, followed by “Up the Mountain” and “The Talented Tenth,” with eight nods each. The awards will be presented Nov. 10 at the Writers Guild Theatre in Beverly Hills, with special awards going to performers Robert Hooks and Lynn Hamilton and Mark Taper Forum artistic director Gordon Davidson.

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All Ears With ‘Aida’: Not content to take over Times Square, Disney is priming to conquer Broadway--with a production of Elton John’s “Aida” that will raise to three the number of mammoth musicals Mickey Mouse will host on Broadway. The New York Post quoted Disney live entertainment executive Tom Schumacher as saying Disney will launch John’s pop adaptation of the classic Verdi opera some time next year after the current season ends in May. “Aida” will run concurrently with Disney’s two other Broadway productions, the blockbuster “Beauty and the Beast” and the soon-to-premiere “The Lion King,” Schumacher told the Post.

QUICK TAKES

Dick Wolf, whose NBC series “Law & Order” won the Emmy Award for outstanding drama series, will be honored tonight with the 1997 Distinguished Entertainment Industry Award being given by the Anti-Defamation League at the Century Plaza. . . . Fox is pulling its Thursday night drama “413 Hope St.” off the schedule during the November sweeps, starting next week, to be replaced by as-yet unspecified specials. . . . Talk-show host Amalia Gonzalez and four other on-air personalities from KTNQ-AM (1020) will travel to the Mexican state of Guerrero this weekend to distribute three warehouses full of toys and other goods donated by Southern California children for children affected by Hurricane Pauline. The project, “De Nino a Nino,” “exceeded our expectations by a factor of 10,” said KTNQ program director David Gleason, who said about 30,000 gift boxes will be handed out.