( Chicago New Chicago Plan For Paramount (Continued from preceding paget Rogers 480 Roundup 730 Schindlers 700 Webster 530 Wicker Park 540 * * * F "m Arlington Hts., Arlington 770 3rd Chicago Commodore 966 3rd Drake 1,477 3rd Gateway 2,092 2nd Irving 1,400 3rd Patio 1,500 3rd Portage 1,838 2nd Terminal 2,389 2nd Times 994 3rd Des Plaines, Des Plaines... 950 2nd Park Ridge, Pickwick 1,500 2nd 4th and Subsequent Chicago * Admiral 1,399 Alba * 968 * Jeff 491 Metro * 896 Revue • 424 * Rivoli 1,302 • Palatine, Palatine 300 DISTRICT WEST NO. 1 I Alamo 1,535 2nd Alex 990 3rd American! 1,279 2nd Atlantic 2,500 2nd Broadway-Strand 1,505 2nd Byrd 1,486 3rd California 655 3rd Central Park 1,758 2nd Crawford 1,299 3rd Four Star 1,168 3rd Illington 940 3rd Imperial! 1,035 2nd Kedzie 1,396 3rd Marbro 3,931 2nd Marshall Square 1,340 2nd Milo 900 2nd Paradise 3,612 2nd Rena 2,000 3rd Senate 2,999 2nd Star & Garter 1,500 2nd Tiffin 2,000 2nd Twentieth Century 750 3rd White Palace 700 3rd 4th and Subsequent Avenue 580 Century 750 Circle 707 Crown 1,100 Douglas 719 Elmo 780 Empire 855 Famous 600 Garden 278 Garfield 625 Globe 800 Gold 750 Grand ....'. 565 Harrison 568 Homan 300 Home 300 Irving 290 Joy 946 Kedzie Annex 750 Lexington 650
Brighton 1,500 2nd Colony 1,500 2nd E. A. R 720 3rd Empress 1,000 2nd Englewood 1.290 2nd Halfield 952 3rd Harvard 688 3rd Highway 900 3rd Linden 700 3rd Marquette 900 3rd Midwest 1,600 2nd Milda 850 3rd Ogden 2,042 2nd Peoples 1,850 2nd Ramova 1,100 2nd Regent 825 3rd Rex 500 3rd Southtown 3,202 2nd Stratford 2,433 2nd 4th and Subsequent .• Acadia 671 ' Ace 800 Atom 500 • Oharm 285 • Cornell 300 » Cort 285 • Eagle 300 Gaelic 290 Gale 275 • Hillside 300 * Holden 250 Loomis 280 * Lynn 299 ' Metropole 30O * Norwal 280 * Olympia 582 ' Park Manor 299 * Radio 450 * Rita 298 * Sun 600 * Wallace 300 Clearing, Mayfair 300 * DISTRICT SOUTH NO. 5 Blue Island, Lyric 939 2nd Chicago Beverly 1,240 2nd Capitol 2,456 2nd Cosmo 1,181 3rd Highland 2,043 2nd Parkway (Roseland) .... 761 3rd State iRoseland) 1,981 2nd Chicago Heights Lincoln or 1,610 2nd Rio 706 2nd Harvey, Harvey 876 2nd Homewood, Homewood 600 3rd Oak Lawn, Coral 1,000 2nd 4th and Subsequent Blue Island. Grand 719 * Chicago Normalf 750 • Ridge il20th)t 734 * Roseland 991 * Verdi 383 • Chicago Heights Liberty 400 * Nortown 500 * Dolton, Dolton. 500 • Harvey, Brandt 525 * Harvey, Era 428 ' Midlothian, Towne 500 * Steger, Steger 325 • JNote: Normal and Ridge are now negotiating competitively and we propose to continue this procedure if satisfactory to both Iheatres- DISTRICT HAMMOND East Chicago, Vogue 914 2nd Griffith, Griffith 600 2nd Hammond Calumet 700 3rd Hohman 700 2nd Milwaukee Towne Case Now in Hands of Judge CHICAGO—The decision of Judge John P. Barnes in the hard-fought $1,050,000 triple damage antitrust suit brought by the Milwaukee Towne Corp., owner of the Towne Theatre, Milwaukee, is being awaited with intense interest. So many witnesses were examined during the six weeks of the trial, and the testimony was so extensive that it covered several hundred pages of transcript. It is not expected that the decision will be handed down for three or four weeks. Defendants in the case are MGM, Paramount, RKO, 20th-Fox, Warner Bros. Distributing Corp.. Warner Bros. Circuit Management Corp., Columbia, and James A. Coston of Warner Management Corp. "It takes three things to make out an antitrust cause of action for damages—the proof of an unlawful conspiracy, the proof of damages to the plaintiff, and most important in this case, it takes proof of a direct and proximate and casual connection between the conspiracy charged and the damage claimed." defendant counsel argued. "There is not even prima facie evidence of the necessary hookup between the Milwaukee plan and the availability to the Towne of