In supply-slighted Russia, even catty remarks stand in line. But meows over Raisa Gorbachev`s fancy clothes may abate somewhat with revelations about hubby Mikhail`s salary. According to the Soviet magazine Ogonyok, the Soviet leader earns about $30,000 yearly. Not much by American standards (and $170,000 less than George Bush), but a princely sum either side of the Urals. ”Why shouldn`t he buy his wife a new dress?” asked editor Vitaly Korotich, whose article breaks a taboo on Politburo privacy. Korotich said Gorbachev donated the $600,000 he received from U.S. sales of his latest book, ”Perestroika,” to the Communist Party.
MEESE: I`LL TELL ALL Former Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese, succumbing to an urge to profit anew from his 22 years with Ronald Reagan, has signed a book contract for an unknown amount with Henry Holt & Co. to publish his memoirs this November. ”Now that that chapter is closed, I feel a responsibility to tell everything I know about the operations of the eight-year administration,” said Meese, who resigned last summer amid a criminal investigation that ended in a decision not to prosecute. A Justice Department report later concluded that Meese violated ethical standards on behalf of lobbyist E. Robert Wallach. Meese insists he was vindicated.
IS KHOMEINI MELLOWING? By some standards, even Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini has kinder and gentler moments. Case in point: Suspecting a deliberate insult, Khomeini had demanded the execution of anyone involved in a broadcast on Iranian womanhood on Iran state radio last Saturday. The sin? One woman said she identified with a soap opera star more than prophet Mohammed`s daughter, Fatima, who lived 1,400 years ago. ”Shameful” said the outraged Khomeini, 86, whose word is law. The culprits nonetheless are getting off easy, a sure sign that Khomeini is mellowing. After losing some hide-just 50 lashes apiece-the four chastened radio employees will repent in prison for four years. What a humanitarian.
(Must be his festive spirit: Ten years ago this week, Khomeini returned from exile to begin cleansing unclean minds-a process that usually means detaching them from the here-and-now.)
IT`S THE `KANE` MUTINY Two weeks before dying in 1985, Orson Welles pleaded with film director Henry Jaglom to save ”Citizen Kane” from colorization, saying: ”Don`t let Ted Turner deface my movie with his crayons.” Too bad, says an unsympathetic Turner Entertainment Co. It has hired two film companies to attempt colorization of a copy of the 1941 classic, which Welles wrote, directed and starred in. Without an original 35 mm. print to work on, however, many experts are skeptical that computer enhancement can work. Someone, perhaps, is saving Welles from the crayons.
CYBILL, HUSBAND SEPARATE A little period of adjustment without her chiropractor-husband is ahead for Cybill Shepherd, who has separated from Dr. Bruce Oppenheim after 22 months of marriage. The 39-year-old ”Moonlighting” star and mother of twins married Oppenheim after he cured her headaches.