Motion Picture News (Oct 1913 - Jan 1914)

A. dve r X is in P ic t I HAVE fought the posters. I am still fighting them, and for this reason I am getting the ill-will of many persons, including the poster printers. I am not advocating complete abolition of the posters, but I am against the ugly, sensational posters and the abuse of posters. Artistic posters would improve the business of both the exhibitor and of the poster printer. It is true that there would be less posters used, but then the theatres would improve in appearance, and the printer, able to charge more for high-class posters, would make up in quality what he would lose in quantity. While single hand-painted card signs cost money, theatres ordering from three to four card signs daily can obtain them at about 50 cents per sign. A sign painter of Montgomery, Ala., was very clever. In making his scrolls he would invariably reserve a space in which he could paste the portrait of the leading actor or the trade-mark of the manufacturer. I do not see why the designers of posters do not use their imagination to uplift the industry by composing artistic advertising sheets, instead of wasting their time and energy trying to make the film more sensational and more repulsive to the public. If the artist would draw the title of the film, the name of the manufacturer, copy the trade-mark, reserve a space in the center for a photograph of an actual scene, or a couple of spaces, and, as the painter of Alabama, reserve a small space in the scroll-work for the portrait of a leading actor, he would produce a very artistic poster that would sell at a higher price, a poster that would uplift the show business, give a better appearance to the theatre and be less objectionable to the neighboring stores. All managers must do some advertising. Those who refuse to display the sensational posters and go to the expense of having show cards painted would gladly appreciate real artistic posters and save themselves the trouble of having to paint their own advertising sheets. The managers who conduct first-class theatres know by experience that while the patrons like to see the titles of the pictures to be shown, the names of the manufacturers and of the leading actors, they object to the ugly sensational posters. Patrons do not care to see an exaggerated illustration of the film, but as they all have a fancy for certain trade-marks and certain actors, all that they ask to see in front of a theatre is the title of the picture and the trade-mark of the manufacturer. Some lovers of motion pictures want Biographs, Vitagraphs, others want Kay Bees, Keystones, still others want Bisons, Nestors. Some of them will not miss a show where Maurice Costello, King Baggott, G. Anderson, Florence Lawrence, etc., appear. The names and trade-marks of the best manufacturers and of the leading actors are better drawing cards than posters. Springfield, Mass., is not yet addicted to the fad of an abuse of posters. While a few theatres, like the Lion and the Globe, have a rather too large display of posters, the other theatres of the main street are more moderate, and the Bijou has none. • When I called on Mr. E. L. Knight, the business manager of the Bijou Theatre, I had to congratulate him on the absence of posters and on the excellent appearance of his lobby. Congratulations were reciprocal, as Mr. Knight was pleased to find a paper with broad-minded views advocating the suppression of the highly sensational posters, which in his mind cheapen the appearance of any theatre displaying them. Mr. Knight agrees that an abuse of posters not only defaces a lobby, but is a disgrace to the community, and is strongly objectionable to the various stores having the misfortune to have a motion picture show as a next door neighbor. Mr. Knight claims also, and in this case follows my views, that a large display of ugly and sensational posters keeps away more patrons than it brings trade. Evidently Mr. Knight has some very strong ideas on general appearance, and he believes that the money spent in posters can be spent more judiciously in making the place more attractive and more refined. The only advertising in front of the SCENE FROM "ZUMA THE GYPSY" Kleine-Cines Release. ■