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

ENTERTAINMENT

‘Armageddon’ Tops Pop Chart: The “Armageddon” soundtrack was the nation’s top-selling album for the second week in a row, scanning nearly 236,000 copies during the week ended Sunday, according to SoundScan. Two new albums entered the chart in the Top 10: the Barenaked Ladies’ “Stunt” at No. 3 and rappers Kane & Abel’s “Am I My Brother’s Keeper?” at No. 5. Meanwhile, the Brandy-Monica duet “The Boy Is Mine” was the nation’s top-selling single for the eighth straight week.

Linda McCartney’s Horse Dreams: An animated film that Linda McCartney completed earlier this year, before her death in April from breast cancer, will premiere Aug. 19 at Scotland’s Edinburgh Film Festival. “Wide Prairie,” a short about a woman’s fantasy of escaping the modern world on horseback, will be screened with the U.K. premiere of Robert Redford’s “The Horse Whisperer.” McCartney, who was a fervent animal rights activist and devoted equestrian, conceived and produced “Wide Prairie” to illustrate a song of the same title that she wrote and recorded herself.

THE ARTS

Geffen Additions: Westwood’s Geffen Playhouse will produce two recent David Mamet plays--”The Cryptogram” and “The Old Neighborhood”--directed by Michael Bloom in repertory from March 16 to April 18; plus a John Rando-staged revival of “Merton of the Movies,” by George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly, from May 19 to June 13. The shows will cap a 1998-99 season that includes the previously announced “The Cripple of Inishmaan” (Oct. 28-Nov. 22) and “Collected Stories” (Jan. 20-Feb. 14).

QUICK TAKES

James Dean’s tombstone was discovered stolen Tuesday from his hometown cemetery in Fairmount, Ind. The rose-colored marker--a replacement for the original, which was itself stolen in 1983--had been secured by metal bars and glue. Dean died at age 24 in a 1955 car crash. Thousands visit his grave each year. . . . Former child star Billy Gray (Bud on TV’s “Father Knows Best”) has settled his 1997 suit against film critic Leonard Maltin over a statement in Maltin’s “Movie and Video Guide” that called Gray a “real-life” heroin addict and pusher. Settlement terms weren’t disclosed, but the line has been deleted from future book printings, and Maltin has issued a statement apologizing for “any damage” caused by the publication. . . . Alfred Uhry’s Tony-winning “The Last Night of Ballyhoo” will open at the Canon Theatre in Beverly Hills on Oct. 11, to be staged by the play’s New York director Ron Lagomarsino in its first post-Broadway production.