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INDEPENDENT EXHIBITOR:
FILM BULLETIN
VOL. 2 No. 3
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1935
PRICE 10 CENTS
Theatre -Crabbing Majors Are Set To March Again!
How short is the memory of man! It was a brief six or seven years ago, at the height of the balloon-inflated, crazy prosperity of the late Twenties, that the Big 5 theatre-owning major film companies were still rampant on a spree of theatre-grabbing. Gorged with wealth, gained from the sale of their films to independent theatre owners, these producers had set out to compete with their very own customers, to drive them out of business if need be, in their campaign to swallow completely the film industry.
Virtually defenseless in their unorganized conduct of business, the independents were easy prey for the big fellows and, but for the intervention of a fateful economic upheaval in 1929, the Big 5 might well have forced every small theatre owner out of business.
The depression throttled the avaricious desires of the Big 5 and Paramount and RKO, caught with more theatre-holdings than they could carry, were forced into receivership and bankruptcy. But any observer of the trend of events in this industry never doubted that these companies were finished with their old policies.
They settled back for the siege while the prosperity balloon deflated. For these past six years they have waited, somewhat impatiently, soaking the independents more than ever for their film and amassing huge profits that will be used to exterminate those who paid them the money.
Because they were not active in acquiring theatres during this period, thousands of independents have been lulled into a state of false confidence and security. How mistaken they are!
"PARAMOUNT TO REBUILD CHAIN!" shrieked a headline in last week's Variety!
They are on the march again — and it shall probably be tragic to observe the disorganized, pusillanimous attempts of independent theatre owners to retain their place in the industry.
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