■ CURIOUSLY, WHEN the major Hebrew dailies last Friday listed the top salaried people on the payroll of the financially ailing Habimah Theater, Almagor’s name was not among them, although she is frequently referred to as the first lady of Habimah. It may of course have been a deliberate omission.Among those whose annual salaries were made public were Ya’acov Cohen, NIS 920,900; Eli Yatzpan, NIS 724,000; Moni Moshonov, NIS 724,000; Ilan Ronen, NIS 708,000; Rami Heuberger, NIS 580,246; Osnat Fishman, NIS 560,615; and Avi Kushnir, NIS 555,094. All of them incidentally, also have other sources of income.Habimah, which in July is supposed to move back into its own newly renovated home, is struggling under a NIS 40 million deficit, and is not getting sufficient government support to remain on stage. Improbable as it may seem, Habimah could lower its curtain permanently. It’s a terrible thought, but if it does happen, there are other theater companies to fill the void.■ THE CONFERENCE of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, which is convening at the Inbal Hotel in Jerusalem on February 13, sent an advance delegation last month. Its stars were not actually Jewish community leaders, but Hollywood personalities.The group included Irwin Katsof, who recently became director of America’s Voices for Israel, a subdivision of the Presidents Conference, and Hollywood PR executive Elizabeth Much, Lori Loughlin, familiar to Seinfeld fans, and actors Joel David Moore and Greg German. The group toured the country, Jerusalem in particular, and met with Minister of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Yuli Edelstein.■ JERUSALEM BORN artist Sigalit Landau, who lives in Tel Aviv and has exhibited in important galleries abroad, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, has been chosen to represent the country at the 2011 Venice Biennale.It will be the second time that she is participating in this prestigious event at which she will explore the theme of water. Art lovers Hila and Rani Rahav, whose Savyon home and Tel Aviv office each resemble an eclectic mini gallery with an amazing variety of art genres, decided to host a party in Landau’s honor to which they invited the who’s who of the business world in the hope that some would open their wallets to help the artist represent the country in the best way possible.The event included an art sale, the proceeds from which will go toward the cost of the water inspired installations that Landau is building for the Israel pavilion. Among those attending were Dalia Rabin, her son and daughter-in-law Yonatan and Shiri Ben- Artzi, Castro CEO Gabi Roter, Lenny Recanati, Cellcom CEO Amos Shapira, business tycoon Gad Ze’evi and his wife Talya, Shenkar College president Yuli Tamir, architect Orly Schrem, CEO of Baram Advertising Guy Baram, lawyer Pini Rubin and his wife Tzipi, jewelry designer Aya Azrielent, television personality Guy Pines and his wife Ruthie and actress and Israel Prize laureate Miriam Zohar.■ AIRPLANES AND vintage cars are among the passions of Alut chairman Izzy Borovich, who makes use of the latter to raise funds for the Israel Society for Autistic Children (Alut is the Hebrew acronym). Last Friday, he organized an exhibition of vintage cars at Club 5 (the club belonging to collectors of vintage cars) at the Tel Aviv Port in advance of Alut’s February 8 fund-raising campaign. Nonetheless he found time for his weekly bike ride with Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai. The two usually ride a set trail through North Tel Aviv and the port area.Borovich later welcomed a huge crowd to the exhibition. One of the last to arrive was writer and television personality Ido Rosenbloom, who had spent the night on a shoot for his Channel 2 quiz program Monit Hakessef (Money Cab). Borovich showed him around and while doing so, suggested a whole bunch of questions that he could put to future contestants. Rosenbloom fell in love with a sleek old sports car of the kind that the idle rich drove in Hollywood movies.Other personalities at the exhibition included sportscaster Eli Ildes, singer Linoi Erlich, actors and singers Ohed Knoller and Golan Azoulai and Alut CEO Einat Cassouto- Shefi.■ THE INCREASE in tourism, despite the global economic crisis, can in part be attributed to cancellation of visa requirements. Many more Russian tourists came in the past year following cancellation of visa requirements. Next Wednesday, Tourism Minister Stas Meseznikov is off to Kiev for a festive event at the Government Tourist Office that will mark the waiver of visa requirements from Ukraine which will go into effect on February 9, the day he departs for Kiev, where he will meet with his Ukrainian counterpart and other government officials. He will also take part in a tourism fair. The ministry anticipates a considerable rise in tourism from Ukraine this year, with an estimated 140,000 tourists who will inject more than a $100 million into the economy.
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