Exhibitors Herald World (Oct-Dec 1929)

October 12, 1929 EXHIBITORS HERALD-WORLD 19 Exhibitors Hail the HOE Club; Agree to Dig for Greater B.O. Members' Exploitation Ideas Exchanged via HeraldWorld Enroll by Agreeing to Send in Their Campaigns for Publication — Short Cut to Showmanship First to Join Herald-World's The HOE Club ORRIS F. COLLINS Palace Theatre Rector, Arkansas A HARRY M. PALMER Riviera Theatre Anderson. Indiana A CARL DIJNLAP Gem Theatre Kinmundy. Illinois E. BERENSON State Theatre Bogalusa. Louisiana A W. J. SHOUP DeLuxe Theatre Spearville. Kansas A C. W. MASSY Jefferson Theatre Huntington. Indiana A JULIUS W. SCHMIDT Grand Theatre Breese. Illinois TriState Meeting Changed to Oct 31 Following MPT OA (Special to the Herald-World) MEMPHIS, Oct. 8.— Plans for the midOctober convention of the Motion Picture Theatre Owners of Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee have been changed and instead the convention will be held on October 31, immediately after the M P T O A closes its Memphis convention. So president M. A. Lightman, head of both the tri-state and national bodies, announced to the territory's exhibitors this week, following a conference Monday with several tri-state directors. Many small exhibitors will be enabled to attend both meetings who otherwise could have come to only one, Lightman pointed out in making the announcement. Aside from this, the energies of those planning the tri-state convention can now be turned undividedly to making the national convention a success, with the assurance that the regional, immediately following is certain to be so. Coincident with the announcement, Lightman sent out a new appeal to tri-state exhibitors for support in planning for the MPTOA convention, October 29-31. Meanwhile he continued hard at work, collaborating with M. J. O'Toole, secretary, New York, in planning the national meeting. Plans are already going forward for an exhibit of sound and other technical apparatus. By ERNEST A. ROVELSTAD Exhibitors, you are cordially invited to become members of The HOE Club, with its slogan, "Dig !" Never in the history of motion picture exhibition has showmanship been so greatly in demand, and The HOE Club offers a practicable method for each and every exhibitor to reap the harvest of showmanship by a simple application of the Golden Rule. It is an organization of exhibitors whose members individually and voluntarily agree to tell each other through the HeraldWorld, how they are putting over pictures successfully. Thus for one workable idea presented by a member he receives in turn the benefit of the ideas of all the others, and these will be published in the HeraldWorld. The idea of The HOE Club, proposed to a few of the exhibitors who contribute to "What the Picture Did for Me," has been accepted so enthusiastically by them that it now is offered to all exhibitor readers of the Herald-World. In an adjoining column appear the names of several theatre owmers and managers who have asked to get in on the ground floor of the club. There will be only one floor — the opportunity is open to all exhibitors to share equally in the benefits — but the sooner one enrolls the sooner he will begin to draw dividends. Fill Out Opplication Blank Whence the name of the club? All readers of "The Theatre" department are familiar with the House Organ Exchange, a steadily growing organization of exhibitors (now 73, to be exact) who are cooperating in sending regularly to one another the issues of their house organs. To recount the value of that organization to its members would be to publish the letters constantly arriving from exhibitors who, in the house organs of other members, have found countless workable ideas for putting over pictures in their own communities. From the first letter of each word of House Organ Exchange comes the name of The HOE Club, and an ideal name it is for all exhibitors who are willing to dig, in order to increase their box office receipts. But whereas the House Organ Exchange is for exhibitors who publish house organs, The HOE Club has no such limitation. All that is necessary is to sign the application below and agree to send in the details of how you have put over a picture. Send in Your Ideas It is not necessary that j'our exploitation "campaign" be more than an idea that you have tried out. Other exhibitors may have a better opportunity to work up into an extensive campaign the idea which circumstances in your own case held down to perhaps only the suggestion of one. Nor is it essential that the exploitation idea increased your business for that particular period. Preferably so, of course, but unforeseen circumstances — a storm, some special competitive event in your community— may have held down your attendance, though the use of that idea by another exhibitor in another town may bring him a house record for the year. And you may be sure — as has been the experience in the House Organ Exchange — that a theatre owner or manager who has benefited by your idea will be more than glad to reciprocate by giving you the opportunity to cash in on his. House Organ Exchange Continues The House Organ Exchange, of course, will continue to grow as a separate organization. Exhibitor members have found it such a help to one another that there would be a chorus of protests if it were simply to be merged into The HOE Club. At the same time, House Organ Exchange members are invited to join The HOE Club as well, as therein they will have available to them the ideas of exhibitors who do not have house organs. We said that showmanship is at a greater premium now than it ever has been before in the history of the motion picture theatre. The motion picture is such a widely accepted part of community activity that it no longer is only entertainment — it is now considered a necessary part of community life. But with that has come intense competition, with the black or red on the bookkeeping records of either competing house (Continued on page 41) To The HOE Club Manager, Exhibitors Herald-World. 407 S. Dearborn St., Chicago Please enroll me as a member of The HOE Club, with its slogan. "Dig!" I appreciate the benefits to be made available to me by publication of exploitation ideas of other members and I agree to send in mine. (My Name) (Theatre) (City) (State).