The theatre of science; a volume of progress and achievement in the motion picture industry (1914)

0 f ^ c i e n c e 237 York. To this day Mr. Loew advertises in no other newspaper, while the amount expended in the "Evening Journal" is said to exceed $1,000 a week, a total quite as large as was spent by the combined amusement managers before Zit's advent. But this is not all that the clever writer has accomplished. The "Evening Journal," about the end of 1912, began to attract managerial attention with the frequency of its full-page advertisements of current stage attractions. The financial outcome of this was wholly constructive. Plays v/hich started badly gradually became box-office successes. The movement grew to such an extent that it is not considered remarkable if as high as $3,000 is spent for theatrical advertising on an ordinary day, while on Saturdays in this one publication theatrical advertising involves more expenditure than was accorded to all the New York newspapers combined as recently as five years ago on a week day. But gradually the other newspapers reaped the benefit. "Zit" had demonstrated that advertising of the unusual order was extremely profitable. Other managers envied Mr. Loew — and other newspapers envied the "Evening Journal." Now, all of the evening papers except the "Post" have daily from two to four advertisements exceeding two columns each about equally divided between the spoken drama and photoplays, but the latter are gradually assuming the lead — particularly since the inauguration of the Vitagraph Theatre (February 7, 1914), which was followed by a veritable stamipede of the best theatres by the camera men ; and this brought about an advertising movement unprecedented in the history of the theatre. The newspapers that were wont to regard the motion picture as a mere toy, and which were so reluc