After 37 Years, ‘Gilligan’s Island’ Family Still All at Sea Over Royalties

Plus, copycats and dogs . . . Playboys and Mormons . . . Airport ‘Jeopardy!’

Blood is thicker than water--unless, of course, millions in royalties for creating the TV show “Gilligan’s Island� is at stake.

Elroy Schwartz and his TV writing partner, Austin Kalish, are suing Elroy’s older brother, producer Sherwood Schwartz, in Los Angeles Superior Court. They charge that the older sibling has been cheating them out of “Gilligan’s Island� credits and royalties for decades.

The dispute apparently began in 1963, when Elroy and Kalish say they wrote most of the pilot show. Sherwood was the producer and, as a favor, they honored his request and put his name on the script as a co-writer, the suit says. Ever since, they charge, Sherwood has tricked them out of their share of royalties and has controlled the rights to the show, which has made him as rich as, say, Thurston Howell III.

Then the weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed. If not for the courage of the fearless crew, the Minnow would be lost.

Sherwood’s lawyers, Vincent Chieffo and Corey Spivey, are asking Superior Court Judge David L. Minning to toss the case out Monday on the grounds that the allegations are too old and already were litigated back in the 1970s.

But Elroy’s lawyer, Marc Toberoff, claims in court papers that Sherwood’s alleged deceit wasn’t uncovered until recently. He alleges fraud and breach of contract, and seeks an accounting.

For the brothers Schwartz, the trip to “Gilligan’s Island� hasn’t exactly been a three-hour tour.

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PETSUIT: A Los Angeles woman is suing Petsmart, claiming the Phoenix-based pet supply chain stole her company’s name, Dakota Dogs, as well as her idea for trendy Southwestern-style doggie collars.

Kalli Fay Rivers says in her Los Angeles Superior Court suit that she approached Petsmart in June 1994 about marketing her dog collars and even mailed the company a sample. Petsmart said no thanks, the Dakota Dogs collars were too expensive, she says.

Rivers says Petsmart then put out its own line of cheaper Southwestern dog leashes and collars, called--taa-daa--Dakota Dogs.

“Petsmart,� the suit charges, “has no conscience and has as its main objective the maximization of shareholder value.� The chain allegedly “callously appropriated� Rivers’ Dakota Dogs “for its own gain,� crushing the woman’s longtime dream to build a business.

Petsmart spokeswoman Lynne Adams said the name Dakota Dogs was used by another supplier. A trademark search by the supplier’s lawyers “came back clean,� she added.

“We disagree that she has a claim,� Adams said.

The suit, alleging unfair competition, trademark infringement and unjust enrichment, seeks unspecified damages, an apology and an injunction stopping Petsmart from using the Dakota Dogs name.

Adams said Petsmart has stopped shipping its Dakota Dogs line.

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BUNNY TALES: A former security guard at the Playboy mansion has sued Chicago-based Playboy Enterprises Inc. and his erstwhile bosses, claiming that they illegally fired him in 1998 after learning he was a Mormon.

Mark Bradley claims in his Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit that he was hired in October 1998 to ensure “the security of magazine mogul Hugh Hefner, his family, his guests and his property.� About two weeks later, the suit claims, Bradley was chatting with his supervisor, Joe Piastro, and mentioned that he’d been married for 15 years and had six children.

Piastro’s response was swift and profane, the suit says. The clean version: What are you, a Mormon? Bradley responded that he was.

Later that day, Bradley claims, Playboy security advisor Bill Bates told him that if he had known Bradley was a Mormon, he never would have hired him. Bradley claims Bates told him, again in profane terms, that Hefner “hates Mormons.�

Bradley was fired that Dec. 1. He claims that Bates told him: “The fact is, the old man simply doesn’t want you here and there is nothing I can do about it.� Hefner is not named as a defendant in the suit, which charges religious discrimination.

Playboy spokesman Bill Farley said Bradley was a temporary, on-call employee who was never hired permanently. He added that the security guard’s allegation that he was dismissed for his religious beliefs was “ludicrous.�

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AIRPORT ‘JEOPARDY!’: A United Airlines security guard charges that “Jeopardy!� host Alex Trebek cursed her, slammed her hand in a metal door and made her cry when she stopped him at a metal detector at Los Angeles International Airport last May.

Marlene Andrade’s suit, filed in Superior Court in Torrance, seeks unspecified damages for battery, lost wages and medical expenses.

She claims the confrontation occurred when Trebek, copying the actions of a flight crew, lifted a metal plate and tried to stuff his oversized bag through the metal detector. The plate is designed to ensure that bags will fit in the overhead bins.

When Andrade approached him, Trebek is alleged to have uttered a common Anglo-Saxonism, slammed the metal plate on her hand and gone about his business.

Trebek isn’t commenting.

Alex, we’ll take celebrity lawsuits for a thousand.