Showmen's Trade Review (Oct-Dec 1949)

SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW, December 24, 1949 Drop 93 Theatres, U. Asks Court to Order Griffith Chain The Justice Deijartmeiit this week was on record as seeking to have the federal court of Oklahoma City order the Griffith circuit to divest itself of 93 theatres within three years. Two chains are involved in the request, contained in a proposed decree arising out of the Government anti-trust suit against the Griffith interests. They are Griffith Consolidated Theatres and Theatre Enterprises, Inc., the latter of which is not a defendant in the suit, though the Government has asked the court to have it included. The two chains, combined, now operate 224 houses in the southwest, exclusive of holdings in Oklahoma City and Tulsa. In a proposed final judgment filed last Friday, the Justice Department asked the court to require Consolidated to dispose of 45 theatres in Texas and Oklahoma, and Theatre Enterprises to give up 48 in Texas and New Mexico. On Again The suit, whic his based on monopolistic allegations, is being reheard by the federal court on the order of the U. S. Supreme Court which overruled the lower court's original judgment of no monopoly. Under the decree proposed by the Justice Department, one-third of the theatres would have to be sold each year. In addition the defendants would be prohibited from licensing pictures in competitive towns for five years after the entry of the judgment, unless the pictures had first been offered to competitive exhibitors and rejected. The theatres to be sold would include all those "acquired as a result of abuse of the defendants' circuit-buying power," plus one theatre in each "closed" town which might remain after the first group had been divested. Say No Competition At present Consolidated is said to have no competition in 25 of 47 locations where it operates, and its existing theatre competition, exclusive of Oklahoma City and Tusla, is limited to 34 theatres. Theatre Enterprises is said to have no competition in 40 of the 47 towns in which it is operating and its existing competition is said to be confined to 11 theatres. The proposed decree further would separate the corporate defendants from any connection, either financial, common officers, directors or employes. Each defendant would have to license pictures entirely on his own behalf, on the "theatre-by-theatre picture-by-picture basis" and asking for discriminatory terms or conditions not available to other exhibitors would be forbidden. Finally the defendants would be forbidden from acquiring any new theatres unless authorized by the court after it had been satisfied that the new acquisitions would not restrain competition. Included among the theatres the Government Sinatra Breaks Record According to reports in the Connecticut amusement trade, the recent two-day personal appearance of Frank Sinatra, the Hollywood-singer-actor, at the State Theatre, Hartford, Conn., broke all existing house box-office records. The Sinatra vaudeville show, it was said, took in more than $18,000, thereby smashing all previously-set records for receipts. A previous record high, it was noted, was set sometime ago by a vaudeville show featuring Arthur Godfrey. is asking Consolidated to sell are the drive-ins at Berger and Midland, which the Justice Department claims were "acquired for the purpose of eliminating the competitive exhibitors there." Bidding Won't Do It In its proposed decree the Justice Department rejects the contention that competitive bidding changed the situation under which the alleged monopoly had grown. "There can be no doubt," the Goycrnnient declared, "that the purchasing power possessed by Griffith Consolidated and Theatre Enterprises is much greater than that of any of their competitors, and that under the system of competitive bidding (they) will be able to continue to preempt the product of the major distributors and that their competitors will only be able to obtain such product as the defendants do not see fit to purchase. "Griffith Consolidated includes the Griffith Amusement Company, one of the three original defendants, which it absorbed in 1945 and 1946. The other two corporations named in the 1939 suit — R. E. Griffith Theatres and Westex Teatres, were acquired by Theatre Enterprises in 1945 and 1946. . . . The Government has asked the court to make Theatre Enterprises a defendant in this case. But the court has not yet acted on tliis motion." Maybe Asked by Showmen's Tr.\de Review wliether similar action would be taken to include theatres formerly part of the Griffith chain but recently sold to a group of former employes, a Justice Department spokesman said the only information they had of the sale so far was what they read in the trade papers. It seemed probable, he added, that the Government would treat the new set up as it did Theatre Enterprises— that is by asking the court to include it as a party to the suit — unless it can be proved that no chain of affiliation exists between it and the Griffith interests. Goldenson To Head Paramount Theatres Leonard H. Goldenson, present head of Paramount's theatre operations will be president of the new United Paramount Theatres, which takes over the Paramount theatre properties on Jan-. 1, 1950 as a result of the consent decree Paramount reached with the Justice Department in the Government anti-trust suit. Officers who will serve with Goldenson in the new company are VicePresident Walter W. Gross, Secretary Treasurer Robert H. O'Brien, Comptroller Si Siegel, Assistant Treasurer J. L. Brown. Directors are : Goldenson, O'Brien, John A. Coleman, Walter P. Marshall, William T. Kilborn, E. Chester Gersten. Balaban Follows Balaban John Balaban succeeded his brother Barney Balaban as president of the Balaban and Katz circuit Monday. The move is in accordance with the principles of the Paramount consent decree, which separates exhibition from production-distribution. While the B&K circuit will remain as part of United Paramount Theatres, its former president, Barney Balaban, will stay in production and distribution, remaining as head of the new Paramount Pictures Corporation. Aurelius Heads New Paramount Arizona Circuit George H. Aurelius will head the newlyformed Arizona Paramount Company by which Paramount takes its split of the theatres it formerly held with Harry L. Nace and Harry L. Nace, Jr., in Arizona, Leonard H. Goldenson, head of Paramount's theatre operations, announced Monday. The split, which is the result of the consent decree Paramount reached with the Justice Department in the Government anti-trust suit, gives Paramount the following properties ; the Orpheum, Palms, Rialto, Strand, Aero, Ramona, Studio, in Phoenix, and the Paramount Catalina and '.State in Tucson. Aurelius, who will headquarter in Plioenix, will have associated with him : Jesse Chinich, head booker and buyer ; Dane Roehrig, Paramount city manager, in the same post at Tucson ; Maurice J. Pyle, former manager of the Palms, ' now head of the warehouse department. The managerial set-up is : A. G. Pickett, remains manager of the Orpheum ; E. L. Hapner, moving from assistant of the Orpheum to manager of the Aero ; William Sale, formerly manager, Rialto, to the Palms as manager, with Donald Jolms, formerly of the Strand, moving to the Rialto and being succeeded by A. V. Policy, formerly of the Aero. Jose Requena and Harold Stetson remain as managers of the Ramona and Studio, respectively. In Tucson, Will Eyies is manager of the Paramoimt, R. L. Hanson, manager of the Catalina, and P. Tannous, manager of the State. The Naces have resumed operating their own properties. Leonard Goldenson United Artists Theatres Buys Into Calif. Circuit United Artists Theatres, which recently changed from an investment company into an operating unit, this week was reported to have bought a 50 per cent interest in United California Theatres. Terms of the agreement, which was reached by Joseph M. Schneck of UA and Michael Naify, president of the circuit, which operates 100 houses in California and Nevada, were not divulged. However, it was reported that there would be no changes in policy of UCT, which operates the Golden State, T&D, Jr., Enterlirises, and San Frsncisco Theatres, Inc. The circuit also has six drive-ins with others ])lanned. More Theatre News on P. 9