Mae West At Law

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 153, 25 March 1938, Page 16

Mae West At Law

Dispute Over Royalties On Early Film f)N the heels of a pending plagiarism ■ suit, Mark Linder, -a writer, is suing Mae West and Paramount for £200,000, alleging she done him wrong, states a New York writer. Mr. Linder alleges breach of contract and conspiracy in connection with her 1934 film, “She Done Him. ■, Wrong.’’ This is, in fact, another instalment of trouble that has dogged Mae ever since she appeared as Eve to Don Ameche’s Adam in a radio comedy entitled “Adam and Eve’’ on December 12. Mr. Linder says that he wrote a small play which he and Mae West agreed to copyright under the title “Diamond Lil.” They were to shaire tlie royalties. Later he was persuaded to sell his interest for £5OOO. The film netted Mae West £68,000, while Paramount’s profits were £BOO,OOO. The plagiarism suit is one in which Joan Strong, the writer, claims £2OOO against Mae* West in. connection with the “A’dam and Eve” iadio. ; She says that the skit was lifted from her play “Love and Apple Sauce,” and her lawyer states: “She thought she had a clean play until she heard it over the radio." The “Tablet,” a Roman Catholic paper published in Brooklyn, described; the. skit as “a cheap travesty on the Garden of Eden.” v. i The skit revealed Adam . ■ cool to-' wards Eve until the sneak came along and gave Eve an apple, from which she made apple sauce The general impression is that Mae West’s voice gave more meaning to the, lines than they originally bore. iiiiiiiiiiiKiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiii