Skins Game

Revlon Chairman Ronald O. Perelman was supposed to get a crack at fulfilling his fantasy of playing the drums in a Las Vegas hotel show, but the gig fell through.

But, as in most of his deals, Perelman still ended up getting richer--this time by $290.

Perelman was scheduled to play the drums at singer Paul Anka’s show at Bally’s the weekend before last but was called out of town unexpectedly on business.

Anka spokesman Lee Solters says the singer had already paid Perelman the $290 scale wages for the job “to avoid any union problems.” Anka also gave Perelman a band jacket, Solters says.

Not that Perelman needs the $290. According to Forbes magazine, he’s worth about $3.6 billion.

Says Solters: “He can buy a new pair of drum sticks with it.”

Giving Them a Fault Line

The aftershocks from the Northridge earthquake haven’t even stopped, and rival business recruiters from other states are already bringing up the topic.

The New Mexico Economic Development Department sent out an announcement saying officials from the state will be working a booth this week at a Southern California Business Expansion/Relocation Expo in Anaheim.

“Will the quake shake away many businesses from California?” the announcement asks.

It goes on to cite information from an Albuquerque Journal article reporting that the Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce in the two weeks after the quake received twice as many inquiries from Southern California businesses as it usually does.

In defense of the agency, department spokeswoman Gail Rubin says the state is being sensitive. As an example, she says, New Mexico’s business recruiters are refraining from calling California businesses for the next few weeks.

History Lesson

Has the earthquake’s destruction resulted in a new definition of what we can consider a landmark?

It might have, if one real estate ad is an indication. It offers to sell the “industry landmark” former Pathe/Cannon Film Group Building in Beverly Hills, a relatively new office whose main notoriety may be that it was once owned by one of Hollywood’s most controversial executives.

Cannon and Pathe were headed by Giancarlo Parretti, the Italian financier whose financial troubles prompted the French Bank Credit Lyonnais to seize the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio from him in 1992. Parretti was later jailed in Italy for tax fraud but is believed to be out now.

Briefly . . .

An 8-by-10-inch autographed cast photo from “Gilligan’s Island” is being advertised for $450 in Autograph Collector magazine. . . . A business seminar on memory development is titled “Velcro Your Mind to Make Everything Stick.” . . . Too bad most independent filmmakers can’t afford one: Mercedes-Benz of North America was an official sponsor of the recent Sundance Film Festival, a place where many struggling independent filmmakers show their work.