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MAKING MONEY ON A NEW STAR
"The picture is good and pleased those who saw it, but the star is new here and we lost money on the showing."
The frequent appearance of that statement over the signatures of representative exhibitors arouses speculation.
Why should it be necessary for an exhibitor to lose money, even for one day, though losses of that character usually extend over a longer period, in introducing a new player whose ability, since it justifies the booking of his pictures, must be worthy ?
Why isn't the first picture of a star that is new to your patronage as productive of box-office returns as the ones that follow?
Certain exhibitors have been known to insist that the producer or the exchange should share with him the loss which he has come to consider inevitable. In some cases exchange managers have even been known to do so.
The result has been, in a measure, satisfactory. The exhibitor has been enabled to popularize the new star without apparent loss and the exchange manager has found an outlet for his stock.
Don't Mislead Pubiic
But in the aggregate both have lost money. The money didn't come in at the box-office. How could a loss be avoided?
Obviously the scheme is a makeshift. It does not triumph over the difficulty. It goes around it.
Other exhibitors have employed divers methods to no better ends. Some have sought to advertise the story so strongly that the public would come to see the story alone. Others have emphasized the director, the producer, the short subjects run in connection with the feature, the music, anything that would overcome the lack of a favored star. The aim has been to ignore the star, the thought to thus put him over upon a public unwit
tingly become a witness to his work.
Gratified at the box office receipts for such a date, the exhibitor has believed the trick successful. But it is more than likely that it is as truly a failure as if no such atempt had been made. Their attention directed
to the story, or other factor, it is more than likely that those who have seen the play will not even recall the star's name, much less associate it with his face and his work.
The next time that star's name appears, in bigger type, in the electric
Ma\e the Acquaintance of.
nugene O'Brien
Star of
"The Perfect Lover
A Ralph Ince Production
I HE MANAGEMENT OF THE CASTLE THEATRE INVITES A CRITICAL 1 INSPECTION OF EUGENE O'BRIEN'S INITIAL STAR APPEARANCE ON THE SELECT PROGRAM.
MR. O'BRIEN'S LONG RECORD OF SCREEN ENDEAVOR AS LEADING MAN FOR MANY PROMINENT FEMININE STARS ON THE SCREEN IS SUFFICIENT . TO GUARANTEE THE ATTRACTION. AT A RECENT PRIVATE EXHIBITION GIVEN BY THE PRODUCER THE MANAGEMENT VERIFIED THE ESTIMATE ALREADY FORMED AND TAKES ESPECIAL PLEASURE IN SECURING THIS STAR AND HIS PICTURES FOR THE CASTLE PATRONAGE. WE KNOW THAT YOU WILL LIKE HIS WORK. WE DO NOT WANT YOU TO MISS HIS FIRST PICTURE.
The CASTLE THEATRE
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, June 9, 10, II.
Simple, dignified layout with Informative copy calculated to build up attendance for initiiil performance of a nen star.
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