For months Hollywood and Vine has buzzed with gossip of a really big show cranking up in the movie capital. Producer: the U.S. Justice Department, whose trustbusters have long been roaming the town like talent scouts interviewing actors, agents and executives. Reluctant villain: the mammoth MCA Inc., which acts as agent for half or more of the U.S.'s top actors, is the nation's largest producer of filmed television shows, leases a library of old movies for late-night TViewing, and last year grossed $82.4 million. It would be an antitrust epic, and the story line would be that MCA, bossed by tough, taciturn Lew Wasserman, 49, blankets competition by packaging its own talent into its own shows, grabs off 25% of prime TV time by presenting the networks with an all-or-nothing proposition. And what better title than Hollywood's own name for MCA, The Octopus?
In a civil suit in Los Angeles federal court last week, the U.S. charged that the "predatory" activities of The Octopus violated the Celler-Kefauver anti-merger act. The charges noted that MCA recently acquired Decca Records, and, through Decca, control of Universal Pictures Co., Inc. MCA already owns Universal's lot. leases part of it back to the movie company for $1,000,000 a year. Now, by taking over Universal itself, MCA might well be in a position to dominate the movies as it already dominates the canned-TV business.
Aware that the feds were after it. MCA last week volunteered to dispose of its talent business, which represents such stars as Marlon Brando, Sophia Loren and Jimmy Stewart but accounted last year for only $8,400,000, or about 10% of MCA's gross. The Justice Department wants much more than that. Convinced that MCA's divestiture plan would still leave the talent operation under the control of MCA executives, the Government demands that it be dissolved completely and the stars set free. The Justice Department also wants MCA's acquisition of Decca and Universal rescinded.