Motion Picture Herald (Mar-Apr 1947)

THE DECREE {Continued from page 13) establishment of the consent decree arbitration system." Just recently, as detailed elsewhere in this issue, there has been an unprecedented number of complaints filed with the AAA tribunals. The New York court had ruled that those offices which had cases in work could remain in operation after April 1. Justice Department To Comment on Order When Justice Reed asked the defense attorneys to get together on the proposed order to submit to him, he also specified that the Justide Department be allowed to comment on the order. The Justice Department opposed all stay requests. However, one attorney pointed out, even if the Department should submit further documents in the case, they would not change Justice Reed's order, the American Theatres Association, in conjunction with the Confederacy of Southern Associations and the Southern California Theatre Owners Association. Louis D. Frohlich represented Columbia ; Thomas Cooke, Universal ; Edward C. and George Raftery, UA; Thurman Arnold, ATA and SCTOA, and Robert Barton was CSA counsel. John Caskey, 20th-Fox counsel, opposed petitions for stays. John W. Davis, counsel for Loew's, argued for a stay of the order dissolving arbitration and later, with Joseph Proskauer, Warner counsel, asked that all stays granted be made applicable to their companies. Whitney North Seymour, Paramount, pleaded for stays of competitive bidding and other phases of the decree. Bidding Experiments in Future Uncertain The most immediate problem, and the touchiest, under the stay order, is the competitive bidding problem. The order, which Justice Reed told counsel he would sign, will stay bidding for all the defendants. Those companies which continue their bidding experiments will do so as a matter of choice. Said one sales executive : If we abandon bidding now and have to resume it on order of the Supreme Court, the system will be just as strange to us then as it is now. If we continue with our experiments, we can familiarize ourselves, with the procedure and be ready for a Supreme Court order. It is believed that those companies which have conducted the most experiments in the past— 20th-Fox, MGM, RKO— will continue in selected areas and that the other companies will probably not enter into competitive bidding until they have to. Paramount was the only major distributor to appeal the competitive bidding provisions of the decree. Warner Brothers has not, to date, made any •experiments. Natco in Mexico Natco 16mm sound film projectors will be distributed in Mexico through Dexa, S. A., of Mexico City. UNHEALTHY Washington Bureau It looks unhealthy to oppose the industry. Robert L. Wright, who argued the case for the Department of Justice in the trust suit hearing Friday before Supreme Court Justice Stanley Reed, went home with the flu immediately after. Philip Marcus, who took over for Mr. Wright Monday, went home at the end of the day with the flu. Majors Obeying Pooling Order The New York District Court's order forbidding pooling agreements and joint ownership of theatres between defendants in the anti-trust suit or between defendants and independents is being carried out, reports this week indicated. Requests for a stay on these orders were not made by the defendants. A Paramount spokesman has announced that talks have begun on the termination of the three-way partnership at Buffalo between Paramount, Loew's and Vincent R. McFaul. Fourteen theatres in the Buffalo area are involved with Mr. McFaul holding a 14 per cent interest in the properties and the remaining 86 per cent split equally between Paramount and Loew's. Paramount has dissolved its last poolingagreement. Loew's has purchased from E. V. Richards his one-third interest in Loew's State theatre, New Orleans, and the company now owns that theatre 100 per cent, according to an announcement by J. R. Vogel. Mr. Vogel has also announced that the Warner-Loew theatres pool in Pittsburgh, in existence for a number of years, was terminated March 31. Loew's will now operate the Penn and Ritz theatres there while Warner will have the Stanley and Warner theatres. Under the terms of the December 31 decree, defendants in the New York anti-trust suit may not jointly own any theatres and in joint holdings with independents must own at least 95 per cent or five per cent or less of the properties. The defendants were given two years, or until January 1, 1949, to comply with the partial divestiture provisions. By July 1 of this year the companies must make a report concerning the extent of compliance and thereafter must make quarterly reports to the court. Silverstein Ad Manager Adolph Silverstein, formerly with 20th Century-Fox, Paramount and United Artists, has been appointed advertising manager and publicity director of Pictorial Films, Inc., producers and distributors of 16mm films and a subsidiary of Pathe Industries, Inc. 17 Arbitration Complaints Filed In Eight Days Seventeen complaints were filed in six tribunals of the American Arbitration Association during the eight-day period from March 24 to April 1, the day on which the Consent Decree arbitration system was to be dissolved. This rain of complaints, exceeding all expectations, was caused by the last-minute decision of exhibitors to get in under the wire. Now, however, it is evident there was no need to hurry. The attorneys for the eight defendants in the New York anti-trust suit have been advised by Supreme Court Justice Stanley Reed that he will sign a stay order on that portion of the New York District Court's decree abolishing the arbitration system. AAA officials Tuesday indicated they felt they were now at liberty to accept new cases until the Supreme Court rules on an appeal from the anti-trust suit. The AAA has not given up any of its office space or discharged any personnel. The new cases included: One in Los Angeles, the first in that tribunal since 1945, it was reported. Two in New York. Six in Cincinnati : one suit named 28 theatres in addition to distributors ; another named 26 theatres. There was one case filed in New Haven, four in Boston and three in Cleveland which, at the first of the week, had not yet reached AAA's New York office. Alden Leases Nine Theatres In New Jersey from Cocalis The Alden Theatre Corporation, N. J., an affiliate of B. and Q. Associates, has leased nine houses in New Jersey from Cocalis Theatres, according to J. J. Thompson, Cocalis representative. The houses are : Elmora, Royal and Strand in Elizabeth ; Empire and Rahway, in Rahway ; Park, in Newark; Roslyn, in Roselle; Park, in Roselle Park, and the Maplewood, in Maplewood. Two Coast Theatres Return To Paramount Management The St. Francis and Paramount theatres, both of San Francisco, returned to Paramount circuit management late last week. The management shift occurred after dissolution of the company's pool with the Fox West Coast circuit. Columbia Correction Columbia is currently sending out a correction on its pressbook for "The Guilt of Janet Ames." The correction credits the special material used by Sid Caesar in the feature to Mr. Caesar and Allan Roberts rather than to Mr. Roberts and Doris Fisher, as stated in the pressbook. ,16 MOTION PICTURE HERALD, APRIL 5, 1947