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

TV & MOVIES

Actors Everywhere: In yet another indication of how wide open this year’s awards races are, the Screen Actors Guild on Monday reported a nearly 70% increase this year in the number of “for your consideration” videotape mailings that have been sent to its nominating committees for the guild’s contest. The guild, which holds its seventh annual SAG Awards on March 11, said it has already seen a 7% rise in submissions this year, although entries will continue to be accepted through 5 p.m. Wednesday. Nominations for the SAG Awards--presented to actors by their peers for outstanding performances in movies and television--will be announced on Jan. 30.

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Contributing Factor?: A coroner is investigating whether a minor traffic accident had anything to do with Steve Allen’s death. Allen, 78, was driving to his son’s home in Encino on Oct. 30 when his car was struck by a sport utility vehicle backing out of a driveway. Allen’s car had only minor damage and he continued his trip. Allen, who had been under a doctor’s care, died later that night, apparently of a heart attack. “It was a very minor traffic accident,” coroner’s spokesman Scott Carrier said. “If a traffic accident is noted on the death certificate, we are required by California law to investigate it.”

ARCHITECTURE

Short List: The federal government’s General Services Administration has announced its short list of eight architectural firms that will compete for the commission to design a new, $250-million to $300-million federal courthouse building in Los Angeles. The list includes Kohn Pedersen Fox, Skidmore Owings & Merrill, Rafael Vinoly Architects, Richard Meier & Partners, Perkins & Will, Zimmer Gunsul Frasca, Cannon Dworsky and Steven Ehrlich Architects. The project is part of an ambitious, $10-billion, decade-long GSA program to build and upgrade federal courthouses across the country. Led by Ed Feiner, the GSA’s energetic chief architect, the program has sought to overturn a tradition of dull, generic government buildings that was established in the 1960s and 1970s. The GSA has yet to determine a site for the new L.A. Courthouse, but officials say it will be located somewhere downtown. After a series of interviews, the agency will next reduce the list to three to five candidates, who will then present their proposals in a limited competition. A final winner will be selected in early spring.

OPERA

Don’t Leave the Stage Without ID: Tenor Luciano Pavarotti may be one of the world’s most recognizable celebrities, but an Italian hotel still refused to let the opera star check in because he had no identification. “Unfortunately in Italy we are required by law to ask patrons for proper and valid identification,” said a manager at the four-star Sheraton in Padua, northern Italy. She noted that the hotel called police to ask for advice but that Pavarotti soon left to find another hotel for his weekend stay.

POP/ROCK

Club Fire: A fire swept through the Hollywood nightclub The Play Room between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. Saturday. The cause of the fire--which caused no injuries--is still under investigation. Play Room owners Allan and Art Davis hope to repair and reopen the club in two months. Promoter Bryan Rabin said Monday that his Friday night club event, Cherry, will move to Vynyl, starting Dec. 8. And the Monday night Scream event has moved to the Dragonfly, as has the H.O.R.N.Y. Pages Music and Fashion Awards, which will be held there Dec. 11.

QUICK TAKES

Tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. Monday for a joint concert appearance by Elton John and Billy Joel at the Great Western Forum on Feb. 6. . . . Actor Jack Lemmon will receive UCLA’s annual Spencer Tracy Award for outstanding dramatic achievements today, in a ceremony that will also mark the 100th anniversary of Tracy’s birth. . . . The summer hit “Gladiator,” released Tuesday on DVD, has become the fastest-selling DVD title ever, with more than 1.8 million units sold so far, DreamWorks Home Entertainment said Monday. . . . NBC’s broadcast television premiere of “Titanic” averaged 17 million viewers during its four-hour airing Sunday night, the network’s highest ratings for a feature film in two years. . . . ABC News’ “Nightline” is teaming with PBS’ “Frontline” to produce a five-part series and a two-hour documentary on the Clinton presidency. Both January projects will be reported by “Nightline” anchor Ted Koppel and correspondent Chris Bury. . . . CBS’ planned prime-time series featuring Ellen DeGeneres is being put off at least until next fall. . . . Actress Geena Davis, 44, has announced her engagement to Dr. Reza Jarrahy, a 29-year-old surgeon. No wedding date has been set. Davis has been married three times before, including to director Renny Harlin and actor Jeff Goldblum. . . . Stone Temple Pilots lead singer Scott Weiland and his wife, Mary, have a baby boy, Noah Mercer Weiland, born Nov. 19 in a Los Angeles-area hospital. “It was the most glorious moment in my life. He is healthy, wealthy and wiser than me,” Weiland said Monday. . . . The rock band Everclear gives a free concert tonight at 8 at Arcadia on the Santa Monica Pier. The concert will also have a live Web cast, at https://www.entertaindom.com.