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

THE ARTS

National Archives Tour to Stop in L.A.: Some of the country’s most treasured historic documents, including the Emancipation Proclamation, will go on a seven-city tour beginning in October while the display area in the National Archives rotunda is renovated. The exhibit includes documents such as the account book itemizing his expenses that Gen. George Washington gave Congress during the Revolutionary War and a speech written in 1969 by William Safire for President Richard Nixon to give if the first astronauts to land on the moon were unable to return to Earth. “American Originals” will make stops in New York City; Columbus, Ohio; Atlanta; Kansas City, Mo.; and San Antonio before a local appearance at the Los Angeles Public Library (Oct. 4, 2003-Jan. 4, 2004) and closing in Hartford, Conn. The Emancipation Proclamation will be exhibited for only four days at each stop, because of its fragility.

*

Dirty Rotten . . . Art Collector: Comedian, actor, author and soon-to-be Oscar host Steve Martin has announced he will display his collection of modern and contemporary artworks at the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art in Las Vegas April 7-Sept. 3. Martin’s impressive collection of 28 pieces includes works by Georges Seurat, Francis Bacon, Roy Lichtenstein, Willem de Kooning, David Hockney and Eric Fischl, among others. In addition, two works by David Park and Neil Jenney that Martin previously donated to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art will be on loan for the exhibition. An audio tour narrated by Martin and written by the New Yorker’s Adam Gopnik will be included with the admission price, with profits going to the Steve Martin Charitable Foundation, a privately run organization that assists the arts.

FILM

Mexico Braces for ‘Traffic’: “Traffic,” which documents the desperate war against drugs, was scheduled to open Friday on 250 screens in Mexico, according to the Dallas Morning News, making it the largest film opening in that country in recent memory. The movie’s portrayal of the Mexican border city of Tijuana already has drawn fire from Mexicans who say it exaggerates and mischaracterizes their country. Demand to see the movie even before it officially opened was great, said Jaime Alcalde, representative for Artecinema, the movie’s Mexico distributor. At three preview showings around Mexico City, theaters were full, and exit interviews revealed a mixed bag of criticism and praise. Even Mexican President Vicente Fox is said to have gotten a sneak peek early last week, although aides would not disclose his reaction. “Traffic” is nominated for five Oscars.

TELEVISION

PBS Announces Cutbacks: PBS announced companywide cutbacks of 9%, pink-slipping just over 40 people, with the remainder of the downsizing comprised of vacant positions. The public broadcasting organization also outlined a restructuring of its programming staff, which included naming John Wilson and Jacoba Atlas as co-chief program executives. “This strategic plan and realignment involved hard choices made in the context of challenging economic realities,” said PBS president Pat Mitchell. “These changes were necessary to make us a more focused, efficient and effective enterprise.”

POP/ROCK

Eagles Tour Europe, Minus One: The Eagles will be a quartet when they tour Europe starting in May. The veteran Los Angeles rock band has decided not to replace guitarist Don Felder, whom it fired last month, meaning that Don Henley (who wraps up his own tour tonight at Staples Center), Glenn Frey, Timothy B. Schmit and Joe Walsh will form the lineup (along with supplemental musicians) for the eight-week tour, which includes the Eagles’ Moscow debut. Felder sued Henley and Frey in Los Angeles Superior Court over the firing. A band spokesman had no comment on prospects for a U.S. tour.

QUICK TAKES

Dixie Chicks lead singer Natalie Maines and husband Adrian Pasdar welcomed a son, Jackson Slade Pasdar, on Thursday in Austin, Texas. The baby weighed 6 pounds even and was 20 inches long. . . . Lawyers for Robert Downey Jr. told a judge Thursday that they cannot reach a plea agreement with prosecutors on drug possession charges against the actor and he now faces a trial in which he could go to jail for almost five years if convicted. A judge set a pretrial hearing for April 30. . . . Britain’s late Princess Diana was “genuinely excited” about a role in the sequel to the 1992 movie “The Bodyguard,” Kevin Costner said in a television interview to be broadcast today in Britain. “I had talked with Princess Di a couple of times. I explained to her that I was going to try to make this movie for her and she was genuinely interested,” Costner told British talk-show host Michael Parkinson. . . . Actor Patrick Stewart will play a wealthy, megalomaniacal rancher, starring alongside Oscar-nominee Marcia Gay Harden, Lauren Holly, Roy Scheider and others, in “King of Texas,” a movie for cable’s TNT that puts a Texan twist on Shakespeare’s tragedy “King Lear.” . . . Pulitzer Prize-winning author Norman Mailer and collaborator Lawrence Schiller (“Perfect Murder, Perfect Town”) are working on a CBS miniseries about Robert Hanssen, the FBI agent accused of selling secret information to Russia. . . . Jazz musician Wynton Marsalis will be named on Tuesday as a U.N. messenger of peace by Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the United Nations said. Marsalis joins several other celebrities who are goodwill envoys for the United Nations to publicize the work of the world body during their performances and other activities.