Around The Arts

Guild warns against blacklisting; NBC fears for show\nLOS ANGELES -- The entertainment industry must not blacklist people who speak out against war with Iraq, the Screen Actors Guild said.\n"Some have recently suggested that well-known individuals who express 'unacceptable' views should be punished by losing their right to work," the union said in a statement posted Monday on its Web site.\n"Even a hint of the blacklist must never again be tolerated in this nation," the statement added.\nThe reference was to the Hollywood blacklist of the 1950s, when actors and writers suspected of harboring pro-Communist sentiments were barred from working.\nMartin Sheen recently said top executives at NBC had "let it be known they're very uncomfortable" with his outspoken opposition to war with Iraq.\nSheen, who plays the president on the "The West Wing," said the network fears his position will hurt the show. An NBC spokeswoman responded that network executives have expressed no such concerns.\nQueen's composer dies in England at 71\nLONDON -- Malcolm Williamson, an Australian composer who was master of the queen's music, has died at age 71.\nWilliamson died Sunday at a hospital in Cambridge after a long illness, The Press Association, a British news agency, said.\nHe was the first non-Briton to be appointed master of the queen's music. The post is the musical equivalent of the poet laureate, and the incumbent is expected to write fanfares and other works for royal or state occasions.\nBorn in Sydney, Williamson studied at the Sydney Conservatory from the age of 11.\nHe moved to London in 1950, working as a proofreader, a parish church organist and a nightclub pianist. Williamson converted to Roman Catholicism in 1952 and immersed himself in the compositions of the French organist Olivier Messiaen.\nHe composed four Masses, numerous choral and orchestral pieces, and 11 operas, including "Our Man in Havana," "Julius Caesar Jones" and "The Death of Cuchulain."\nWilliamson is survived by his wife Dolly, two daughters and a son. Funeral arrangements were not immediately announced.\nMadonna tries her hand at writing\nLONDON -- Singer, actor, now writer -- Madonna has taken up the pen.\nPenguin Group announced Monday that the singer has written five illustrated story books for young readers aged 6 and above.\nThe first title, "The English Roses," will be published in hardcover in September and distributed simultaneously worldwide, Penguin Group said. No further details were given.\n"Madonna is an artist with a universal appeal and these books will touch children of all backgrounds everywhere in the world," said chairman and chief executive John Makinson.\nPenguin Group has bought the English language rights to the five books, each of which will feature a different celebrated illustrator, from Callaway Editions, the New York-based publisher of illustrated books, which will publish the books in the United States.\nIn all other English language markets, the books will be published by Puffin, the children's imprint of Penguin Group (UK).\nPuffin is Britain's leading publisher of children's books; other children's authors on its books include Roald Dahl, Eric Carle, Raymond Briggs and Allan and Janet Ahlberg.\nThe Penguin Group is part of Pearson plc, the international media company.\nCallaway titles have included many highly acclaimed illustrated books, including the best-selling "Miss Spider" series, written and illustrated by David Kirk and Hilary Knight's "When I Have a Little Girl/When I Have a Little Boy"