Curtains for a Monopoly

Of the 28 shows on Broadway, 17 are playing in Shubert-operated theaters. The Shubert chain not only controls more than half of New York's legitimate stages, but six of Boston's seven, four of Philadelphia's five, six of Chicago's seven, two of Cincinnati's three, the one house in Baltimore and the two in Detroit. Shubert also owns 50% of the United Booking Office, the only agency through which producers can arrange nationwide tours. Last week, in the final act of a six-year-long Government antitrust suit (during which Lee Shubert died), Jake Shubert gave in. He signed another of Trustbuster Stanley Barnes's growing list of consent decrees (TIME, Feb. 6) agreeing to 1) sell or lease four legitimate houses in New York and six more in other cities, 2) sell his interest in the United Booking Office.

In another consent decree last week, General Shoe Corp., second largest U.S. shoemaker in sales (after International Shoe Co.), bowed to Government charges that purchase of 18 other shoe concerns tended to create a monopoly. It promised that until Feb. 16, 1961 it would seek prior Government approval for further expansions and mergers, and buy 20% of its retail requirements from competitors. The company also agreed to sell its stock in competing concerns within the next two years.

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