In the District Court of the United States, for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the United States of America, petitioner, vs. Motion Picture Patents Company, et al., defendants (1913)

Record Details:

Title:
In the District Court of the United States, for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the United States of America, petitioner, vs. Motion Picture Patents Company, et al., defendants
Date:
1913
Publisher:
New York, Appeal Printing Co.
Volume:
In the District Court of the United States, for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the United States of America, petitioner, vs. Motion Picture Patents Company, et al., defendants : record volume 2
Leaf #:
00080
Language:
English
Collection:
Early Cinema and Government & Law
Format:
Periodicals
Contributor:
The Museum of Modern Art Library, New York
Sponsor:
Media History Digital Library
Coordinator:
Media History Digital Library
Description:
These seven volumes contain the testimonies and supporting documents from the U.S. District Court's antitrust lawsuit against the Motion Picture Patents Company (MPPC). Formed in 1908, the MPPC (sometimes referred to asœ"the Edison Trust" or just "the Trust") sought to control the American film industry through pooling patents and demanding that producers and exhibitors acquire licenses to those patents. Independent producers and exhibitors, who refused to license the patents, argued that the MPPC was an unlawful monopoly. In 1912 and 1913, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania heard testimonies from both MPPC members, such as Siegmund Lubin, and "Independents" who later became Hollywood moguls, such as William Fox. Ultimately, in 1915, the case reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which found the MPPC in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act and spelled the end for the already weakening MPPC. -- Eric Hoyt, 2012
Date Added:
June 13, 2024
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698 William Fox, Direct Examination. atres are operated under a common show license, which permits them to have no more than 299 chairs. Q. And the larger theatres belong to the third class? A. Yes, sir. Q. Now, to which class do all these theatres in which you have a substantial interest belong? A. To the third class, where the pictures and the vaudeville are about half and half of the program. Q. Now, what is the largest moving picture theatre in which you have an interest belonging to this third class? A. The Academy of Music, on Fourteenth Street, a company in which I have a substantial share of the stock, which is the lessee of the theatre and for which we pay $100,000 a year as annual rental. The property, I think, is held by the owners at probably $2,000,000. Q. How many people does that theatre seat? A. Between 3,000 and 3,200 or 3,300. Q. Then there is a large theatre opposite the American ball park, or ball ground? A. That is one of the theatres that I have built. Q. What is the name of that theatre? A. Audubon. Q. How many does that seat? A. It seats about 3,000, and I built that at a cost for land and building of $1,200,000. Q. Then there is another theatre up on 96th Street? A. The Riverside Theatre. Q. How many does that seat? A. That seats about 1,800, and the cost of the land and the building is about $900,000. Q. Now, those theatres that you have last named, the Academy of Music, and the one on 165th Street, and the one on 96th Street and Broadway, those three theatres are all classed as moving picture theatres? A. Yes, sir; and all others that I operate are about that size, and are almost as valuable as those I have mentioned. Q. And those theatres are theatres where the admission ranges from ten cents to fifty cents? A. Yes, sir. Q. And are half moving pictures and half vaudeville? A. Yes, sir; about that. Q. Are all those theatres licensed theatres? A. Yes; licensed by the City of New York under a theatrical license. Q. Are they all licensed theatres, in the sense of being licensed by the Motion Picture Patents Company? A.