Origins
The disclaimer originated with the 1932 MGM movie, Rasputin and the Empress, which insinuated that the character Princess Natasha had been raped by Rasputin. Princess Natasha's character was supposedly intended to represent Princess Irina of Russia, and the real Princess Irina sued MGM for libel. After seeing the film twice, the jury agreed that the princess had been defamed. Princess Irina and her husband Felix Youssoupoff were reportedly awarded $127,373 in damages by the English Court of Appeal in 1934 and $1 million in an out-of-court settlement with MGM. As a preventive measure against further lawsuits, the film was taken out of distribution for decades. Prompted by the outcome of this case many studios began to incorporate an "all persons fictitious" disclaimer in their films in order to try to protect themselves from similar court action.
Read more about this topic: All Persons Fictitious Disclaimer
Famous quotes containing the word origins:
“Lucretius
Sings his great theory of natural origins and of wise conduct; Plato
smiling carves dreams, bright cells
Of incorruptible wax to hive the Greek honey.”
—Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962)
“Grown onto every inch of plate, except
Where the hinges let it move, were living things,
Barnacles, mussels, water weeds—and one
Blue bit of polished glass, glued there by time:
The origins of art.”
—Howard Moss (b. 1922)
“The origins of clothing are not practical. They are mystical and erotic. The primitive man in the wolf-pelt was not keeping dry; he was saying: “Look what I killed. Aren’t I the best?””
—Katharine Hamnett (b. 1948)