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180 35jopenf Skutch-Whitson - direct 1 A. Yes, it is. 2 Q. And I'm not going to go through -- here is one that I have 3 to stop on, number 40. 4 A. Oh. 5 Q. What does that say? 6 A. That's my shorthand. It says Holy 3. 7 Q. Who are the Holy 3? 8 A. That was my secret private name for Helen, Bill and Ken. 9 Q. Which you meant in good humor? 10 A. I meant affectionately. 11 Q. They get a copy of this three blue xerox? 12 A. Yes, they are 40 through 45. 13 Q. And turn to the middle, turn to 35 and 36. It's Paul 14 Steinberg? 15 A. And Roberta. 16 Q. Is that his wife? 17 A. Yes. 18 Q. And then Saul Steinberg and Judy? 19 A. Yes, his wife. 20 Q. The Steinberg cousins, Paul and Saul, received copies of 21 this blue Criswell edition? 22 A. Yes. 23 Q. And Paul Steinberg had long ago returned the 8 and a half 24 by 11 to you? 25 A. Yes, he did. SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C. (212) 805-0300
181 35jopenf Skutch-Whitson - direct 1 Q. Well, did you end up distributing the blue edition? 2 A. Yes, I did. 3 Q. So what time frame are we in now? 4 A. Oh, the blue one would take us into 1976, the beginning of 5 1976. 6 Q. So you have gone from late August '75 when you picked them 7 up. We had yellow, white and we had blue. And we're now into 8 late '75 and early '76. 9 A. That's right. 10 Q. And if someone suggested hundreds and hundreds of xerox 11 copies of the manuscript had been distributed; is that true? 12 A. Yes. 13 Q. The Criswell edition? 14 A. Yes. 15 Q. No fourth run of the Criswell edition? 16 A. No, there wasn't. 17 Q. Was there only 300 or so of A Course in Miracles 18 distributed? 19 A. No. 20 Q. What was the next process? 21 A. Late fall through the early winter of 1975 going into 1976 22 people started to tell other people about it. So by word of 23 mouth, more people knew about it. And I was still teaching at 24 New York University. One of the students in my class was an 25 editor at Doubleday, and he requested an audience with Helen SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C. (212) 805-0300
182 35jopenf Skutch-Whitson - direct 1 and Bill. And he wanted to talk to them about having Doubleday 2 publish their manuscript. 3 Q. And any other meetings with publishers, any other steps 4 towards having a new -- 5 A. Yes, they entertained a meeting with Simon & Schuster, and 6 the then other head, who was the partner and friend, a group 7 came who wanted to do this privately. They had a yoga center, 8 and they wanted to take over the publishing and dissemination 9 of the manuscript. 10 Q. What is the time frame of the publisher inquiries and 11 visits? 12 A. It was probably November, December, January. 13 Q. November, December '75? 14 A. Yes. 15 Q. January '76? 16 A. Yes. 17 Q. Did you and the Holy 3, did you and Helen and Bill and Ken, 18 was there any consensus or decision reached about publishing in 19 a different form A Course in Miracles? 20 A. Well, we felt that this was going to be necessary, and 21 that's why they allowed the visits with the various publishers. 22 There was one other. I don't remember if it was Harper & 23 Collins or Putnam, I don't recall, but it was one of them. We 24 talked a lot about it and our motus operandi time was to sit 25 and have a conversation and meditate on what the answer could SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C. (212) 805-0300
