Moving Picture World (Jan-Feb 1927)

140 MOVING PICTURE WORLD January 8, 1927 A Proper Advance App eal Reduces Average Costs Qets Pretty Display For Talmadge Comedy Suggesting the Frank Burns style, the Coliseum theatre, Seattle, achieves a fine display on Constance Talmadge in The Duchess of Buffalo. The space is a three tens, with the actual advertisement only 3 by 4 inches in a space of 65 square inches, and yet the white space is what gives real value to less than one-fifth of the area. CONSTANCE T A L M A D G E DUCHESS OF BUFFALO Tonight Only, Lillian Gish in “La Boheme ” ARTISTIC AND SELLING Most of the text is in six and eight point, which most advertising writers would regard as far too small, but it is all readable, and the five selling lines give just the right suggestion of a snappy comedy. The same type in barely enough space to carry it would be a waste of money, but where the larger space gives it isolation it will probably be read by many who ignore 36 and 48 point lines to do so. The cut might have come through better, but that is a detail. Even as it stands it suggests class, and class makes sales. FOR OPENING DAY Just by way of contrast compare the above with the two twos used for the opening day. This is only about four inches in area, but because of the previous display it is abundantly able to put the picture over. It is a big drop from 3 inches to 2, but the thirty makes it possible to use twos for the remainder of the run. The right time to sell a picture is before it gets there, plus a reminder during its stay. The Coliseum does this very nicely. It may be argued that it would be better to divide the space more equitably to get the reader who possibly overlooked the one big splash. In some places this might be true, especially where an appeal is made to a floating population. Much depends on the town and even the house. Here the one big splash seems to work best. Temptress Spaces Sell the Vampire Most of the announcements for The Temptress seem to stress the character above all else, and in Cleveland the Stillman starts its space with a sure fire in that “Loved as no woman has ever been loved.” AN EFFECTIVE APPEAL That may leave you cold, but there are thousands of women who get their romance from the screen, and to such that carries a wonderful message. It’s a good thing to remember in framingg your own appeals. Even married women find more romance on the screen than in their own lives. It’s one of the reasons for the popularity of the pictures, and it pays to capitalize the idea as has been done in this instance. For the general public there is another appeal below the title, but here there is a rather awkward line which reads “Fate marked her to be loved by half a dozen men.” That’s suggestive of the grocery bill. “Many men” would have carried a richer appeal. You get half a dozen eggs, but love affairs do not come in commercial units. Better display would have been had on this title had the author and star names been held down to Roman. In bold face they they are no more prominent and yet they reduce the prominence of the title because the bold type has to fight bold instead of being aided by a light face. Makes Heavy Splash For Private Murphy This is only the top of an advertisement from the Met theatre, Grand Forks, N. D., on Private Izzy Murphy, but even this section drops thirteen inches across four. The entire space is much longer. SPLASHING IZZY There is a good line hidden away to the left reading “A drama of Izzy's Irish Woes” which will get a laugh, and you get the idea that this must be a big picture or the theatre would not make so much noise about it. Izzy has been heavily advertised almost everywhere, but this is an exceptionally large space. Layout Can Alter Apparent Height If you could put these two examples from Frank H. Burns, of the Beacham theatre, Orlando, Fla., side by side, it would appear that one is at least an inch higher than the other and yet both are three tens. It is only an illusion, but a deceptive cne. The first example shows the use of a plan book cut that contains considerable lettering and three figures. Above the cut is a three and one half inch bank of text broken through the inside frame. The cut very