Los Angeles herald., 1906-06-10
CAN FLATTERY Be
HELD As LIBEL
THIS POINT MUST BE DECIDED
M MARIE CoRELLPS CASE
She Is Suing Publisher for Issuing
Postcards Which Represent Her
as eautlful--And, Besides,
She Has No Dog
Special cable to The Herald.

Special ca BILE 10 The Herald.
LONDON. June o,-Though Marie
Corelli failed to obtain an injunction
restraining an enterprisins publisher
from selling a set Of picture postcards,
depicting the authoress i'm variety of
scenes, she did succeed in getting
lot Of advertising out of II. Notwith-
standing the statement made In her
affidavit that her principal reason for
taking up her residence i'm Stratford-
on-Avon was to obtain privacy and
seclusion, there Is no one who dis
plays greater ingenuity i'm attracting
public attention TO herself. OF this,
the fuss she has made over the picture
postcards is an illustration. A batch
of them were sent to her before they
were offered for public sale. and she
made no protest against them. Con
cluding not unnaturally that she was
not averse to that sort of fame, the
publishers proceeded to do business
with them. Then she start ed a rumpus
by bringing a suit against the pub
fishers. And the result is that the
postcards are selling like hot cakes
and Marie is able to assume her favor
lite pose of much prosecuted martyr.
And lot of people are winklng the
other eye.
The Objectionable Postcards
To the unprecedented mind it is diff
ficult to discern what there is about the
postcards to Justify the sensitive
Marie's contention that they are "Ca-
culated to expose her to CONTEMPT aud
ridcule and injure her in her profess
sion as an author" One of the cards
complained of represents her present
ing cup to the Stratford-on
Boat club. She did present such
cup, but whether her action aroused
such prodigious enthusiasm among the
amateur rowing fraternity as the ar
tist has striven to portray may be
open to question. Another of the cards
shows her in a gondola on the Avon.
Well, for reasons which certainly no
body would associate with a. desire to
court SeCluSion, she is frequently seen
on the river on that species of Venetian
craft, which Is so rarely seen on Eng
fish waters that 1t always attracts at
tention. Another card entitled Miss
Corelli giving sweets to the sweet"
shows her giving sugar to a couple of
dlminutive ponies attached to a chase.
In that sort of rig she frequently rides
about the streets Of Stratford -on-Avon.
1t would be difficult to convince the
man who knows anything of feminine
wies that her choice of steeds has
been dictated by desire to escape
observa ton.
The last picture of the series shows
the sprightly Marie frolicking with a
tiny terrier on a lawn. That picture
her consul evidently felt sure, justified
the claim for an injunction against
the contumacious and adacious pub
lishers. For, as he announced with
solemn gravity, "the gifted lady does
not possess a dog" But the judge could
not be persuaded that to credit a
"dogless" authoress with the possession
of a dog was calculated either to ex-
pose her to contempt or ridicule, or
even prejudice the reading public
against the products of her pen. So
the mythical dog availed her nothing
Did the Pictures FIatter Her
Her counsel had another grievance
against the picture postcards. 1t was
that they constituted a "gross lbel'
on Marie Corellfs features. In proof
whereof he submitted to the judge one
Of her photographs which are so
jealously guarded from the public and
which illustrated journals are forbid
den to reproduce under divers severe
pains and penalties. 1t was then that
the judge, perhaps unwittingly, dealt
Marie the unkindest cut of all. After
comparing the photograph with the
picture postcards, he stated that he
very much doubted whether the con-
tention that the latter libeled her face
could be sustained The judge did not
say it, but the inference was plain 10
everybody in court that the determna-
ton of that question must depend on
whether flattery can be construed as
constituting a libel In the picture
postcards, the artist has striven to
represent Marie Corelli as a pretty
woman, and pretty she certainly is not.
Which, by the way, may possibly ac-
count for her strong objections to the
publication of her photographs.
The question of libel, if Marie cares
TO press the matter, will. as the judge
stated, have TO be thrashed out in an
other court. There would be lot of
fun in such trial, but it is not at all
likely that Marie will seek verdict.
dict.