Perth Amboy evening news., 1911-08-15
PROCTOR TO
BREAK EVEN
Dominant Figure in Vaude-
Vile World Keith, Loses.

10 clear away the damaging IesJl-
mony against their client brought
out during the Proctor-Keith litiga-
tion over the Fifth Avenue theatre,
Manhattan, the attorneys for B. f.
Keith in the final arguments before
Judge George S. Bird, Of the Maine
Supreme Court, here last week, step
by step reCeded from every position
they had taken and as a last resort
thought to persuade Judge Bird to
order the Fifth vel property auc-
toned off as a corporate asset in the
same way as the Harlem Opera
House. The sudden b%ackdown of
the Keith counsel makes Mr., Proctor
the dominant figure Of the vaudeville
world, as under the present develop
ments he is certain to break even on
the result, with Mr.. Keith an almost
certain loser whichever way the deci-
sion is rendered.
Howard Ives, a local attorney,
made the opening argument for Mr..
Keith. He took refuge in the tech
meal legal point that Mr.. Proctor
could not have brought the Fifth
Avenue theatre into the Keith-Proc-
tor corporation because he had re-
ceived notice to vacate before the
corporation was formed. 1t was
Keith who was identical, he admit
ted, with the International Amuse-
ment and Realty Company who real
ly made it possible for the Fifth
Avenue theatre to be controlled by
the combine, waving aside the blast
ing testimony on the record he as
serted that for the purposes of this
case Keith and the International
were one and the same person. He
admitted that the renewal of the
lease for five years and the continu-
ance of Mr.. Proctor as receiver of
the corporation we're a partial COM
promise, but commended the under
previous agreements made when the
partnership was formed, the parties
rights were equal. 1t was a question,
he said, whether Proctor had pro-
cured the second lease from Keith
or Keith had done so from the Inter
national, which was Keith.
Mr.. Ivens was followed in the
summing up by former Justice Nor
gan. ]. B. O'Brien, of New York,
whom Keith has retained to bolster
admitted every point raised by the
oNN'i'CI 4Oi VI 1 4 iOtIpIt I1dIL anu
Verrill, Hale and Booth. of Portland.
With great finesse he. argued that
Keith and the International Com
pany be entirely disassociated in the
mind Of the court, in which case he
said any benefit would accrue to his
client. He trained every legal gun
IN his armament upon the construc-
ton Of the word theatre" AS a
building, he declared, it had no legal
meaning but as a lease, profit and
GOODWIN it expressed a legal inter {
which belonged to his client l
through ownership of the I~nterna-
ional Company. Mr.. Proctor had
only brought in the building in which {
lis days were numbered had it not !
)een for Mr.. Keith and consequently
legally make no claim on the 7
2EoRerty. now: In spite Of this clever
Observation-Disclosures dis .
of the property was by auc-
ion, the highest bidder to pay half !
he amount to the other. y
When court convened again after
recess, Attorney w. F. S. Hart, of
York, ose to present Mr.. Proc
,or's side of the case. One by one
took up the points made by the
opposing counsel and demolished
them. He read from the original con-
tract between Messrs. Proctor and
Keith in which the Fifth Avenue
property was transferred to
the K~eith-Proctor corporation and
conclusively that at that
1t was formally stated to be the
property of Mr., Proctor. He ruth
lessly arraigned the methods by
which Keith has acquired ownership
of the building under the alias of
benjamin F~ranklyn" and told how
}. Austin Fynes, representing the In
ternational, had come to Mr.. Proctor.
o as the agent of Keith, but osten-
sfbly of a downtown capitalist. Hart
laid stress on the fact that the can
collation. clause to which so much
Importance was attached by the
Keith counsel did not necessarily
provide for a new holder, but mere
ly for a higher rental, turning Judge |
OBr1en's own argument against him.
Mr.. Hart commended hat in law as
lessee even with no privilege of rent
al has rights which take precedence |
over outsiders, other things being |
equal. Mr.. Hart told in detail the
Incidents leading up to the formation
Of the Proctor-Keith combine. He
told how Judge Dettenhoefer, Proc |
tors counsel when the papers were
finally signed, said you are married
now, and he declared that at once
Keith had begun to conspire against
his partner. He read from a mass
OF correspondence to prove this. at
the same time showing that Mr..
Proctor never suspected Keith's own
ershfp of the Fifth Avenue until a
comparatively recent date.
The contention of the Keith forces
that Proctor's interest in the Fifth
Avenue had only ten months to run
when the combination was formed
was utterly exploded by Mr.. Hart,
on the contrary. he argued, 1t instead
had one year and three months and
II on this ground 1t was proper to
put 1t up at auction, the Union
Square put in by Keith. which had
but W years lease with no privi-
lege OF renewal, should be put I'D
also in the original partnership
agreement, He pointed out the I'm
ion Square had been put in by Keith
and the Fifth Avenue by Proctor.
This should leave no doubt In the
mind OF the court. he aVerred, as to
the actual ownership of the two
theatres.