Frankie and Annette Toss a Wet Blanket on Brochure
Anna Nicole’s deep pockets . . . Life after O.J. . . . Little Richard loses his ride . . . No thrills from “Notting Hill.”
Beach blanket lawsuit! Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello, icons of those innocent 1960s movies extolling the virtues of California beaches and bikini babes, are suing the parent company of Macy’s over a brochure used for an in-house promotion.
Avalon and Funicello’s Los Angeles Superior Court suit accuses Federated Department Stores Inc. of invading their privacy by using their picture on the brochure cover without permission.
Also named as a defendant is the company that designed and distributed the brochure, Pro-Active Direct Marketing Inc.
Beginning in April, the brochure was sent to Macy’s employees to encourage them to sign up customers for a new program called Club Macy’s.
Avalon and Funicello are seeking an injunction halting distribution of the brochure, as well as damages in excess of $250,000 each. They charge that Macy’s and the marketing company have exploited them, diluted the value of their publicity rights and caused them embarrassment and humiliation.
A Macy’s spokesperson could not be reached.
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FINAL OFFER? What a movie pair they would have made--Long Island Lothario Joey Buttafuoco, famous for an affair with a scheming young girl, and Playboy pinup Anna Nicole Smith, famous for her marriage to an aged oil billionaire.
Alas, it was not to be. And movie producer Vince Offer considers that a grievous loss. He’s suing Smith, alleging that she backed out of a 1996 movie deal after deciding it was a bad career move.
Thanks to a $450-million award last month from a federal bankruptcy judge in Los Angeles, Smith should have some newly deep pockets. Offer’s suit demands damages of $4 million.
The suit alleges that Smith, the widow of the richest oilman in Texas, breached her 1996 contract in which she promised to star in Offer’s film, called “Underground Comedy Movie.”
According to the suit, Smith’s handlers sent him a letter saying the film role wouldn’t be “good for her career or public image.” Offer eventually made the film anyway, with Buttafuoco and others.
Smith, who is locked in a Texas probate battle with her stepson, could not be reached.
Last month, the bankruptcy judge ruled that Smith’s stepson had cheated her out of her right to inherit. Smith, a former topless dancer, married J. Howard Marshall in 1994, when she wasn’t yet 30 and he was pushing 90. He died 14 months after the nuptials.
Buttafuoco gained national notoriety in 1992 when his teenage lover, Amy Fisher, shot his wife, Mary Jo, in the face on the doorstep of the couple’s Long Island home. The Buttafuocos recently separated.
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MOVING ON: O.J. Simpson may not have paid a dime of that $33.5-million civil judgment yet, but attorney Daniel Petrocelli seems to be getting on with life.
Petrocelli, who also wrote a book about the trial, is moving from one prestigious law firm to another. He’ll be joining O’Melveny & Myers as a partner, ending a 20-year stint at Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp.
Petrocelli, who represented Fred Goldman, father of Ron Goldman, in the Simpson civil case, praised his former firm as “a great place to work,” and said he departs with mixed feelings of “fondness and sadness.”
He said he was joining O’Melveny & Myers because its national and international presence will provide opportunities for professional growth.
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TUTTI-FRUTTI, LAWSUITI: For a while, singer Little Richard sure rode in style. A Los Angeles limousine company claims he ran up more than $70,000 in unpaid bills.
Jackson Limousine Service Inc. claims in a suit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court that the 64-year-old performer hasn’t paid a limo bill since March 11, 1999. Little Richard, formerly known as Richard Penniman, could not be reached for comment.
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HOW CHEEKY: British-born writer Nick Villiers claims the Hugh Grant-Julia Roberts hit movie “Notting Hill” includes ideas stolen from him, and he’s seeking $15 million from an old friend who just happened to be the producer.
Villiers’ Los Angeles Superior Court suit claims that in 1986, he told pal Eric Fellner about a novel he was working on. He called the work “Cheeks.”
Over the years, the suit charges, Fellner assured Villiers that he’d be paid and receive credit if his “Cheeks” material ever was used on television or in the movies.
Flash forward to the summer of 1999. “Notting Hill” is a box office smash. Fellner is the producer. But, the suit states, even though the movie allegedly included “startling similarities” to “Cheeks,” Villiers is left out in the cold.
