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 (1914)

Page scan 000182 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:
1914
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 5
Leaf #:
000182
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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2632 John Penman, Jr., Direct Examination. Q. You have not been disappointed in respect to exhibiting it? A. No, sir. Q. How do you advertise? A. I have a weekly program that consists of six pages, and each day's pictures are on one page. Q. So that the pictures for the following week are in the program which you circulate on Saturday of the present week? A. Yes, sir. Q. The program which you circulate on Saturday of the present week? A. Yes, sir. Q. Have you been able to do this since you have been taking service from the General Film Company? A. Yes, sir. Q. Did you remain with the Pittsburgh Calcium Light Company until its stock and supplies were purchased by the General Film Company? A. I never got films from anyone else, with the exception of one week. Q. How many theatres have you in Charleroi? A. Four theatres. Q. What are they? A. The Coile Theatre— Q. I mean, do they show the licensed or the unlicensed films? A. One licensed house and three independent houses. Q. The Lyric Theatre is your theatre, and that is a licensed theatre? A. Yes, sir. Q. What are the names and seating capacity of the three unlicensed houses? A. Coile Theatre seats something over 500 there ; Star Theatre, about 290, and the Palace Theatre, three hundred and fifty. Q. Do you know what motion pictures they are using? A. The Coile Theatre is using the Universal program, and the Star Theatre uses the Mutual program. Q. Do you know what the other one is using? A. And the Palace Theatre uses Weiland Feature Film Service. Q. Is the Weiland Feature Film Service a complete program? A. He only runs pictures three days a week. He runs vaudeville three days, and I don't know what else. Q. Do you run a continuous program every day in the week? A. Yes, sir. Q. What is your program? What is the number of reels? A. If we run a five-cent show, it is throe reels; and a tencent show, five reels. Q. Do you have more than one day a week when you