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

MOVIES

Australian Census: The Force Is With Them

The Australian Bureau of Statistics said Tuesday that more than 70,000 people in Australia identified their religion as Jedi in last year’s census.

As in Alec Guinness’ Obi-Wan Kenobi and “Star Wars.”

Chris Brennan, president of the Star Wars Appreciation Society, speculated that only 5,000 of the Jedi respondents were “hard-core” believers. Another 50,000 put it down for fun, and the others “did it just to give the government a bit of curry.”

The prank began in 2001 when “Star Wars” fans sent an e-mail around the world saying that if 10,000 people declared they were Jedi, the faith would be recognized as an official religion. In the end, the Australia government labeled the responses “not defined.”

In the United Kingdom, which also received thousands of Jedi responses, Jedi Knight has been included on the list of religions by census authorities.

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TELEVISION

Musical Ghostwriter Wants Center Stage

Ghostwriting music--farming out assignments to uncredited composers--isn’t unusual in TV and movies where hectic schedules and tight deadlines are the norm. Mark Northam, publisher of Film Music magazine, has engaged in it himself--calling it “one of the dirty little secrets” of those industries.

No longer. According to the Detroit Free Press, Dan Kolton has filed a nine-page copyright claim maintaining that he--not Joe LoDuca, the composer of record--has legal copyright to music for nearly 1,000 episodes of the “Xena: Warrior Princess,” “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys” and “Young Hercules” TV shows.

The claim could alter the way in which credit and royalties are awarded--and may be worth millions of dollars over time because the shows remain in syndication worldwide.

Kolton, a jazz bassist, worked for his friend LoDuca between 1995 and 1999, his lawyer, Brian Lee Corber, explains. Without an agreement granting LoDuca the right to claim “his originally authored music,” the material should be considered the property of the creator, he says.

Entertainment lawyer Henry Baskin isn’t so sure. The lack of a contract is a problem, he concedes. But since Kolton was paid for his services, he should relinquish his rights, Baskin says.

Though the claim was filed earlier this year, it has just been processed by the Registrar of Copyrights. If rejected, Corber says, Kolton will probably file a lawsuit.

LoDuca, who won an Emmy for his work on “Xena,” is aware of the claim but declined to talk about it.

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Glass Ceiling Intact, New Survey Reports

Entertainment and media companies remain essentially boys clubs, according to a survey released Tuesday by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania.

The glass ceiling for women is more evident than ever, it maintained, because consolidation has made for fewer high-level jobs. In the arenas of entertainment, cable and the Internet, men accounted for more than 75% of top executives--chairs, vice chairs, presidents, chief executives and operating officers.

“With few exceptions, we have not moved beyond tokenism,” said Susan News, a former FCC commissioner who directed the project.

Among the companies in which women are “significantly underrepresented” in corporate executive positions or board seats: Fox Entertainment Group, AOL Time Warner, the Walt Disney Co., USA Networks, MGM, NBC, Clear Channel and AMC Entertainment, Variety reports. (Sony Pictures Entertainment, Vivendi Universal and Viacom/Paramount weren’t included in the study.)

One bright spot, according to the research: Strides were made in TV news, where more than 30% of executives are women.

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THE ARTS

Trombonists Are in Short Supply

More than 50 years after Glenn Miller disappeared over the English Channel, young people in the United Kingdom are abandoning the instrument he popularized--the trombone.

A shortage of people who can play that instrument, along with the double bass, the bassoon and possibly the oboe, means bands may soon have to look overseas for players.

The National Foundation for Youth Music, set up three years ago by government ministers, is holding talks with the music industry, local authorities and schools to raise funds for teacher training and new instruments, the London newspaper the Guardian reports.

Christina Coker, head of the foundation, said the whole orchestral bass range was under pressure as children and parents chose cheaper, less unwieldy instruments such as the flute or clarinet, more given to solo performing. Another hurdle: the lack of a star to do for the bass instruments what James Galway did for the flute. “If you own a bassoon, you can make a living,” said Gavin Henderson, director of London’s Trinity College of Music. “If you can play it, you can earn a fortune.”

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QUICK TAKES

Peter Jennings has agreed to a new contract that will keep him anchoring ABC’s “World News Tonight” into 2005, sources at the network say.... Johnny Cash, 70, was hospitalized for an allergic reaction at Nashville’s Baptist Hospital Monday. He was expected to be released Tuesday afternoon.... Bryant Gumbel married his longtime girlfriend, Hilary Quinlan, Saturday night at the Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, Fla., People.com reports.... Jason Priestley was released from an Indiana hospital 12 days after he broke a vertebrae and both feet in a racing car accident....Tony Bennett will headline the 10th anniversary concert at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts on Jan. 13 and 14. Frank Sinatra Jr. will open for him.

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Elaine Dutka