183 35jopenf Skutch-Whitson - direct 1 be. And it became pretty clear that it probably should be 2 published, and that's why they kept on seeing people. 3 Q. And my question was: Was a decision or consensus reached 4 among you on what the next step should be? 5 A. Yes, on February 14th, Valentine's Day, we felt we had seen 6 enough people, and we sat quietly and asked formally again, was 7 it supposed to be published? And we got a very affirmative 8 answer. Nobody got the same answer. It was, yes, I have a 9 feeling it should be. 10 Q. You said February 14th, what year? 11 A. 1976. 12 Q. Who was present at this meeting? 13 A. It was always Ken Wapnick, Helen Schucman, Bill Thetford 14 and myself. 15 Q. What was the decision that was reached? 16 A. We should publish it. 17 Q. Did you reach a decision on who should publish it? 18 A. We did our process of selecting again, and what Helen felt 19 was only those who spend the rest of their lives doing this and 20 nothing but this should be the publishers, and it should be a 21 not for profit organization, and it shouldn't be exerted, 22 distorted in any way, that it had to be treated with dignity. 23 Q. Who was so designated? 24 A. We looked around the room and thought who that might be. 25 Q. Who was selected? SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C. (212) 805-0300
184 35jopenf Skutch-Whitson - direct 1 A. We were surprised and Helen Schucman said well, I think 2 your foundation is supposed to do it. 3 Q. Meaning? 4 A. The Foundation for Parasensory Investigation, which was 5 going to change its name to Foundation of Inner Peace. 6 Q. Would Dr. Schucman let Parasensory Investigation publish it 7 under that name? 8 A. Not at all. 9 Q. Was a new name chosen? 10 A. Yes, Foundation for Inner Peace. It was supposed to be 11 Foundation for Teaching and Inner Peace, but we were not a 12 registered teaching organization in New York State. So the 13 teaching of it was taken out of the title. 14 Q. So the new name of your foundation became Foundation for 15 Inner Peace? 16 A. That's correct. 17 Q. What is the name of the foundation today? 18 A. Foundation for Inner Peace. 19 Q. And was a decision reached then on this February 14th, 20 Valentine's Day 1976 that the book would be published by 21 Foundation of Inner Peace? 22 A. Yes, it was. 23 Q. What happened next of the further publication of this work? 24 A. Once I realized I was given this assignment, I was nervous 25 because I realized we didn't have the money. Having worked in SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C. (212) 805-0300
185 35jopenf Skutch-Whitson - direct 1 publishing for three years when I was very young, I knew it 2 didn't cost pennies. So I decided to go back into the process 3 with them, where do we get the money? And nobody had any 4 feeling about it, but I very clearly felt in my interior voice, 5 make the commitment first. 6 Q. Meaning make the commitment to publish it? 7 A. Money or no money. 8 Q. What was going to happen? 9 A. Who knew? 10 Q. What happened? 11 A. The very next day I got a call from Mazatlan from Reid 12 Erickson the next morning. 13 Q. Who had a copy of the manuscript? 14 A. He had a couple in the reduced manuscript size. I think he 15 had two or three. 16 Q. What did he say to you in substance? 17 A. He said that he had a group of people in Mazatlan who spoke 18 Spanish only who he knew, and he was already reading it to 19 them. He spoke English too, of course. And he was giving his 20 visions of what it meant and what it said. And he felt that 21 this was a very unwieldy kind of -- he felt that the book 22 deserved better than this. 23 Q. Than a flimsy paper cover reduced paper back? 24 A. Yes, he felt it should be hard cover. 25 Q. What did he say? SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C. (212) 805-0300
186 35jopenf Skutch-Whitson - direct 1 A. I said to him just hours the night before that we had this 2 discussion, and he said, well, I'm calling to tell you that I 3 have a very strong feeling and had it for a little while now, a 4 week or so, and I have sold a piece of property and I'm sending 5 your foundation a check and he chose the amount. 6 Q. What did he tell you the amount would be? 7 A. Here I'm not positive. This seems to be in my memory. 8 Q. What do you remember? 9 A. It was 40 or $50,000. 10 Q. Did he send the check? 11 A. Yes, it came right away. 12 Q. That was for what purpose? 