Billboard advertising (Jan 1900)

THE BILLBOARD NOTES. m TOPICS BY THE WAY. Protected by Jchjt B. Rindfleisch. Cleveland, O., Dec. 24. 1S99. I Clerical objections to the more realistic in (ill board advertising are not well taken, it is not the bill boards, but the stage ds that bring out the really obnoxious . It is true, the bill board acts as magnet and feeds the susceptible mind, but the pure-minded all things are pure. Hon! oit qui mal y peme. is as true of the sug- „. - theatrical poster as amy other medium ' so-called questionable import or drift. The - heaters would be filled without the risque oster as attraction. The modern craves the uggestive and sensational: hence the de- loralizaticn of the art dramatic. You can ot reform the character of the poster without ret reforming the character of the plays and ersonae dramatis, and, better still, the hu- lan mind in general. The spile fence may be made more actract- e by painting it over with advertisements. An itinerant billboardist removed all the Post No Bills" injunctions from a fence, and jen plastered the remaining space with bills, le was duly hauled up. but proved to the sat- Taction of the court that no such signs 'were rsihlf. There being no witnesses that he re- loved the sign, he was discharged. Decreasing revenue may ultimately induce 7 lephone and telegraphic companies to lease leir poles, or go into the advertising busi- ess- themselves- The modern tendency to -t nothing go to waste will sooner or later trike home in this direction also. The idea of city store waste franchises is rrtainly timely. These waste receptacles rould be conveniently placed along the side- ■alk curbs. They would furnish a new field > the ad. exploiter, and ideally serve the un- Ksteniacically distributed gutter-dodger. A few wagon manufacturers have under- ifctn to sell the farm-wagon privileges them- pives. making it plausible to the farmer that thus buys at a certain discount. Well, ome farmers are "easy picking." The question of placing express and moving agens in traffic-congested cities has always - een a tore one. A hiilbaordist now offers build a shed m a central location, equip with a perfect call-service, providing the ity permits him to use the exterior of the uilding for advertising purposes without ancbise fees. The offer looks practical, .and lould meet little opposition. . As a new method to carry on vehicular ad- ertising, it is suggested to construct a trail- board over the wheels, thus practically rcloeing them. The boards would thus serve two-fold purpose—as a mud-guard arid ad- ertising board. Of course, the idea must carried out so as net to interfere with • motions of the wheels. A stout canvass be a good substitute. Interior street car advertising is now being enerally accepted as a current medium- here is now a man who suggests a lateral ame on the outside of the cars below the iof, which may be made so ornamental as to disharmonize the view. These signs ay be illuminant or not. as per carrying cut idea. They may be placed under glass or ' a material proof against the ravages of the eath^r. The illuminating idea, however, im- cses most. A billboardist has undertaken to supply all ■uck and expressmen who apply, with storm mbrellas free of charge. These umbrellas canopies are of a water-proof materi-i, of ighly lacquered white and black, the adve r- sements imprinted thereon in corresponding irtor. The advertising cap has gone somewhat out - ~ use since the tobacco companies have gone ^ut of the campaign business. Few other -anufacturers ever us'd them as extensively, a its place, an enterprising distributor offers newspaper bag to newsboys which is weath- r-procf throughout and h°s compartments for une-h and ether things. The newsies approve f the bag, ?or those offered by the newapa- ers "do not keep out the wet." A manufacturer has come cut with a dinner ail, in the shape of a field Bask, the lower ralf to be used for sclics. the upper for iquids. It is roomy enough to bold the av- rage white man's dinxfer. and yet looks neat nd compact. It is provided with a strap and icyr-le at'taefcmcTits- There is no ad. on the UEfhwcuieie. --.s it m?y be called. It can rrly be obtaired in stores selling a certain rtirle, frd every one knows what that arti- I? is. The device is fully protected by patent ights. The blctter advertisement business is now s perfect as the railroad folder service; in act. it's become part of the latter service. Calendar or almanac advertising is not 'learly so popular as a few years ago, the in- urar.-ce and patent medicine factors - alone wrdoing the thing. The decadence is chiefly :ue to the flood of cheap productions of no specific character. They were calendars— that's all. The houses sending out really artistic things, with the advertisement assim- ilated without offending the critical eye or bringing out the fist-on-the-eye view, are still popular, and have at least one chance i n te n of being preserved, or holding their positions in the home, office, store or fac- tory for the year they present. The oneness in calendars is doomed. Cleverly executed original ideas of compact form and handy, is what is wanted in the calendar line for all purposes. A distributor offers to furnish, stained glass transoms, which automatically display the month, day and date. The glass is furnished by a manufacturer co-operating in the scheme orr shares. A distributor hes obtained a permit from the Council to trot through tire streets, advertis- ing chariots drawn by goats, reindeers and dogs, handsomely togged up with advertising mantles; headpieces, breast shields and such. The animals are warranted to be humanely broken in and used. Theater entrances ought to be porticocd over the sidewalks to distinguish them from the common facade line.. One