Firm Reveals Theaters Sale in S.L. Area
Salt Lake Tribune, 3 September 1955, page 17
Seven theaters in Provo, Murray and Salt Lake City were sold Friday for nearly one million dollars to Fox Intermountain Theaters and Wasatch Theaters, subsidiaries of National Theaters of Los Angeles, Inc.
Management of the chain, sold by Joseph L. Lawrence interests, will fall to Jack N. McGee, 1747-23rd East, district manager for Fox Inter-Mountain Theaters.
Included in the transaction are Uptown, Rialto, South East, Villa and Oak Hills Drive-in Theaters in Salt Lake City; Murray Theater, Murray, and Academy Theater in Provo.
The sale became effective Friday at 9 p.m., announced Joseph L. Lawrence, president, and D. K. Edwards, vice president-general manager of Joseph L. Lawrence Theaters.
Judicial permission for the sale was granted in New York City earlier Friday by Federal Judge Gregory F. Noonan. The court order requires National Theaters to "divest" itself of Rialto Theater within six years if an independent owner "wishes to enter the competitive first-run field."
Another provision, relating to South East Theater, stipulates that National Theaters, if required, must give competitors equal opportunity for bidding on first-run movies.