People and Events

You probably thought that Batman owns the Batmobile, but Hollywood car customizer George Barris says it’s his. He has filed a $15-million suit in Los Angeles federal court against a comic book publisher, claiming breach of contract.

Barris contends that when he was hired to design the Batmobile for the “Batman” television series in the 1960s, he was given ownership of the double-bubble car as well as merchandising rights.

But DC Comics, successor to the contracting publisher and current owner of “Batman,” has been licensing use of the TV-version Batmobile for toys and other items. The Batmobile being shown throughout the world as the TV version is “only a duplicate,” insists Robert Winckler, Barris’ lawyer.

Winckler notes that the original comic book Batmobile “was a big square kind of ordinary-looking car” with a large Batman face across the front. The Barris-built car, he says, “was totally different--a unique design.”

In New York City, DC Comics licensing executive Marilyn Drucker said she was unfamiliar with the Barris suit. But, she said, “we maintain very strict control over our characters.”

King Kong is on the move again. His head is, at least. An exhibit of movie and television special effects was being dismantled Tuesday at the California Museum of Science and Industry in Exposition Park. It goes on the road with museum stops in St. Paul, Chicago, Boston, Columbus, Philadelphia, Charlotte and Ft. Worth.

During the exhibit’s three months here, thousands of visitors got a close look at such creations as the Flying Winnebago from “Spaceballs,” Norman’s well-preserved mother from “Psycho III” and TV’s California raisins. They were able to push the right buttons to change the facial expressions of that old romantic, King Kong.

You notice they’re not letting him anywhere near New York City.

As for another exhibit that closed here, Santa Monica peace activist Jerry Rubin went to the Universal Studios Tour on Sunday--the final day for “Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future”--to protest that it was a promotion for war toys and television violence. At least three TV news crews tried to follow him inside.

Because no studio tour public relations people were on duty at the time, the news crews reported, they were told they couldn’t enter the gates without tickets.

They bought them and covered the event without further problems.

“We’re delighted they thought enough (of us) to buy the tickets,” one of those PR folks said on Tuesday. “That’s great.”

KNBC news Managing Editor Pete Noyes was not that delighted but admitted, “I guess we can afford to buy tickets.” However, Noyes observed, “The next time Universal wants us to cover one of their promotions over there, we might think twice about it.”

A recent Los Angeles Police Department memo noted that there had been “a number of complaints” from Solano Avenue residents next to the Police Academy about speeders. “Unfortunately,” it was conceded, “some department employees, both on and off duty, have exceeded the speed limit (25 m.p.h.) for the area.”

The area is now being policed “on a regular basis,” according to the memo.

Mayor Tom Bradley was in Calvert, Tex., on Tuesday.

Why Calvert, Tex., of all places?

Because it’s his hometown. He was to spend a couple of days there before going on to New York for meetings today with fellow mayors and the bosses of General Motors, which has a plant in Van Nuys.

While in Calvert--which is about 45 miles from Dallas--Bradley is helping dedicate a power plant and presumably telling the folks about life in the city.

Follow-up note on the planned Sunday audition at the Music Center Annex for gang members to perform in the return engagement of the play “Gangs”:

The producer says they need “100 Anglos (white), 100 Blacks, 100 Hispanics, 150 Asians (25 Japanese, 25 Chinese, 25 Koreans, 25 Filipinos, 25 Thais and 25 Vietnamese), 100 Native Indian Americans, 100 Females (mixed), 100 Middle Eastern types” and more than 100 people for non-gang roles.