The educational screen (c1922-c1956])

Page 208 The Educational Screen club, the producer, the distributor, the projectionist could have their respective shares of value. When I realized the shortsightedness of those who would not take the trouble to see, I hesitated no longer to speak freely of the Screen Com- panion. Those whose outlook on life is selfish cannot steal it, and those who want it for human service cannot take it with- out benefiting all, including the man who originated it. The advertisers who were approached with the Companion idea were soon inter- ested in this possible, measurable motion picture circulation which did not risk the displeasure of the paying patrons in a regular theatre. By the plan they were given advance notice of eacfi show, and, after each show, full reports on attendance and reception. Programs reached middle class family groups of known respectability and substantial pur- chasing power, and reached them over and over again, month after montli. But the prospective advertisers could not at once understand why each of the six ads in a single program was restricted to only a third of a reel. If the show was booked, why not take advantage of the situation to give the audience a real advertising drive? But no, approximately three hundred feet of 35mm was the limit at one time for one advertiser. The audience must be considered too. The charge to the individual advertiser for that representation was about $3.75 per show, which could be reduced easily to terms handsomely comparable with cir- culation figures presented by the national magazines. Of course, Wythe knew as well as anyone else that to found a national non-theatrical distribution overnight would require millions in capital. He therefore dismissed that thought of financ- ing as impractical. He worked, instead, to start modestly in a single area, using current materials and existing establish- ments as logical economies, to their advantage and to his, forging the links of his chain outward from the first one like the growth of a strand of algae in a pond. The first place chosen was naturally the convenient one—the New York metro- politan area. Within that radius there was little difficulty in booking shows. A minister, wavering between puttting on a "lemonade supper" or a full, whole- some motion picture show, so nominally priced that a hundred ten-cent admis- sions would pay for everything, did not hesitate to choose the show; and he was usually eager to receive the program for next month on the same terms. The pnjjectionist was satisfied to take for his services the money paid, cash in hand, at the close of the exhibition. Yet that was not his only income. In the morning he probably had a screening of educational films in the school, or a noon hour program for the Chamber of Com- merce. Even his future was well planned, for Wythe liad worked out an arrange- ment whereby he would eventually own not only a pair of De Vry Projectors for duplex equipment, (it was all 35mm film then) but also a Ford car for carrying them around to distant customers. In Herbert L. Stephen's knockabout experience in all phases of motion picture production and distribution made him an ideal business manager of the amazing "Screen Companion." other words, the Screen Companion would ultimately set the projectionist up in business. As to pictures, we were literally del- uged with ready-made subjects from many quarters, the rights purchasable for a song which Wythe was an adept at singing. In looking them over I think that we must have screened everything of importance which had reached the non- theatrical market to that time. Wythe and I worked night and day assembling programs out of the mass, editing and retitling to meet our needs. This, of course, was to provide the "sustaining" entertainment material. But the ready- made advertising films were plentiful, too, industrial companies commonly hav- ing in hand elaborate productions which had lain idle because there was no proper distribution to carry them beyond the reaches of the "free" libraries. At the same time it was no small trick to cut an eight thousand- or nine thousand- foot picture efltectively to the required third of a reel. How we did it, and how we won the approval of the advertiser who owned the subject, makes an inter- esting story; but telling it would be too much of a digression here. Adventures in Advertising However, I should not let pass, with- out comment, my own casual use of a loose expression, current in the indus- try today, referring to the entertain- nientment part of an advertising pro- gram as "sustaining." That is too much like the practice of sugar-coating the pill. Wythe always held that ad- vertising content should sustain itself, or we didn't want it. We accordingly insisted that the advertising message should be arresting and informative or diverting for its own sake, and thereby we made certain that our audiences also would give it their willing atten- tion. We never camouflaged an ad. Each advertising subject we ran was introduced with a title stating that the material concerned had been produced "in cooperation with" such-and-such a company (naming the advertiser frank- ly), implying that, to obtain authorita- tive information which we had found interesting enough to talk about, we had gone to someone in the business who really knew the facts—namely, the advertiser. At the end of the program we also had a title stating that, if any- one present wished to learn more about the products which had been advertised on the screen, the projectionist would gladly supply printed literature. A sur- prising number then did apply, and took occasion to wonder, at the same time, why theatres did not show pro- grams as entertaining as these. The general idea of making adver- tisers pay for the show was, of course, not new. Many others had proposed it and tried it. Years previous Leon Gaumont had told of one of his dreams of the future of the motion picture in- dustry, involving a lot of theatres wliere the spectator would pay a penny to enter and advertisers would pay the rest—the way one enjoys popular magazines. It quickly became apparent that our particular big problem was with the advertisers. When we talked of want- ing advertising appropriations com- parable with those devoted annually to magazines, it became a matter be- yond the small amount squeezed by a company publicity department for making one commercial film. Ad- vertising agencies, finding that their clients were considering such expendi- tures, became interested. Of course, we wanted just that, for we were cer- tain that we could convince agencies as well as their clients of the worth of our plan. Representatives of the agencies accordingly visited us, studied our figures and viewed our specimen programs. With almost one voice they voiced their approval. The big fel- lows, however, were not satisfied with a picture proposition which would reach only New York's metropolitan area. Show us your circuits in opera- tion over the other major marketing areas of the United States as well, they said in effect, and we will join gladly. Of course, like the large foun- dations which William Harmon used to mention, they were quite right in refusing to experiment—and then, too, even for the New York circuit we had as yet no provable results in quan- tity. Nevertheless, there were some fair- sized enterprises definitely interested in this local market and, like Har- mon's small foundations, they could afford to take chances. The market was not precisely negligible. It cover- ed, I believe, a population of approxi- mately ten million persons. One of these pioneer patrons of ours, especially deserving of honorable mention, was Mueller's Food Products, Inc. Mr. {Continued on page 219)