PILFERED PUDDING SONG SUIT BEGINS

The preliminary hearing of the suit instituted by E. F. Craig '25, author of a large part of the music heard in recent Hasty Pudding shows was held yesterday in Femberton Court, Boston. Craig is suing Charles Homeyher Inc. for $25,000 because of their negligence in failing to copyright the song "The Moment I Laid Eyes on You" a hit from "Laff it Off", the Hasty Pudding Show of 1925.

The attorney for Homeyher Inc. attempted to have the case dismissed for insufficient grounds, but Craig's lawyer convinced the judge that the case warranted a trial and succeeded in having a date arranged. The actual trial will probably begin in about ten days.

At the same time Craig is pressing a suit against Irving Berlin and Warner Brothers in New York City. This case is being handled by Paul N. Turner, attorney for the Actors Equity League, but the first hearing has been postponed in order to allow the Warner Brothers' attorney to come to New York from California.

The entire salary of Louis Silvers, however, a former coach of the Hasty Pudding productions, and now musical director for the Vitaphone Corporation has been attached and a court injunction obtained forbidding Warner Brothers to pay Silvers any salary. Silvers is charged by Craig of having stolen the music that he wrote in 1925 and called the new lyric. "It's Up to You". The new lyric was published in sheet music form and copyrighted by Irving Berlin. It was also used in the Vitaphone production "Weary River", which it will be recalled was at the University Theatre some two months ago. It was here that Craig first obtained knowledge of the theft of his song, and soon discovered that the structure of the two songs was identical, the melodies being the same note for note except to accommodate the new lyric.