Exhibitors Daily Review (1927)

Exhibitors DAILY REVIEW, IMONDAY, MARCH U, W27 35 Directly above, the Buster Brown kids and their dog Tige. It is one of the Stern group. In the top row, center, is Wanda Wiley^ starring in the “What Happened to Jane” series? To her right, Ethlyne Claire, Mrs. Newlywed in the series of that name. Center, a scene from “Let George Do It.” A LOT of bald-headed, nearsighted professors, after exhaustive researches with thermometers, barometers, cariometers, seismographs and other tricky instruments, have asserted that most Laughter is caused by a Superiority Complex, by which they mean that we laugh at people when they do certain things because we subconsciously say to ourselves, “Look at the poor boob. I’d never do a thing like that!” This form of laughter — said to be the most prevalent form — is characterized as Sure Fire laughter. NO PROOF NEEDED We don’t need any laughographs or Rube Goldberg tickle-state to know this. Screen comedy producers have known it for a long time. On the Stern Film Corporation lot, we have galloped to bigger and better comedies on this idea. On this idea and other laugh producing ideas, just as sure fire, despite anything that Professors Whiskers and Whoozis have to say. The art of screen comedy making is the most exacting in the entire motion picture industry. It is only by a thorough knowledge of human nature and the average man’s response to “laugh stimuli” that the screen comedy has been brought to its pre LAUGH! By JULIUS STERN, President, Stern Film Corporation sent state of rapid fire entertainment value. There is no other form of humor in which more thought has to go and in which the material has to “click” so consistently. On the stage, humor is intermittent. In humorous writings, there is time for leisurely contemplation, in vaudeville, no story or plot is necessary. But in screen comedies, you have to combine story, humor, characterization, gags, funny situations and catch^^ sub-titles with a machine-gun rapidity. No wonder that expert comedians, comedy writers, gag men and idea men are at a premium in the industry. The Stern Film Corporation is Happy in having a rare combination of all the men and mate rials needed for A-1 screen comedies. That this is so, is apparent by box-office and sales reports. The proof is in the playing. And lie, even in screen N Sunny McKeen, the baby of the lot, and winning a host of admirers in the “Newlyweds and Their Baby” series. figures don’t comedies. In the first place, we got the jump on the entire industry in rounding up material for screen comedies. A careful study of the field convinced us that ready-made material would prove to be the most useful for the screen. We sought story material already popular with the public. The type of ready-made material we found to be best suited for screen comedies was not, as some might suppose, and as many producers be1 i e V e , humorous writing and stories, or stage comedy material, but the newspaper comic strip. The comic strip is really a little screen comedy — a comedy in pictures, appearing every day. What is more natural than that it should lend ieself to screen adaptation? But it is more than that. It is a well established product, each strip Continuing top row, Thelma Daniels in “The Excuse Makers.” Next is Charles King, also in “The Excuse Makers.” Directly above caption is Sid Saylor, one of the most popular of the Stern players, appearing as George in “Let George Do It.” Insert in the center is of Julius Stern, president of Stern Film Corporation releasing through Universal. having a horde of enthusiastic “fans.” There is hardly a newspaper reader who does not have his favorite comic strip. The characters in that comic strip are as alive to him as the comedians of the vaudeville or legitimate stage. GREAT STRIPS When we first realized the farreaching possibilities of this source of material vve immediately went out and bought an old favorite, |then available for screen adaptation. It was the Buster Brown strip by R. F. Outcault. Read and followed by millions of youngsters of at least two generations, it was as well known as — well — really, there is nothing I can compare it to. But we were not sure. We hesitated before taking a radical step. We waited for almost a year before putting the series into screen production. Finally, season before last, we launched the new Buster Brown Comedies. Today, as I look back at it, I am still amazed at the sensation is created. Overnight, the series of comedies became one of the best bets in the hort Product field. The best houses in the land demanded them. This was unheard of in the industry. A series to become