RARA-AVIS: Re: RARA-AVIS Digest V2 #730

Reed Andrus (randrus@home.com)
Fri, 23 Apr 1999 11:51:19 -0700 > Date: Fri, 23 Apr 1999 09:59:16 -0500
> From: "Victoria Esposito-Shea" <vmes@sbt.infi.net>
> Subject: RARA-AVIS: Re: Life v. Fiction (the lawsuit)

> In the U.S. at least, that's been done a number of times. The classic
> example is a suit called _Time, Inc. v. Hill_ that made it up to the U.S.
> Supreme Court. Remember the Bogart movie The Desperate Hours? Apparently,
> it was based on a play, which was in turn based on a real-life incident.
> The problems started when Life magazine ran a piece on the play, including
> a mention of the real life incident, and the Hill family successfully sued
> Time/Life for portraying them in a "false light"--because the play made
> them out to be *braver* than they were in real life. (As a historical
> footnote, Richard Nixon was the Hills' lawyer, and the case can be found at
> 385 U.S. 374 (1967).)
>
> Go figure.
>
> Vicky Esposito-Shea
> (now returning to lurkdom and finals)

This is interesting. I thought The Desparate Hours was a novel by Joseph
Hayes -- a very good one, by the way. Was it a play before the novel, or
after?

... Reed
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