The billboard (July-Dec 1895)

6 BILLBOARD ADVERTISING Is the Official Organ of the NEW HAMPSHIRE Bill Pesters' Association have explained it to you, you can see for yourself just where the African was con- cealed in the wood pile. Old man Stevens was getting along in years, and if the clerk; could only wed the daughter, why "" he could step into the old man's shoes, United States Hotel and alL A man had to be thick who couldn't see through that; it was as transparent as a pane of glass to me all the time the clerk was making an endeavor to win the girL But I am tell- ing the truth when I tell you that the actor man had the inside track, and was making good speed to the wire, with the prospect of distancing his rival and the field, when the actor was thrown down by a startling occurrence that created a terrific sensation. " Sallie Stevens' gold watch was stolen from hecroom; a search was made for it, and it was fdund concealed between the mattresses of the bed in Miss Stevens' actor-lover's room. "There was a scandal and a sensation for you! "The clerk was extra officious and wanted the actor pulled off the stage be- fore the play was finished, but Nick For- rester, who still had confidence - in the player, persuaded the officer not to make the arrest until after the performance. " The whole thing was in the morning papers, and it distressed the Forresters and Sallie Stevens amazingly. To them it was an appalling calamity: but the poor actor fellow- he bore up manfully, and protested that the whole thing was a con- spiracy and that he was innocent of the crime. "As for old man Stevens he was just about crazy through the whole unfortu- nate affair. '' At that time there was more prejudice - than there is now against theatrical peo- ple, or showmen, as all of the profession were called, and, to tell you the truth, the most of the folks came right out plain in speaking of the matter, and said: '"Of course, certainly, to be sure, with- out a manner of doubt, the actor is the thief. " The police court was packed the next morning, and I was there too,, in a front seat, to hear all thatwas to be said, and it was the hotel clerk that had the most to say, and he said it quick, and he seemed to enjoy it when he said it- He went on' to say that he had been suspicious of the actor, having seen him at times prowling about the hallways of the hotel, and it was this suspicion that caused hi™ to search the room of the actor. Then he told about the finding of the watch, and stepped down, all smiles, as if he were a sort of a hero. "Just then I got up and spoke a piece, and I had a mighty attentive audience, as I said: "" Judge, I wish to be sworn as a wit- ness in this case,'and then I passed to the other side of the rail and took the oath, as the prisoner and the Forresters and the Stevens' looked at me with all the eyes in their heads. Before. I proceeded to testify I whispered to a court officer, and as he was passing out I begun: "'Last night, after the doors were open, I went over my route re-billing sev- eral of the larger billboards for the For- resters, for the play of East Lynne. As there was considerable wind blowing, I carried a light ladder with me so as to put up the streamers to better advantage. While putting the streamers on the bill- board at the United States Hotel, I had more than usual difficulty in putting up the streamer letters, and was obliged to post the letters in the word East Lynne, separately. In so doing I had a view of the inside of one of the rooms, and, without any desire to pry, was forced to see what was in front of me through the partially closed blinds." Right there I got excited, and, without knowing that I did so, I jumped to my feet and put the balance of what I had to say strong: '"I saw this last witness, who has been tryingto convict an innocent man, placing a gold watch between the mattresses of a bed. I could see him plainly, for a light in the hall shone directly upon him through the transom over the door.' " Gee-whillikens! what a cheer went up in that court room. The people just hur- rahed until they were hoarse, and the judge never kicked either. He was too busy wiping away the tears and blowing his no-« with his bandanna, to make believe he was not crying. "In the midst of all the hubbub, the court officer I had given the tip to brought in the guilty man, the scheming hotel clerk, who had completely wilted, and hid his face in his hands. " I shall never forget that day. Talk about being better than a play; it was better than a circus! "The actor was free, and everybody in the court-room wanted to take his hand anu express their delight, even those who did not think well of showfolks and the- atrical people anyway. " You may not believe me, but so help me! Sallie Stevens put her arms around the actor's neck and hugged bim right before the whole crowd; and then she grabbed me and kissed me, smack! and to cap all, old man Stevens came up to me and patted me on the back, because he was too much overcome to express him- self. "That was a great night at the theatre] The Stevens and myself had a box. and the people called out the falsely-accused actor-and showered him with flowers. Of course, Nick Forrester talked between the acts^-well, say for half an hour. " That was a night worth remembering! "The next day being Christmas, old man Stevens invited the entire company and myself to the finest Christmas dinner I ever saw, and Miss Sallie was the hap- piest one of the lot. " There isn't much more to say to finish the story. You know there was a wed- ding, what is the use of my telling you that. But there is one thing I must re- late, that I was the best man at the wed- ding, if I was a bill poster. " One summer, some years after, I was boss bill poster for a circus, and one day, in a southern city, I saw that hotel clerk, in a convict's rig, working in a chain- gang- He knew me, but avoided my gaze, as he picked up the ball that hung to the chain and moved on with his com- rades in crime. I must say that a striped suit became him as well as any man I ever saw in that outfit." Some Circus Agents, ShowJPrlnters, and a Bill Poster on Top'of Lookout Mountain. In the Fall the merchant's fancy lightly turns to advertising, and he figures out a cunning scheme that promises surprising, yes, astounding efficacy, prompt returns and many orders; then he hies himself to the printer, selects type and fancy borders, and in time evolves a circular he fondly calls a " dream," but as he counts on his customers to save him all the cost of mail- ing and distributing, the scheme turns out a "frost." The Grand Jury, of San Francisco, Cal., has taken up the matter of indecent ad- vertising in public places. The principal objection seems to be to those posters which advertise the cure of such diseases as are not to be mentioned in mixed society. WANTED S 100 •••■••••a PASTE THIS IN YOUR HAT. ■••• Expert Bill Posters, Experienced Lithographers, & Hustling Programmers. Must be the " GREATEST ADVERTISERS ON EARTH," for the baile U y M . * "Neatest Show on Earth." w" '5 P r °P° s | d *? "l 3 ^ tke advertising brigades of 1S96 the stron K est. best, and most effective force of Advertisers ever organised/and good Wa K es Will be paid to competent, sober and reliable men. Faithful service will find its reward m long engagements, sure pay, and fair treatment. " Record Breakers are especially requested to write. Two weeks' silence means a polite negative, but all letters will be filed for future reference. Address LOUIS E. COOK. Gen ^ 1 tFvt B »'?^^? ailey » G ^ e .?,^ owonEarth . J fti.I.f |». S7lh Street. KHW YORK OITV When you write, mention Billboard. Advertising. Written for Billboard Advkrisinc. (Christmas Number). By AXGIE FULLER FISCHER, the Deaf Authoress. BILLBOARD ADVERTISING. What makes you look so sad, my friend, So wholly out of humor. As if all hope had fled, or you Had heard n dreadful rumor ? My business does not thrive at all; My custom comes by littles: • I scarcely make enough each day To pay even for—my victuals. Well, that is bad ! I rather think You make a common blunder; And if it is so—at your distress 1 do not—cannot wonder. What was the blunder? speak your mind. For I am swiftly going— Down hill—and what will be my fate At last, there is no knowing. You didn't advertise, I fear. If people do not know you, Nor what, nor where, your business. What favor can they show you? I know a firm, where you can go And be jxjlitelj- treated, And never in transactions be Imposed upon, or cheated. Where is it ? Whafs the name ? r.m oft" To give your plan a testing— III Advertise— and may results. Prove it wise investing. 'Tis Billboard Advertising— it— For every word and letter. Gives compound interest—Good-bye— You will soon be feeliiig better. Omaha, .\'eb., ,\ov. /j, rfpj. Punctuation Marks in Advertising. Punctuation marks "play a much more import- ant part in the art of advertising than many- think. In advertising pages one finds the inter- rogation point, exclamation point, quotation marks and other points of punctuation used quite as freely and as intelligently as in the so- called higher forms of literature. Curiosity and wonder go hand in hand "pretty much the same as they run through the writings of novelists, scientists and philosophers. For this reason both the interrogation and exclama- tion points play a significant role in advertising. The mere presence of the question mark nearly always excites curiosity, while the "astonisher ' is everywhere regarded as the best exponent of wonder and awe. Hence it is that ad-smiths make free use of these two marks of punctuation. In the work of preparing copy for advertire- ments there is almost such a thing as an Inquisi- torial art. some questions are asked earnestly and sweetly, as those of a swain wooing his first love ; some are fired in 36-poiut De Vinne, occut pying a full line across a wide page, and make one feel as though there is lots of power behind them ; in still other instances the little informa- tion seeker is so adroitly used that it becomes a dispenser of knowledge — a metamorphosis which frequently occurs in the most skillful worded announcements. By the use of an exclamation point the thought in aline can be made stronger, and it will be carried longer in the minds of the readers. When appropriately employed the little wonder inspirer will give an entire card a different tinge of vivacity and make ordinary words stand out with a brighter and fuller meaning. One could not go very far in the study of advertising without noticing not only the omni- presence, but only the powerful and significant effects with which quotation marks are used. From the ancient and modern literatures quota- tions are taken to point a moral or adorn some talc in an advertisement. As a rule, too, quota- tion maiks are used advisedly in the announce- ments made for the purpose of giving an arti- cle or a name wider publicity. Under the skill- ful manipulation of an expert the inverted com- mas are often made to inject additional life into an otherwise dull and common-place phrase. John Edward Buck. Hot III the Neck.—Managing Editor: We shall have to lay you off, Mr. Screed. Sorry; but'I hope you feel resigned to what can't be helped. Screed—No, I don't feel resigned a little bit; I feel fired I—Puck. BILLBOARD ADVERTISING IS FULL OF POINTERS FOR WHOLESALE DEALERS. PUBLICITY. What is advertising? According to most newspapers, periodical publications, ind indeed most advertising journals, it 1 Iocs not exist outside of the regular news- papers and magazines, yet nothing could 1 >l' more absurd. Every peddler who cries his wares, advertises. Every man who has a business card or letter head printed is an advertiser. So is he who merely hangs a sign on his store front. The mere selec- tion of a better or more prominent store room amounts to a direct advertisement. Personal letters, when they are sent out with a view of making one's wares better known, are advertisements, and good advertisements at that. So it is with donations to the church and contributions to charity when they are made for the l>ossible effect they may have on business associates. Then there are show cards, fine litho- graphed charts and folders, almanacs, catalogues, booklets, pamphlets, blotters, and finally, bill posting, mural signs, and bulletin painting. Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars are spent in this wise every year, and yet publishers pretend to believe that all of this expenditure is futile, uncoinmend- able, and utterly without value. Their venality isdigusting. Bi u.board Adver- tising's platform is broad and liberal. It is published in the interest of adver- tisers, and there is nothing appertaining to advertising but what will receive its full and fair consideration. For quick results use posters. Discerning women patronize those busi- ness men who advertise. They all read posters—men, women and children ; high and low, rich and poor. Judicious advertising always pays, no matter how, when, or where, it is done. An advertisement that is concise, terse, succinct, and to the point, is a good adver- tisement. If you want to reach all of the people all of the time try mural signs and painted bulletins. The Royal Insurance Co. continues to think well of the merits of calendars and blotters. In no instance do dictionaries fail so lamentably as they do in their definition of advertising. If you do not think well of your own wares how can you expect the good opin- ion of others? Good hard sense in your ads is better than a long array of prices, but prices are by no means to "be despised. Whenever you run across a man who does not believe that advertising pays, do not waste any time on him in argument. He isn't worth it. For powerful, permanent publicity nothing excels bulletin boards and painted wall signs. Newspaper space is valuable. Any fool knows that, but he's a wise man indeed who knows how valuable it is. Few men have the leisure to undertake a systematic study of advertising, but every one ought to find time to learn its fundamental principles and obtain some inkling of its practical workings. A wag observing a sign in a plumber's window reading "Cast Iron Sinks," so- berly remarked, "Any fool knows that." Give inducements. Give reasons. Give prices. Forego verbosity. Forego comparisons. Forego redundancies. If there had not been sterling merit in the billboards they could never have withstood the attacks made upon them by the press Whenever you can use a trade journal, do so. Their advertising columns are scanned with as much interest as their text. An exhibit of musical instruments made at the Hamilton Co. (O.) Fair, at an actual cost of £52.00 (which included everything), effected direct sales amount- ing to $2,670.00. Is there any other ave- nue in which $52.00 would have accom- plished half as much. When your ad takes the form of a neat folder