Like Buying Hats

Under the shaky structure of the movie industry's distribution system the Supreme Court of the U.S. last week laid a bundle of dynamite. By a 7-to-1 decision, the court found that nine, major producing, distributing and exhibiting companies* had conspired to prevent Chicago's Jackson Park Theater, an independent neighborhood house, from showing films until their box office potential had greatly deteriorated.

In Chicago, distributors have fixed a minimum of ten weeks before a film shown in high-priced Loop houses can be shown in low-priced neighborhood theaters. Independent operators have squirmed under this system, which is roughly the same in all big cities. But most of them have not been financially strong enough to do anything about it.

The Jackson Park Theater could. The four well-heeled sons and daughters of Millionaire Builder Edward I. Bloom, who own and operate the theater, started suit in 1942 under the antitrust act. They claimed that they could not bid on first-run films in a free market.

In the lower court, Mrs. Florence Bigelow (a Bloom daughter) starred on the witness stand. Said she: "I don't know anything about the technicalities, but I would like to buy pictures the way I would buy a hat."

Jurors carefully noted the stunning creation atop the stunning Mrs. Bigelow, awarded her theater treble damages of $360,000. In upholding this verdict, after reversal, the Supreme Court by no means guaranteed that film-renting would be as easy as hat-buying hereafter. For one thing, owners of small independent neighborhood theaters cannot afford to bid for first-run rentals against big houses.

But the major Hollywood studios will now be wide open to a swarm of new and costly damage actions, just when they cannot afford more trouble. Soon a special court will rule on the Federal Government's antitrust suit to divorce theater operation from production and distribution.

* RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.; Loew's Inc.; 20th Century-Fox Film Corp.; Paramount Pictures, Inc.; Balaban & Katz Corp.; Vitagraph, Inc.; Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.; Warner Bros. Circuit Management Corp.; Warner Bros. Theatres, Inc.

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