The Exhibitor (Jun-Nov 1941)

14 THE EXHIBITOR -Arbitration Cases (Editor’s Note: Arbitration activity in the territory covered by The Ex¬ hibitor will be found, in the future, under this heading .) Albany The Papayanakos arbitration hearing re¬ sumed after several days of hearings. Boston Hearing on the Descoteaux case was scheduled for May 17. Buffalo Award of Weldon D. Smith, in the com¬ plaint of Richard De Toto, Genesee, Mt. Morris, May 12 was as follows: that the defendant (20th Century-Fox) offer its 1940-41 pictures for license to the com¬ plainant on a run to be designated by 20th Century-Fox, and on terms and con¬ ditions fixed by said distributors which are not calculated to defeat the purpose of Section Six of the consent decree. Costs are assessed against the defendant. (Ed. Note — De Toto’s complaint had been with¬ drawn previously against all defendants, except 20th Century-Fox.) Date of the Konczakowski hearing is set for June 4. New York Arbitration case of Charles Myerson, Lyric, Oyster Bay, L. I., came up for its first hearing May 13 with George H. En¬ gelhard, New York attorney, as arbitrator. Opening session lasted only about two hours and was devoted primarily to the usual formalities. The attorneys present explained to the arbitrator the nature of clearance and run in the industry, with particular reference to Oyster Bay. Dan¬ iel A. Weber, attorney for Myerson, re¬ lated the history of Oyster Bay’s clearance with reference to the neighborhood towns of Huntington and Glen Cove, the latter of which is an intervener in Myerson’s action. Weber stated that in 1930, when Myerson took over the Lyric, he played ahead of Huntington and seven days after the Cove, Glen Cove (now a Skouras house). In 1933, Huntington moved up to play daydate with the Cove, while Oyster Bay re¬ mained seven days after the Cove. Hunt¬ ington then began to move up with rela¬ tion to first-run in New York City, in 1934 receiving availability of 14 days after New York, 14 days after first date of exhibition in New York in 1935 or 1936, and finally one day after New York’s opening in 1939. Through all these changes Glen Cove, and consequently Oyster Bay, retained the same availability. Myerson claims this to be an inequitable situation and seeks equal availability with Glen Cove. Weber stated Myerson sought relief in 1938, receiving only a slight adjustment from one com¬ pany — Loew’s, Inc. Bud ABBOTT & Lou COSTELLO DICK POWELL IN THE NAVY withTHE ANDREWS SISTERS * Claire Dodd • Dick Foran Butch & Buddy • Shemp Howard • Sunnie O’Dea • Condos Bros. yS Directed by ARTHUR LUBIN ‘Associate Producer ALEX GOTTLIEB ||§|r A UNIVERSAL PICTURE RECORDS WITH BUCK PRIVATES’ ARE DUE AGAIH! Paustan Amusement Company, opera¬ tors, West End, Newark, last week filed a demand for arbitration of a clearance situation in Newark. Complainant asks that the 14 days’ clearance over the West End now granted to the Ritz and Savoy be reduced to seven days. Five consenting companies are named. Request for arbitration of Monseigneur Enterprises, Inc., Jack Fields, Forum, Metuchen, N. J., was withdrawn last week when it was announced that a satisfactory settlement had been reached among the parties. Following are the hearings scheduled for the New York area for the balance of the month: May 21, 2.30 P. M. Resumption of Lyric, Oyster Bay, L. I. May 22, 9.30 A. M. First hearing of Crystal, Pearl River. May 28, 10 A. M. First hearing of Majestic, Paterson, N. J. Second hearing of the Liberty, Plainfield, N. J., case, originally scheduled for May 14, was postponed to May 19. Philadelphia The second case to have a hearing in the local area was that of the Earle, New Castle, Del., against Loew’s, Inc., May 15, with the Parkway, Wilmington, Del., as an intervening party. After two hours of hearing, arbitrator Professor Ruppert C. Schaeffer, Jr., indicated that in his opin¬ ion the decision would be based on the interpretation of section six as against that of section 17. The Earle seeks to have Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer pictures now play¬ ing Loew’s Parkway, Wilmington, exclu¬ sively, available to it, with David Silver making the complaint. He was represented by Philip Stern, with C. Stanley Thomp¬ son attorney for Loew’s. Testimony was heard from Rudolph Berger, Metro district chief in Washing¬ ton; Thomas Conners, Metro eastern sales chief, and Silver, whose son, Herman, also attended. Hearing took two hours, with no gallery. The usual discussion of distances, etc., took place, with the plaintiff contending it had a right to “some run” under sec¬ tion six, while the defendant declared that under section 17 it could sell its own product to its own theatres as it saw fit. It was brought out that although certain of the better Metro pictures do not play any subsequent run in Wilmington or New Castle, they played the State, Newark, Del., which the plaintiff claims is about the same distance from Wilmington as New Castle. The defendant declared that certain other Metro pictures were avail¬ able to Silver. “GWTW” was an exception, it was indicated. Both sides generally agreed on the facts, with the arbitrator finally asking for in¬ formal briefs. Case No. 5 in the local area was filed last week against Loew’s, Inc., 20th Cen¬ tury-Fox, and Paramount, as well as War¬ ner Brothers Circuit Management Cor¬ poration, by Samuel and Morris Somerson, Palm, alleging unfair clearance. May 28 has been set as the date of hear¬ ing of the Breeze, Philadelphia, case. Cal¬ vin Rankin is the arbitrator. Roland J. Christy, local attorney, is arbi¬ trator in the Bryant Wiest, Hollywood, Elizabethville case, which will be heard May 26. May 21, 1941