13 A. Publishing in typeset, printing a hard cover version of A 14 Course in Miracles. 15 Q. What was the next step that was taken to get a hard cover 16 edition published? 17 A. Since it was given to me to do this, I wondered what kind 18 of printer I should use. I had never done this before. And 19 within a few days I got a call from this gentleman Paul 20 Steinberg who said that his cousin would like to print the 21 book. 22 Q. That was the fellow Saul that you met on that rainy day? 23 A. He had a company Coleman Catalogs that printed catalogs and 24 Saul would give us a good price because he cared about the 25 material now, he had already ordered his own copy and he was SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C. (212) 805-0300
187 35jopenf Skutch-Whitson - direct 1 using it with some of the group in his plant. They were 2 reading lessons out loud. 3 Q. Saul received a copy of the Criswell edition? 4 A. Yes. 5 Q. As had Paul? 6 A. Yes. 7 Q. What arrangements were made to print a hard cover edition 8 of A Course in Miracles? 9 A. Well, Saul gave us an estimate, and he did some checking 10 around and he chose a printer and he actually acted as our 11 middle person. 12 Q. I don't want to digress with this, but it ended up that 13 Saul Steinberg made more copies than he told you and sort of 14 ripped you guys off, correct? 15 A. That's true. 16 Q. I don't think that's particularly germane. 17 MR. FABIAN: It's not subject to this litigation. 18 Q. I'll skip over that interesting side story. 19 Good or bad, did, in fact, a hard cover, meaning 20 Mr. Saul Steinberg, get published? 21 A. An edition was printed and bound in dark blue fabric and 22 stamped with the name "A Course in Miracles" in three separate 23 volumes. 24 Q. Now, was this just another xerox of the manuscript? 25 A. No. SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C. (212) 805-0300
188 35jopenf Skutch-Whitson - direct 1 Q. Was it xerox of the Criswell manuscript? 2 A. No. 3 Q. What format did it take? 4 A. It was typeset. 5 Q. Who did the typesetting? 6 A. I thought that Saul Steinberg's firm did it. To this day I 7 don't really know. 8 Q. He arranged for it? 9 A. Yes. 10 Q. Was there a proofreading to be done of the typesetting? 11 A. Yes. In those days it wasn't like everything that was 12 digitized and automated. 13 Q. What did they use as the template; what did they set the 14 type from? 15 A. They set the type from the Eleanor Criswell. 16 Q. Version? 17 A. Manuscript, yes. 18 Q. Who did the proofreading? 19 A. We had four teams. 20 Q. And what did you proofread against? You had the typeset 21 version. What did you proofread against? 22 A. We proofread it against the 8 and a half by 11 pages that 23 we had. 24 Q. Easier to read for proofreading? 25 A. Yes, we had to. SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C. (212) 805-0300
189 35jopenf Skutch-Whitson - direct 1 Q. Who were your proofreading teams? 2 A. Well, Helen and Ken were one team. Bill Thetford and a 3 very close friend who knew him and Helen very well was another 4 one and Zelda Supree and Douglas Dean were the third team. And 5 my ex-husband, Robert Skutch, and I were the fourth team. 6 Q. So if there is testimony or it is suggested that Douglas 7 Dean got a copy of the 8 and a half by 11 manuscript; is that 8 true? 9 A. Yes. 10 Q. For what purpose? 11 A. Well, he was proofreading with Zelda. They each needed a 12 copy. 13 Q. You mentioned Zelda. If there is testimony that Zelda 14 Supree got an 8 and a half by 11 copy of the manuscript; is 15 that true? 16 A. Yes. 17 Q. For what purpose? 18 A. To proofread. 19 Q. Saul Steinberg and alike, did there come a time when there 20 was a hard cover edition of A Course in Miracles? 21 A. Yes. 22 Q. And how many volumes was it in? 23 A. In three. 24 Q. All blue, hard cover? 25 A. Yes, but that's not it. SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C. (212) 805-0300
