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16 Building Theatre Patronage
later that Mary Pickford was made the star of Imp Productions.
At first, star names were limited to trade paper advertising. But exhibitors were quick to carry out the innovation in their appeal to the public. We find the name Mary Pickford advertised with the explanatory title "Biograph's Little Mary." The good results of this practice justified the starring of Marion Leonard and Florence Lawrence. Ever since, personal popularity of the players has been an outstanding advertising influence.
Fan magazines were then unknown. It was not until 1910 that the Motion Picture Story Magazine was started. Amusement pages in the newspapers ignored the motion picture. There was no national advertising by producers. There was absolutely no advertising material of any kind prepared by producers to help exhibitors advertise. The nickelodeon manager purchased stock posters at lithograph storehouses, where posters prepared for legitimate productions were stored away.
Usually there was no connection between the poster and the photoplay which it was used to advertise. The most lurid and bloodthirsty posters were displayed in front of the nickelodeon, no matter what was being shown inside. The posters remained until weather conditions, and not the program, demanded a change. It was these lurid posters that had much to do with the reformers' objection to motion picture entertainment. They did not see the photoplays. The posters were the basis of their attack.
These lurid posters displayed in front of the nickelodeon represented the average advertising effort. There was no marquee, no supply of lobby photos. All available space in the lobby was cluttered up with peanut stands, candy stands, and weighing machines. The daring exhibitor occasionally invested two or even three dollars in throw-aways made by the local printer.
In 1910, small bulletins of five by eight pages carrying cut illustrations and copy were issued to exhibitors with feature photoplays. Then exhibitors started house programs and announcements. Thus was their first attempt to have the