<p>There was a course in entertainment law at Boalt when I was there, taught by the current dean of Vanderbuilt's law school. I attended the course the first two days before deciding to take something else. It seemed to be a survey of the types of clauses that are heavily negotiated in entertainment agreements. </p>
<p>The contractual issue that convinced me to switch to another course was whether Ethel Merman or Jimmy Durante was going to get top billing in a Broadway play they were doing together. Their contracts resolved the issue by providing that their names were to appear in an X-pattern, and that half of the posters would show Merman's name rising from left to right, and the other half would show Durante's name rising from left to right.</p>
<p>I concluded at that moment that my life might be better spent trying to solve a different set of problems.</p>