The Hollywood Antitrust Case:

aka The Paramount Antitrust Case

The famous entrance to the Paramount studio, the largest of the major film companies of the classic Hollywood era.

The 1948 Supreme Court decision in U.S. v. Paramount Pictures, et al, dealt a crushing blow to the Hollywood studios, and effectively brought an end to the studio system of classic cinema. This Great Hollywood Antitrust Case was actually two major suits (an numerous minor ones). In effect there were two "Paramount cases."

The Hollywood studios' antitrust problems began with an Federal Trade Commission investigation in 1921. The FTC declared block booking anticompetitive, and brought into question other studio practices related to their theater monopolies. In 1928, the FTC took Famous Players-Lasky (the forerunner to Paramount Pictures) to court, along with nine other major Hollywood studios. In 1930 the major studios were declared guilty of monopolization. However, the effects of the decision were nullified by a controversial deal arranged with the Roosevelt administration during the depths of the Great Depression.

After having weathered the worst of the Depression, the major studios emerged more powerful than ever. In 1938, the Roosevelt administration turned the tables on the studios, ordering the Department of Justice to file suit against Hollywood's Big Eight. The case U.S. v. Paramount was delayed several times by consent decrees and World War II. However, largely due to the influence of the independent producers and the rise of the SIMPP, the case made it to the Supreme Court where the famous 1948 decision lead to the abolishment of block booking, and the forced divestiture of the studios to sell off their theater chains.

This case was in integral part of SIMPP's mission, and had a profound effect on Hollywood history.

Federal Trade Commission v. Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, et al

• Introduction: The First Paramount Case
• DOCUMENT: "Acts to Dissolve Big Lasky Concern as 'Movie Trust' "
• Testimony of W. W. Hodkinson, founder of Paramount Pictures
• Behind-the-scenes Intrigue at Paramount—Testimony of Al Lichtman
• Paramount Conspiracy—Testimony of Harris Connick & Walter E. Greene
• Independents Defect from the Studios—Testimony of Samuel Goldwyn
• Further Complaints Against Paramount—Studio Insiders
• Further Complaints Against Paramount—Movie Exhibitors

United States v. Paramount Pictures, et al

The Independent Producers and the Paramount Case, 1938-1949

• Part 1: The Hollywood Slump of 1938
• Part 2: The Studios Prepare for the Antitrust Battle, 1939
• Part 3: The Consent Decree of 1940
• Part 4: The Studios in Federal Court, 1945
• Part 5: Friend of the Court—SIMPP Files For Amicus Curiae, 1947
• Part 6: The Supreme Court Verdict That Brought an End to the Hollywood Studio System, 1948
• Part 7: Paramount and the End of an Era, 1949

DOCUMENTS from the Paramount Case:

• List of Original Defendants in the Paramount Case, July 20, 1938
• The Government Reactivates the Paramount Case, August 1944
• The U.S. Declares Hollywood Guilty of Antitrust Conspiracy—The New York Equity Suit Decision, 1947
• SIMPP Reaction to the Decision in the New York Equity Suit, January 1947
• The Supreme Court Brings the Studio Era to an End—The Complete Text of the Decision in the Paramount Antitrust Case, May 1948
• The SIMPP Telegram, September 1948