Federal court fails to rule in Beatty/Dick Tracy case

Federal court fails to rulein Beatty/Dick Tracy case
LOS ANGELES -- A hearing in federal court on whether Warren Beatty owns the film rights to the Dick Tracy comic book character has ended without a ruling.
Beatty produced, directed and starred as the sharp-jawed detective in a 1990 movie released by The Walt Disney Co.
The 69-year-old actor-director wants to make a sequel. He sued Tribune Media Services last year claiming he owns the film rights as the result of a deal he made in 1985.
Tribune Media Services has argued it holds the film rights to the character. The company is a division of Chicago-based Tribune Co., which owns radio and TV stations nationwide and newspapers including the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times.
Last year, U.S. District Judge Dean Pregerson ruled the lawsuit could go forward. On Monday, Pregerson heard arguments on Tribune's motion to rule on its behalf. Beatty wasn't in the courtroom.
Maura Wogan, a Tribune Co. lawyer, argued that a deal Beatty made with Disney to reserve rights to make a Tracy film required permission from Tribune to be valid.
Beatty's lawyer, Bert Fields, argued his client didn't need consent to reserve the rights.
Warrant for star's arrestfollows assault claim
MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Hank Williams Jr. plans to surrender on a warrant issued in a reported assault on a hotel waitress last month, his publicist said.
Williams left on a hunting trip early Monday before being notified of the warrant in the evening, publicist Kirt Webster told The Associated Press late Monday.
"He will be traveling to Memphis and voluntarily surrendering and then we'll know what the allegations are and the whole deal," Webster said.
Holly Hornbeak, 19, has told police she was waiting tables at the Peabody Hotel's lobby bar March 18 when the country superstar asked to kiss her and lifted her off the ground in a chokehold.
The warrant was issued by Magistrate Rhonda Davis, Shelby County Sheriff's department spokesman Steve Shuler told The Commercial Appeal newspaper.
Williams, 56, has been in Memphis since his daughters Holly Williams, 25, and Hilary Williams, 27, were seriously injured in a March 15 car crash near Dundee, Miss.
Webster said the singer hasn't been interviewed by police.
Hilary Williams underwent another minor surgery Monday, and doctors were discussing moving her to a Nashville hospital in coming weeks, Webster said. Holly Williams has been released from the hospital.
Back on the beat
NEW YORK -- Joseph Wambaugh is back on the LAPD literary beat.
Wambaugh's "Hollywood Station," featuring a sergeant named Oracle, will be published by Little, Brown and Company at the end of the year.
It will be his first book set in Los Angeles since "The Delta Star" in 1983. The former LAPD detective is also the author of "The Onion Field," "The Blue Knight," "The Choirboys," "The Blooding" and "The Golden Orange."
"Joseph Wambaugh is a hero to today's crime writers, and 'Hollywood Station' will school them all: to this day, no one writes about cops' lives with his force and immediacy," Michael Pietsch, publisher of Little, Brown, said Monday.
Today's birthdays
Actress Gale Storm is 84. Movie producer Roger Corman is 80. Country music producer Cowboy Jack Clement is 75. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell is 69. Country singer Tommy Cash is 66. Actor Michael Moriarty is 65. Writer-director Peter Greenaway is 64. Actor Max Gail is 63. Actress Jane Asher is 60. Singer Agnetha Faltskog (ABBA) is 56. Actor Mitch Pileggi is 54. Rock musician Mike McCready (Pearl Jam) is 40. Singer Paula Cole is 38. Country singer Pat Green is 34. Rapper-producer Pharrell Williams is 33.