We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.
Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.
December 25, 1920
EXHIBITORS HERALD
165
Trie Sk owman Is Served
In the nationwide exhibitor exploitation of "Sown on the Farm," exploitation which embraced the metropolis and the village, the week ran theatre and the one-night-aweek, town hall auditorium, one of the most important facts with which the theatre man is concerned is brought to light. . It can be no longer doubted by the logical thinker that "the showman is served."
The outstanding development of 1919 in exhibitor affairs was the thorough establishment of the fact that more and better advertising was needed, was essential to the proper progress of the theatre and the industry. It was demonstrated beyond the slightest doubt that a great demand for pictures possessing advertising angles existed.
In 1920 that demand was fulfilled. "Down on the Farm" ranks high among the attractions offered in supplying the need, but there were many possessing similar qualifications. At no previous period in production history have authors, directors and producers so earnestly and to such good effect put forth effort to produce pictures that the exhibitor could sell to his public.
Accompanying illustrations show (above) the Orpheum theatre, Connellsville, Pa., as It appeared during the "Down on the Farm" engagement, and (below) the display arranged by the California theatre, San Diego, Cal. They are typical of the theatre work done in behalf of the attraction in all parts of the country.
The important point is that this work could not have been done were the picture not so composed as to subject matter and locale, the latter particularly, and fitted with a title that worked smoothly into the plans of the exhibitor advertiser, that this type of advertising would bring big attendance and, even more important, send that attendance away satisfied.
It is this type of production that the showman needs. It gives him material with which to work out his own box office salvation. It reduces materially the degree of his dependence upon the producer and places upon his shoulders, his advertising ability, the responsibility for his success or failure.
That is the condition that the progressive showman demands. As has been the rule since the beginning, the showman is served.
The past year has witnessed unprecedented progress in this direction. Conditions are better than ever before. The exhibitor has become active rather than passive. He has learned to sell his show instead of merely displaying it for sa7a. There is a wide difference between the two.
It is not too much to prophesy that the coming year will see even greater advance of this character.
United Artists Exploitation Success Advertisers Feature
"Down on the Farm," Mack Sennett's feature length comedy distributed by United Artists Corporation during 1920, will go down in exploitation history as one of the premier productions of all time in point of exhibitor advertising possibilities. Its treatment at the hands of the American exhibitor has been recorded in this department in a natural sequence of stories that has comprised in itself a significant treatise on the important subject of exploitation progress.
i