Show Must Not Go On, Suit Says

Does cinema verite mean cinema gratis at A & E? . . . Mickey Rourke says he doesn’t need a bodyguard. . . . Fighting over Benny Goodman. . . . “ER” doc makes peace with the neighbors.

Award-winning documentary filmmaker Robert Drew, who is considered one of the pioneers of cinema verite, is suing the Arts & Entertainment Network in federal court in Los Angeles, alleging that A & E helped itself to his copyrighted 35-year-old film snippet of Robert F. Kennedy.

The four-second black-and-white clip shows Kennedy, then the U.S. attorney general, walking into his White House office during the University of Alabama desegregation crisis in 1963, according to the suit.

A & E used the clip in a 1991 documentary about Kennedy and the Mafia, and Drew happened to see it while channel-surfing one night, said his lawyer, Glen T. Litwak. The attorney added that the explosion in the number of cable channels seems to have led to a proliferation of copycat television documentaries, some of which lift entire scenes from original works.

Drew’s documentary, called “Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment,” tells the behind-the-scenes story of then-Gov. George Wallace’s standoff with the U.S. Justice Department after two African American students obtained a court order to enroll at the University of Alabama.

Drew, who lives in New York, gained unprecedented access to the Kennedys during the 1960 Democratic primaries as well as the desegregation crisis. He says in his suit that A & E has infringed on his copyright for his “wholly original” film.

The tense but nonviolent resolution of the Alabama crisis is considered one of the key moments of the civil rights movement, and Drew’s cameras followed the key players everywhere.

In his suit, Drew said he had been careful in licensing his film clips to avoid overexposure. He is seeking an injunction blocking A & E from airing its mob documentary in the future.

A spokesman said A & E does not comment on pending legal matters. But a written legal response in another case suggests the stance the network’s lawyers might take. In those court papers, A & E said it believes it had a licensing agreement. The network also argued that history can’t be copyrighted, and that some of the photographs and film footage can be found in the National Archives.

The case is scheduled for trial Oct. 20 before U.S. District Judge Audrey Collins.

MAY I HAVE THIS DANCE?: A woman who says she watched as her hairdresser husband was punched out at a Beverly Hills nightclub by a man partying with actor/pugilist Mickey Rourke can’t sue Rourke for causing her emotional distress, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lawrence Crispo has ruled.

Hairstylist Jeff Brown and his wife sued Rourke last April, charging he failed to control his bodyguard, a man identified in court papers only as “Santa Fe.” Crispo refused to toss out the suit Friday, and it is scheduled to go to trial March 30. Brown seeks $100,000 in general damages, charging that he has suffered headaches, blurred vision and emotional distress.

Rourke’s lawyer, David Wood, acknowledged that the mysterious Santa Fe is an acquaintance of Rourke’s but denied that he was the actor’s bodyguard.

“Mickey Rourke does not have a bodyguard. Mickey Rourke does not need a bodyguard,” Wood said. “Santa Fe is not, has never been and never will be Mickey Rourke’s bodyguard.”

In the suit, Brown says he was dancing with his wife at the club when Santa Fe bumped into them. The usual words were exchanged and, according to the suit, “Santa Fe, a professional boxer, then turned as if to walk away and suddenly pivoted and sucker-punched the unsuspecting [Brown], repeatedly beating [him] about the face and head, knocking [him] to the ground.”

Rourke’s lawyer said the actor broke up the fight.

“Mickey will defend this case all the way,” Wood said. “He wants to make it perfectly clear that he’s sick and tired of being sued when he didn’t do anything.”

SOUR NOTES: The daughters of the late swing era jazz great Benny Goodman are suing Capitol Records for fraud and breach of contract in Los Angeles Superior Court, charging that the record company shortchanged them on royalties.

The suit seeks punitive damages and an accounting, as well as a court order blocking Capitol from marketing any of Goodman’s works without approval from his heirs or the court.

According to the suit, the Benny Goodman Testamentary Trusts were set up on behalf of the late bandleader’s daughters, Rachel Goodman Edelson and Benji Goodman Lasseau, who hold the rights to the use of their father’s image and music.

Capitol sent the trust semiannual royalty statements, which the daughters allege were calculated at a lower rate than the contracts specified, according to the suit, filed by attorney Cyrus Godfrey.

The daughters said in the suit that they trusted Capitol “to act with fidelity and integrity toward them.” Instead, they alleged, the company “engaged in systematic and deliberate underreporting of royalties.”

There was no immediate comment from Capitol Records.

CALLING DR. BENTON: The legal dispute between actor Eriq LaSalle and a Beverly Hills neighbor over a skylight has been quietly settled, according to LaSalle’s lawyer, David M. Huff.

Terms of the settlement were confidential, so there was no word on whether LaSalle, who plays “ER’s” brooding surgeon Peter Benton, will be required to perform an emergency skylight-ectomy.

Neighbor Morris M. Cohen alleged in his Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit that LaSalle’s skylight jutted 14 feet above the ground, in violation of deed restrictions enacted when the homes in the neighborhood were built 35 years ago. The skylight, Cohen contended, blocked his view.

LaSalle had countered in court papers that removing the skylight would cause more harm to his interests than leaving it there would cause to Cohen.

A GOODBYE: We sadly note the passing of Arnold Browne, whose suspendered figure was a familiar sight in the courtrooms of Los Angeles where his son, Allan C. Browne, practices business and entertainment law.

The elder Browne, whose son never lost a case when he was in court, died last week at the age of 84 to complications of a stroke he suffered Jan. 5, just as he and his son were leaving the federal courthouse.

“He was such a precious blessing to me,” said Allan Browne. “Every time I walk into court I know he’ll be sitting on my shoulder bringing me luck. I feel him with me.”

Hoping to keep his Teamster father entertained after his retirement, Browne invited him to follow him to court in 1991. That began a 50-case winning streak that lasted seven years.

AS THE LEES TURN: It has been a horrible week in court for Pamela Anderson Lee and her husband, Tommy Lee. To recap:

On Monday, Pam went on the “Tonight Show” with Jay Leno, wearing a rubber dress and one shoe, and talked about the legal settlement that allowed distribution of the couple’s honeymoon sex tape.

On Tuesday, she called 911, showed the police a broken fingernail, and saw her tattooed rocker husband hauled off to jail.

On Thursday, he was charged with felony child and spousal abuse, and she took legal steps to de-Lee, filing divorce papers in Los Angeles Superior Court and asking that her name be restored to Pamela Denise Anderson.

On Friday, as he was posting bail, she resurfaced as the sole plaintiff in a $50-million federal lawsuit against the Seattle company that is distributing their sex video in stores and over the Internet. The suit marks an apparent reversal in her position. Now she is contending that the film was distributed without her permission.

The tape of the couple’s frolics, which the Lees said was stolen from their garage, is said to be the best-selling adult video ever. It also seems to be a gold mine for the legal profession.

Steven T. Owens, an attorney for Internet Entertainment Group, has filed court papers complaining that the Lees have not lived up to their promise to drop their earlier Superior Court lawsuit over the tape. He plans to go to court March 11 to enforce the month-old settlement.

The Lees’ new attorney, Edward L. Masry, however, is saying the settlement agreement is “a nullity.”

And IEG’s boy mogul, Seth Warshawsky, said in an interview that Anderson, as she now prefers to be known, violated the settlement by telling Leno all about it on national television.

“Before she goes on Leno saying we have no right to that tape, and that she is not making any money off of it, she needs to sit back and read that document she signed,” Warshawsky countered.

“The whole thing is just very weird,” he added.

No argument here.

Times staff writer James Bates contributed to this column.