first run pictures." "It is our position that the so-called piece of whole cloth is a patchwork which hangs together only upon the gossamer threads of counsel's oratorical ability. The defendants contend that the so-called Milwaukee plan, even while it was functioning never had the meaning, the pm-pose. the force or the effect of preventing the Towne or any other theatre in Milwaukee from buying first run pictm'es if they wanted to and were competitively in a position to buy them. "In any event, the so-called Milwaukee zoning and clearance plan, after having shed by the processes of attrition throughout the years, all but a residue of its meaning was snuffed out immediately after June 1, 1946. "We also contend that prior to that time the plaintiff did not make any request for first runs from distributors who are defendants here. We contend that the operation of clearances in Milwaukee after 1946 was a New Hammond 700 3rd Orpheum 836 2nd Paramount 1,992 2nd Parthenon 2,139 2nd Hessville, Ace 475 3rd Highland, Town 432 2nd Indiana Harbor, Indiana.. 1,217 2nd Lansing, Lans 803 2nd Whiting, Hoosier 785 2nd 4th and Subsequent * East Chicago, Forsythe.... 847 • East Chicago, Mars 500 Indiana Harbor • American 578 * Broadway 440 • Garden 750 Vic • 429 DISTRICT GARY Crown Point Palace or 497 2nd Rex 345 2nd Gary- normal, lawful operation of what the courts have held not to be lawful. "The plaintiff's idea of what was lost in the way of profits by not getting all the first runs wanted has been exaggerated many, many times over the true facts." An attorney for Warner Bros, argued the Towne had not been deprived of first runs, and a Paramount lawyer said in his last argument, "There is nothing in this whole story of the old Milwaukee system of release, or its remmants, if there be any, which has anything to do with this case." Counsel for the Towne Theatre, in his closing pleas, Thomas C. McConnell, attorney for the plaintiff said: "It was as clear a case of conspiracy as could be presented in a court. Every single theatre in the city of Milwaukee had its clearances fixed, had a number in a zone and a subzone. Admission prices were fixed with the further vicious provision that if a theatre lowered its admis.sion price it lost clearance position. its "There is not any possible question that this sort of arrangement is illegal. The overriding, overwhelming interest of the public condemns it and declares it illegal from start to finish. There are overwhelming, inherent and transcendent rights of a whole community involved in this Utigation. "Witness after witness testified the purpose of the monopoly was to throw patronage into fu'st runs at the highest admission prices, keep the second run admission high enough so it wouldn't compete too much to keep the patronage away—stagger it down the line, work it out so that the overall dollar taken away from the community will be the highest po.ssible. Of course the conspirators were happy. You couldn't imagine a better system. They had everything tied up. the whole city sewed up. There isn't a legal clearance shown in this case, not one of them. The theatres were manipulated just like men on a chessboard. The defense says we didn't complain. We are complaining now. This suit is a complaint." Fifth Avenue 956 3rd Gary 980 2nd Grand 600 2nd Indiana or 1,000 2nd Roosevelt 800 2nd Lake 500 3rd Miller 760 2nd Palace 2,458 2nd Ridge or 670 3rd Roxy 1,070 3rd State 1,200 2nd Tivoli 1,200 2nd Hebron, Hebron 292 2nd Hobart, Art or 550 2nd Strand 420 2nd Lowell, Ritz 320' 2nd Gary, Tolleston 550 4th * Specific run for each theatre to be neg^otiated. *'Because of the policies followed by these theatres, no designation of second or subsequent run has been made. BOXOFFICE December 24, 1949 57
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