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

ARTS

Ruscha Archive: The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco has purchased the complete archive of graphic works by L.A.-based artist Edward Ruscha for its Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts. The acquisition, made at an undisclosed price with funds from philanthropist Phyllis Wattis, includes 325 final prints and 800 proofs. Impressions of each new print Ruscha produces will be added in the future. Ruscha’s graphic works will be exhibited May 26-Sept. 9 at the Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco.

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Cultural Chief Resigns: After only a little more than a year in the post, Eric Hayashi has resigned as executive director of the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center, citing differences with the organization’s board of directors over the center’s “vision and strategic direction.” Minoru Tonai, immediate past chair of the board, will serve as interim executive director until a permanent replacement is found.

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Graves Wins Award: Michael Graves, who has designed office buildings, museums, homes, even whistling tea kettles for the Target store chain, has been awarded the American Institute of Architects’ highest honor. Graves, 66, of Princeton, N.J., will become the 58th recipient of the Gold Medal when it is presented Feb. 16 in Washington. He will join a list that includes Frank O. Gehry, Thomas Jefferson, Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright.

THEATER

Casting Changes: A Long Beach engagement of “Chicago” with Chita Rivera that had been scheduled Wednesday through Dec. 10 has been postponed until June 8-10, minus Rivera. The presenter, Theater League president Mark Edelman, cited “logistical problems of getting the tour from Portugal to Minneapolis to Long Beach.” Refunds are available for those who don’t want to see the Long Beach Performing Arts Center show without Rivera. . . . Elsewhere, Harriet Harris will replace Pat Carroll as Mrs. Meers in the final week of the La Jolla Playhouse’s “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” Tuesday through Dec. 10. Carroll had a commitment made prior to “Millie’s” recent extension.

POP/ROCK

The Doors Re-release: Bright Midnight Records, a label formed by The Doors Music Company, will make available from The Doors’ archives nearly 30 hours of mostly live, unreleased material and some studio-recorded songs. The initial CD release, out this week, is “The Doors’ The Bright Midnight Sampler: 14 Songs/8 Concerts,” which features highlights from eight Doors concert from 1970, recorded at a variety of venues throughout the U.S.

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One More Holiday Concert: Joining a crowded weekend of radio station-sponsored holiday concerts, Star 98.7’s Not So Silent Night will be held at the Wiltern Theater on Dec. 16, opposite the KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas and the KIIS-FM Jingle Ball. Tickets go on sale today for the show, which features Dido, Smash Mouth, Bon Jovi and Hootie & the Blowfish.

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Nurse Sentenced: A former hospital research specialist has been sentenced to six months in jail for selling Tammy Wynette’s confidential medical files to supermarket tabloids. William A. Cox also was sentenced Thursday to six months of house arrest and fined $2,610--the same amount he received for selling the late country star’s files to the National Enquirer and the Star.

TELEVISION

Another Telemundo Station?: Spanish-language television network Telemundo is in talks about acquiring KWHY-TV Channel 22, L.A.’s third and smallest Spanish-language television station. The talks are in their final stages. If the deal goes through, Telemundo would own two local affiliates here, the other being KVEA-TV Channel 52.

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Tube Notes: In an effort to meet the changing needs of women “seeking simplicity, inspiration and a time-out viewing experience,” cable’s Romance Classics has been renamed WE: Women’s Entertainment. . . . Oscar-winning actress Frances McDormand has been tapped to narrate Fox Family Channel’s upcoming half-hour dramedy series, “State of Grace,” about Hannah Rayburn, a journalist who looks back at 1965 when she and her traditional Jewish family moved to North Carolina. McDormand’s narrator is the adult Hannah; Mae Whitman plays Hannah in 1965. The series will premiere in the first quarter of 2001. . . . NBC has given a full-season order to its new Thursday Steven Weber sitcom, “Cursed.” . . . Bette Midler will get a new husband next year--on her CBS sitcom. Kevin Dunn, who currently plays her TV spouse, Roy, is leaving after 10 episodes, the last of which will air Jan. 3. A CBS spokeswoman says the role of Roy will be recast.. . . . Nickelodeon has picked up 26 additional episodes of “Dora the Explorer,” a new preschool series that premiered in August.