LAST LAUGH : EDDIE’S LAST LAUGH

When Mike Yorkey was editor of the Review in the ski resort of Mammoth (he now works in Arcadia and lives in Monrovia), he had a close encounter with Hollywood after snapping a candid photo of Eddie Murphy on location for “The Golden Child.” Following is his, uh, negative account:

Notice that you’re not seeing the Eddie Murphy grin in the publicity for “The Golden Child.” That’s ‘cause Murphy apparently doesn’t want his smiling mug connected with his role as an L.A. social worker traveling to Tibet in search of a kidnaped kid with spiritual powers.

I should know. When I was editor-photographer of Mammoth’s weekly Review last March, I snapped a grinning Murphy when “Golden Child” was on location in Mammoth. It triggered a legal tug of war over the negatives between our paper (circulation: 5,000) and Paramount’s lawyers.

It all started in a snowy meadow in the shadow of Mammoth Mountain, doubling for Tibet. Murphy was posing for a studio photographer, who asked him to smile. Murphy said somberly, “If I do that, that’s the one they’ll use.”

I just happened to click him when he was joking around and we ran the photo on our front page.

Not long after, I was contacted by a NYC photo agency, which sold another of my shots to People magazine for its “Star Tracks” section.

Then Paramount called. Leslie Hauser, an administrative manager, complimented me on the photo and wondered if I might be interested in selling the negatives and any existing prints for a national ad campaign. When I drove 325 miles down to L.A. on other business later that week, I visited Hauser inside the studio’s legendary gates. I spread my prints proudly on her desk. When she barely gave them a glance, I got the feeling Paramount actually wanted them for something else--out of circulation.

Hauser offered $250. I shrugged and said I’d think about it. She upped the price to $500, plus $2,500 if any photos were actually used. I was more interested. When she made a personal trip to Mammoth a few days later with contract and check, I knew somebody wanted those photos very badly. By then, the one with the grin was appearing in the Toronto Globe and Star.

I told Hauser $500 wasn’t enough, and that she would have to negotiate with the Review, since it actually owned the negatives. Our lawyer got on the phone with Paramount’s attorneys in NYC. While negotiations dragged on over two days, I was told that Murphy’s manager had hit the roof when he’d seen the unauthorized photo in People; hence, the studio’s anxious efforts to buy the rights. Its “final” offer: $1,000.

The Review’s legal fees already totaled $700. The paper couldn’t afford an extended legal battle and took the thousand bucks. I got nothing from the sale, although I had collected $275 from the earlier reprints.

As I drove Hauser to the Mammoth airport, I asked if Murphy might sign one of my glossies. I hoped to get at least a souvenir from my brush with Tinseltown. She said she’d try.

I’d like to tell you that Eddie sent back an autographed photo. But that would be a Hollywood ending.

POSTSCRIPT: A Paramount spokeswoman told Outtakes that the studio bought the photos because “we thought they were so terrific,” but there are no plans now to use them.