Publix Opinion (Oct 4, 1929)

OE att Se st bt HiNet bts bs ia Z thet thant ; eer . “ aL ULL ee 1p HECKING UP] ————__ ee _? YOUR OWN THEATRE (Continued from page 6) _ [next realize that I am ina ew pusiness, that the new busiiess as, brought new equipment, iew equipment that makes it posjple for me to almost do wonders my show and that this new quipment is nothing more than non-syne machine. Have I yuilt the right size non-syne oom? Is there plenty of air in the jon-syne room? Have I the right eight to my non-syne table to pake it easy to operate the mashine? Have I the right size of ort hole in the non-syne room so that I can see my picture in its eniirety without the least strain on my part? Sound Proof Booth Are records being kept properly? Is this room being kept thorpughly clean and mopped daily? {realize that if this is not so dust ‘an easily accumulate on the recbrds and needles and the result will be that my patrons will suffer. Have I the right non-sync pperators? Do they know how tp properly cue my pictures? Do they understand the equipment thoroughly? Do they know how fo make a change over properly? Are they allowing visitors in the booth? I know they should not because the musical accompaniment of the picture is in the hands of those operators and if they allow people to come up into the booth and carry on a conversation with them the musical accompaniment will suffer. Is the inside of my booth sound proof so that any little noise that might occur in the booth: will not be heard by patrons in the balcony? Have I the right lighting in my booth? Is the light subdued enough ‘so that there will not be any surplus light going through the port hole of the non-sync room into the balcony to detract from the picture? At the same lime is there enough light for my operators: to see properly? I return downstairs. I notice the lighting in my auditorium. Are my bracket lights, my dome lights and my plaque lights cortect? Can I sit in any part of my house and not find one light that detracts or pulls my attention from the picture or bothers my eye sight? Is there any glare anywhere? Have I enough light in my theatre so that my patrons can see to go back and forth even without my usher with a flashlight? Can I stand in the back of my theatre and see the orchestra pit and see everything that is going on without any trouble? Do I know that with my lighting any lady who comes into my theatre floes not have to worry about stumbling over a man or being worried about being insulted or anything of that nature? Have the proper lighting? ; Efficient Cleaning Is my theatre being cleaned efficiently? nae is nothing of Zreater importance. A clean theatre, spotlessly clean, means that I will have clean advertising, clean trailers and clean shows. my operation Everything about my Pir. tre for two hours that he is entitled to have clean surroundings. If I were to visit a person’s home Iw to be clean. ould expect it theatre he i ing force? Are my floors Properly? off the floors and seats? Are th being cleaned? Is_ there any trash or filth behind the radiators” Are the side walls, the brass, the Mirrors, the wood work and i & orchestra pit cleaned properly? oes my house smell clean? : When it comes time for the Clock to strike the opening time is my theatre ready for inspection of the most critical eye? Could © at any time invite the leading " ie ee woman’s organization of the town to have tea on my mezzanine and would that mezzanine give them the same inviting atmosphere as their parlors at home? Are my rest rooms being kept properly? ‘Are the ante rooms and cleaners’ closets being kept clean? I know that fire can start very easily from accumulated trash in closets and behind radiators. Are my assistants making regular rounds of the ante rooms and rest rooms 80 that they know just what is going on at all times? that my theatre is clean I walk into my own office and I. say to T| myself, “AmI clean?” I am here representing my company. When d| operation in I|that I wot CHEVALIER IS BOX OFFICE GOLD MINE More than half the population of San Francisco—295,040 people, to be exact—have seen Maurice Chevalier in “Innocents of Paris.” The picture opened at the California Theatre on Friday, May 3, 1929 and, after two weeks: of very good business, was moved to the St. Francis Theatre where business held up phenomenally. Toward the end of the second month, the The EiOneeS en increased! e run ended on Sept. 5, | of 18 weeks. p gt It is the general concensus of opinion that the personality of Chevalier was responsible for this phenomenal run. Now he’s coming in another picture, “The Love Parade.” Read what Mr. Lasky has to say of this picture elsewhere in this issue. Then get your publicity and exploitation machinery well oiled to draw every possible penny out of this box-office gold mine. THIS STUNT COPPED SOME SPACE These two wo modern imai . : Cala and jot only acted ee eae of today and yesterday, paraded the business district of ein that city, but won some new fective bally for the film “Our Modern Maidens” at the Publix Tikes wspaper space, as the clipping from The Omaha Bee-News attests. M. L. Elewit pi r r Ve d € wy tblicity di ecto » CONCEL this /ErstOn of a tune 1onored but us vi were borrowed from the stage show at the Param unt ‘APPLAUSE’ IDEA WILL SELL FILM J. E. McInerney, Director of Advertising and Publicity for the New York Criterion Theatre, Publix’ $2 house on Broadway, suggests a “Famous Stars Who Won Applause,” contest for the exploitation of Paramount’s super-hit “Applause” with Helen Morgan. The gag is to run a guessing contest on old photos of