You Did What__ Mad Plans and Great Historical Disasters - Bill Fawcett [72]
How could they lose?
Donenfeld and Liebowitz realized that there were a great many risks involved. The funny-book business was tough, and even the best idea was never a sure thing, so in exchange for their trying out this new idea and the princely sum of $130, Siegel and Shuster gave them the thirteen-page story that would be featured on the cover of Action Comics #1, as well as the legal ownership of the character featured. They also realized that if their creation took off, both of them would soon be seeing plenty of work for new adventures, and possible strip circulation for the series.
Siegel and Shuster believed in Superman’s potential, and they were right! By 1939, the character got his own eponymous comic; in 1940 he made his radio debut, then his first appearance as a toy figure; and in 1942 it was picked up by the Mutual Network, who aired the fifteen-minute show three days a week. As National Comics (now called DC) carefully nurtured the exploitation of these rights (including motion-picture and cartoon opportunities), Siegel and Shuster continued to do quite well, with individual incomes from their work on the property (according to Siegel and Shuster) of $30,000 per annum, which by today’s standards would be roughly the equivalent of $315,000 a year apiece.
In 1947, the two creators decided that they weren’t satisfied with their original agreement with Donenfeld and Liebowitz. Superman’s popularity had suffered a slight postwar decline, while other comic genres (in which DC also had an interest) were in ascendancy. Siegel and Shuster viewed DC’s other lines as competition that was cutting into their own income, were chagrined over their lack of control of the property, and resentful of Donenfeld and Liebowitz reaping the lion’s share of the revenues their creation had produced. So they decided to sue for $5 million and the return of all rights to their creation.
But a contract was a contract, and that was good enough for the courts. Though no one could have realized at the time how big the Superman property would become, Donenfeld and Liebowitz had indeed paid fair market value for it at the time (it had, after all, been floating and rejected all over town for years prior to their acquisition) and had made a substantial investment into its publication beyond the monies paid to the creators, and because of this investment Siegel and Shuster had also reaped substantial fiscal benefits over the years.
Eventually the courts decided that indeed the creators had legally assigned all rights to the character to the publishers. A settlement was reached where the two creators received $100,000 (most of which was probably eaten up by legal fees). They parted ways with DC (a reconciliation not to take place for over twenty-five years) and signed with Magazine Enterprises to launch a new character named Funnyman, a venture that was dead after only six issues.
DC, however, continued to nurture the property with numerous motion pictures, TV shows, and even a Broadway musical, making Superman one of America’s most successful pop culture icons.
You’re Out of Tune
There once was a time when celebrity alone was enough to breathe success into the recording industry. Now it seems more important to them to blame downloading students for the decline of their sales rather than deal with cost and quality questions. But such an attitude is hardly new.
THE RECORD INDUSTRY
UNITED STATES, 1950 ON (AND ON, AND ON)
Brian M. Thomsen
Movie stars from Robert Mitchum to Jimmy Durante to even Walter Brennan enjoyed top-forty success with both singles and albums, and teeny-bopper stars like Frankie Avalon and Pat Boone paved the way for similar successes by lesser melodious talents like Shelley Fabares and Ed “Kookie” Byrnes that quickly became one-hit wonders.
As the public became more fickle and celebrities more numerous and, indeed,