Dipson Theatres
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Dipson Theaters is a
movie theater A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall ( Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...
chain based in
Western New York Western New York (WNY) is the westernmost region of the U.S. state of New York. The eastern boundary of the region is not consistently defined by state agencies or those who call themselves "Western New Yorkers". Almost all sources agree WNY in ...
.


History

Dipson Theatres, Inc. began in 1939 in Batavia, NY. In 1939 Nikitas Dipson also moved into the
Buffalo, NY Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...
region, acquiring three theaters Michael Shea operated but on which he had not renewed the leases: the
Century A century is a period of 100 years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. A centennial or ...
, a downtown first run theater, the Bailey, a neighborhood theater, and the Riviera, a suburban theater and one on which Shea declined an offer: the Ridge, another suburban theater. In 1946, Dipson Theatres, Inc. sued nine national film distributors ( Vitagraph, Inc., Warner Bros. Pictures Distributing Corp, Loew's, Inc., Paramount Pictures, Inc., RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.,
Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
,
Universal Film Exchanges, Inc. Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal ** Universal TV, a t ...
,
Columbia Pictures Corporation Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the multi ...
, and
United Artists Corporation United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studio ...
along with Buffalo Theatres, Inc. and its dissolved subsidiary Bison Theatres Corporation, and its president, McFaul) under an alleged violation of the
Sherman Antitrust Act The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 (, ) is a United States antitrust law which prescribes the rule of free competition among those engaged in commerce. It was passed by Congress and is named for Senator John Sherman, its principal author. Th ...
. The case was finally decided on July 25, 1951 by The United States Court of Appeals Second Circuit. Dipson claimed to have been conspired against, but failed to show it, except for Loew's and Paramount whom were found to legally able to favor their own theaters yet had provided adequately. The losses by Dipson were attributed mostly to poor management,
unfair competition Unfair may refer to: * Double Taz and Double LeBron James in multiverses ''fair''; unfairness or injustice * ''Unfair'' (drama), Japanese television series * '' Unfair: The Movie'' * Unfair (song), a song by South Korean boy group EXO