Celebrity Grapevine [p. 24]

By GREER FAY CASHMAN
IT'S A boy! Fashion stylist Sandra Ringler and celebrity chef Segev Moshe, a regular on several television cooking shows, last week became the proud parents of a son. Before the birth, Ringler gained a public profile via her weekly appearances on Orna Datz's TV makeover show. ACTOR-COMEDIAN and television host Avi Kushnir, who this year won the Israeli Television Academy's best actor award for his role in the local sitcom Life is Not Everything, radiates honesty, integrity and intelligence, according to Shai Feldman, the vice president of marketing at AIG Insurance. That's why Feldman was prepared to shell out $150,000 for Kushnir to take time out his busy schedule to shoot print ads and a TV commercial for the company's new promotional campaign. The previous campaign was led by pop singer Dana International. THE MUNICIPAL committee charged with designating street names in Tel Aviv has decided to name a street after brilliant actor, mime and teacher Shai K. Ofir, who died in 1987 after a long battle with cancer. A fourth generation Jerusalemite, the talented Ofir was just as comfortable performing in Arabic, English and Yiddish as he was in Hebrew. Ofir appeared on theatrical stages around the world, as well as in more than 30 feature films. Even after he fell ill, the actor participated in a television series in which he taught viewers Arabic and introduced them to prominent personalities from Israel's Arab community. Ofir is one of 17 Israeli actors, writers, poets and musicians whose memories are being honored with a place on the Tel Aviv map. POPULAR ENTERTAINER Dudu Topaz was hospitalized near the end of July at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv after being diagnosed with pneumonia. Topaz, who had just returned from vacationing in Thailand, came to the hospital complaining of exhaustion and weakness and spent approximately a week under medical observation. JORDAN'S FAMOUS month-long Jerash Festival of Culture and Arts, held annually in July and August, was to have celebrated its 25th anniversary this year, but was cancelled due to the war in Lebanon. The festival, which features tradiational Arab dance, ballet, concerts, operas, plays, poetry and pop music, attracts leading entertainers from the Arab world as well as singers, actors and dancers from elsewhere. Among the star attractions this year was to have been famed Lebanese singer Najwa Karam. After the start of the fighting, Jerash Festival Director Jarius Samawi announced that it would be inappropriate to continue with the festival. Instead, he lit a torch during the last week of July in honor of Lebanon. This is the second time that the Jerash Festival has been cancelled: the Lebanon war in 1982 was the cause of the first cancellation. BOISTEROUS ACTRESS Maya Dagan, whose husband Yossi Marshak walked out on her a few weeks ago, isn't wasting time moping. Dagan was seen at Tel Aviv's Ninotchka Bar getting intimate with comedian Gil Kopatch - perhaps not the most sensitive thing to do, given that she had arrived with comedian Adi Ashkenazi, whose marriage also ended on the rocks.