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Peggy Sues
Soft-spoken chanteuse Peggy Lee has won an important round in her
$25 million suit against Walt Disney Studios. Lee, who cowrote songs
and supplied the voices of four characters for Disney's 1955 classic
Lady and the Tramp, says she deserves a cut of the movie's
huge video profits. A summary judgment in Los Angeles Superior Court
has established Disney's liability in the case, and Lee will seek
damages soon. ''This could be a monumental decision for all performers
and writers,'' says Lee, who was paid only $3,500 for her vocals.
Although home video hadn't been invented when Lady first came out,
her contract allowed her to approve (and profit from) ''transcriptions
for sale to the public.'' Lee's lawyer, David Blasband, maintained
that the word ''transcriptions'' should include videocassettes. Now
that the issue has been decided in her favor, Lee says,''A lot of
people are saying to me, 'Good for you.' ''
America's Tiniest Home Videos
Honey, JVC shrunk the VCR. When the company's newest home video
system appears this summer, it will be the smallest ever to hit the
consumer market. It consists of a five-inch-long camera, a
sandwich-size VCR, and a three-inch color TV. The largest component
of the SC-F007 — or 007 for short — is the cost: $2,400.
Comin' at Ya
The Mask, a 1961 3-D movie, is one of the few 3-D videocassettes
and is now the first 3-D movie on laserdisc. In it,
an Aztec mask causes wearers to hallucinate and kill people. Four
pairs of 3-D glasses are provided so viewers can share the
hallucination, though Rhino takes no responsibility for what might
happen next.
