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 #:
000292
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:
September 21, 2023
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2742 Adolph Powell, Direct Examination. Q. Would you mind telling us about it? A. There was a release at that time which consisted of a feature in one reel, which was "The Trovatore," a production from the opera Trovatore, and I had that picture booked for what we call the third run. I thought that it would be safer for me, because I had expended a lot of money in advertising the picture, to secure it for the first run, at the release date, and I called the manager of the exchange in Chicago by long distance, and he booked the picture for the first day it came out, and they shipped it away from here at nine o'clock in the morning and it arrived at Kokomo at onethirty o'clock, and I had advertised the picture for about a week ahead in the newspapers, had secured an orchestra of six pieces of music, and secured a couple of singers in order to produce the picture in proper manner. On the day I was to show it, on Friday, I was called up by several friends who wanted to know whether there was not some mistake about me showing this picture, that it was being advertised at another house just a few doors from me. I told them there could be no mistake, but when I came down to my theatre I found out the other man had secured the picture from his exchange in Indianapolis, and had paid an exorbitant price for it, and I had gone to a great deal of expense and was producing the picture at ten dollars, in addition to another program. He advertised it for five cents. The consequences were that both of us lost money on the picture. He got it secretly and advertised it just during the night. Both of us were at a loss in producing that picture. Q. You meant ten cents admission instead of ten dollars? A. Yes, sir. There were other unpleasant circumstances continually there. For instance, I had my program looked for a week and I would get my lithographs in two or three days ahead of the time, and would spread them in the lobby, and then, I would find that before the day set for the picture that some other house would have the same picture and run it probably one or two days ahead of me, and it got to the point where we could not advertise any picture. Q. In connection with the instance of exhibiting the Trovatore, do you know how it was that your opponent was able to show that picture ahead of you? A. He was getting