or booklet, for house to house dis- tribution, you know that is not lost among a mass of other advertisements. Women, or rather women's talk, is the best of all advertising; but how to get into the columns, there's the rub. Of one thing rest assured, you can't buy space in this particular medium. There is one particular advantage that distributing matter enjoys over that of the magazine or newspaper adv. columns. It is in the matter of environment. Com- pare the efficacy of a neatly printed, tersely written folder, placed in the hands of the housewife, with even a page ad lost in voluminous pages of ads in a magazine. Class publications, in many instances, are bought for the news contained in the announcements in their advertising col- umns. An ad in a paper of this kind is a paying investment every time. In the highways, In the by-ways. In the busy thoroughfare. In every nook. Where e'r you look, You'll find the poster there. Advertising is variously regarded as an art, a science, a gamble or a necessary evil, but to the level-headed business man it is a commodity, an article which is bought and sold, and which he utilizes and looks upon much as he does the services of clerks, the rent of a building, the cost of a telaphone, heat, gas, etc. It would be interesting to know how many retailers, in cities, take account of the large percentage of the daily news- papers which go out of town and circu- late in territory so remote that they can not possibly hope to receive any returns, even in the most indirect manner. If a certain amount of money is put into post- ers one has the satisfaction of knowing that he is at least reaching possible cus- tomers, for he can select the site of every poster put out IHlieiHI^LAll IKUIIf-Tetis EN( SEND good Photograph and Get a Good Cut. PRICES: PRICES: 3X4, . ' $3.00 3#x4#, . 3.25 4x5, - 3.50 SEND The Money With The Order. Tfir^lru©-"©!)©!^ |P^@i®-Gli*Avi^©©. Oot©il)Bt&fe3 When you write, mention XHSoan^aveTtuungT THE ADVERTISICIAN. He has not made his appearance yet, but his advent is not far distant. He is bound to 9)me, for his existence is daily becoming more and more necessary. When he arrives and hangs out his shingle they will call him Doctor, and he will write M. D. after his name, but M. will signify Mercantile instead of Medicine, and he will be learned in advertising in- stead of physics. In that day a firm or a business which has become depleted or run down will not be allowed to languish and die, on the contrary, they will call in the Advertisician in much the same man- ner that they summon the family physi- cian at present. The patient will be duly examined, the prescription given, and in a few weeks the business will be np and about, looking as vigorous as ever. THE POSTER. There may be, and is, lots said against billboard advertising, but we are forced to remark in the language of Auld Lang Syne " Something good was made to be talked about.". Is the poster good for advertis- ing purposes? Let's see! I think art and reason seek no special medium to display themselves. Such work is notice- able, even in a hog (a live one). It's the master spirit that tells. The poster does better work in some lines than the news- paper, and vice versa. Let us know that art (reason) is boundless in its resources, and it appeals to anyone in any place—to different persons with different degrees of effect, I do not see where there is any ground for one to halt on about advertis- ing on the poster. It's a little game of "tit for tat" with the newspapers. Space has its advantages in both; there is room for suggestion and growth in each. Some days ago I was out walking and ran up on a picturesque piece of poster work; it stopped me—there was a time when I -claimed to be invincible against these poster " fellers"—but it called for just what I wanted, and why, dear reader, shouldn't I buy it? I argue another strong point for the poster, and that is, that it strikes with a strong force, busy people. If they glance at it, which they always do now-a-days, it will teach them all day that "it" or "the," whatever it is, is a " mighty good thing," and they'll go home at night with a bundle of "it," or a package of it, or (excuse me) a bottle of it, only to find that it was exactly what his wife so vigorously tried to write in his morning memo. There is no use for the classes of adver- tisers to oppose each other; the dealer is out after results, and he'd as soon get it off of a shingle as $2 a pound papyrus and an editor with a gold trepanned capitus thrown in. It just a case of " mine's bet- ter'n your'n" without any very handy proof. If some get returns why not others? The newspaper has it advan- tages, the poster it's; advertising in each varies according to purpose and position, class and consideration—money. James R. Long. Placards in street cars have a peculiar and potent value, which has proved of sufficient force to advertise many an arti- cle without the aid of any other medium.