Page 30 - Aruba Today

A30

PEOPLE & ARTSThursday 29 October 2015

Review: Truman Hasbro says it didn’t steal

Capote’s early stories host’s identity for toy hamster
worthwhile for fans

BETH J. HARPAZ

Associated Press

“The Early Stories of Tru-

man Capote” collects

14 short fiction pieces

by the writer, includ-

ing some that were

published in his high

school newspaper in

Greenwich, Connecti-

cut, when he was a

teenager.

Capote is best known

for his novel “Break-

fast at Tiffany’s,” which

was immortalized by a

Hollywood film starring

Audrey Hepburn, and

by his nonfiction book

“In Cold Blood,” a

gripping novelistic ac- This photo provided by Random
count of the murder of House, a division of Penguin Random
House, shows the cover of the book,
a Kansas farm family “The Early Stories of Truman Capote,” In this April 28, 2015, file photo, Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner poses for a photo on the set in
and their killers. Many by Truman Capote. New York.

Capote fans may also Associated Press Associated Press

be familiar with his

memorable, poignant voice and creativity, they NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Has- court in New Jersey that in addition to sharing her
short story, “A Christmas are worthwhile. bro Inc. wants a federal the toy and Faulkner share name, the toy bears a
Memory,” about a little Capote’s ability to conjure judge to dismiss a $5 million nothing in common except physical resemblance to
boy’s holiday with an ag- a time, place and mood lawsuit filed by a Fox News for their name and that the Faulkner’s traditional pro-
ing cousin amid poverty, with just a few sentences is anchor who says a toy toy and newscaster are dis- fessional appearance,
love and loss. remarkable. A Gothic tone hamster shares her name tinctly different and there’s including its complexion,
If you’re expecting short and sense of foreboding and resembles her. no basis to find that Has- eye shape and eye make-
fiction gems of that caliber seems to hang over every Harris Faulkner sued Has- bro misappropriated her up design.
in this collection, however, scene as his characters, bro in August over its plas- unique identity. The Harris Faulkner toy was
you’ll be disappointed. whether children or grown- tic Harris Faulkner ham- “Ms. Faulkner is an adult, introduced in 2014, ac-
Most of the plots in these ups, confront their personal ster, sold as part of the African-American, human, cording to the lawsuit, and
stories don’t seem quite demons. Pawtucket, Rhode Island- female newscaster; the was sold in a package as
fully realized; others feel Some stories involve truly based company’s popular Hamster Toy is an inch-tall, the pet hamster of a terrier
derivative or formulaic, life-threatening terrors like “Littlest Pet Shop” line. She cartoon-like plastic ani- named Benson Detwyler.
lacking the originality of snakebites or escaped says the toy wrongfully ap- mal, which has no appar- Other toys in the popu-
Capote’s later works. But convicts in the woods; oth- propriates her name and ent gender or profession, lar line include animals
here’s the good news: The ers merely describe the ev- persona, harms her profes- or even clothing that might named Pancakes Watkins,
stories in the new edition eryday heartbreak faced sional credibility as a jour- identify its gender or pro- Puffball Petrovsky and Pep-
are extremely readable, by individuals who feel, for nalist and is an insult. fession,” the company said per Clark.
and as a window on the whatever reason, alone The toy company says in in its motion. The lawsuit says Faulkner,
young writer’s emerging and unloved.q a filing Monday in federal Faulkner’s lawsuit says that a New Jersey resident,
never gave permission for

‘Reporting Always’: collection Hasbro to use her name or
likeness and that she even
demanded in January that

of writings by Lillian Ross Hasbro stop using it. More
than three weeks later, it
was still for sale on Hasbro’s

LINCEE RAY continue to be charmed new job, Ross wasn’t afraid This photo provided by Scrib- website, the lawsuit con-
Associated Press by a collection of her writ- to tackle each assignment ner shows the cover of the tends. It says that as of July,
There are few people who ings in “Reporting Always.” with her own style. Basic book, “Reporting Always,” by Faulkner’s name was still
can say they have been Ross was 19 when she was curiosity was the building author Lillian Ross. being used on a website to
on the company’s payroll hired by managing edi- block of that style. sell “Littlest Pet Shop” prod-
for decades. Lillian Ross is tor Harold Ross. Although One endearing entry is Associated Press ucts, and the plastic ham-
one of those individuals. impatient, he was a men- an essay featuring Ernest ster that bears her name
She began her career at tor who encouraged her Hemingway. The novelist can still be bought at other
The New Yorker in 1945 as to “follow your own bent.” welcomes Ross to tag along online retail stores.
a reporter for “The Talk of Whether it was her young on a few excursions as he Faulkner hosts the daytime
the Town” section. Seven age or an eagerness to and his family visit New York show “Outnumbered” and
decades later, audiences succeed at an exciting City for a few days in 1950. anchors a Sunday evening
newscast for Fox News.q