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etage i. APRIL 14, 1947 But even Denny's friends sometimes” refer to him as “John with the brains kaocked out.” Denny has been more of an order-carrier than director of big affairs, The dozen-odd other Lewis blood relatives and in-laws on the pay- roll have shown no greater capacity. John’s only son, John L. Jr., is practising medicine. His daughter Kathryn still holds title as secretary-treasurer of the catch-all District 50. But her labor in- terests have lately been subordinated to. studies in Oriental religion and philoso- The old-timers who remain have lived in Lewis’ shade for so long that even their desire to head the union is doubtful. Thomas Kennedy, the secre- tary-treasurer, is aging and tired and said to be anxious for rest. The vice- president, John O'Leary, is an old wheelhorse who has never been known for initiative or knowledge of the coal industry. Others might fill in: Ora Gassaway of Indiana, John Jones of Maryland, John Owens of Ohio. All spend much time around the throne. But they also have taken orders for too many years. _K...C, Adams, Journal editor, pleases “Lewis by making up such terms as “New Deal burrocrats.”” But he lacks a solid mining background. John Kmetz, present head of District 50, is middle- aged and personable. But the younger men brought up through the “family” are also short on initiative. i Trouble abead * pees remain the men thrown out by Lewis. It was generally believed that Phil Murray, long-time UMW vice- president, could have fought Lewis ' effectively had he been willing to take a chance on splitting the union. Van A. Bittner, Allan Haywood, John Brophy and many other CIO officials are for- mer miners’ leaders. But whether the’ miners would turn back to them in the event of Lewis’ death is more than any- " one wants to speculate about. There is no lack of unanimity of inion on one point: trouble lies ahead for the miners, and plenty of it. They may or may not avoid a long and bitter strike. But they must inevitably face chaos among the sycophants when Old Jobn passes on. ao 4 4 ( “ ATrust Is Dented Thanks to a Philadelphia-theatre ote ———$§" by Donald W. Craig Hollywood's tight-fisted grip on motion picture bookings has-been loosened S$ YOU come out of the Fifteenth Street exit of Broad Street Station in Philadelphia, the name GOLDMAN, spelled in gigantic, illuminated letters of many. colors, smacks you in the eye from a vertical sign a hundred yards away. The sign, and the theatre behind it, symbolize the beginning of what may be an epochal change in one of Amer- ica’s largest industries—the movies. The change is from monopoly to free com- petition. Its importance is indicated by the fact that the movies’ power to in- fluence man’s manners, morals and val- ues is perhaps unrivaled even by the press or radio. The Goldman Theatre, opened last August 15, was America’s first major postwar movie house. For William Gold- man, veteran showman and _ theatre operator, the opening marked the climax of a dramatic and bitter struggle. Its story is partly national, partly local; but the details of it could apply to any metropolis. Fourteen ycars ago, after repeated clashes of judgment with his superior, William Goldman quit a $78,000-a-year job as general manager of Warner Brothers theatres in the Philadelphia area, During the next few years, as he tried to develop his own chain of thea- tres, he often suffered from the heavy Donald W. Craig, a former teacher of English, was on the staff of the Phila- delphia Record for two years until the paper shut down. He is now free-lancing, hand of the system he had formerly operated. A growing rage at methods he had once accepted and employed caused him to say one day to a friend, “Some day I'm going to bust that mo- nopoly, and bust it good!” This was the kind of thing friends Pass off with a deprecating smile, “Bust- ing” Warners’ monopoly in Philadelphia was then on a par with kicking over the Empire State Building. Yet Goldman did “bust” it, in just the way he ins tended. In 1941, Philadelphia had eight first- run picture theatres and Warners oper- ated all of them. Today there are ten * first-run houses in Philadelphia, and Warners’ tally has dropped to seven. Goldman owns two (one bought out from under Warners), and Twentieth Century-Fox has another, repossessed after many years of Warner operation. Goldman has two mote top-flight houses feady for first-run pictures as soon as they come on the market. The Warner monopoly has been cracked. Goldman's achicvement is considered by theatre people as onc of the most extraordinary feats evee- performed in their extraordinary industry. To appre- ciate it, one must know something about the position Warner Brothers once held in the city, and something about film distributing in general. In Philadelphia—the system varies slightly in different cities—there are a number of “‘first-run downtown” houses, a larger number of “key-run” houses and many “subsequent-run” houses. The 4