'Huck Finn' Copyright Holder Blocks Cast

Yahoo News ^ | 05/21/05 | AP

[Rastus]

GLENELG, Md. - A black Huck Finn and a white Jim might be OK for a high school production of Mark Twain's classic tale — but those performances had to be edited out of a C-Span talent show after the copyright holder objected to the cross-casting.

Jay Frisby, a black student who played Huck, and Nick Lehan, a white student who played Jim, taped their performance of the song "Muddy Water" for "Close Up," a weekly show that highlights high school excellence.

When the program aired Friday, the two Glenelg Country School seniors were introduced, but viewers were told that "Close Up" could not show their performance because of "copyright restrictions."

Lehan and Frisby had played the roles of Jim and Huck in the school's production of "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" without complaint. But when the show's executive producer asked for the right to air the students' performance, permission was denied.

Bert Fink, a spokesman for R&H Theatricals — the Rodgers & Hammerstein organization, which holds the license to the play — said his organization is not against cross-casting in general.

"But when you're dealing with a theatrical work and race or ethnicity is a key factor, many authors or playwrights feel strongly that ethnicity has to be reflected in the actors who portray the characters," he said.

"In the books, Jim is a runaway slave. He is clearly in the novel an African-American man. And Huck is a free white man — that is central to the story. To ignore that component or to comment on it by switching is not faithful to the story."

Frisby's father, Washington attorney Russell Frisby, said he was appalled by the decision.

"The only rationale for it is that someone in New York believes Huck Finn can't be played by an African-American. I thought we were past the days of 'whites only' clauses," the elder Frisby said.

[beaver fever]

Look forward to PhD programs in "Step'n Fetch It" studies.

In the 'radical' sixties Step was considered a handkerchief head and Black activists spared no insult about his career even though he was a brilliant caricaturist of the lazy Black stereotype and one of the first Black movie stars when blacks had few or no speaking parts.

Today the left would celebrate him as a revolutionary hero if they weren't so lazy themselves.

And don't even get me going on Rochester.

[Daaave]

Telly Savalas as Kojak

Ving Rhames as Kojak

"Who loves ya, baby?"

[beaver fever]

Didn't Jim Nabors already do Porgy?

[Dinsdale]

Mickey Mouse has trademark protection which will never run out unless disney stops enforcing it (which means if it happens our only concerns will be catching Rickey Rat for dinner).

What disney manipulates the system to extend forever is the copyright on 'Steamboat Willie' the first Mickey film.

[KneelBeforeZod]

too bad there isn't some purist who owns shakespeare copyrights.

then we'd be spared seeing "hip" and "modern" interpretations of his plays with female julius caesers, gay romeo and julius, macbeth set in the board room of a fortune 500 company, albino midget othellos etc. (well I've never seen any productions like this, but they're not far off from what "clever" people have done.

[freepatriot32]

so is jim going to be refered to as white n**ger jim in the play or will they just airbrush that whole aspect of the story out to make it more palitable for the pc masses? I would have denied them the rights too just for being pc weenies

[Rodney King]

OK, thanks for the clarification.

[EdHallick]

I heard about that. Is that unreal or what? I also heard the melody is from an old German folk song, but even if it isn`t, you can tell the thing is over 200 years old just by listening to formal waltz music from the 1700`s. But noooooooo, just because some idiot claims he or she wrote it, and I bet you that copyright claim was made in the early 1900`s, let`s give the next 9 gazillion generations of his family money if you want to sell Happy birthday stuff that plays it.

[Rastus]

The only thing that bugs me about the Rhames Kojak is that the show kind of sucks. When you've got a Mexican standoff involving an M60 in something like the third episode, and a King Cobra being thrown in a lady's car in about the fifth, it's a sign that you're in trouble. That's the kind of lunacy you usually throw into a show seven seasons in when you're running on fumes.

[Jeff Chandler]

"White trash Jim".

[nickcarraway]

Was it Othello?

[nickcarraway]

Just because they have a copyright, he can't be appalled, or think they are idiots? I never knew copyright meant you weren't entitled to your own opinon.

[Jeff Chandler]

I'm reminded of Michael Crichton's book 'Congo". In the book, there was a character who was a sort of white mercenary who was their guide. In the movie, the character was black, which really didn't affect the plot, but he referred to himself as, "the great white hunter...", a silly pun made worse by the fact that the screenwriter didn't think the audience bright enough to get the joke, so he added, "...but I'm black". If I recall correctly, the character did that on two occasions, which was terribly insulting.

They made a good story into a cartoonish waste of celluloid.

[Drammach]

I seem to recall just recently reading something concerning Disney's attempt to expand copyright law even further..

I don't think it has been more than 90 days ago..

And don't get me started on Disney's abuse of copyright law and plagiarism, like "The Lion King".. and others...
No, don't get me started..

[dread78645]

That's an awfull lot of work to go through to keep making money from "I Got/Had You Babe".

Two words: Karaoke

[Carolinamom]

Look forward to PhD programs in "Step'n Fetch It" studies.

LOL!

[snodog]

Pay that loot before you sing Camptown races.

Damn, and I was just about to bust out with my sick vocals!

[evilC]

I agree!

It seems strange that patents still have a term of 28 years (IIRC), but copyrights have almost become perpetual. I think a non-renewable term of 20 to thirty years for both seems fair.

Why is "Happy Birthday to You" (copyright) worthy of more protection than a life-saving medicine (patent)?

As a sidebar, I really hate the term "intellectual property". Patents and copyrights are temporary monopoly privileges granted by governments.

[Bernard]

My wife threw a fit when the new Kojak was replacing all the good time slot and re-run that used to be filled by "Monk", but I thought the last season was an indication that Monk was already slowing down.

Haven't see the new Kojak, but from the descriptions here it sounds like I haven't missed anything. Kojak without Telly Savalas sounds like Bozo the Clown starring Howard Dean.... wait a minute!!

[dsc]

"I think a non-renewable term of 20 to thirty years for both seems fair."

Yeah, and one thing I neglected to mention in my previous note is that the Constitution specifically refers to authors and inventors. It doesn't say anything about corporations that had nothing to do with the act of creation.