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)

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 #:
000201
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 21, 2023
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Samuel E, Morris, Direct Examination. 2051 Q. At the time that you were taking service for the Home Theatre from the Lake Shore Film Exchange what was your experience? Were you able to advertise your program in advance? Mr. Grosvenor: Objected to, as leading in form. By Mr. KlNGSLBY : Q. You may answer? A. Xo, I was not. Q. What was the condition at that time with respect to obtaining a fixed and definite prgram which you could advertise in advance? A. Well, in my entire experience with the Lake Shore I never knew what I got until I walked out of the exchange with it. Q. Did you go there to get it yourself? A. Yes, sir. Q. What was your practice with respect to getting your pictures at that time? A. Well, I usually went to the exchange, say at about ten o'clock in the morning, usually, in order to get the names of the pictures which we were to get, and it was often two o'clock, and sometimes later, before Ave would get these films. Q. Was there more or less competition at the office of the Lake Shore Film Exchange among the exhibitors with respect to the programs that they were to have? A. They would give you a slip with the names of these reels on it, and by the time you would get them they would be taken off, probably all of them, and distributed to other exhibitors, and you wTould get an entire change of program. Q. Do you mean to say you had the experience frequently of going to the office of the Lake Shore Film Exchange, and receiving from the booking clerk a slip, containing a program, which you were satisfied to have, and you were not able to get that program? A. Yes, sir. Q. And you didn't get that slip until the morning you went to the exchange? A. I didn't always get it in the morning even, and sometimes would not get it until one hour before the time of getting the films, and then I would send the slip in, and it would be changed. Q. Did you do anything to clear up this situation so you could get a fixed and definite program? A. There was not much I myself could do to obtain a different program at that time.