Monster Mash: Michael Govan’s salary; Obama-Joker mystery solved; cause of Mozart’s death revealed

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-- Big compensation: Michael Govan, the director of LACMA, is on track to earn $1 million this year at the same time as the museum faces drastic cuts.
-- Prankster: The identity of the creator of the Obama-as-Joker poster has apparently been solved.

-- Requiem for a composer: Scientists say that Mozart died from strep throat, not Antonio Salieri.

-- Authenticity: Questions continue to circulate over whether Robert Capa faked the famous photograph of a collapsing soldier in the Spanish Civil War.

-- Own a piece of history: Today’s the last day you can bid on Andy Warhol’s portrait of Michael Jackson.

-- Lending a hand: Goldman Sachs is proposing to help photographer Annie Leibovitz with her financial problems.

-- New leader: Alice Walton, heiress of the Wal-Mart family fortune, has named Don Bacigalupi to direct the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.

-- Shipping not included: Latino murals from downtown L.A.’s Victor Clothing building are currently for sale.

-- Religious controversy: An Indian artist has received threats for his depiction of the Hindu god Ganesh in various poses, including as an Oscar statuette.

-- Silencio: David Lynch will exhibit a new series of his monumental paintings at a gallery in Santa Monica in September.

-- Box-office bonanza: The Metropolitan Opera says it has sold a record-breaking $2.5 million in individual tickets for the upcoming season.

-- Classical discovery: Unpublished scores by composer Heitor Villa-Lobos have allegedly been found at the Rio de Janeiro School of Music.

-- David Ng

Photo: Michael Govan. Credit: Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times