big stars who have played in the theatre where the picture is to be shown, with prizes for the winners. This may be twisted around to “Famous Stars Who Won Applause in. Toledo” or any other town, or, “The Greatest Applause. Winners In History,” such as Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey, Napoleon, Julius Ceasar, ete. The picture lends itself to the planting of good feature stories on famous stars who played your theatre. SUNDAY SHOWS 499 ~ vse ose BD Pv st ys Sunday vaudeville has been inaugurated at the Publix Fox Theatre in Aurora, IIl. See TU MEME LLL Le LLL LLL Sec OEE A Pad Of Paper— A Pencil— And. Thou!!!!! os = days in the year, so our advertising must never misrepresent. I again realize that my screen is one of the most important mediums I have. It is a direct appeal to my patrons. Am I giving the right thought to the editing of my trailers? Am I putting punch behind them? Am I creating a desire through them to see my show? If I am using window billing should I use 24 sheets, and if so, should I use block paper or pictorial paper? If I use pictorial paper why shouldn’t I take advantage of streamers? Six sheet streamers could be used to sell other units in my show in addition to the feature. Suppose I were not using 24 sheets. What type of paper should I use? .Properly handled paper placed in excellent locations, I might possibly get more effectiveness with a 3 sheet and tell my story in a, much better way. Am I working out window dispays that cause people to stop and look? Have my window displays just enough copy selling my picture so that people at a glance can tell what it is all about? Am I using enough stills in windows? Above all, when I sit in my office and look over my theatre thinking about all of those things that are required of the proper manager and, the proper operation, does my theatre stand out as an institution above all other institutions in the community? °I want my theatre business to have such a concrete foundation that no matter what happens my patrons will never lose confidence, because that concrete foundation would be so solid that no matter who came in as a competitor I could wish him well. I know that with good concrete showmanship as a corner stone there is no power on earth that couid tear my theatre down. yt Ae ee a community if I were calling upon him at his office? I then call in my publicity man and I ask him, “are we selling our shows properly through all the available mediums, through the screen, the newspaper, through outdoor billing, window displays, through the lobby and through all effective avenues of exploitation? Are we bearing in mind at all times our advertising appropriations? Are we bearing in mind at all times the right kind of newspaper ads with readable selling copy covering every individual unit of our show? Are we selling the theatre institutionally? Are we giving our patrons all the information they desire and might want to get in our ads? Are we studying our newspaper stories carefully and when we write them are we making the stories readable, interesting, and above all, news stories? Are we giving the public something in the stories that creates a desire to see our shows? Are we giving them something that makes them interested jn seeing each and every individual unit in our shows. Carry ’em! Jot down those vagabond ideas and occurrences at the moment they occur! Then, once a day, collect ’em for incineration in your work-furnace! Read your mail, your PUBLIX OPINION, the trade press, the daily newspaper, press-sheets, etc., with a pad-and-pencil at hand. Then you'll make things happen!! DONT TRUST TO MEMORY!! This plan makes you 100% more efficient! It will get you 100% more results! Follow the Leaders!! 41 OUT OF 50 OF THE HIGHEST, PAID INDIVIDUALS IN PUBLIX ARE PAD AND PENCIL ADDICTS. They get paid for results, and they attribute their results largely to this method! NOTE: Pay Your Subscription Yo This Newspaper By Jotting Down A Dally “repentable” hunch for ALL Publix. How About Myself? After I have satisfied myself a committee calls on me representing the mayor or the governor or the better films committee they do not expect to talk to me in the auditorium of the theatre. They expect to see me in my office, and I am representing Publix. Does my office at all times in such a condition that I need have no fear of any committee pele oe Be resentative citizens leer Are my records being kept properly? ‘Are they beproperly filed? : ne rere a secretary is she the right kind of secretary? Is she ormed and does she Truthful Advertising Have we given proper thought to the make-up of our ads? Have we given proper thought to the location ‘of our ads in the newspapers? The answer to this question is, have I the proper contact with the composing room of the newspapers? “ Are we remembering that we must sell our shows properly but truthfully? We must remember that we are to be in this city 365 days a year and that we are depending on these same people in the’ majority of our towns 365 know each i familiar with theatre ane its entirety? Could I open my pooks at any time to f my company who seed Pe ay ae ask for them? moment’s notice put sy-ansnsopepnronncotancnngeoponanepenpuengetooenantanpnennceneznyanonnarntntteannenstnneacnspnneeagsebegrnng erga pease gets eggusengnntangstastaerpeonesatey is a business institua th ould have my nvironment xpect of the presiud Care. bank in my squggnampnvupunussernecenbtaxagzaynenaneveaewennacacangateagnteg vaya getesonneneznnscnarcecoeggntcaye yan aanadanavanee stan ssonenencaeseseaneebeg agence vane RM UNC ry =" dent of the le