Marx Brothers’ Heirs Are No Comedy Team

For years, the heirs of Chico and Harpo Marx have squabbled with the estate of the third Marx brother, Groucho, claiming they’re getting the short end of the shtick.

On Friday, a federal judge said they might have a case. U.S. District Judge Dickran Teverizian blocked distribution of a cartoon version of the Marx Brothers slapstick comedy trio until representatives of the estates cut out the monkey business.

The Marx Brothers’ film legacy includes such classics as “Animal Crackers,” “Monkey Business,” “Horse Feathers” and “Duck Soup.”

The Chico and Harpo estates claim that Groucho’s estate cheated them by concealing a deal for the animated Marx Brothers television show. The judge agreed that, although the rights were sold for $130,000, Groucho’s estate never forwarded any of the money to Harpo’s and Chico’s estates.

In a 16-page opinion granting the injunction, the judge bars the Groucho group from using the images of Harpo and Chico without their permission.

An attorney for the Harpo and Chico camp called the ruling “a victory for the estates of deceased celebrities everywhere.” The lawyer, Thomas Brackey, added: “No longer are unrelated third parties free to traffic in, and profiteer on the names and likenesses of these famous people.”

*

COVER ME: Actor Woody Harrelson says he wasn’t in good hands with Allstate. The hemp-hyping star of TV’s “Cheers” and such films as “White Men Can’t Jump” is suing his insurance company in Los Angeles Superior Court. He claims Allstate failed to properly defend him in a 1996 civil assault suit filed by two tabloid photographers.

Harrelson wound up paying for his own defense in the case, which resulted in a verdict in 1998 of $2,500 in civil damages for one shooter and $1 for the other. The plaintiffs’ lawyers, meanwhile, wound up with a whopping $79,000 in fees, also paid by Harrelson.

Harrelson charges that his insurance company’s lawyer didn’t conduct adequate discovery and filed a flimsy pretrial brief. Then, 11 days before trial, Harrelson claims, the insurance company lawyer abandoned him.

An Allstate spokesman said the dispute is a routine business matter. Harrelson was covered by his homeowner’s policy for negligence--an allegation the company’s lawyers succeeded in getting dismissed, a spokesman said.

*

IT’S ALIVE: Proof again that everything in pop culture is derivative: They’re fighting in federal court over the Blob.

Worldwide Entertainment, the distributor of the 1958 cult film classic is suing Scholastic Corp., publisher of the R.L. Stine “Goosebumps” suspense book series, for trademark infringement. At issue is Goosebumps’ installment No. 55, “The Blob That Ate Everyone.”

Producer Jack Harris, the movie version’s creator, said in a telephone interview that “The Blob,” the first of his 25 films, “is my mainstay.” He added, “I think they’ve infringed. I think it’s unfair. They can’t go around doing that.”

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, seeks an injunction and damages in excess of $100,000.

The real “Blob,” the suit states, starred Steve McQueen and “a monster in the form of a reddish gooey substance which dissolved, absorbed or ingested what it came across and kept growing until it was finally stopped.”

The alleged knockoff blob, according to the suit, is pink, and just as voracious--consuming an entire town as it grows to epic proportions.

The “Blob” movie poster included a disclaimer denying “all responsibility for heart attacks, fainting or any other damages to the nerves.” The book jacket warns: “Reader beware--you’re in for a scare.”

*

SOME LITIGATION REQUIRED: Prolific producer Roger Corman is suing a former employee and a handful of production companies for $1 million, claiming they tricked him into appearing in the docudrama “Some Nudity Required,” which portrayed him in less than flattering terms.

Corman’s Los Angeles Superior Court suit alleges that the docudrama, recently released in video, violated an agreement involving clips from his films “Slumber Party Massacre III,” “Dinosaur Island,” “Saturday Night Special,” “Angel of Destruction,” “Naked Obsession,” “Sorority House Massacre II,” and “Midnight Tease.”

The docudrama’s producer, former opera singer and Corman musical director Odette Springer (no relation to Jerry) also allegedly violated a licensing agreement for snippets of original Corman songs.

Corman claims Springer, who could not be reached, duped him into appearing in the film by telling him it was about “women in film.” Instead, it’s an exploration of the sex and slasher genre, according to the suit and critical reviews.

Corman claims the video defames him when an interview subject claims: “The film that I did for Roger Corman was an old ‘Star Trek’ episode that he stole.”

Corman says he is not a thief.

*

LAWSUIT.COM: Famed sci-fi writer Harlan Ellison charges in a federal lawsuit that America Online and other defendants posted four of his short stories from the 1960s on the Internet without permission.

Ellison claims fellow writers recently told him that the full texts of “ ‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman,” “Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes,” “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” and “Pennies, off a Dead Man’s Eyes” could be downloaded from the Web.

Ellison, an acclaimed author and short story writer, said in his suit that his reputation could be diminished if potential readers confuse his work with the cyber versions, which contain typing errors and show a “lack of literary skill.” He seeks an injunction and unspecified monetary damages.