Motion Picture Herald (Mar-Apr 1947)

MPTO ' 'Pleased" Allied "Baffled" On Arbitration The stay order granted April 7 on the New York decree's order dissolving the Consent Decree system of arbitration has "pleased" the Motion Picture' Theatre Owners of America and "baffled" Allied States. In bulletins made public Monday, the two organizations commented at length on the stay order. "We are pleased as to the stay of elimination of arbitration," the MPTOA bulletin stated, "because it has been our position since the decision (on the anti-trust case) in June that, with all of the new arbitrable matters created, many cumbersome profitless 'trips to the courthouse' could be saved by a satisfactory system of arbitration, one which was optional and one which would not in any way restrain the exhibitor from resorting to the courts if he wished to and one which would not preclude the Government from instituting appropriate proceedings for violations of the decree by the defendants. "There are some valid objections to the present system of arbitration," the bulletin continued, "but none that could not be corrected. Without the continuation of the system, however, those changes and improvements would be too difficult of accomplishment.'' In its bulletin, Allied asserted that "the feature of (Supreme Court) Justice (Stanley) Reed's action which is wholly baffling from a legal standpoint is the granting of a stay of the provision which terminated arbitration. Lawyers will never cease to wonder how he could restore the Consent Decree without the consent of the Government, except by a legal tour de force. However, since so many exhibitors seem to have formed an attachment for arbitration just as it was about to expire, no one should complain." With the stay now an actuality, the 31 tribunals of the motion picture arbitration system will continue as before, fully staffed to accept new cases, until a final decision on the New York District Court's findings in the anti-trust suit is made by Supreme Court. Originally, all those tribunals having no cases on April 1 were to be closed and all those having cases pending were to be closed once final disposition was made. No new cases were to be accepted after April 1. Now they can be. However, none have been filed since April 1. 3 1 Paramount Meetings Set To Talk Short Subjects Paramount's short subjects department, headed by Oscar A. Morgan, sales manager, will hold 31 meetings and conferences with district, branch and sales managers through the country to discuss 194748 product. The first of these meetings will take place in Dallas April 21. Schine, Griffith Appeals Not Until This Autumn The appeals of the Schine and Griffith anti-trust cases will probably not be argued before the Supreme Court before this autumn, Department of Justice officials reported in Washington last week. These cases will delay a hearing of the appeals in the New York anti-trust suit since they are scheduled to be heard first. The Schine appeal has been docketed, but it was reported, there is little chance that it will be heard until October, when the court reconvenes. The Griffith appeal, the Justice Department expects, will be docketed "in the near future — certainly before the end of the month." Paramount Will Hold Partners Pending Verdict Paramount will keep its theatre partnerships pending a ruling from the Supreme Court on the New York District Court's order enjoining the defendants in the antitrust suit from joint ownership of theatres by defendants and by defendants and independents, according to a statement Monday from Leonard Goldenson, president, Paramount Theatres Service Corporation. The New York Court's decision in the suit gave the defendants two years from December 31, 1946, to dissolve all partnerships in which the defendants hold an interest greater than five per cent and less than 95 per cent. Paramount appealed that order, as did the other theatre-owning defendants, last February. The Supreme Court is not expected to hear the appeals before January. According to an RKO exhibit printed in the New York Court's decision of June 11, Paramount owns 993 theatres in partnership with independents and 195 in partnership with other independents. However, 177 of those theatres in partnership with independents would not be affected, according to the exhibit, since Paramount's interest in those theatres is less than five per cent. Paramount is the company most seriously affected by the court's partial dissolution order. Under the provisions of the decree, the defendants are to submit to the New York Court by June 31 a statement outlining the extent of compliance with the dissolution order and are to be made quarterly thereafter. Eastman Kodak Ordered To Produce Records The Eastman Kodak Company must obey a Federal grand jury subpoena and produce its records to help determine whether there has been an anti-trust law violation, according to an April 4 ruling of Federal Judge John Knight in Buffalo. Majors Struggle With Policies in Suit Confusion Caught on middle ground between a stay order on the distribution provisions of the decree in the New York anti-trust suit and the possibility of civil suits for violations of the New York District Court's decision, which is a law until the Supreme Court rules on it, distributors were still seeking this week to formulate definite sales plans. MGM indicated this week it would continue its competitive bidding experiments only in the 50-some areas in which experiments have been started. Last week a spokesman for Twentieth Century-Fox indicated that the company would continue its experiments because it was found that they aided in "settling disputes." Final decision on 20th-Fox sales policies, however, are expected to be set at the end of the month when top officials will meet to discuss the stays of the decree as it affects them. The company asked for and received only stays on the decree's provisions concerning competitive bidding and arbitration. The meeting has been postponed until Spyros P. Skouras, 20th-Fox president, returns to New York from his current Latin American tour. Abram F. Myers, general counsel for Allied States, who last month was accusing the distributors of "discrediting" the bidding system, this week warned that if competitive bidding experiments are continued they will be "without color of authority under the decree." "Staying those injunctions on distribution," Mr. Myers warned in Allied's latest bulletin, released Monday, "does not legalize the practices which the lower court condemned. It merely means that if the defendants commit any of those practices during the period of the stay they will not violate the decree. They are protected against being punished for contempt of the decree, but not from the other consequences flowing from the commission of unlawful acts" — as stated in the decision. Pittsburgh Exhibitor Files $450,000 Anti-Trust Suit David N. Green, operator of the Beacon theatre, Pittsburgh, has filed a $450,000 anti-trust suit against 15 distributing and theatre operating companies charging conspiracy to prevent him from obtaining firstrun features. He asked damages of $125.000, which would be trebled under anti-trust laws, and $25,000 for accrued interest and lawyers' fees. B'nai B'rith Dinner Set The New York Cinema Lodge of B'nai B'rith will welcome its new president, Robert M. Weitman, at a dinner at the Hotel Astor in New York, Tuesday evening, April 29. Industry executives are scheduled to attend. MOTION PICTURE HERALD, APRIL 19. 1947