Battle Over Comedy Lives On in Reruns

A case that’s no laughing matter . . . a rebel with a clause . . . Melissa Gilbert wins a round in the tabloid wars . . . and a federal lawsuit is “Gone With the Wind.”

Every 20 years or so, Kent Goodman finds himself fighting to protect his idea for the television show “Make Me Laugh.” Before, a telegram or letter used to do the trick. Now, it takes a lawsuit.

Goodman’s suit, filed recently in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, reads like a TV time capsule. He came up with the idea for “Make Me Laugh” in 1948, and signed with the William Morris Agency, but never sold his show, said his lawyer, Michael L. Novicoff.

Attached to the lawsuit is a 1954 clipping from the Hollywood Reporter, crediting Goodman as the show’s creator.

Two other people have been credited with the on-air versions of “Make Me Laugh”--in 1958, 1979 and now, 1998. Twice before, Goodman was able to force the copycat shows off the air. Now he’s suing Buena Vista Television and a production company for copyright infringement.

The game show, currently running on the cable channel Comedy Central, requires contestants to maintain a straight face for 60 seconds while being barraged by the comedy shticks of actors, comics and fellow contestants.

According to court papers, Goodman was working in advertising when he came up with the “Make Me Laugh” concept. “He’s literally one of the founding fathers of television,” said Novicoff. “This is a 50-year-old wrong.”

This time, Goodman isn’t looking to kill the show. His suit seeks his share of the profits and court costs.

A spokeswoman at Buena Vista declined comment.

REBEL WITH A CLAUSE: A Superior Court judge in Van Nuys has blocked the release of Robert Mitchum’s final film because of a dispute over a name left out of the credits.

Susanna E. Groves claims she was promised the line producer’s credit for the film “James Dean: Race With Destiny.” Her former boss, producer/director Mardi Rustam, says that Groves was his secretary and that the credit has been promised in writing to someone else.

Groves recently won the injunction from Judge Bert Glennon Jr., who declared her the film’s sole line producer and blocked its release until she gets her credit. Groves’ lawyer, Brian Lee Corber, said the show can go on as scheduled once the producers comply and give his client her credit.

Meanwhile, court records indicate that Groves prevailed in part because Rustam’s lawyer stopped showing up. The lawyer, Jeffrey P. Meyer, did not return phone calls.

A spokeswoman with the State Bar Court said Meyer was suspended from practicing law Nov. 30 in connection with a previous disciplinary matter over his failure to communicate with clients.

Rustam, who has hired a new lawyer, said Meyer never mentioned the suspension but continued to bill him.

The film premiered in Dean’s Indiana hometown in September, on the 42nd anniversary of his death. Mitchum played George Stevens, director of “Rebel Without a Cause,” which Dean completed shortly before he died. Mitchum’s granddaughter, Carrie, played actress Pier Angeli, Dean’s love interest during his last year.

Dean died Sept. 30, 1955, when his new silver Porsche Spyder--nicknamed the “Little Bastard”--collided with a Ford sedan on a country road about 20 miles east of Paso Robles, Calif.

Mitchum died July 1 of lung cancer.

ENQUIRING MINDS: Melissa Gilbert, best known for her role on TV’s “Little House on the Prairie,” has won a round against the National Enquirer. She had sued the supermarket tabloid over a July 1995 story that called her a “deadbeat mom.”

After her case was dismissed in Los Angeles Superior Court, Gilbert appealed to the state Court of Appeal and won. The Enquirer then appealed to the state Supreme Court.

By refusing to hear the Enquirer’s appeal, the high court has sent Gilbert’s libel and invasion of privacy suit back to square one in Superior Court.

The case involves an Enquirer story based on an interview with Gilbert’s former husband, Bo Brinkman, who criticized her maternal skills. Among the reported examples of bad mothering: Gilbert made her children watch “Little House” reruns.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Aviva Bobb had dismissed Gilbert’s suit in 1995, ruling that there was some news value in what Brinkman had to say about his former wife.

But the Court of Appeal disagreed, finding that the tabloid had a duty to independently verify Brinkman’s statements about Gilbert’s mothering. The appellate court concluded that Brinkman had an ax to grind and was therefore “not necessarily a trustworthy and responsible source of information” about his ex.

Attorney Marcia Harris said Gilbert plans to pursue the case. “She wants her day in court.”

Enquirer attorney Paul Gaffney had no comment.

GONE WITH THE WIND: The heirs of 1930s movie agent Myron Selznick, brother of legendary film producer David O. Selznick, will receive $3.5 million as part of their settlement with Turner Entertainment Co. over profits from “Gone With the Wind,” according to court documents.

The settlement was approved last week in U.S. District Court, documents show.

David O. Selznick produced the 1939 classic through his Selznick International Pictures, which he and Myron founded. He traded his rights to the film to MGM for the services of Clark Gable, who played Rhett Butler.

Unlike his brother, Myron held on to a small piece of the film. Turner acquired “GWTW” when it bought the MGM film library in 1986. The movie now belongs to Warner Bros., which had no comment on the settlement.

Myron Selznick died in 1944, leaving his interest in the film to his daughter, Joan Selznick Grill, who died in 1989. Her estate was divided among three heirs--including Daniel and L. Jeffrey Selznick, the sons of David O. Selznick.

In their lawsuit, the heirs accused Turner of underreporting profits from “GWTW,” one of the top moneymakers of all time. The heirs share a 5% interest.

L. Jeffrey Selznick died in May after suffering a heart attack while he was giving a deposition in connection with the case, attorney Brian Raisin said. The lawyer recalled that his 64-year-old client turned to him and said, “This is terrible,” before collapsing while answering another lawyer’s questions.

DEATH IN THE FAMILY: The daughters of a 75-year-old woman who lapsed into a coma and died before she could be sentenced for murder have filed a wrongful death suit against Los Angeles County.

The Superior Court suit by Elisabeth Haynes and Pamela Lisi alleges that poor medical care by the county’s jail system caused the death of their mother, Jo Lula Haynes.

The women contend that county doctors failed to prescribe proper medication for Haynes, who suffered from diabetes and other ailments. They also allege that jail doctors failed to diagnose their mother’s hairy cell leukemia, a treatable form of cancer when caught early.

Haynes pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the Halloween 1993 shooting death of Disney theme park executive Kenneth Lisi, her former son-in-law, who had been embroiled in a bitter custody dispute with Pamela Lisi. Haynes had become convinced that Kenneth Lisi molested her granddaughters, even though a judge had granted him custody of the girls.

Pamela Lisi collected more than $600,000 in insurance money in connection with the death of her former husband, prosecutors have said.

Haynes faced up to 19 years in state prison. She was trying to rescind her guilty plea when she fell into a yearlong coma that ended with her death.

A BLOCKBUSTER OF A SUIT: Joan Fontaine, who won an Academy Award in 1941 for her role in the suspense classic “Suspicion,” is suing Blockbuster Entertainment for invasion of privacy. The actress, who is in her 70s and lives near Carmel, claims that Blockbuster over-hyped her appearance in the video release of the film “Othello” as a feature role when she was merely a walk-on.

Her attorney, Irving Meyer, said Fontaine learned about the alleged misrepresentation of her role in the film when a fan wrote her a letter.

There was no immediate comment from Blockbuster’s corporate headquarters in Dallas.