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266 ^> ^> ^> The Motion Picture Industry
or appoint two delegates, neither of whom should be an affiliated exhibitor. Practically all the producer-distributors were also represented.5 The conference, which was held in New York City, October 10-15, voted, with but one dissenting ballot, to support arbitration. A Contract Committee of nine was appointed,6 which met in Chicago in January and February, 1928, and agreed upon a New Standard Exhibition Contract. It further agreed that Rules of Arbitration should not be amended thereafter without the approval of the Contract Committee. This new contract became effective May 1, 1928.7
Before proceeding to analyze the arbitration under this contract, it is necessary to have clearly in mind the organization under which it functioned. There were 32 Film Boards of Trade organized in as many cities in the United States under the auspices of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, Incorporated. There were also six such boards in Canada, one in Havana, and one in Mexico
5 There were present at the conference 43 producer delegates, 25 distributor delegates in person and others represented by proxy, 66 unaffiliated exhibitors, and 59 affiliated exhibitors.
6 The committee consisted of three producer-distributor delegates, three affiliated exhibitor delegates, having no right to vote, and three unaffiliated delegates.
7 The arbitration article in the three contracts — namely, the Uniform Contract of April, 1923, the Standard Exhibition Contract of March 1, 1926, and the New Standard Exhibition Contract of May, 1928 — was practically the same. The first Standard Exhibition Contract eliminated the minimum penalty which might be imposed upon exhibitors; otherwise the arbitration clause remained identical. The New Standard Exhibition Contract made no change except that it provided for filing with the American Arbitration Association and the addition of a provision that fixed definitely the time within which a distributor must comply with an award against an exhibitor. This time limit was determined according to the location of each Board of Arbitration — thus, in New York City it is seven days; in San Francisco, 30 days; in Boston, 10 days; and in Minnesota, 20 days. There were, of course, numerous other changes in the contract itself which indirectly affected the problem of arbitration. The official legal status of the Film Boards was established in August, 1926, when the United States Department of Justice, following an exhaustive investigation, declared that the operation of the board was legal except for a few certain practices not isolated here. This probe started in February, 1925, when the M. P. T. O. A. at its Milwaukee convention flayed the workings of the boards declaring them illegal. (From Film Daily Year Book, 1928, p. 759.)