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

MOVIES & VIDEO

‘Perfect Storm’ Suit: The family of doomed sea captain Billy Tyne, depicted by George Clooney in the hit summer movie “The Perfect Storm,” has sued Warner Bros. Pictures, alleging that the studio used their names and likenesses without permission and falsely vilified the captain as reckless and maniacal. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Orlando, Fla., by Tyne’s ex-wife and two daughters, seeks unspecified damages, a portion of royalties from the movie, and an injunction against further distribution of the film and related merchandise. Warner Bros. officials said Tuesday that the movie, which has generated more than $173 million in gross revenues, was based on a well-known historical event, and they do not believe the law required them to obtain permission from Tyne or his family. “We most certainly disagree with the plaintiffs’ claim that the film in any way disparaged Mr. Tyne or tarnished his memory,” a studio spokeswoman said. The movie, about a swordfish boat that vanished in a North Atlantic storm in autumn 1991, was partly based on a best-selling book by Sebastian Junger, who did not write the screenplay and was not sued.

THEATER

Shubert Subscription Season: The Shubert Theatre in Century City will offer a subscription season in 2001, including “Dame Edna: The Royal Tour” in mid-May, the Broadway version of “Saturday Night Fever” at the end of May, and a tour of the current Broadway revival of “Kiss Me, Kate” in September, in addition to the previously announced Abba musical, “Mamma Mia!,” in February. It will be the first subscription series at the Shubert since a two-show season in 1993.

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And Across Town: Broadway/L.A.’s 2000-01 musical theater series, run by the Nederlander Organization, will include the South African post-apartheid musical “Gumboots” (November and December, Wilshire Theatre), the first version of the interactive “Tony ‘n’ Tina’s Wedding” to be staged in a conventional theater (late fall at the Henry Fonda Theatre, in a configuration with a capacity limited to 250), and five touring shows at the Wilshire: the previously announced “Annie Get Your Gun” (Feb. 27-March 18), plus “Stomp” (March 27-April 8), “Catskills on Broadway” (May 1-13), Savion Glover in “Foot Notes” (May 29-June 10) and “Jesus Christ Superstar” (Oct. 16-28, 2001). This will be the first Broadway/L.A. series that will not use the Nederlander Organization’s flagship Pantages Theatre, which will be occupied by “The Lion King.”

DESIGN

Proposed WWII Monument Debated: The federal Advisory Council on Historic Preservation met for more than five hours Monday, hearing public testimony on the controversial plan to erect a 7.4-acre World War II Memorial on the grounds of the Lincoln Memorial, which is a protected National Historic Register site. More than two dozen people spoke, including several WWII veterans, a spokesperson for District of Columbia Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton and Dorothy Height, head of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. Height made an “urgent appeal” that there be no alterations made to the site, which has been associated with such historic events as Marian Anderson’s 1939 concert and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech. No members of the general public testified in favor of the $100-million project, but it did have its defenders, including its architect, Friedrich St. Florian; Commission of Fine Arts Chairman J. Carter Brown, who chose the site; and National Park Service representative John Parsons. C-SPAN recorded the entire proceedings but a broadcast date has not been set. Advisory council members are expected to announce their nonbinding recommendations to Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt on Sept. 6.

TELEVISION

Surviving Legal Charge Too: Rhode Island prosecutors have dropped a second-degree child abuse charge against “Survivor” winner Richard Hatch, who had been accused of wrapping his hands around the neck of his 9-year-old son in April in an attempt to force the boy to exercise. Hatch has insisted since his arrest--which followed the taping of the CBS show but occurred long before viewers knew of his victory--that he is innocent and has filed suit against both the local police and the state’s child welfare agency over their handling of the case. Prosecutors gave no explanation for the dismissal of the charges, filed in state court Monday, and a state attorney general’s office spokesman said he could not comment because of Hatch’s suit.

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Montel’s Good Deed: Police in Bonners Ferry, Idaho, are crediting talk-show host Montel Williams, a former Navy officer, with helping to save a 16-year-old from being burned following a car accident there Saturday. After the teen’s pickup spun out of control and struck a tree, Williams and his driver stopped and pulled the boy from the vehicle just as it caught fire, with Williams then carrying the boy on his back up an embankment to safety, police said.

POP/ROCK

Eminem, Wife Settle: Controversial rap star Eminem has reached a divorce settlement with his estranged wife, Kim Mathers, agreeing to give up physical custody of his 5-year-old daughter and to continue financial support of Mathers. In exchange, the rapper will have joint legal custody of the child. The pair also settled a $10-million lawsuit Mathers had filed over an Eminem song, “Kim,” in which he raps about killing her while the daughter watches.

QUICK TAKES

Cable’s Nickelodeon has acquired three Steven Spielberg-produced animated series. “Steven Spielberg Presents Pinky & the Brain” will debut first, airing Mondays through Saturdays at 6 p.m. beginning next week. Spielberg’s “Animaniacs” is slated to begin airing next spring, followed by “Tiny Toon Adventures” in September 2002. All three Warner Bros. series have won multiple Emmy Awards. . . . Oscar-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow shows off her singing voice in her upcoming film “Duets,” set in the Las Vegas karaoke club circuit. On the soundtrack for the movie, which opens Sept. 15, Paltrow belts out “Bette Davis Eyes,” joins Huey Lewis in a rendition of Smokey Robinson’s “Cruisin’ ” and teams with Babyface on “Just My Imagination.” . . . Singer Monica will star in MTV’s third original television movie, “Love Song,” playing a college student who becomes involved in an interracial relationship with a white blues musician. A December premiere is planned. . . . A trespasser arrested in December for eating a frozen pizza and doing her laundry at the Hawaiian home of ex-Beatle George Harrison was given one year of probation after pleading no contest to the charges. Cristin Joyce Keleher, 27, was released after four months in jail, and ordered to return to her New Jersey home.