Dec. 17, 1964 - The University of Notre Dame won a temporary injunction yesterday against the showing and distribution of the film “John Goldfarb, Please Come Home.”
New York State Supreme Court Justice Henry Clay Greenberg upheld Notre Dame’s contention that the distribution of the 20th Century‐Fox film without the university’s consent would be an illegal misappropriation of the symbols, name, and prestige of the institution and its widely publicized football team. The ruling also applied to a novel of the same name on which the film is based.
David Peck, counsel for Notre Dame, and its president, the Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, noted that the injunction, if not vacated on appeal, would bar the showing of the motion picture anywhere in the world because Fox maintains headquarters in New York.
“John Goldfarb, Please Come Home” was scheduled to open Christmas Day in 23 motion picture houses in New York City and about 200 theaters in the state. Showings in 200 theaters outside the state were scheduled for dates after Jan. 1.
The controversial film, described by Fox as a harmless spoof, stars Shirley MacLaine, Peter Ustinov, and Richard Crenna.
The story concerns a U‐2 pilot who crashes in a mythical Arabian kingdom and is forced to field a football team to oppose Notre Dame. The king wants to defeat Notre Dame because his son could not qualify for the school’s team.
On the eve of the game, the Notre Dame football players are shown at a banquet feasting on exotic foods and watching scantily clad belly dancers. The next day, Notre Dame loses the game.
In a 19‐page opinion, Justice Greenberg dismissed all technical objections raised against the Notre Dame complaint. He overrode the contention that the film and the novel represented a legitimate exercise of the right to spoof any institution by satire and comedy, even without the consent of the institution involved.
“The glaringly evident purpose and effect of defendants’ ‘tacking on’ of the name and symbols of Notre Dame,” the justice wrote, “were to capitalize on the commercial value such name and symbols had acquired in the minds of the consuming public.
“This is a clear case of commercial piracy, and in no way is this decision intended to, nor does it restrict the legitimate conduct of the press or the expression of free speech.”
William Peter Blatty, author of the book and the film’s screenplay, said the script was “totally innocuous” and that the Notre Dame team was shown “in an amusing and good-natured light.”
Executives at Fox refused to comment on any aspect of the situation, on advice from the company’s lawyers.
Early in the day, most of the theaters in the New York metropolitan area that had booked the film to open on Christmas Day were reported ready to substitute another Fox film, “The Pleasure Seekers,” as a last-minute replacement.
Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s
תגובות