Exhibitors Herald (Dec 1921 - Mar 1922)

THE THEATRE ^QL PRACTICAL An Honest Exhibitor A WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY STORY RELATIVE to a widely read discussion construed in some quarters as involving exhibitorial integrity, \V. M. Hay and \V. L. Nicholas, operating the Strand theatre at Fairmont, Minn., write : It is with some surprise that we note the amount of space being devoted these days in the various trade papers, among them yours, to the fact that some showman has reaped the natural reward of being honest with his patrons. We hadn't supposed that common honesty was a scarcity among the men who are purveying amusement to the American public. Anyway, we have always gone on the assumption that it paid to tell the truth to your customers about the goods you have to sell, and we have done that just as nearly as we knew how. In this community "If the Strand says so, it IS so." We are enclosing a couple of newspaper clippings showing how we advertise a picture that we don't believe is up to par. They are typical of the way we advertise. Then when we tell the public that our show is excellent we have no difficulty in getting them to believe us. THE newspaper clippings to which reference is made are single and double column advertisements of a feature production exhibited on a Sunday for one day in connection with a vaudeville program. The picture copy in the two-column display, given prominence over the vaudeville copy, reads : NORMA TALMADGE — in — "THE PASSION FLOWER" Norma may have made a poorer picture than this, but we don't remember having seen it. It is a costume play of old Spain, and in our opinion it is mighty poor entertainment. In the single-column display the order of prominence is reversed, the following picture copy /COINCIDENCE and ^ one theatre firm of unquestionable integrity enable this department to present for the week of Washington's Birthday the accompanying eminently suitable honesty in advertising testimonial, a story of year-around interest and monev value. appearing in secondary position : TOMORROW NORMA TALMADGE — in — "THE PASSION FLOWER" The poorest, punkest picture she ever made. If you come to see it, don't expect too much; then you won't be disappointed. * PERSONAL experience, which has no proper place in a composition of this character, convinces us that Messrs. Hay and Nichols spent much of the Sunday concerned in listening to patrons who protested that the picture was good. We recall distinctly a parallel case which taught us this not inexplicable rule of human nature. Our regular show didn't arrive. It was Saturday, the big day of the week. We obtained from an itinerant showman with headquarters in the city a fourreel English-made picture of the vintage of 1905 and substituted it, maintaining admission prices but warning each patron who entered and running a screen offer of refund. Not one patron accepted his money back : and we were accused by scores of not knowing a good picture when we saw it. * LEAVING the possible merit or lack of merit of "The Passion Flower" entirely out of consideration, we feel absolutely certain that humanity has undergone no appreciable change since our experience and that a verisimilar occurrence took place at the Strand theatre on the Sunday in question. It is exactly this quality of human nature that accounts for the eminent success of honest advertising and the dismal failure of advertising which is not honest. The classical example of honesty winning out over deception applies perfectly to the case of theatre advertising. George Washington told his father that he chopped down the cherry tree and was rewarded with the withholding of punishment. The showman who, for any reason, exhibits an inferior production but advertises it as such is rewarded with the withholding of the natural penalty — non-attendance and complaint. WHILE we do not endorse the above Strand advertising unreservedly — the term "punkest" being in our opinion unfit for type — we do believe heartily in the policy behind it. We are absolutely convinced that citizens of Fairmont believe "If the Strand says so, it IS so." In view of the importance of having the picture public feel that degree of confidence in theatre advertising our reservation is of no great consequence. We have seen no equally convincing evidence of exhibitorial integrity. Because of its great value as such we have reproduced the advertisements prominently, risking possibly unjust condemnation of an attraction we have not seen by persons who rely solely upon one-man opinions.