190 35jopenf Skutch-Whitson - direct 1 Q. This is as best we could do. This is a later version of 2 it, correct? 3 A. Yes. 4 Q. Does this fundamentally -- Exhibit 12-1 and then there is 5 Exhibit 12-2 and 3, does this look like the edition? 6 A. Yes, it's the same size and same layout. 7 Q. It's the exact same plates? 8 A. Yes. 9 Q. This happens to be a later printing of that version? 10 A. Yes, the first cover was faded, and it faded easily and we 11 weren't fond of it, so Helen changed her mind. 12 Q. When did the first printing of Exhibit 12 of this hard 13 cover, three volume set come out? 14 A. June 22, 1976. 15 Q. You seem very clear of that date? 16 A. It was Douglas Dean's birthday, and we had a birthday party 17 for him. 18 Q. This edition, which admittedly is a later printing, it says 19 "copyright -- with a C -- 1975 by the Foundation of Inner 20 Peace." Have I read that correctly? 21 A. Yes, you have. 22 Q. If that inscription, if it, in fact, is an inscription, did 23 those appear in the first printing in June 1976 of this hard 24 cover three volume set? 25 A. Yes. SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C. (212) 805-0300
191 35jopenf Skutch-Whitson - direct 1 Q. So by then had the foundation's name changed? 2 A. Yes, it had. 3 Q. At some point in time, did Bob Skutch ever get around to 4 sending in that application for registration? 5 A. He must have. 6 Q. Did registration get issued for the copyright in A Course 7 in Miracles? 8 A. Yes, it did. 9 MR. ROSENBERG: By the way, I always forget, I move to 10 introduce 12-1, 2 and 3. 11 THE COURT: They are admitted. 12 (Plaintiff's Exhibit 12-1, 12-2, 12-3 received in 13 evidence) 14 MR. ROSENBERG: And I move to introduce Exhibit 13, 15 which is a copy of the registration of a claim to copyright in 16 A Course in Miracles. And there is actually -- there was a 17 later additional copy of registration. 18 I'm introducing as 13 a registration with the number 19 693944, and it's dated a publication, one that says October 6, 20 1975. And the date, this seems to have been sent it seems to 21 be November 24, 1975. Since the registration is not at issue 22 having been resolved, I want it to be introduced as an exhibit. 23 Any objection? 24 MR. FABIAN: No objection. 25 THE COURT: It's admitted. SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C. (212) 805-0300
192 35jopenf Skutch-Whitson - direct 1 (Plaintiff's Exhibit 13 received in evidence) 2 MR. ROSENBERG: And then I move as 14 a subsequent 3 copyright registration that dealt with the manual for teachers 4 only, teachers only, it looks like August 2nd. It was received 5 August 2, 1976, and the number on it is 805255, and I move to 6 introduce that as Exhibit 14. 7 THE COURT: It's admitted. 8 (Plaintiff's Exhibit 14 received in evidence) 9 Q. Now, does the Foundation for Inner Peace as of the present 10 date still hold a copyright in A Course in Miracles? 11 A. No, it does not. 12 Q. Who holds the copyright in it? 13 A. A foundation called A Foundation for A Course in Miracles 14 in Temecula, California. 15 Q. Who is the founder? 16 A. Dr. Kenneth Wapnick. 17 Q. And do you remember when The Foundation of Inner Peace 18 transferred the copyright to The Foundation for A Course in 19 Miracles? 20 A. I believe it was discussed for about four or five years and 21 negotiated. And I believe it was finally 1996. 22 Q. And an assignment of copyright and all of that has been 23 registered and taken care of? 24 A. Oh, yes. 25 Q. Does FIP, however, still publish the book? SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C. (212) 805-0300
