The Moving picture world (November 1925-December 1925)

November 7, 1925 MOVING PICTURE WORLD 23 QonstYuctiv e — By Bm Rdiiy Time spent, by both sides, in arguing over price could better be spent in COLD TURKEY talk on HOW TO PUT THE PICTURE OVER. Doing Things at F. B, O. THE press sheet has a close relation to the balance sheet. Up at F.B.O. they have produced a master press sheet on "The Keeper of the Bees." Nat Rothstein and Colvin Brown realize that a press sheet which sells the picture to the exhibitor and which does not help HIM sell the picture to his clientele defeats its own purpose. They, and their advertising and publicity staffs, are to be congratulated on doing SOMETHING THAT IS CONSTRUCTIVE—giving the buyers of "The Keeper of the Bees" a guide that points the public from sidewalk and home to the box-office. A Trim Job on ''Bobbed Hair" WARNER BROS., as shown by their exploitation of "Bobbed Hair," show that they know how the end of an old contract and the beginning of a new one overlap. A Pittsburgh newspaper took a full page to advertise its inauguration of the serialization of "Bobbed Hair." The story, chapters of which were written in "round robin" style, by different well-known authors, lent itself well to serial form in newspapers. Watty Parker, Randy White, and Bill Murphy went right to it. To date they have placed the serialization of "Bobbed Hair" in 450 newspapers throughout the country. A trim job ! That is ticket selling exploitation. THAT is something CONSTRUCTIVE. Chaplin ''Saves** the Show EVER hear of Charlie Chaplin "saving" the show? We think of Chaplin as a show maker rather than a show saver. Nevertheless, a direct report has come to us from a walloping-sized town where he DID "save" the show. AND with "The Gold Rush." We all know that short features have often given the satisfaction part of the exhibitor's "satisfaction or money back" guarantee. In this instance the feature picture was the only entertainment boy who stood on the burning deck whence all but he had fled. It was Saturday night. Plenty of patrons to see two shows, but here is what the exhibitor loaded into ONE show: A news reel so old that the pulmotor had to be applied before the projection machine could function. A two-reel comedy that was made when custard was selling for a dollar a barrel and slapstick bakers put enough into one pie to make the kind mother made look like a polite tea cookie. An episode of an animal serial which was already five years out of the museum as a relic of the Movie Stone Age. AND THEN— "The Gold Rush 1" Our reporter was not a picture "expert"— just a CUSTOMER. The whole house had the fidgets, and from the comments going around the theatre, if it had not been that Chaplin was coming in "The Gold Rush" the house would have walked out almost to the man. Charlie saved the day. "The Gold Rush" to that bunch of irritated, tortured customers was nectar — pure nectar. Now the report from that exhibitor on "The Gold Rush" would probably have read something like this: "Patrons liked it, but gross business was not what I expected." We ask you, boys, doesn't a guy like that need to go across the street where the sign says "Eyes examined free" and perform a long neglected duty? An exhibitor who piles on the junk line like that is not only unfair to the big picture on his program but to the little pictures in general. AND how HE suffers! This week organization started for a permanent association of the short feature specialists, to promote the interests of their field in production, distribution and exhibition. THAT is something CONSTRUCTIVE. An organization of this kind, with the help of the exhibitor, v/ill save Charlie from putting on a life preserver and "saving" the show. What's RIQHT With the Movies PERMANENCY in production! To make a picture that you can show the folks just as proudly tomorrow as you can today ! To make a picture the folks will like just as much tomorrow as they do today ! Paramount is making new prints of "Peter Pan" and shipping them to their exchanges for encore play dates during the Christmas holidays. Houses that played "Peter Pan" almost a year ago will play it again. Houses that did not play it will show it to audiences who may have seen "Peter Pan" elsewhere. Who knows but in time the children may see "Peter Pan" every Christmas, just as at' every Yuletide they have the Christmas Carol read to them. "Peter Pan" may well become just as much a part of holiday tradition as Dickens, the pack of toys, and the stockings on the mantel. What's RIGHT with the movies? "Peter Pan !" iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii ' iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Qentlemen of the Sales Jury (Continued from page 21) bring it in alive, bring it in dead !" It should be "Hit 'em hard when you have to. PICK 'EM UP when you have to!" Let's PICK 'EM UP, especially in that circle where the line on the exhibitor prosperity chart is a wavering one. Let's put Rushmorc back on the picture map. AND — NO MORE RUSHM0RP:S ! . There is an empty screen in Rushmore, gentlemen of the sales juiy; one less sales OUTLET; one less giver of ENTERTAINMENT; one less EXHIBITOR. What is the verdict ?