Columbia's battle with Ke
rkorian is fully documented in
Tracinda Corp.
v.
Columbia Pictures Industries Inc. et al.,
U.S. District Court, District of Nevada. Las Vegas, Civ LV, No. 80-134 HEC, 1980-81.
Columbia's troubles with Sy Weintraub are documented in
Seymour Weintraub
v.
Columbia Pictures Industries Inc.,
U.S. District Court, Central District of California, No. 80 04047-WPG, 1980-81; Vincent deposition, August 10, 1981; Allen deposition, September
II,
1981; Weintraub deposition, August 24, 1981. Wcintraub testified that his service to Columbia was valuable and competent, and that there was nothing wrong or improper about any of his dealings with Kerkorian. Wei
ntraub said that Vincent gave We
intraub a lesser title in order to build up Vincent's own image as chief executive of the corporation. Wcintraub said of Vincent:
"I
believe his integrity at times leaves something to be desired." Vincent said of Weintraub: ". . . obviously Sy was becoming apparently someone who, within our midst and our board, was in the process of betraying us to outside interests."
Allegations against Harris Katleman: Inquiries by Fox's internal auditors and by Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co., the company's outside auditors, revealed a number of "di
screpancies" in Katle
man's travel and entertainment accounts for a trip to France in June 1980. Among the discrepancies were the following: A S316.84 charge for a dinner was supported by an American Express charge slip from a woman's clothing store and hairdresser; two restaurant receipts, one for a dinner with Dionne Warwick and another for a dinner with Hal Linden, appeared to have been altered. Katleman's explanations were declared "inadequate" by the Fox auditor
s. Sources: Letter to John P. Me
chan, Fox's vice president and controller, from Peat, Marwick, Mitchell, October 29, 1980; two memoranda to David Y. Handelman, Fox's senior vice president and general counsel, from Robert E. Younger, director of corporate audit, November 3 and 7, 1980.
Whatever the merits of the case against Katleman, and whether or not it was believed that expense-account discrepancies should have been grounds for dismissal, it was clear to insiders with full kn
owledge of the facts that Katle
man's acts were not in the same category as David Begelman's forgeries and embezzlements. The district attorney's decision not to prosecute Katleman supported that assessment. However, a number of anti-Hirschfield people seized upon Hirschfield's defense of Katleman as proof that Hirschfield's ethics were inconsistent, and that his stance against David
Begelman
at Columbia had been hypocritical. These critics contended that the only consistency in Hirschfield's behavior was an attempt to use both the Begelman and Katlcman episodes to increase his own power—at Columbia unsuccessfully, at Fox successfully.
Details of Entertainment Industry Task Force prosecutions: Letter to Jack Valenti, president of the Motion Picture Association of America, from District Attorney Van de Kamp, May 20, 1980.
Spelling-Goldberg investigation: James J. Fcrruzzo, Deputy District Attorney,
Final Report: ABC
Spelling-Gohlherg Productions Investigation,
December 2, 1980.
The circumstances and cause of Jerry Lisner's death: Official police and coroner's reports.
In 1982, Marvin Davis decided that Dan Melnick's production contract at Fox was too rich and instructed Alan
Hirschfield
to renegotiate it. After a protracted confrontation, culminating in the suicide of
Melnick
's lawyer, Norman Garcy, Melnick left Fox to produce films for other studios. (Although there was no evidence that the confrontation was the cause of Garey's suicide, the clash apparently aggravated an existing mental illness.)
At the beginning of 1983, Sherry Lansing also departed Fox to form a film production partnership with Stanley Jaffc, the producer of
Kramer vs. Kramer, Taps,
and
Without A Trace.
Lansing never had been given sufficient authority at Fox to do her job properly.