Exhibitors Herald (Jun-Sep 1919)

EXHIBITORS HERALD AND MOTOGRAPHY Pictures Are Pictures >5 ■ 1909 price 1919 price And the quality — Has Improved 1000% $ .10 .20 B We can't keep down the cost of living — I But we CAN show you the best pictures made at the lowest possible figure. I Management — | Franklin Theatre ■■in United Artists Have Many New Aids Display presenting clinching argument for motion picture attendance despite the high cost of living tion of that difficulty solved in the only logical manner. Every sheet of paper, every photograph lobby display, every item of advertising material furnished by the exchange, comes to the exhibitor upon payment of just exactly the cost price to them. These are but a few of the good points offered. Specimen advertisements, borders that may be photographed and used as stock cuts, slides and all the other customary accessories, all are here and all are good. The work must be seen to be appreciated. When the United Artists Corporation's first packet of exploitation aids arrives at your theatre you will become convinced, if you are not already, that here is a producing concern that has stepped away from tradition and dipped into the original. In a large, indestructible card-board folder, the material to be used with "His Majesty, The American," the first vehicle published and in which Douglas Fairbanks is starred, is now going out. Here are a few of the good points about it. Every exhibitor has clipped stories for the press, wondering, while in the process, how it was possible to make one copy serve four or six papers. Such an exhibitor must have been present when this concern mapped out its plans, for here appear four copies of every bit of publicity printed. A particularly worthy step that has been taken, a step that should be followed by all right-thinking producers and distributors, has to do with the posters supplied for the production. The reading matter on all of them mentions just two things — the star and the title of the play. Not a word about the man who designed the costumes, the store that sold the shoes, the artist who painted the interiors — not even the name of the producer or distributor. If for no other reason than this, exhibitors generally are going to be glad that a new organization witli new ideas has entered the field. Then, there is the matter of cost. It is common knowledge that more paper would be used if the price were not prohibitive. And here is the soltt Nashville Laughs at Comic Cow Stunt "The Wizard of Oz" started it. The Princess theatre, Nashville, Tennessee, didn't forget it. It will probably go on, intermittently, forever. The Tin Man and the Scare Crow were really funny. And the animals that appeared in support carried out the idea. The musical comedies that followed it for the next ten years or so used the idea until it was worn threadbare, but the intoxicated lion, the rag-time giraffe and the dancing donkey still figure largely in the circus clown's repertoire. These things arc funny. Charlie Chaplin is funny. The Princess theatre, advertising "Sunnyside," Chaplin's third First National attraction, connected up the two in a picture that contains a chuckle for the most serious minded. True, the scene pictured does not appear in the picture. But what matters that? The picture is funny and has to do with the farm. Those are the essential points. 66 And those are the points that are fused and given striking power by the simple picture used. At the top of the advertisement, which is reproduced herewith, appears another line worthy of comment. Anybody, playing the picture might have been prompted to write, "If you want to laugh yourself sick — come and see," etc., but it was another matter to write, "If you want to laugh yourself well " There is a distinct shock in that word "well." It is unexpetced. It looks all wrong. It makes the reader hesitate. Then, as the point makes itself clear, it registers strongly. Altogether, though there is nothing remarkable about the general appearance of the thing, the advertisement is of the type that brings business — success. It should be studied for that reason. Exhibitor Follows Herald Suggestion Following out the suggestion made and illustrated in these columns some weeks ago, the New Blackstone Theatre, Pittsburgh, has proved to the complete satisfaction of all concerned that the news reel is worthy of individual exploitation. The New Universal Screen Magazine was recently given a four column, teninch spread in the Pittsburgh Press, the display being placed on a page otherwise free of motion picture advertising, as advised. The paper people cooperated with the management in turning out the finest possible example of advertising genius and the New Blackstone states that the results gained justify a repetition of the enterprise at intervals in the future. Rename Thanhouser Plant The name of the studio and plant built and formerly occupied by the Thanhouser Film Corporation at New Rochelle, N. Y., has been changed. It is now known as the Fischer studios, after A. H. Fischer, who recently acquired the property by outright purchase to be the home of B. A. RoltV productions. If You Want to Laugh Yourself Well, SEE CHARLES CHAPLIN "Sunnyside" PRINCESS TODAY AT THE Nashville, Tenn., found a chuckle u this picture. Naturally, the perform ance was well attended.