Exhibitors Herald (Jan-Mar 1920)

46 EXHIBITORS HERALD March 20, 1920 g;iimiiiiiiiiii!iiiiiiiiNiiiiiiiiiiiiii!iiii iiitiiiiiiiiiiiniuiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiuiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiitniMiNiiiititiiiiuiHUiiii»miiHiniiitiiiTii(iiiriMi:iTiii)tiutiiuinuitTiiiiiiiiii»^ 1 PROGRAM VALUE OF SHORT FILMS Brooklyn Exhibitor Says Blending of Comedy Subjects, Scenes and" Features Encourages Attendance and Prevents Possible Monotony BmiMllllllllllM^^ By EDWARD L. HYMAN Manager Strand, Brooklyn, N. Y. The present-day exhibitors are realizing the value more and more of short subjects in conjunction with motion picture entertainment. It is one of the hardest problems to solve. The field of short subjects is limited and it is necessary to scurry around continually in order to find the necessary short entertainment to fill out the bill. The exhibitor catering to the better class of film patrons as well as those that have the bigger class of houses are getting away from the fallacy that short films are only "fillers." I have found that the real value of the short subject must be brought out, in other words, make a feature of them. They cannot stand alone and neither would the feature by itself be worth anything without the proper dress. Therefore there must be a blending of both. Value Is Unquestioned The value of short subjects in a program then is an unquestioned fact. The one big thing that must be kept in mind when choosing the small entertaining features is variety. The average audience likes a congl6meration of different things. It is burdensome for them to see too much scenery or have an overabundance of comedy, but a little of each is far more acceptable. Now comes the question what to emphasize. Should I as an exhibitor place more stress upon the humorous side of the program, of the beauties of nature, or what? It should be the duty of every exhibitor to study his own patrons and find out what pleases them most. A number of times a short subject will be offered to me and it will be hard to know whether it is a winner or not. When a question like that arises my first endeavor is to try it out. I'll place it upon the program and then make it my duty to stand in back of the house and see how the audience receives it. If they show any enjoyment then I make a mental note, and when I am brought face to face with a situation like that again I will be in a good position to know what to do. Variety Is Keynote Variety then is the keynote used in the selection of short subjects. When the exhibitor learns the wants of his patrons and understands the value of injecting variety into his short subjects he has discovered a valuable point in successful presentation. The question of short subjects can be divided into corned}-, scenic and novelties. The comedies and the scenics are the most common. In presenting comic features for the Brooklyn Strand, 1 have found that by supplying my patrons with a diversified humorous entertainment has proved the best policy. For an example, I would run a Sunshine or another brand of slapstick comedy one week and give them a lighter comedy for the following week. This prevents any tendency toward monotony and encourages their interest because they have something else to look forward to. There is nothing so detrimental to a successful presentation as when an audience has been schooled to look for a certain class RESIGNS POST of comedy week m and week out Give them a clever cartoon one week, a slapstick the next, and then wind up with a light refined comedy. Keep Interest Rife Huild your scenics on the same plan. Keep interest rife by supplying them continually with something different. Choose your subjects with the one idea in mind of offering your patrons something new. One week give them a colored scenic of a trip through some foreign country, the next week switch them to a hunt for wild animals in Alaska, then reverse proceedings by giving them educational subject and so on. The invention of magazine features and novelties are both a valuable asset to the exhibitor who wishes to inject the unusual in his program. Here is a point that I would like to emphasize strongly, namely, put originality and novelty into your program. Keep "feeding" your audience something new. An example of this fact can be found in "Out of the Inkwell," a ParamountBray-Pictograph which is decidedly original. The cartoon comedy, "A Trip to the Moon," is another original novelty which I have in mind. Edit Own Reviews I also would now like to speak of the value of the topical reviews or current event films. The news of the day is quite naturally interesting to the public, and so when carrying real news there is nothing more appealing to the averagegoing motion picture public than a newsy, lively topics of the day. Providing the theatre is large enough, the most satisfactory method in making this of real interest is to take the various news weekly services and specially edit your own reel from all. Three or four brains are better than one. so consequently if one reel of topical reviews is made up from three or four others, there is assurance in the result that what you have to offer will be interesting. Well-edited news reels adds prestige to the theatre. They supply the patrons with up-to-date items of interest and when properly presented form a powerful foundation for the program. I have arranged for the topical review to follow after the overture. This is really the physcological time for the appearance of the news reel. Fox Buys World's Picture Rights to Broadway Success Fox Film Corporation has purchased the world's motion picture rights ta Arline Van Ness Hines' stage success, "Her Honor the Mayor." which attracted attention when it was presented on Broadway, New York, about three years ago. Being crammed with action and rising to a logical and superb climax. Fox officials say that the play lends itself exceptionally well to filming. The story is exceptionalh' dramatic. The picture will be screened at the West Coast studios at Hollywood, Cal. Madlaine Traverse will star in the picture. T-T ARRY WEISS, who has been man* * ager of the Chicago office of the First National Exhibitors Circuit, Inc., since it was organized by Aaron J. Jones and Nathan Ascher, has resigned, effective March 20. Mr. Weiss has been in the film business in Chicago as an executive since 1910. He was Chicago manager and later district manager for World, and Chicago manager for Metro and the Central Film Company. His new affiliation will be announced shortly. Automatic Ticket Co. Moves Sales Offices The Automatic Ticket Selling and Cash Register company has moved its executive and sales offices up Broadway, New York, several blocks to its new and more commodious quarters, on the fourth floor, in the Goodrich Rubber building, 1780 Broadway. The new quarters provide ample show room space for the demonstration of the automatic register to visiting exhibitors and all exhibitors coming to New York are invited to use the correspondence facilities of the company for any letters they want to get off while in New York City. Towns New Manager of Birmingham Enterprises BIRMINGHAM, ALA.— L. R. Towns is the new manager of the Birmingham Enterprises, Inc. The company controls the Strand, Colonial and Princess theatres. Mr. Towns succeeds Frank Hammond, who now is connected with the Southern Enterprises in Atlanta. The new manager comes from Selma, where he had charge of theatres controlled by R. B. Wilby.