193 35jopenf Skutch-Whitson - direct 1 A. Sorry? 2 Q. Does the Foundation for Inner Peace still publish A Course 3 in Miracles? 4 A. Yes, it does. 5 Q. What is the current form of the publication? 6 A. The current form is the original hard cover set, as you see 7 it, because we still have more of those left. We did quite a 8 few printings, and we have it in the form of all in one volume 9 in the hard cover, and we have it in the form of all in one 10 volume with a soft cover. 11 Q. And just to show the genesis and development of this, I'm 12 placing before you 15. Can you identify that? 13 A. Yes, I can. 14 Q. What is it? 15 A. This is a hard cover version of A Course in Miracles 16 printed on what we call in the trade bible paper. 17 Q. The text, the teacher's manual and the workbook are all in 18 that one volume? 19 A. Yes. 20 Q. Would you agree that finally that's the most convenient 21 form to carry it in? 22 A. There is one after that that is more convenient. 23 Q. What is that? 24 A. That's the same book but bound with a soft cover like a 25 plasticized cover, one that bends and is maleable and it's in SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C. (212) 805-0300
194 35jopenf Skutch-Whitson - direct 1 one volume. 2 Q. A little easier than seven thesis binders? 3 A. I certainly know so, yes. 4 Q. Now, you were present in court proceedings early today 5 where there was some issues about some tapes and what have you; 6 do you recall that? 7 A. Yes. 8 Q. And you have spoken a lot about A Course in Miracles a lot, 9 have you? 10 A. Yes, I have. 11 Q. Before you get to that, actually your ex-husband -- you're 12 no longer married to Robert Skutch? 13 A. No. 14 Q. He wrote a book; isn't that right? 15 A. Yes, he did. 16 Q. Do you remember when he started writing the book? 17 A. He started it, I believe, sometime in 1980. 18 Q. What was the status of your relationship with Robert Skutch 19 at that time? 20 A. We were going through a divorce, a friendly one, I might 21 say. 22 Q. And you're still friendly today? 23 A. He is our partner, yes. 24 Q. Still involved in The Foundation for Inner Peace? 25 A. Yes, he is the vice-president. SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C. (212) 805-0300
195 35jopenf Skutch-Whitson - direct 1 Q. What is the name of the book? 2 A. Journey Without Distance. 3 Q. Did you read the entire book before it was published? 4 A. No, I did not. 5 Q. Did you read some parts of it? 6 A. He showed me a part that he told me eventually would put in 7 italics, but it was quotes when I first saw it. 8 Q. And that part you read? 9 A. Yes, I did. 10 Q. Did you read anything else? 11 A. No. 12 Q. Who published the book, if you know, at first? 13 A. A company called Celestial Arts in Berkeley, California. 14 Q. Did there come a time when the Foundation for Inner Peace 15 published the book? 16 A. Yes, much later. 17 Q. Do you remember the year? 18 A. I really don't. 19 Q. If I were to state, and it's been on the record, that it is 20 1996 -- 21 A. That's right. I was going to say '96, but it seemed late. 22 Q. As of that time had you personally read every page of the 23 book as of the time that Foundation of Inner Peace published 24 it? 25 A. No. SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C. (212) 805-0300
196 35jopenf Skutch-Whitson - direct 1 Q. This litigation was commenced in what year, do you 2 remember? 3 A. Probably 1996. 4 Q. I'll represent the case number says 96-4126. In my 5 experience that suggests that it would be 1996. By the way, 6 was I The Foundation for Inner Peace's counsel at that time? 7 A. No, you were not. 8 Q. Was my firm involved? 9 A. We didn't have the pleasure of knowing your firm at the 10 time. 11 Q. Thank you for saying that. I'll move to strike. 12 There was a whole different law firm involved, right? 13 A. Yes, in California. 14 Q. After the litigation was commenced, a certain portion of 15 this book, was it brought to your attention? 16 A. That's true. 17 Q. Is that correct? 18 A. Yes. 19 Q. I'm going to read from page 110 and, again, Bob Skutch 20 wrote this book, right? 21 A. Yes. 22 MR. ROSENBERG: And I'm going to represent, Larry, you 23 have a copy of the book. I don't have an extra one. 24 MR. FABIAN: I don't have a copy, but I think I know 25 the words. SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C. (212) 805-0300
