The Circuit

Good as Guild

Lunch and laughter was on the menu when The Beverly Hills Theatre Guild honored two pioneer workers for their service to the Guild and the community. Civic leaders Sooky Goldman, founding president, and Janet Salter, president for the past 10 years, were recipients of the Spotlight Award for their years of service. Goldman’s award was presented by actress Anne Jeffreys Sterling and show biz legend Jayne Meadows presented Salter’s award.

Host extraordinaire Monty Hall, served as emcee, presenting a program featuring Jack Carter, Norm Crosby, Sally Struthers, Pepper Edmiston and Stan Freberg. Hall and Rabbi Jacob Pressman did their version of vaudevillians Gallagher and Sheen, as a humorous tribute to the honorees.

Also on the program were the recipients of the Beverly Hills Theatre Guild/Julie Harris Playwright Award, presented by Fay Kanin. The Janet & Maxwell Salter first prize went to David Hoag; second prize, by the Salters, was given to Hugh O’Neill; and the Dr. Henry and Lilian Nesburn third prize was awarded to Philip Ardell. The Irma and Louis Colen Musical Theatre Award went to Robert Freedman and Steve Lutvak, accompanied by a performance of one of the songs by Lutvak.

Proceeds from the event will enhance and enrich theatrical experiences for children and seniors in the community.

Techy Talk

Martin Kellner, past president of the American Technion Society (ATS) national board introduces incoming ATS national president Joan Seidel. The announcement took place at an ATS Einstein Circle dinner held at the Four Seasons Hotel on Feb. 8.

The Candidate

Community activist Rona Ram became the first female and youngest Iranian Jewish candidate to run for this summer’s World Zionist Congress international conference being held in Jerusalem.

Ram, 22, a former UCLA Hillel student leader and activist for Israeli soldiers, said she decided to run on the Dor Zion party’s slate in order to represent the nearly 30,000 Iranian Jews living in Southern California who have rarely been politically active in the past.

“To me the World Zionist Congress is an embodiment of a shift — it’s a realization that with our success as Persian Jews comes a recognition and responsibility, that we are key players in an international world,” Ram said.

For nearly two months, Ram and her siblings have tried to energize younger Iranian Jews in the community to register online as members of World Zionist Congress and vote for her. Other Iranian Jewish candidates running for spots on the Dor Zion slate include local attorneys David Nahai and Simon Pouretehad. — Karmel Melamed, Contributing Writer

At the Mic

USC graduate student Debra Marisa Greene received the Radio Television News Association Jim Zaillian Memorial Scholarship on Jan. 21 at the Universal Hilton. Nearly 400 journalists were present for the ceremonies, which featured the 56th Annual Golden Mike Awards. KTLA news director Jeff Wald and KTLA nighttime news anchor Hal Fishman were Golden Mike winners.

Greene, a Phi Beta Kappa graduate from UCLA, is currently a master’s student at the Annenberg School for Communication at USC. She is pursuing a career in both broadcast and print journalism. The Jim Zaillian Memorial Scholarship was named for the late KNX-AM radio news director who had a special interest in the education of broadcast journalism students.

Girardi’s Friends

Celebrated trial attorney Thomas Girardi was honored by American Friends of Hebrew University (AFHU) for his outstanding legal and philanthropic work. The AFHU, which provides support for The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, bestowed Girardi with the Harvey L. Silbert Torch of Learning Award at its annual Law Society Dinner.

“It is extraordinary to receive an award named after someone who has done so much. I only hope I can do a small percentage of what he did,” Girardi said.

Nationally syndicated radio host Larry Elder emceed the event at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel.

The Torch of Learning Award was named in honor of Harvey Silbert, an acclaimed humanitarian, who sustained a long-standing involvement in regional, national, and international philanthropic causes until his death in September 2002.

Girardi is the president of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers.

Going to Bat

Eighty-year-old Dorothy Delmonte, who also serves as the local head of the Red Hat Society, which celebrates women 50 and over who embrace age with “enthusiasm, verve and humor,” was recently bat mitzvahed. Rabbi William Gordon performed the rarely seen service at The Los Angeles Jewish Home for the Aging/Eisenberg Village. Delmonte said her goal in being bat mitzvahed was “to be closer to God.”