Showmen's Trade Review (Oct-Dec 1949)

14 Big 3 Propose Trust Decree {Continued from Page 13) graph 3 provides that divorce can be suspended "at any time after three years" from the entry of the decree, if the actual surrender of theatres by the Big 3 in that period has made divorce unnecessary. The full text of this paragraph follows : "At any time after the three years from the entry of this judgment any defendant which has submitted a plan pursuant to . . . (the divorce" providing paragraphs) of Section IV of this judgment may petition the court to suspend the effective date of such plan or the taking of any steps to effectuate it upon the ground that actual divestiture of theatre interests during such period has made such plan unnecessary, in whole or in part, to provide adequate competition in the distribution and exhibition of films. Upon the filing, in good faith, of such a petition, an appropriate order suspending execution of the plan shall issue as of course and be in effect until the court shall have heard and determined the merits of the petition. The court may thereafter enter an order revoking, modifying or affirming said plan, in whole or in part, or substituting such other relief as may be warranted by its findings as to the competitive conditions then prevailing in the industry." The proposed decree additionally permits voluntary arbitration. Accompanying the proposal for a decree, the Big 3 submitted, is a bulky series of "objections and corrections" to the Justice Department "new proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law." The challenges for the most part seem directed at softening findings and conclusions on monopoly and monopolistic practices, which might prove expensive to the Big 3 later if these Findings become official. In which case they could be used as evidence in suits filed by exhibitors against any of the Big 3. One challenge is directed at the Government's attempt to include findings arising out of the Paramount and RKO Consent Decrees on the ground that neither of these companies is nowparty to the present suit. Government figures on theatre holdings, vertical integration and monopoly are also challenged and strangely enough, the Big 3, who have at one time or the other favored arbitration, serve notice upon the court that they do not wish the impression conveyed that "merely by not objecting" to arbitration they "are binding themselves to establish or support any arbitration system." To Jan. 17? Hearings on the Government anti-trust suit decree may be postponed to Jan. 17 from the scheduled Dec. 6, it was reported this week. One of the three Justices who sit on the case — Judge Henry W. Goddard, — is at present sitting on the Alger Hiss perjury trial, which will hardly be concluded in time for the original date set on the, anti-trust suit. Not Fantastic Manager Florence Kipp of the Paramount, Cincinnati, is one girl who can remember when and who doesn't miss bets when it comes to selling tickets. Finding the young folks like to dance, she has set up a juke box in the lobby and holds Saturday night dances in which any ticket holder can participate. Taken for a Ride? Exhibitors of Columbus, Ohio, are really worried that the bus companies are taking them for a ride in more ways than one as the result of an increase in fares from five tickets for 25 cents to seven tickets for 50 cents. They fear it will affect all houses depending upon "transportation trade." No First-Runs, Ask.$l,500,000 Charging that they had not been able to get a single major first-run film for their Nuluna Theatre in Sharon, Pa., since they took over the house in 1935, Harry and Herman Stahl this week filed suit under the anti-trust laws in federal court for triple damages amounting to $1,500,000 against two Warner Bros., theatre companies and seven distributors. All first-runs in Sharon, the brothers contended, were given to the Warner Bros, theatres, a move which they assert is part of a nation-wide conspiracy by the large distributors to grant a monopoly to their own theatres or to fellow distributors who own theatres. Defendants, in addition to Warner Bros. Circuit Management Corporation and the Stanley Company of America, are : Warner Bros., Loew's (MGM), Paramount, RKO, 20th Century-Fox, United Artists and Film Classics. UA Circuit Adds 17 Theatres United Artists Theatre Circuit, Inc., will add 17 California houses to its chain of theatre holdings shortly as a result of the divestiture and partnership termination rulings in the Government anti-trust suit, it was revealed in Los Angeles this week. First three houses to pass under the banner of the corporation, which in recent years has been more of an investment than an operating outfit but is now returning to active operation, will be the Egyptian on Dec. 1, in Los Angeles followed by Loew's State in Los Angeles and the United Artists in Pomona, on Dec. 2. Other houses which are eventually to come under the corporation's operating division are : United Artists in Berkeley and Capitol in Glendale, the United Artists in Inglewood, the Long Beach and United Artists in Long Beach, the United Artists and Four Star Theatre in Los Angeles, the United Artists Theatre in East Los Angeles, United Artists Theatre in Pasadena, United Artists Theatre in Pomona, Alhambra Theatre in Sacramento, Varsity Theatre in Palo Alto, California Theatre in Richmond, Mission Theatre in San Jose. United Artists Corporation, the president of which is Joseph M. Schenck, is an outfit with widespread stock holdings in several corporations, including Metropolitan Playhouses which owns the Skouras circuit in New York, and a corporation which owns part of the Robb and Rowley circuit in the south. Rank's Davis Due, May Talk Production J. Arthur Rank Alanaging Director John Davis is due in New York this week to discuss routine business with Universal and Eagle Lion and the possibility of joint production with Paramount, informed sources reported this week. Paramount remained silent on the joint production question. SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW, December 3, 1949 Kelly Sees Joint Production Jump Increase of joint production in England by American producers or distributors with frozen funds was seen in New York this week by United Artists Executive Vice-President Arthur W. Kelly, recently returned from abroad. Kelly bases his view on the fact that there are but few ways the Americans can use their frozen funds inasmuch as the average producer is not going in for hotel or travel agency buying — one of the uses permitted assumably under the Anglo-American agreement. The practical uses, he said, were joint production, production in England, and buying British pictures for American distribution. This last, he declared, is limited by the "quality of British pictures" suited for United States distribution, though David O. Selznick seems to have done very well, he pointed out by swapping his "Paradine Case" for British distribution to Sir Alexander Korda, who in turn gave Selznick the United States rights on "The Fallen Idol." Those Pounds Asked about joint production, Kelly remarked : "You've got to get rid of those pounds. . . . We have a lot of money in England that belongs to our producers and they're finally waking up to the fact that they've got to do something about it." Kelly declared United Artists was not buying any English theatres and that "you can't buy an important circuit or a theatre that will do you any good." The United Artists' executive confirmed a report that his company had closed a deal for world distribution rights on from four to seven pictures to be made by the British Anatole de Grunwald with the first for delivery in April 1950 and the last in January 1951. He has also closed for world, but not United States rights for two Artiste Associate releases in Italy — "Volcano" and "The Marshes under the Skies." Three more, he said, may come from France, one made in English under a proposed deal which would give UA world rights and leave it optional whether the company would take United States rights. Kelly also reported that he had made franchise deals in Germany, Austria, and the Saar for 10 pictures, which were now being selected and under which part of the expense in handling would be borne by the ECA. Johnston to London In January — Wilson Harold Wilson, president of the British Board of Trade, returned to New York this week, after advising the press in Washington that Motion Picture Association of American President Eric Johnston would go to London in January or early February to discuss renewal of the Anglo-American agreement. The agreement, reached between that part of the America film industry represented by Johnston and James Mulvey, member of the Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers, and the British Government now permits American producers who are part of the agreement to receive up to $17,000,000 yearly in dollars of the frozen film rentals their films accumulate in England. The burning question at the moment is whether the British won't ask for a reduction in dollar remittances, though the cards are not altogether in their hands due to the need of British exhibitors for American films.