197 35jopenf Skutch-Whitson - direct 1 Q. There is some talk about Jim Bolen. You have testified 2 about Mr. Bolen, correct? 3 A. Yes, I have. 4 Q. And then it states, "The problem then arose concerning how 5 he -- talking about Jim Bolen -- could work with the course. 6 Judy had only one copy with her, and Jim decided the only thing 7 to do was make a xerox copy. Because of his publishing 8 connections, he was able to have the job done in 24 hours and 9 for only 48. This was not going to be a very practical 10 solution. Not only was the material in this form much too 11 cumbersome, but Judy didn't want to lend her copy to anyone 12 else, yet she was absolutely certain that her professional 13 friends who were involved in teaching -- 14 I'm sorry, this is not the right version -- I 15 apologize. 16 MR. FABIAN: Which version were you intending read, 17 John? 18 MR. ROSENBERG: The original one. 19 I'll continue where I left off. 20 "He was able to have the job done in 24 hours and for 21 only $48. What's in the book continues. "Obviously, this was 22 not going to be a very practical solution. Not only was the 23 material in this form much too cumbersome, but Judy couldn't 24 keep lending her copy out for 24 hours to everyone who wanted 25 it. Despite this expedient development, Jim's copy started to SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C. (212) 805-0300
198 35jopenf Skutch-Whitson - direct 1 be reproduced and those copies were then copied. And before 2 long, there were over a hundred people in the San Francisco 3 area in possession of A Course in Miracles. 4 Q. I want to ask you a few questions: Bob Skutch wrote that 5 Judy couldn't keep lending her copies out for 24 hours out to 6 anyone who wanted it. 7 Did you lend your copy of the manuscript out to anyone 8 who wanted it? 9 A. I did not. 10 Q. Have you testified to every individual that you provided a 11 copy of the manuscript to, even a portion of it to? 12 A. Yes, I believe so. 13 Q. Did you ever see in Jim Bolen's possession more than the 14 three copies of A Course in Miracles manuscript that he told 15 you he made? 16 A. I never did. 17 Q. Did you ever see at any time until the Criswell edition 18 came out, any one other than the small circle in possession of 19 any part of A Course in Miracles? 20 A. I did not. 21 Q. Did you ever authorize anyone to make copies of the 22 manuscript? 23 A. To the best of my knowledge, I never did. 24 Q. Did you ever authorize in any general sense that anyone who 25 wanted this could make copies of it? SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C. (212) 805-0300
199 35jopenf Skutch-Whitson - direct 1 A. Definitely not. 2 Q. And when Bob Skutch wrote, speaking of the manuscript, for 3 24 hours to anyone who wanted it; is there any truth to that? 4 A. There is none. 5 Q. And then he wrote, Jim's copies started to be reproduced 6 and those copies were copies, and before long there were 100 7 people in the San Francisco area that had A Course in Miracles. 8 To your knowledge, is that a true statement? 9 A. It is not. 10 MR. ROSENBERG: I'm going to move to introduce Journey 11 Without Distance, that page, 110, which according to the 12 Court's ruling will be admitted. I move to introduce it to 13 evidence. 14 MR. FABIAN: As I understand, the book is in evidence. 15 MR. ROSENBERG: That's fine. I move the book into 16 evidence. 17 THE COURT: Okay. 18 Now, are you going to do anything with the hard 19 copies, are you going to put those in? 20 MR. ROSENBERG: I thought I had moved everyone in. 21 THE COURT: I don't think you actually gave them. So 22 15 is. 23 (Plaintiff's Exhibit 15 received in evidence) 24 MR. ROSENBERG: The one volume version that's 25 currently -- SOUTHERN DISTRICT REPORTERS, P.C. (212) 805-0300 |
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