GOVERNMENT: 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...