Tattle: Berlusconi's teen takes the Sheen off Tattle

TATTLE TAKES a break today from Charlie Sheen to take a look at the most famous prostitute in Europe: Ruby, the 18-year-old at the center of the scandal plaguing Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi.

She made her appearance at the Vienna Opera Ball last night and was the center of attention, even though high society tried to pretend she wasn't there.

State TV was initially ordered to avoid covering her because why would they want to cover the most interesting facet of an evening of rich people shuffling to Strauss. But with the Berlusconi scandal big news, it was hard for Ruby to lie low.

Her comments on the eve of the ball added to Vienna high society's bad case of nerves.

"I can't waltz," she said, before adding with a smile: "I can only belly dance."

What's the big deal, Tattle asks, it's just another hooker talking about balls.

But in waltz-crazy Vienna, the presence of Ruby (a/k/a/ Karima el-Mahroug) has pushed other top news events to the paper's back pages.

The ball's organizer even threatened to ban Richard Lugner, the Harry Jay Katz of Austria, who invited Ruby and former "Dallas" star Larry Hagman.

The Vienna Opera Ball is THE event of the annual ball season, which has the Viennese balling from fall into late winter. Watched on TV by millions, it features champagne-sipping government leaders hobnobbing with captains of industry from ornate boxes high above the main floor of the State Opera, while the less-posh crowd parties below. Debutantes celebrate their coming out into the privileged upper echelons by opening the festivities with a waltz.

Think of it as the snootiest prom ever.

But thanks to Lugner, it can't be taken too seriously. Some of his past "dates" include porn star Dolly Buster and burlesque artist Dita von Teese.

But his pick of Ruby - after Bo Derek backed out - was simply too much for some in Vienna, where parents of the moneyed class still send their kids to manners courses and refer to themselves as the moneyed class.

Lugner - who is reported to have paid $55,500 for Ruby's appearance (the most money she's ever made standing up) - doesn't understand the fuss. "If Berlusconi liked her, she's good enough for the Opera Ball," he told News.

Ball organizer Desiree Treichl-Stuerkh said Lugner will not be given an opera box next year, but clearly he's a guy who can bring his own box.

Jumping into the fray, Toni Faber - a ball-goer and head priest at Vienna's St. Stephen's Cathedral - sided with Ruby. Warning against hypocrisy, he cited Jesus in newspaper interviews, declaring, "The tax collectors and the prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God ahead of you."

Prominent cultural anthropologist Roland Girtler also doesn't understand the excitement, noting that throughout history, courtesans and ladies of ill repute were always welcome at balls.

Tattbits

 * "Source Code," a techno-thriller starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Michelle Monaghan and directed by David Bowie's son Duncan Moon, has been chosen to open Austin's SxSW festival and will have its World Premiere there on March 11. It opens April 1.

* Musicians from five U.S. orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, plan to wear blue bracelets during performances this weekend to support the striking members of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, a national musicians' union said yesterday.

The Detroit musicians have proposed returning to work and creating a binding-arbitration panel to work out unresolved issues.

* The Guardian says Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks Studio has bought screen rights to its book about WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange.

The Guardian says DreamWorks has optioned "WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange's War on Secrecy" by Guardian journalists David Leigh and Luke Harding, as well as "Inside WikiLeaks" by site defector Daniel Domscheit-Berg.

* Speaking of defectors, five members of the National Ballet of Cuba have decided to remain in Canada after performing there.

Sure, they also have health care for all in Cuba, but they don't have hockey.

* Mariah Carey says she was unaware that she was booked to perform a concert linked to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's clan - and she's embarrassed "to have participated in this mess."

Mariah is among a handful of entertainers who were paid handsome fees to give exclusive private concerts later revealed to be for the family of Gadhafi, whose country is in an open revolt against him.

This week, Nelly Furtado announced she is giving the $1 million fee she was paid to charity; Beyonce said that she donated her fees to Haiti earthquake relief once she discovered the Gadhafi link.

* Today's celebrity bio news is from Billy Joel, whose "The Book of Joel" comes out June 14 from HarperCollins.

* Palestinian grocer Ayman Abu

Aita, who was portrayed as a terrorist in the movie "Bruno," is suing star Sacha Baron Cohen and others in Manhattan.

In the film, Bruno interviews Abu Aita, who's labeled in a caption as a member of the militant Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade.

* Justin Bieber's hair clippings have sold for $40,668 on eBay. The proceeds are being donated to the Gentle Barn, which rescues neglected and abused animals and uses them to help disadvantaged kids.

* Charo's neighbor is sick of her BS.

The coochie-coochie entertainer says she had to give up her pet bull after a neighbor in Beverly Hills complained about the smell of its dung.

A Beverly Hills spokeswoman confirmed that livestock isn't allowed in the city, missing the irony that Beverly Hills was built on bull- - - -.

Daily News wire services contributed to this report.

E-mail gensleh@phillynews.com.