Exhibitors Herald (1927)

March 19, 1927 EXHIBITORS HERALD 29 What Does Your Public Want? WHAT do you, Mr. Theatre Owner, want in Short Features? What do your PATRONS want, and that is the more important question, because it does not always hold true that the picture the theatre owner likes best is the one that takes best at the box office. Is your public satisfied? If so, your problem is reduced to simplicity itself. All you need do is to give your patronage what it already has signified it wants. PATHE NEWS NO. 20—Germany’s best ski jumpers compete on Cudiberg slide— Brigadier General Smedley Butler ordered to China to command Marines— Schooner stranded at Nantasket Beach, Mass., in storm— Coolidge presents Congressional Medals to Byrd and Bennett^— Refugees crowd docks at Shanghai— Champion Cardinals train at Avon Park, Fla.— Night funeral closes burial rites for Emperor of Japan. PATHE NEWS NO. 21— German and French soccer champions meet— Nation’s largest hydroelectric plant nears completion at Conowingo, Md.— Ex-Premier Kerensky of Russia ^visits America— Babe Ruth accepts Yankee contract— Northern Chinese army receives reinforcements— Congressional lame ducks adopt feathered fellow sufferers—Sacasa’s revolutionary troops in Nicaragua march into jungles. * * * INTERNATIONAL NEWS NO. 20 — Kerensky in New York on exile— It’s moving day at White House —Carnival time in Havana brings joy to senoritas Babe Ruth signs with Yankees— Deadshot champion at Whittier, Cal., shows his amazing skill— Railroad terminal at Jersey City swept by $1,000,000 fire^— Aerial daredevils begin spring training at Miami. INTERNATIONAL NEWS NO. 21— Roaring seas at Orleans, Mass., break schooner in two— Interesting folks; Nell Brinkley, artist, teaches her son ; Italian girls wear Mussolini pictures on earrings and Lina Cavalieri approves fashion; DeValera returns to America; Postmaster Harry New congratulates Shirley J. Short, air pilot, on receiving Harmon trophy— First spring lambs arrive at Yakima, Wash.— Coolidges on first cruise since Congress adjourned— Circus folk start training at Barnes City, Cal.^— New aerial railroad makes Mont Blanc climbing a joyride. ■*• * * KINOGRAMS NO. 5271— Enormous crowds attend New Orleans’ 100th Mardi Gras— New German army parades before chief— Babe Ruth signs with Yankees— —Coolidges move to house in DuPont Circle at Washington— Society shivers as Auteuil racetrack opens in France— Athletic college students display novel method for reducing—Fay Adler and Ted Bradford dance on skyscraper and atop new Paramount Building. KINOGRAMS NO. 5272 — ^DeValera greeted by crowd at Battery in New York— Fleetest dogs of West Coast Join in whippet race— 153 Eton schoolboys race and take cold bath— Professor swings in midair to probe bridge of rock 215 feet high— Biggest pony farm is bigger than ever. FOX NEWS NO. 46— Jersey City waterfront swept by flames— Throngs on the Riviera in France see world tennis competition— Kerensky pays visit to America— Carnival spirit reigns at New Orleans Mardi Gras— Cue wizards of world meet in Washington— Garrison at Potsdam goosesteps in review-— Archery attracts beach beauties in Florida— American all-star polo team defeats English at Cannes, France— Yankees train in St. Petersburg, Fla., Cubs at Catalina Island— Nation’s largest hydroelectric power plant nears completion— Fierce storms beset liners at sea. But if your public is not satisfied with the week-to-week Short Features you are giving it, then what? There’s the rub, as both Macbeth (or wasn’t it?) and the washwoman have been quoted as saying. Obviously the entire blame cannot be placed on the producer. He is just as interested in giving your public what it wants as you are, within the necessary cost limits. Is it because you don’t give the Short Features their proper recognition in your ads and publicity? That is up to you, unless you are not provided with sufficient paper or do not get the right kind of paper. An analysis of two issues of the Herald may be illuminating. In the reports on Short Features in the “What the Picture Did For Me” of March 13, 1926, out of 61 reports there was not one in which the exhibitor unreservedly called the picture a poor one. A year to a day later, in the issue of March 12, 1927, there were seven cases out of a total of 114 reported. Standard of Product Bettered Does that mean that Short Features product has fallen in standard in the last year? That is to be doubted, because all along the line the consensus seems to be that the pictures as a whole have improved immeasurably during the period. Does it mean that the exhibitor is paying less attention to the booking and exploiting of his short product? Such a statement also would be challenged; if there has been any change in that regard it generally is credited with being in the direction of greatly increased effort by the theatre owner in telling the patrons about his Short Features. Does it mean the public’s demand for better product has increased more rapidly than the improvements made by the producers? Perhaps. What Has Been YOUR Experience? F course even the pessimist would have a difficult task maintaining his grouch in the face of such a positive total as only seven pictures reported poor out of 114. And he should crawl back into a hole with the groundhog on reading that not one out of sixty was called poor by the exhibitor, as was the case in the March 13, 1926, issue. Nevertheless there must be a reason for the increase of negative reports shown in the comparative totals. What is your explanation? If you think the producer or distributor is the answer, write in to this department of the Herald and tell why you think so. If you blame the exhibitor, say so and tell him through these columns how to help himself. What has been your own experience? Have you received fewer kicks this year than last, or more praises last year than this? How do you account for it? Let’s make this a clearing house for constructive suggestions, and if your fellow exhibitor sounds a box office SOS throw him a life preserver, in print. Address the Short Features Department, Exhibitors Herald, 407 S. Dearborn Street, Chicago.