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)

Page scan 00062 from 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 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 4
Leaf #:
00062
Language:
English
Collection:
Government & Law and Early Cinema
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:
September 12, 2024
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1912 Samuel Long, Direct Examination. Q. Then is jour competition keen and active with the unlicensed producers? A. It is. Q. Is this Commercial Motion Picture Company allied with the Mutual or the Universal Company, or do you know? A. I don't know with whom they are allied. Q. Has there been any increase in the amount of the salaries paid to actors and actresses by the Kalem Company since 1908? A. There has. Q. Will you state what you know about the increase of salaries which the Kalem Company has paid to its actors and actresses? A. We formerly paid twenty to twenty-five dollars per week for actors and for actresses in stock companies, and the engaging of actors and actresses by the day at three to four dollars per day. As competition increased, and there was a demand for experienced actors, who were absorbed by the other companies, we were compelled to pay from thirty to forty dollars per Aveek for leading people in our picture productions, and correspondingly more for actors engaged by the day. From year to year, this has increased. At the present time we are paying for people for leading business in the pictures, from fifty to two hundred dollars per week, and five to ten dollars per day for extra help. Q. How about salaries paid to stage directors? Has there been any advance in those salaries? A. There has. We paid the first director $35 dollars per week, which was considered a very high salary at the time. This same director, because of the demand for his services, was going to leave us and go with another firm at a higher salary, which resulted in our paying that particular director or producer $200 per week. Other directors, who at first received $35 to $50 per week, now receive from $75 to $175 a week. Q. Reference has been made several times in the testimony here to a picture entitled, "From the Manger to the Cross." Who was it that produced that picture? Mr. Grosvenor: I object to that as immaterial. The Witness: The Kalem Company produced the picture.