Dance, Baby, Dance!
I’ve been called a lot of things lately. My new name is “Anonymous” or “Unknown” and appears with my quote, ” Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass…It’s about learning to dance in the rain.”
Not always, of course. Just often enough to occasionally get me sued. Why me? Because if I sell exclusive rights to a publisher, or manufacturer, to make thousands of things with the quote –I’m obligated to protect the company’s investment.
Occasionally, it’s an innocent mistake. When I first started in business, Sparky (Charles Schulz) introduced me to Aviva Enterprises. The owner, Eliot Steinberg, used my idea for “Gucci Pucci” luggage featuring Peanuts, and Kisses™ Jewelry.
One day, Eliot called me and said, “I feel so silly. Here we’ve been making your jewelry and I didn’t even notice my daugher, she’s two, was sitting on your faces.”
I thought maybe he’d been drinking.
“Sitting on what?” I asked.
“Your high chair!” he exclaimed.
“My what?”
“Your copyright is right on it! Your high chair cover.”
“I make greeting cards, not chairs.”
I thought maybe I should have a drink. But I don’t drink, really.
The high chair cover was indeed covered with my Kisses™ character’s faces.
A college girl had made a collage of my greeting cards in a repeat pattern and sold them to one of the biggest vinyl manufacturers in the country. Kisses™ was selling like crazy on baby bumpers, strollers, diaper bags, and many items I knew nothing about. Babies?
Talk about copyright infringement!
“Dance, Baby, Dance!” was as close as I came to the word “baby” at that time, the height of the Disco era.
I didn’t sue the college girl. I was in college myself three years earlier. I hired her. The textile company paid me a huge advance with royalties and we created more designs.
Hmmm…. maybe I’ll call Elliot, or send him this, and see if his grand babies use the high chair?
The nice thing about this is even if no one remembers my name, or calls me Anonymous, the characters live on and on.
In fact, here’s one of my favorite pieces of animation. Bill Melendez who was Sparky’s best friend, and made these cartoons died recently. He was like a surrogate father to me. He took me to the movies with Big Helen (his wife of 65 years who was barely 5 feet tall) to see THE BEAR, and taught me to drink tequila and fly a kite. But that’s another story.
Of course, one of the main reasons I love this video so, is because they’re dancing!
Dance, Baby, Dance!
Vivian Greene
Invest In Love inc
“All that is real is seen with the heart.”
© 2009 – 2011, Vivian Greene. All rights reserved.
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