He’s Fired, but a Great Guy

No doubt one of the entertainment industry’s most challenging occupations involves handling the seating arrangements at Hollywood charity galas.

This past summer, Michael Fuchs, then Time Warner’s top music executive, was honored by the ACLU Foundation of Southern California at a fund-raising dinner.

Shortly before the event, Fuchs forced out Danny Goldberg as head of Warner Bros. Records, who was coincidently also president of the foundation honoring him. In the end, Fuchs bowed out of the event, citing a busy schedule.

Now comes another potentially awkward evening involving the just-fired Fuchs. He’s to be honored Jan. 14 at the 1996 National Tribute Dinner sponsored by the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles.

Included in the list of National Tribute Dinner Chairs for the event are Time Warner Chief Executive Gerald M. Levin, responsible for ousting Fuchs. Also on the list of chairs are Warner Bros. co-Chairmen Robert Daly and Terry Semel, bitter corporate rivals of Fuchs who won out in a power struggle to seize the reins of Warner Music.

A spokeswoman for the Wiesenthal Center said that the ousting of Fuchs from Time Warner won’t affect the event and that all plans--including the list of chairs--remain in place.

Just Imagine

Now that you’ve met the Beatles again, you can own some of their recording junk.

In what amounts to a cyberspace garage sale, a London dealer in audio, broadcast and video equipment is taking advantage of the hype over a new Beatles album by offering for sale studio equipment that belonged to John Lennon about 25 years ago.

Included are such things as a Dolby noise reduction unit, stereo tape recorders, a time modulator, a microphone with a boom arm, a power amplifier and a reverberator.

Things Are Tough All Over

Being really rich in Los Angeles has gotten tougher.

First Republic Bancorp’s “Prestige Home Index” for Los Angeles has declined for the second consecutive quarter, falling 1.8% in the three months between June 30 and Sept. 30.

That puts the average price of homes valued at $1 million or more at a scant $1,125,764.

Although it’s a relatively small drop between quarters, the average price is way down from the peak average price of $1,648,011 in 1990.

Briefly. . .

Trading Card company Signature Rookies is offering a reward to track down 960 boxes of trading cards valued at $30,000 that were stolen during a shipment from Ohio to Houston. . . . Here’s a way Hollywood can save on paper costs: Savoy Pictures, in announcing that distribution rights to four of its movies would be purchased by New Line Cinema, said in its press release announcing the deal that it “was a real team effort by many executives too numerous to name.”. . . For those who can’t afford to buy Beatles memorabilia, a Florida company is offering, for $159 each, color photos signed by all four Monkees.