Dick Tracy Creators Accused of Libel

A large Chicago record chain is suing the Chicago Tribune and Tribune Media Services for libel, claiming the company and its owners were portrayed as murderers and active in organized crime in the Dick Tracy newspaper comic strip sequence of May 16 through June 25.

The record chain Flip Side Inc. of Arlington, Illinois has 12 stores in Chicago and is owned by brothers Carl and Lawerence Rosenbaum. The Tracy sequence portrays two brothers, A.M. and F.M., as sales represenatives for a company named Flipside, Inc. In the strip Flipside Inc. is described as a "so-called independent promotion outfit [that ] is using bribery to get radio airplay for certain records." A.M. and F.M. are portrayed as murderers who kill a key prosecution witness early in the series, and who later murder a character named "Garry Doll" who was drawn as a caricature of Steve Dahl, a popular Chicago radio broadcaster.

According to an article in the October 31 Editor and Publisher, the complaint states, "the newspapers' cartoon pictorial affected the plaintiff's professional standing and trade by lowering their reputation and esteem in the eyes of the Chicago Tribune readers, readers of other publications across the country that publish defendants' Dick Tracy strip, and those who have heard about the allegations, including persons in the record in-dustry."

The complaint also alleges that the strips "were knowingly, recklessly. and maliciously published with full knowledge and belief that the substance of the publications were untrue."

Max Allan Collins, author of the strip-who is also named in the suit-told the Journal that he's never heard of the company or the Rosenbaum brothers, and says therefore, it would be impossible for him to have any malice towards them. Collins referred to the use of the name Flipside as purely a "generic term." He also pointed out that the two brothers in the strip were not the owners of the fictional Flipside, but "flunkies" of the owner, and that the story device of having two brothers as "flunkies" has been employed before in his work, including Batman #410. Collins resides in Iowa although he visits Chicago often. He told the Journal that he searched his records of the last ten years to find any receipts of record stores or any evidence to prove that he had ever shopped at Flip Side Inc. and had forgotten, but found none.

According to Collins, the Rosenbaums are attempting to establish that the story took place in Chicago by his use of the caricature of Dahl, the Chicago broadcaster, a link which might contribute to the comparison of the real Flip Side and the fictional one.

Dahl, who has featured Collins as a guest on his show, had given Collins permission to use his likeness. "It's clear that the parallels aren't there," Collins said. The Rosenbaums' attorney Allan Harris told the Journal that Flip Side is the largest record chain in Chicago, advertises frequently in the Chicago Tribune and is well known throughout the city. He remarked that for a person in Chicago to have not heard of Flip Side would be like "a person in Southern California not hearing of the Dodgers." In response to further question, he said it will come out in the the law suit. The suit filed October 14, also named Dick Locher, the illustrator of the series.

According to Harris, the suit seeks in excess of $15.000 and no trial date has been set.