MOVIES - June 6, 1988

A lunchtime crowd mobbed Paul Newman on Friday--almost flattening two nearby cameramen in the process--outside a Bridgeport, Conn., courtroom where delicatessen owner Julius Gold is suing the star for a share in the profits from Newman’s Own, the actor’s food business which currently donates its profits to charity. Gold--whose deli is located in the affluent New York suburb of Westport where Newman also lives--alleges that he was offered a small percentage of stock in the company in 1979, when he drove back to Connecticut with Newman after a business meeting in New York with the actor and partners A. E. Hotchner and David Kalman, also named as defendants in the suit. Gold claimed he helped the men find a bottler and set up a marketing plan for the business, which has since expanded to include spaghetti sauce, popcorn and lemonade. Newman’s attorney, Patrick Ryan, attacked the claim, citing earlier testimony by Gold that he had never discussed money with Newman. Ryan said Gold had devised a business plan that included stock for himself without telling Newman or the other defendants. As Newman--who’s expected to testify later in the suit--left the courthouse, 100 fans screamed compliments and followed him along downtown streets, leaving a news photographer and television cameraman sprawled on the pavement in their wake.