Position Wanted

Cuban President Fidel Castro turns 67 this week. So is it time for a new career?

Maybe so, given that Castro recently received a formal job offer from United Colors of Benetton, the audacious Italian clothing company.

Company chief Luciano Benetton offered Castro a job heading Benetton’s new study and research center in Italy, describing him as “the perfect figurehead.” (No mention of pay, vacation or benefits package.)

Benetton is no stranger to controversy. Last year, it scrambled during the Los Angeles riots to replace its billboards showing a car that had been torched.

As for Castro, his job prospects may be limited. Smoking is banned inside many office buildings--bad news for the cigar lover. And Disneyland is no doubt out of the question because of its rules requiring employees to be clean shaven.

Rolling the Dice

One of the more unusual investments being offered comes from flamboyant Las Vegas casino owner Bob Stupak.

The Vegas World owner is offering units at $5 apiece, hoping to raise up to $54 million for “Stratosphere Tower,” a 119-story structure billed as the “tallest free-standing observation tower in the United States.”

The tower is scheduled to open next summer. Features will include a 400-seat restaurant, a $6 admission charge and--appropriately for Las Vegas--four wedding chapels.

Each unit is a share of stock and a warrant in Stupak’s Stratosphere Corp.

In addition to Stupak, others involved include Los Angeles businessman Robert A. Maheu, best known as the former right-hand man to Howard Hughes.

One bonus for investors: buying a unit gets your names inscribed for free on a “Wall of Recognition.”

PG-Rated Investment?

Even as Hollywood is embroiled in an X-rated scandal involving alleged madam Heidi Fleiss, talk continues about the need for more wholesome family pictures.

The latest to try to get in on the act is Capstone Entertainment, an obscure Texas firm that says it is trying to raise money to finance family-oriented pictures and is appealing to investors through an 800 number. Those who call receive investment materials that come in the same kind of folders that high school students use for book reports.

Capstone claims it plans to sell $7 million in units at $10,000 each, to be used to finance films produced by Millennium Entertainment.

Among those listed as involved with Millennium are legendary mogul Samuel Z. Arkoff, who has been involved in films ranging from “Zontar, the Thing From Venus” to the box-office hit “The Amityville Horror.”

Briefly . . .

A real estate ad describes a Beverly Hills area house as a “holistic home.” . . . Oops: IBM Chief Executive Louis Gerstner’s first name was misspelled here last week. . . . Quotable: One senior studio executive, joking about the fact he’s never met Heidi Fleiss: “I can’t tell you how square I feel.”