of the surest and best methods for bill pesters to avoid trouble with city councils and selectmen is to hire land from private individuals on which to erect their boards. Their erect them back from the street limit and not over the heights proscribed by the fire regulations. North Adams, Mass., has a new distribut- ing, bill posting and advertising company. New boards have been placed in the city and suburbs, securing considerable space. Boycotters and Intimidators Enjoined. Union labor all over the country has been greatly interested in the fight between the Sun Printfcg and Publishing Company and Typographical Union No. 6. All of our readers are probably acquainted with the origin of the difliculty, which arose from the fact that the "Sun" decided to con- vert the office into an "open," or "non- union" one. Thereupon the members of the union abandoned their positions, and have since engaged in a boycott on the "Sun" Company, which has been carried oa up to the time Justice Bootetaver, in a special term of the Supreme Court, granted an injunction pending the trial of the "Sun's" action against the striking printers and amies. The prayer for relief covered the following "points, restraining the officers of the various labor organizations from advising or requesting ad- vertising customers to desist or refrain from advertising in the papers named, and, second, from resoiting to any species of threats, in- timidation, force or fraud for such purposes, or procuring other persons so to do, and from preventing cr attempting to prevent news- dealers from selling suc-h papers; third', from mafcirg any requests, giving any advice or resetting' to any species of persuasion, threats, intimidations-, force or fraud to bring about such result: from "picketing" the es- teWifhmert of the plaintiff or any of its branch offices, and by request, advice, per- suasion, intimidation, threat, force, fraud or defamatory publications, inducing its em> p-fcyes to quit rh*a employment of this plain- tiff, and. fourth, from, in any other manner or by any ether means, interfering with the property, propeity rights or business of the plain'liff. The Euffalo "Times," in one of its recent issues-, printed' the following: "The Pan- Ameiican Bill Posting and Distributing Com- pany promises to revolutionize the business in Buffalo. The incorporators are John B. Se- wali, Malcolm J. McNiven, Joseph Mayer and James Stall." On reading this notice, we im- mediately wrote to Mr. Filbrick's company, asking him about it. The gist of the reply which we received is as follows; "We have . been doing bill posting and distributing in Euffalo for the past twenty-five years; have never had any opposition; CO not know of any at present, and do not expect any." If the new company is organized, it must be keeping itself very well under cover, or it would have been found by the ever watchful eye of the Whitmier & Filbrick Co." Last month "The Billboard" got hold of a rumor that was being circulated among the knowing ones that the Bryans were likely to get Columbus after all. It was only a ru- mor, and it seems was not a very substantial one at that, for Mr. George L. Chen- nell. manager of the Columbus Bill Post- ing Company, writes that there is no possible chance for such a thing to happen; that the stock company which has been formed with 120,000 capital has rebuilt the entire-plant and is still adding to it by build- ing new beards every day, and that ever since the present management has taken hold, the business has been excellent. Mr. C. G. Gillum is no longer in the bill posting business'. He has sold his plant at Salida. Cel., to Mt. Swem. who is con- nected with' the Salida Opera House. The lion and the lamb supped' together ana made merry in each others company Decem- ber 14th.. in New York Billy Lowden and Alex. Clark, of the New York Bill Posting Co.. were enjoying a spleu- *"d spread at the Astor House, when wno should walk in on them but Barney Linn, 0. J. Gude and Sam Pratt. The flow of soui ind eood fellowship which resulted from tire 1. ">e>Mi' meeting, lasted late into tne night Which 1 party stood for the lion ana which for the lamb, deponent sayetb not. There is a bill posters' union in Buffalo, which- numbers twenty members. They hold a charter from the American Federation or Labor. Mr. P. C. Zehrung. of Lincoln, Neb., states that he has bought out the plant which was formerly managed by Mr. W. I. Spear. This leaves the Zehrung City Bill Positing Co. with- no opposition. They now have 8,000 feet of bill boards in choice locations and 60.0C0 to read them. The bill posters' directory is more popular than ever, a-nd no wonder—for. it costs but one dollar to be in it. and H gives ten times that amount in good substantial advertising. A good plan, and one which is being car- ried out by a number of bill posters, is the placing of a projecting boaTd on the top of their bill boards'. This ledge does much toward preserving the paper from the snow and rain, and answers much the same pur- pose as a heavy moulding. Mr. J. D. Gray, of Painesville, O., has pur- chased the interest of Mr. Rofter, who was formerly associated with him in the bill post- ing and distributing business, and will per- sonally lock after the distributing and tack- ing. Nelsonvilte. In the Hocking Valley, was re- cently visited by two enterprising men. who went to advertise their "Olympia" brand of whisky. During the night they covered bill boards in town with immense pesters setting forth the merits of the liquor. The adver- tisements for "Rolled Oats," "Tobacco," "Medicines," etc, were bidden from view. The town bill poster had them arrested, but the matter was compromised, and the original ads. replaced. By tfcat time, however, every- booy in that part of the country knew all