Motion Picture News (Nov-Dec 1925)

November 14, 1925 2265 Making good use of limited lobby space. Manager C. B. Stiff of the Imperial, Columbia, S. C, arranged the display shown above for "Sun-Up" (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer). The "props" consisted merely of two evergreen trees, some tree bark — used to cover the ticket booth — and a rude log bench, shown at left. Jazz Puts House on Feet Bronx Theatre Introduces Dancing With Cabaret Music Supplied Through Tie Up "L & T" Tabloid Newspaper House Organ Issued The '"L & T Illustrated News," which Louis P. Kramer, publicity director for the Lubliner & Trinz theatres in Chicago claims is the largest house organ in the world, has been launched. The paper starts its career with a circulation of 100,000 and as a twelve-page tabloid newspaper. It is the contention of its publishers, that the tabloid newspaper idea is better liked by the public than a weekly magazine, the usual form of picture theatre house organ. Within two weeks time the size of the paper will be increased from twelve to sixteen pages, and a little later to twenty-four pages. The circulation will be increased to •200,000 on the next issue and by the first of the year to more than 300,000 a week. The paper will be distributed only to patrons of the twenty-one Lubliner & Trinz theatres. The paper is devoted entirely to motion pictures. It carries stories of various stars on location, activities at the studios, has a fashion page showing what the stars are wearing and a cartoon strip. It is standard in size, being the same in make-up throughout as the New York Daily News. The L. & T. Illustrated News is edited by Louis P. Kramer, J. J. Hess, William Adler, with Roy Willis contributing the cartoon strip. Incidentally, the circulation of the "L. & T. Illustrated News," is greater than the combined circulation of two of Chicago's daily papers. Cruze Wire As Herald For "Pony Express" Co-operating with the Saxe Theatres, Eddie Corcoran, Paramount exploiteer put over a good stunt by having a reproduction of an original telegram that James Cruze dispatched to Jesse Lasky printed on 25,000 Postal Telegraph receiving blanks. The Postal Company co-operated by distributing them throughout the city from their fourteen branches. Every office building was visited by the messenger boys. The Strand, Seattle, Wash., sacrificed Us electric sign to a huge cut-out as an attractor for First National's "The Lost W orld." The cutout was illuminated by spot lights. IT is not new, in this age of Jazz, for picture theatres to drift along with the tide and incorporate liberal doses of syncopation in their program, but it remained for an enterprising manager of a theatre in the Bronx to turn to Jazz as a "life saver." The manager is E. Canter, the theatre, the Congress, a neighborhood house, which was built a bit ahead of its time and which languished for a considerable stretch in the doldrums on a sea of the many high places which mark upper New York City's amusement activities. Where to begin this story is a question. There are many pertinent angles from the theatre manager's standpoint. For example, there is the question, a large one, of dancing in the theatre. In several cities there are theatres which offer dancing and picture shows for a single admission. The dance craze has cut into the picture theatre's potential patronage. So the problem for many showmen is how to win over to their institutions these enthusiasts — these worshippers at the altar of Jazz. Cabarets have mushroomed their way up in the neighborhood sections of large cities, and so there are many of them which are having their difficulties in making the boxoffice carry the load of their backers' investments. The case we are discussing offers ■ a means of solution of the problems which confront both the neighborhood theatre and the neighborhood cabaret. What could be a better way out of the difficulty than a tie-up of interests. The patronage of the theatre is bound to be considerable, and conversely the draw of the cabaret is certain to cut appreciably into the patronage of the picture tl eatre. The solution of the problem has been attempted by Manager Canter of the Congress, in the Bronx. It consists simply of a co-operative arrangement with a nearby cabaret with a good orchestra and a good following among the young people of the neighborhood. Canter has arranged with the cabaret to supply him an orchestra on two nights a week. On these occasions the theatre opens its program with a cabaret number, in which the stage is set as a cabaret and the orchestra is arranged back stage. The music is played and the audience invited to participate in the dancing. Sufficient room for dancing is afforded by the wide aisles at the Congress, the stage and foyer of the theatre. 1 be neighborhood idea, is promoted by .having the manager announce publicly the names of the couples who dance on the stage. Along with the orchestra, which the cabaret provides, are such entertainment numbers as are presented as weekly features by the dance salons. The arrangement is made profitable to the cabaret through constant "ballyhooing" of the dance hall by the manager of the Congress theatre. Canter has carried his neighborhood idea even further than this. His district is populated by a number of social clubs, and on Saturday night of each week he offers a prize, usually a loving cup, to the organization which is best represented at the theatre. Canter is well acquainted in the neighborhood and knows the people of his community and personally checks up at the door on this "club night" stunt. Through associations formed during his career as a vaudeville performer, Canter obtains the services of several well known vaudeville performers for the Congress. These features enable him to stage a "Carnival Week" such as put on two weeks ago at the Congress. But it is the intimate touch which seems to be doing the best work in developing a large following for the theatre, and in this his tie-up with the cabaret is the biggest item of appeal to the people of the community.