ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT REPORTS FROM THE TIMES, NEWS SERVICES AND THE NATION’S PRESS.

POP/ROCK

Columbine Aid: Teen singing stars including Britney Spears, N’Sync, 98 Degrees, B*Witched and Christina Aguilera will donate a portion of their fees from the upcoming television concert “Summer Music Mania ‘99” to help victims of the Columbine High School shootings. “It is truly touching to see these artists take the initiative in assisting their peers in a time of need,” said concert producer Michael Levitt, noting that the artists themselves came up with the donation idea. Other artists who will donate some of their fees include Tyrese, 702, Jessica Simpson, Boyz N Girlz United, LFO and 3rd Storee. The special airs Aug. 31 on UPN; two students injured in the shooting will attend to accept the $40,000 donation on behalf of all the victims and their families.

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Seeing Yellow: The three surviving Beatles plan to finance the repainting of a London-to-Paris train that travels under the English Channel yellow as a publicity stunt to relaunch the group’s 1968 animated movie “Yellow Submarine.” Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr are spending more than $160,000 to cover 18 carriages of the Eurostar train with psychedelic cartoons, London’s Sun newspaper reported. The train makes its first Chunnel journey on Sept. 8.

ART

Online Bidding: Sotheby’s auction house is taking part in what’s being billed as the world’s first live online art auction, being held today at 11 a.m. at https://www.artlink2000.net. Works by 35 emerging artists from Baltic countries, including Russia, Germany, Sweden, Poland and Estonia--selected by an international committee of art curators and Sotheby’s staff--will be sold. Online bidders must pre-register through the Web site. Bids will also be taken traditionally, via telephone and from the auction floor in Rostock, Germany.

STAGE

Groundlings Turns 25: The West Hollywood Groundlings Theatre troupe will celebrate its 25th anniversary with a festival of 25 events running from Sept. 24 to Oct. 9. The events--including reunion performances, a discussion series and new productions--include a Sept. 29 “Reunion Show” at the Museum of Television & Radio in Beverly Hills scheduled to feature Groundlings alumni including Kathy Griffin, Paul Reubens, Jon Lovitz and Laraine Newman, and a Sept. 24 premiere of a new mainstage show, “Groundlings 25 to Life,” with a subsequent ceremony honoring the late Groundlings comedian Phil Hartman. An events schedule is available on the Web at https://www.groundlings.com.

TELEVISION

Early Emmys: The Academy of Television Arts & Science has announced its Emmy Award winners for individual achievement in animation. Winners include Ja’Net DuBois, selected for outstanding voice-over performance for her role as Mrs. Avery on Fox’s “The PJs,” plus triple honors for the background artist, production designer and color director on HBO’s “Animated Epics: The Canterbury Tales: Leaving London.” The juried awards will be presented Aug. 28 at the Creative Arts portion of the annual Emmy Awards.

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Schedule Notes: The WB begins its new season on Sept. 20, expanding to a sixth night of programming, on Friday nights, starting Sept. 24. Meanwhile, UPN has pushed back its new Barry Sonnenfeld series, “Secret Agent Man,” starring Costas Mandylor, to midseason. Instead, “The Strip,” a new Las Vegas-based drama produced by Joel Silver and starring Sean Patrick Flanery, will air Tuesday nights at 9 starting Oct. 12.

QUICK TAKES

In an unusual move, tickets for all 39 North American cities on the Backstreet Boys’ “Millennium” tour will go on sale simultaneously on Aug. 14. The tour, which kicks off Sept. 15 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., includes stops Oct. 14 at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim and Oct. 19 at the Great Western Forum. . . . “Iron Giant” director Brad Bird will sign autographs and participate in a question-and-answer session about his new animated movie, today from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Storyopolis, 116 N. Robertson. . . . Broadway comic Lea Delaria has joined David Hyde Pierce and Jason Graae in the cast of “The Boys From Syracuse,” a Reprise! Broadway’s Best in Concert production appearing Sept. 22 through Oct. 3 at the UCLA Freud Playhouse. . . . Cable’s TNT has ordered its first original series pilot, “Bull,” a drama about Wall Street traders. . . . LL Cool J and TLC’s Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes have signed on to host “The Source Hip-Hop Music Awards,” airing Aug. 20 at 8 p.m. on UPN. Scheduled performers include Lauryn Hill, Busta Rhymes, Snoop Dogg and OutKast. Singer-actress Brandy will host a half-hour pre-show special. . . . PBS has picked up “National Desk,” a series of public affairs specials that address “patterns in American life which are subtly eroding the nation’s common culture,” to air through the 2000 to 2001 season. The network has ordered 12 specials for the two-year period. . . . Actress Sylvia Sidney, who died in July at age 88, made an unusual bequest in her will: She left her 14-year-old pug, Malcolm, to the National Arts Club, which offers lodging to members on Manhattan’s tony Gramercy Park. The president of the club, which Sidney frequented, said that the dog is “quite popular” with club members.