about "Olympia." The judgment which Mrs. Fitchert. admin- istratrix of the estate of her deceased bus- band. George II. Fttchett. obtained against the officers of the American Bill Pcstlng Co. of Brooklyn, has been reversed by the su- preme ccuit, because the evidence Wis defect- ive. A new trial was granted, however, with leave to apply for an amendment of the com- plaint. The Rochester Bill Posting' Company has been having its troubles with the City Coun- cil over big bill boards on North St. Paul Street, for which they did not secure permis- sion, from the Coromon Council, to build. The passing of anti-billboard ordinances has become an epidemic in California. The pa- pers of that State have howled continually for the past few months about the unsightly biil boards. One glance at their advertising columns is sufficient. It will tell the reason quicker and more effectually than words can possibly do. It will also convince one that it was about their turn to howl. The "Times-Mirror." one of the papers which' used' its influence to have the bill board', banner and sign ordinance passed in Los Angeles, now seeks exemption from the latter, for their skeleton electric-letter sign which is suspended across the street, and for all similar signs suspended at a height ot at least twenty feet, provided that the signs be not more than four feet in height and se- curely fastened. The petition was signed by several influential firms, but. contrary to ex- pectations, this amendment did not go through as they would have liked, and it is not at ail improbable that the paper will yet have to take a little of the medicine which they helped to manufacture for others, and which was intended to kill the opposition to their advertising columns. •Mitchell. Ind.. Is a thriving little town at the crossing of the B. & O. S. W. and the Monon Railways. W. M. Muneon manages a bill posting and; advertising sign company there, which has 8,000 feet of bill board sur- face. A Billposters' Trick. "Of course we used to put up small bills wherever they'd catch the eye,' said a bill potter who traveled with a circus making one-day stands, "and one thing we used to do that always pleased folks was to hang a bHl from a ceiling. You bad to bave a wooden ceiling, to start with, and then alt you wanted, besides the bills, was a tack and a silver dollar.. It took practice to do it, but when you'd got the knack, it was very simple and easy. "You attached two bills together, one at the foot of the other, so that it would hang down> when the first one was attached to the ceiling. Then you folded ttre bills up. with a tack, thrust point upward through the top fold of the upper bill, with a silver dollar under if. up against its head and between it and the other folds of paper under it. "Then, some time when the room was full of people—this might be a hotel office, or perhaps a bar-room—you tossed the bills up. and there was weight enough in the dollar to drive the tack into the cerling far enough to hold. Then the weight of the paper itself and of the dollar would open the bills out. and the coin would drop and you would catch it as it fell, and-the chances are that not one man in five would see H fall. The bills would be seen, fastened up there somehow, most of the people wouldn't know how, and opening out with' the lower bill hanging so you could read it. "This was not tbe greatest thing in bill posting ever was, but. as I said before, al- ways pleased folks."—New York Sun. Strike at Buffalo. R. P. CRAWFORD—AT HOME—SULLIVAN, IND. The bill posters' union No; 411. the mem- bership of which is composed of the bill post- ers In the employ of Whrttrmler & FilbricR. recently decided to institute a strike, and the members agreed to stick together and not return to work until all grievances were re- ' Mr. Filbrick had been having some new boards erected, and some of the regular bill posters had been set to digging post-holes. Of course it was necessary to procure men to carry on the regular posting work, so two extra men were hired, but were laid off at the end of the week, when there was no fur- ther use of their services. The regular employes had complained sev- eral times about being compelled to work on Saturday nights ait pasting the announce- ments of coming attractions before the the- aters and places of amusement, and one Sat- urday night did not show up, according to the una! arrangement. On' Monday the situation was explained to Mr. Filbrick. who met the men In the work- rr.om and told them to state their grievance. Tliry said that they wanted him to employ rigularly '.he two men who bad been dis- charged, so that they would not have to work at night.. It was explained that night work was a necessity, since "sniping the daubs' could net be done before 8 o'clock at night. The nu n would not listen to reason, so they were discharged, and or.fly those whom Mr. Filbrick s<lect» will be taken back. The leaving of the men in a body forced Mr. Filbrick himself to take up the work of post- ing, in the midst of which he was discovered by fome of his friends, among whom was Mr. II. F. McGanie. This gentleman', after watching operations for a few minutes, of- firrd to bet Mr. Filbrick a wine supper that lie could paste a stand quicker than Filbrick could. The bet was Immediately taken, and the eontcet was held that afternoon, with Anc'y Nirsehel—who holds "The Billboard" medal as the champion bill poster of Amer- ica—as referee, and Harry Ferren as time- keeper. The contest consisted of the posting of 00 sheets. The actual tVme of tbe two con- testants Is given, for Filbrick nineteen min- utes and seventeen seconds, and for Mc- Garrie twenty minutes and five seconds. Mr. McGorrie, when interviewed, gave as a reason for his dcrrut that bo had failed to train prop- erty.