Universal Weekly (November 23, 1912)

Edited by THOMAS BEDDING : OFFICES, MECCA BUILDING, BROADWAY AT 48th ST., NEW YORK CITY Advertising Rates on Application EDITORIAL THE BALKAN WAR IN UNIVERSAL PICTURES. The war in the East of Europe which is drawing to a conclusion is declared by competent military authorities to be one of the most sanguinary of modern times. There was great carnage in the Russo-Japanese war and the Franco-Ger- man war of 1871, and in the American Civil War of 1861-1865. The Balkan war is declared by these experts to which we refer as comparable with these great struggles in respect to loss of life and magnitude of issues involved. The Turk- ish army has been proved on the field of battle to be in as rotten a state as the French army was when Germany crushed it, as the Russian army was when Japan crushed it. Right across the East and Southeast of Europe the Servians, Bul- garians, Montenegrins and Greeks have swept like swarms of locusts, carrying death and destruction in their way. The details are harrowing to read and can only be properly appreciated by people, who, like the writer of this article, have traveled in the East of Europe, have mixed with the various nationalities and realized the momentous fact that the Turkish empire, which has existed in Europe for hundreds of years, has been wiped out of that continent by these vic- torious European peoples. It has been a Titanic struggle for 500 years. The Turk has been in Europe for 500 years, and that has been 500 years too long. The Turk has no more business in Europe than the West African Negro has in the United States. Americans therefore may feel for their fellow-white men of Europe. Americans of the bet- ter kind would like to see the Negro driven out of the United States. They feel towards him as the Bulgarians, Ser- vians, Greeks, Montenegrins, etc., feel towards the Turk. We write this in order that the readers may more readily understand the gravity of this great continental war crisis. The Universal Company, with sleep- less enterprise, has had its own oper- ators on the field of battle. Crossing the Atlantic at this moment are many films illustrative of the principal scenes in the great conflict, secured by our own operators, to whom we cabled several weeks ago. We advise the Exhibitor to get in touch with his Universal Ex- change and look out for shipping and release dates for these Balkan war pic- tures. They are bound to vastly inter- est his audiences. We shall carefully avoid including in the pictures anything of a revolting or offensive nature, but will endeavor to see that they illustrate the interesting phases of the great con- flict. ABOUT ADVERTISING. A LITTLE TALK TO YOU, MR. EXHIBITOR. The “Universal Weekly” does not often quote from any other paper, be- cause we have enough matter of our own to fill our own pages. When we do quote we do not quote for quoting’s sake or for merely lifting or to fill space, but because we see something specially endorsive of our own ideas. In the very first number of the “Universal Weekly” and since, we have impressed upon the exhibitor the importance of advertising himself, for himself, and by himself. The exhibitor must advertise his own theatre, and the pictures that we send him to show in his theatre. This is a lesson that we want to preach again and again. It is up to the exhibitor to ad- vertise. Not to the exchange, not to the manufacturer; it is the exhibitor that gets closer to the general public than we do or the Exchange does, therefore, it is the exhibitor’s business to cultivate his public. We reproduce elsewhere from an in- teresting monthly, “The Photoplay Magazine,” a little article telling the ex- hibitor to advertise and why he should advertise. We are glad to read and reproduce this article. We wrote much the same sort of thing in these pages months ago. We have written it in other moving picture publications that we have edited. So we are glad to have somebody else thinking as we do on this vital matter. Advertise, Mr. Exhibitor. We told you this in the “Implet” and other publications and we tell it to you again in this, because the urgency of your advertising is very pressing. When we see you advertise and ad- vertise effectively, be sure you will re- ceive every encouragement and apprecia- tion from us. For example, we have a copy of “The Boston American,” under date Nov. 11th, sent us from the “Pre- mier Theatre,” Washington St., Wash- ington. There we see a nice ad. of the magnificent Imp picture, “Leah the Forsaken.” It is a bold and striking ad. and, no doubt, was instrumental in draw- ing many into the “Premier Theatre.” Then somebody else sends us a blotter and on the back of the blotter is a scene from “Leah the Forsaken,” and this comes from the “Comique Theatre,” Scowlay Square. City not mentioned. It is good advertising and the kind of advertising we want to encourage. Then from the “Star Theatre,” Orangeburg, S. C., comes also a big newspaper ad. of the “Star Theatre” there. In this ad. we see the Universal program promi- nently mentioned and also we read this fine legend: “Independent made. We are licensed by the City of Orangeburg and not by the Patents Trust of Amer- ica. We run Independent films only,” which shows the “Star Theatre” is run by means of enterprising and original ideas. The more of this sort of thing the exhibitor does the more readily he gets in close touch with his public near and far. When we write this we have, of course, the success of our own com- pany at heart, but we also have the suc- cess of the exhibitor at heart, because.