Model Barbie Need Not Walk Mattel Runway

Adios, nanny . . . And a couple of Hollywood Hollys, most unjolly.

Hello, Barbie-Sue. Goodbye, art. That’s the way things were going for Utah photographer Tom Forsythe until the American Civil Liberties Union decided to make its mark in the world of Barbie doll litigation.

The ACLU, defending Forsythe’s free-speech rights, took on Mattel in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. A team of San Francisco lawyers working for free convinced Judge Ronald S. Lew to turn down the El Segundo toymaker’s request for a preliminary injunction against Forsythe. The artist uses Barbie dolls to parody American consumerism. His critically acclaimed photos have been exhibited around the country.

Mattel, which vigorously defends the image of its plastic princess, sued Forsythe in August, alleging trademark and copyright infringement. The ACLU argued that the toy company was trying to bully the artist and stifle his 1st Amendment rights.

Lew, refusing to grant Mattel an injunction, said Mattel’s lawsuit did not appear likely to succeed, the ACLU said.

“My Barbie series of photos critiques the Barbie doll and the shallow, consumerist values fostered and perpetuated by it,” Forsythe said in a prepared statement issued by the ACLU. He added that he never expected that Mattel--”chief purveyor of images that degrade and silence young women”--would haul him into court and turn his life upside down. “This lawsuit has been a surreal experience.”

According to the ACLU, Mattel has a “long rap sheet” of suits against artists who parody its golden girl. How come nobody ever goes to court over Skipper, Ken and Midge?

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NEVER MIND: It looks as if actor Corbin Bernsen has been the victim of an Arnie Becker-style legal maneuver. Becker, of course, was the slick divorce lawyer Bernsen played on the hit television drama “L.A. Law.”

Bernsen’s former nanny recently sued him in Superior Court in Van Nuys, accusing him of groping her fanny and tossing a child into her chest in a fit of temper. Well, guess what, folks. Faster than you can say Mackenzie Brackman, case dismissed.

Bernsen’s lawyer, Mike Novicoff, says he knew something was up when he got a letter before the papers were even served. In the note, the nanny’s lawyer, Mark R. Schwartz, said she wants to drop it. The reason, according to the letter: The tabloids are onto it. The National Enquirer and the Examiner, to be precise.

Normally such words would strike terror in a celeb’s heart. But it was nanny Karla Sanchez who blinked first.

“Mrs. Sanchez has indicated to me that she does not wish to be in the public eye, she does not wish her name to be in any publication, and based on her dislike of any notoriety, she has asked me to withdraw the subject lawsuit in exchange for a mutual release of any and all causes of action by and between Karla Sanchez and Corbin and/or Amanda Bernsen,” attorney Schwartz wrote.

Here’s a hot tip: If you don’t want your name in the papers, don’t sue a famous person.

Novicoff says Bernsen denies the nanny’s allegations, adding that he didn’t pay her a cent to make this case go away.

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HOLLY #1: Remember Holly Hallstrom, the “Price Is Right” model who claims she was forced off the game show after 19 years for packing on a few pounds? We thought her dispute with host Bob Barker and the show’s producers had gone buh-bye. Ha!

Yes, Barker recently withdrew his defamation suit against her, three days before it was set for trial. And yes, her counter-claim also has been dismissed.

But Hallstrom is back in Los Angeles Superior Court again, charging in a new lawsuit that Barker’s initial case was frivolous, an abuse of the courts and a thinly veiled attempt to chill her 1st Amendment right to defend herself.

Hallstrom now claims in court papers that she learned only recently that she’d been tricked into leaving the show after the producers dangled a $187,500 severance package they never intended to pay. She charges that she was told if she didn’t take it, the show’s new owners would can her. Named as defendants were Barker and Jeremy Shamos, executor of the estate of the show’s late producer, Mark Goodson. Hallstrom seeks unspecified punitive and exemplary damages. C’mon down!

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HOLLY #2: Also most unjolly is Holly Holmberg Brooks, a former flight attendant who is suing ex-beau James L. Brooks, the noted producer, for $100 million. She claims that Brooks has failed to live up to his promise to fork over half the “cohabitation property” they amassed during 27 years together.

Holmberg says she was a wide-eyed 21-year-old flight attendant from Minnesota when she met the 36-year-old Brooks on a Minneapolis-Los Angles flight in May 1973. At the time, Brooks was the creator of and a writer on “The Mary Tyler Moore” show.

Apparently Holmberg turned his world on with her smile. Brooks was immediately smitten and most persistent, according to the suit. He asked her out on a date over the Memorial Day weekend and “vigorously pursued” her on a “regular and exclusive basis.”

Says the suit, “As an older man and professional writer, James was powerfully persuasive and exploited plaintiff’s relative youth and lack of business and financial experience.” Within a month, Holmberg had moved in with him in Malibu.

They never married but acted as man and wife, the suit says. He went out and created “Rhoda,” “Lou Grant,” “Taxi,” “Cheers,” “Terms of Endearment, “Broadcast News,” “The Simpsons,” “Jerry Maguire” and “As Good as It Gets.” She made things nice for him at home.

Alas, they now have separated. No date or reason for the split was mentioned in the suit, which accuses Brooks of breaching his promise to share everything with her. Brooks could not be reached.