Cameo Clips

A theater could offer age-based ticket discounts, the Court of Appeal of California, Fourth Appellate District, decided. Pizarro v. Lamb's Players Theatre, D045890. A San Diego theater produced a musical titled “Boomers” and advertised it as the “Musical Revue of a Generation.” People born between 1946 and 1964 were offered tickets at half-price for Wednesday-evening shows. Theatre-goers who weren't in that age group filed suit. The court noted that the applicable test on the plaintiffs' claim of age discrimination under Calif. Civ. Code Sec. 51 was whether the “Boomer” discounts were based on an arbitrary class-based generalization.

The Court of Appeal concluded: “This age-based discount is permissible as reasonable and not arbitrary. A reason given by defendant for providing the discount admission to 'baby-boomers' was to encourage attendance at a family-based entertainment event. … Because a theater ticket discount allows greater access to the theater, public policy favors the disparate treatment, whether the discount is made available to children, seniors or boomers. … As a result of this lack of job security and corresponding lack of disposable income, the 'baby-boomer' generation will benefit from price discounts on family-oriented pastimes, as do children and seniors.”

Minimal bridge dialogue and the selection and ordering of pre-existing musical compositions was sufficient for the stage production “The Three Mo' Tenors” to be an original compilation eligible for copyright protection, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York decided. Caffey v. Cook, 04 Civ. 313 (RJH). Writer/choreographer/director Marion Caffey conceived the idea for a stage musical featuring African-American tenors performing different musical styles. He then approached Victor Cook, Rodrick Dixon and Thomas Young to be the show's tenors. Caffey and the three vocalists collaborated in developing the show, which included several songs from the singers' repertoire. Caffey then put 32 songs in order and wrote 1.5 pages of text to be inserted between the performances of the compositions. The three vocalists signed engagement agreements that cited their efforts as work for hire. Caffey later registered as copyright in his name “The Three Mo' Tenors” show as a “creation of text of dialogue in combination with a compilation of song lyrics.” After experiencing financial problems, the Three Mo' Partnership, formed to produce the show and including Caffey but not the three vocalists as partners, was placed into receivership. After fulfilling commitments for previously booked shows, the vocalists toured as Cook, Dixon & Young performing without Caffey's consent what was effectively “The Three Mo' Tenors.”