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How Did the Department of Justice Get It so Wrong? Philadelphia 1935–1936: The Stanley Warner Chain, Competitive Practices and Consumer Welfare

In: Towards a Comparative Economic History of Cinema, 1930–1970

Author

Listed:
  • F. Andrew Hanssen

    (Clemson University)

  • John Sedgwick

    (Oxford Brookes University)

Abstract

From their pursuit of the Motion Picture Industry, the Department of Justice had a poor concept of the economics peculiar to the film industry outlined in the previous chapter. They failed to appreciate that scheduling a film’s distribution (how many screens? how much time?) necessarily occurs before its popularity is known, requiring that the distribution and exhibition relationship must necessarily exhibit substantial post-contractual flexibility if the market works efficiently. Philadelphia was an exhibition stronghold for Warner Bros. In our investigation of the programming of its cinemas in the mid-1930s and the box-office returns that accrued, we find no evidence of monopoly practice in the first run. That is to say that as exhibitors Warner Bros. screened major attractions produced by other studios as a matter of standard practice. As a rule, films were screened for as long as a threshold number of customers bought tickets.

Suggested Citation

  • F. Andrew Hanssen & John Sedgwick, 2022. "How Did the Department of Justice Get It so Wrong? Philadelphia 1935–1936: The Stanley Warner Chain, Competitive Practices and Consumer Welfare," Frontiers in Economic History, in: John Sedgwick (ed.), Towards a Comparative Economic History of Cinema, 1930–1970, pages 45-64, Springer.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:frochp:978-3-031-05770-0_3
    DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-05770-0_3
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