Celebrity Grapevine

Melanie Peres, can expect quite a large crowd from the fourth estate when she begins posing at the Comfort Club in Tel Aviv this coming Tuesday.

By GREER FAY CASHMAN
Melanie Peres 88 224 (photo credit: Courtesy)
Melanie Peres 88 224
(photo credit: Courtesy)
THE CHANNEL ONE archives have been thoroughly explored in recent months as Yigal Ravid searches for nostalgia material both in light of Israel Television's 40th anniversary and the 60th anniversary of the state. Ravid brings the subjects of archive material - some that dates back more than 30 years - into the studio to test their memories and to interview them about what has happened in their lives since. A number of the people, aside from a few age lines, don't look much different than in the archive footage - but others have changed beyond recognition. MEMBERS OF the diplomatic community are frequently invited to theater performances, concerts and art exhibitions. Among the more frequent invitees are US Ambassador Richard Jones and his wife Joan, who recently accepted an invitation by the Haifa English Theater to see their production of Summer End at the Beit Hagefen auditorium. Jones and his wife later posed with HET chairperson Betsy Lewis Yizraeli, members of the cast Valerie Herbert, Matt Neal, Ruth Willner and Chantelle Brader, along with Director John Dicks. HET is holding auditions through Monday at Beit Hagefen for its new production, Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit, to be directed by Murray Rosovsky. HET was founded in 1981. Its first production was Arsenic and Old Lace, and it has put on more than 60 productions since then. MANY OF Israel's entertainment personalities make a point of visiting Casa do Brasil when they are in Eilat. The restaurant, like many South American eateries in Israel, serves particularly juicy meat. In fact, Frommer's international travel guide describes Casa do Brasil as "a carnivore's paradise." Thus, when comedians Ze'ev Revah and Tzahi Noy were in Eilat with their show "That You Didn't Make Me a Woman," they took themselves and the rest of the cast to Casa do Brasil. Revah is known for his deep belly laugh, which, combined with his and Noy's wit, had their table (and everyone on the premises) laughing like crazy. IT WASN'T all that long ago that photographers and journalists were kept at more than arm's distance when top-grade models were posing for fashion catalogues. Security was even tighter if the model also happened to be an actress of note. But these days it's the other way around. PR companies, advertising agencies and fashion manufacturers actually put out word about when and where a shoot is going to take place. So actress, model and electronic media personality Melanie Peres, who has been commissioned to present the Honigman spring/summer collection, can expect quite a large crowd from the fourth estate when she begins posing at the Comfort Club in Tel Aviv this coming Tuesday. UNICEF HAS for years appointed goodwill ambassadors from the worlds of entertainment and sport to help focus attention on the needs of children. Some of the famous personalities who have been goodwill ambassadors include Danny Kaye, Audrey Hepburn and Peter Ustinov. Borrowing from this concept, some people in Israel's Foreign Ministry have floated the idea of appointing cultural ambassadors such as Amos Oz, Achinoam Nini, Zvika Pik and David Grossman to go out into the world and put in a good word for Israel. Opinions in the Foreign Ministry are divided over the wisdom of such an idea. Those who are opposed say that the four people mentioned above, for instance, are international celebrities in their own right, and don't need to be saddled with some title from the Foreign Ministry - which in the final analysis might be more of a hindrance than a help. Today, they are what-you-see-is-what-you-get people, and if they happen to pitch positive things about Israel during performances, book readings or as participants in international conferences, it will be taken at face value. HIGH TECH celebrities are coming to Israel at the invitation of President Shimon Peres. CISCO'S John Chambers was here last week. Michael Dell of the Dell Computer Corporation is due in April; Sergei Brinn, cofounder of Google, is bringing his family to Israel in May; and Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, is also coming soon, after having met with Peres in Davos last month. In fact, Peres was so impressed with Zuckerberg and Facebook that he told students at an international congress on Holocaust studies at Yad Vashem last week that the best way to combat Holocaust denial was through Facebook. Among the Internet reports on Peres's recommendation is a query as to how many friends Peres might acquire if he went on Facebook himself.