FILM/SNEAK PEEK : SCREENING KICKS OFF TRIBUTE TO CUKOR.

Byline: - Bob McCarthy

Director George Cukor's name is associated with such memorable pictures as ``The Philadelphia Story,'' ``Gaslight'' and ``Adam's Rib,'' yet he did something that is rare even by Hollywood standards.

He made the same picture twice - in a manner of speaking.

``What Price Hollywood?'' from 1932 - the original version of ``A Star Is Born'' - will be screened Thursday at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, opening a six-week centennial tribute to Cukor, who two decades later directed Judy Garland and James Mason in 1954's ``A Star Is Born,'' which many consider his best work.

Time magazine film critic Richard Schickel will lead a panel discussion and be joined by directors who were influenced by or were contemporaries of Cukor's. The academy event kicks off a six-week film series at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Cukor's credits span six decades, from ``Little Women'' and ``Dinner at Eight'' (1933), ``The Women'' (1939), ``A Double Life'' (1947), ``Born Yesterday'' (1950), ``Pat and Mike'' (1952), ``It Should Happen to You'' (1954) to ``My Fair Lady'' (1964), for which he won a best director Oscar. He was nominated five times, and ``What Price Hollywood?'' was also a best picture nominee in 1932. He worked sporadically through the 1970s (``Travels With My Aunt,'' ``The Blue Bird'' and the made-for-TV production of ``The Corn Is Green'') and into the '80s (``Rich and Famous'').

In all, some 30 of the director's films will be screened. The schedule includes:

July 16 - ``Dinner at Eight'' and ``Girls About Town,'' 7:30 p.m.

July 17 - ``The Men That Made the Movies: George Cukor,'' video documentary, 5:30 p.m. Free screening. ``The Philadelphia Story'' and ``A Bill of Divorcement'' at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets are $7 general admission, $5 for museum members and students with ID. For ticket information, call [phone] or Ticketmaster. All films are shown in the Bing Theater, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles.

The mythic West

Watch Hollywood's portrayal of Custer's last stand, the westward migration, historic gunfights, heroes and foes, then hear how the West was really won at the film series ``Gunfights to Gold Rush: Cinema's Mythic West'' at the Autry Museum of Western Heritage.

Historians, professors and authors will enlighten audiences about the realities of major western events that served as the basis for popular westerns.

The first chance to catch the monthly series is at 2 p.m. Sunday for ``Union Pacific.'' The schedule through November is: ``The Outlaw Josey Wales,'' Aug. 1; ``Gunfight at the O.K. Corral,'' Sept. 5.; ``They Died With Their Boots On,'' Oct. 3; and ``Viva Zapata!'' Nov. 7.

Admission for the film programs is $4 for members, $5 for general admission. Museum admission is not included. The Autry Museum of Western Heritage, Wells Fargo Theater, is at 4700 Western Heritage Way, Los Angeles. Call [phone] for information.

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Photo: A documentary and approximately 30 of George Cukor's films will be screened Thursday at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.