from Netscape news tonight...

GLENELG, Md. (AP) - A black Huck Finn and a white Jim might be OK for
a high school production of Mark Twain's classic tale - but those
performances had to be edited out of a C-Span talent show after the
copyright holder objected to the cross-casting.

  Jay Frisby, a black student who played Huck, and Nick Lehan, a white
student who played Jim, taped their performance of the song ``Muddy
Water'' for ``Close Up,'' a weekly show that highlights high school
excellence.

  When the program aired Friday, the two Glenelg Country School seniors
were introduced, but viewers were told that ``Close Up'' could not show
their performance because of ``copyright restrictions.''

  Lehan and Frisby had played the roles of Jim and Huck in the school's
production of ``The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' without complaint.
But when the show's executive producer asked for the right to air the
students' performance, permission was denied.

  Bert Fink, a spokesman for R&H Theatricals - the Rodgers & Hammerstein
organization, which holds the license to the play - said his
organization is not against cross-casting in general.

  ``But when you're dealing with a theatrical work and race or ethnicity
is a key factor, many authors or playwrights feel strongly that
ethnicity has to be reflected in the actors who portray the
characters,'' he said.

  ``In the books, Jim is a runaway slave. He is clearly in the novel an
African-American man. And Huck is a free white man - that is central to
the story. To ignore that component or to comment on it by switching is
not faithful to the story.''

  Frisby's father, Washington attorney Russell Frisby, said he was
appalled by the decision.

  ``The only rationale for it is that someone in New York believes Huck
Finn can't be played by an African-American. I thought we were past the
days of 'whites only' clauses,'' the elder Frisby said.