Exhibitors Herald (Dec 1921 - Mar 1922)

68 EXHIBITORS HERALD March 4, 1922 LETTERS From Readers A forum at which the exhibitor is invited to express his opinion on matters of current interest. Brevity adds forcefulness to any statement. Unsigned letters will not be printed. Some Valuable Advice GRANVILLE, N. Y.— To the Editor: I read, with considerable interest, the various letters each week from exhibitors, published in your valuable paper and have derived considerable benefit from them. Having been and still being an exhibitor in a small town, I can readily appreciate many of the problems presented by the different exhibitors. I am and have been successful and possibly a few lines from me may help others similarly situated. After trying different methods of conducting theatres in towns of 3,000 to <>,000, I have found that my methods for past five years have been most successful. If after a reasonable length of time I find it does not pay to run every night, I show three nights a week. I find the receipts will be almost as much as if I ran every night with about half the expense. I never hesitate to raise my price when I have a picture that I think is worth a raise and I never book one for a special, but what I feel I can raise prices on. I show such, on certain nights and never less than two days. I always leave three nights for my regular programs at regular prices and on the same days every week. With all the excellent pictures now being put out, any wide-awake exhibitor in a small town can pick good special pictures for advanced prices without choosing any lemons. Of course, for the regular programs, I use them as they come, one each week from each concern and it is but natural that I occasionally get one not up to the standard. I never permit any salesman to overload me with pictures. If I can't book subjects and give play dates, I don't book. I know what my people want, the majority 1 mean, and book accordingly. I know what I can pay, better by far than the office manager of the exchange, and if I can't get the pictures I want at prices on which I feel I can make money, I book others. There are too many on the market to worry over any one particular kind. I am convinced that a picture a year and a half old is just as good in small towns, if in good condition and never shown here before, as a 30-day release, and many times better, because you have the advantage of the various exploitation stunts used previous to your showing. If service I get from exchanges is not what it should be, I don't hesitate to tell them so. On the other hand, I don't hesitate to tell them when I am pleased. Naturally, some distributors are better to deal with than others, but in most cases, I find each office willing to meet me 50-50 and co-operate. If not, I quit them. As occasion requires, I work with the schools, lodges, churches, etc., and find it pays. This is a town of about 8,600 with another theatre here seating more than mine. My opposition and I get along fine and if he wants me to run a slide for him, I do so and vice versa. I insist upon my help being friendly and courteous and this pays, not only in this line but any. I always try to do what I advertise and if for any reason I am unable to do so, I tell my people the cause, either by slide or -personal announcement. This I find effective and satisfactory. I never try to get any pictures from the concerns from whom my competition gets his. This not only eliminates unnecessary competition in prices but causes a friendlier feeling to exist between my opposition and myself. The profits in a town of this size are limited of course, but I try to get the limit as far as possible in revenue. I take four trade papers, which may be two too many, but the cost is trivial and I am more than repaid. In conclusion, I will say that if I have any doubts as to the merit of any special picture that I desire to book, I simply go through a dozen or more of my Exhibitors Heralds "What the PictureDid for Me" department and if I find that 80 per cent of the exhibitors agree as to the excellence of a production, I feel safe in booking it. In the past, I used to make it a rule never to book anything for which I had to raise prices, but this was the biggest mistake I ever made in this business. — Adolph Kohn, manager, Pastime theatre, Granville, N. Y. The HERALD Serves Everyone HOISINGTON, KANS. — To the Editor: Permit me to reiterate what many of us small town exhibitors have said or certainly think: Your "What the Picture Did for Me" department is an excellent basis from which to buy service. Like all guides, one must pick out the information which applies to his immediate case. Ordinarily, the criticisms written by our big brothers in the big cities cannot serve as guides for us. A cosmopolitan audience or potential theatre-going public varies too widely from our folk. We cannot expect our cases to be similar. So in reading the reports, I feel the big city reports are interesting but that the other kind is more applicable and a better source from which to base our expectations, purchases and exploitation. But you carry reports from the biggest and smallest and surely, all of us can find a shoe that fits. — Ed. Salzberg, manager, Crystal theatre, Hoisington, Kans. Favors Ending Star System ST. CROIX FALLS, WIS.— To the Editor : I have never written you or any trade paper before, but I would like to express my opinion and get an answer from other exhibitors on the subject. I just ran the First National picture "Courage" and I want to say it is just as fine and good a picture as any exhibitor or audience would want to see. While the picture has no big star to draw the crowd you will have to get out and boost it — it will please. Brother exhibitors, why can't we get more pictures like this one? While it has no stars in it, it is positively better than a lot of pictures with some of the big stars and we do not have to pay such a fabulous price for the sake of running a picture with a big star in it. As to the actors in "Courage" they were good and the picture was well acted. I firmly believe that if we could get more pictures on an equal with this picture, we would eventually be able to get the public out of the notion that it must be some big star in order to see a good picture. You know, brother exhibitors, you can cast a well-liked star in a punk or poor play and kill the star, which has no doubt happened to all of us. I could name quite a number of our best and highest paid stars, who were cast in very poor productions and, oh boy, it sure killed them for me. Taking the above into consideration, why not get good plays and good actors (but not fabulous priced actors) and advertise the production instead of headlining the star? You will note that several of the producers are not advertising the stars, but are advertising simply the titles, viz: "The Child Thou Gavest Me," "The Old Nest," and "The Golden Snare." Am I right or wrong that by advertising the plays instead of the stars we would get just as good if not better productions without paying such fabulous prices for stars and pictures? Also the patrons could not say, "Oh! Well, I don't like so and so, the star, and I would not walk across the street to see him or her." Let's have an answer on this. — R. O. Pepper, Auditorium theatre, St. Croix Falls, Wis. Pictures That Please Flappers Only SALMON, IDAHO— To the Editor: The first error to charge up against you was printing a report under the caption of "Riders of the Dawn," when it should have read "Riders of the Purple Sage." Possibly it was my error. However, I will wager that the report I wrote on "Purple Sage" will be appropriate for "Riders of the Dawn," which we will soon run, as all Zane Grey pictures seem to be successfully filmed and exceedingly popular. It is certainly remarkable how these pictures will draw a crowd. This type of play, I believe, is the best bet for producer and exhibitor. Curwoods, Greys, plays like "Bob Hampton," "Sky Pilot," "lays of the outdoors, full of action, life and excitement, seem to appeal to the great majority. Real comedies of the Fairbanks and Coogan type, the comedydramas with Reid and westerns with Hart all find an enthusiastic welcome with my patrons. Thp pity of it is that I have to hand them so many average society pictures and problem stuff which producers turn out by the million feet per second simply because they get their impression of what people want from the city flapper, and a class of callow, morbid fans, which in a big city is sufficiently large to guarantee a good audience to any theatre. But I have never heard of the popular type of pictures which I first mentioned falling down in a big theatre. Have you? If. then, the big popular out-ofdoor and natural drama takes both in city and country, why don't we have more of that type and less of the sex stuff which only takes in the city? 01 course, once in a while a big society sex play lavishly produced, such as "Why Change Your Wife," "Male and Female," "On with the Dance" and "The Gilded Lily" are glittering exceptions. — Philip Rami, manager, Rex theatre, Salmon, Idaho. Omaha Exchanges Notice! SWANTON, NEB.— To the Editor: I live in a town of 285 population. Omaha exchanges, please carefully note that in particular and quit quoting me prices that would be more in line for a city with a population of just two naughts on the end of that. — J. J. Kudlacek, Swan theatre, Swanton, Neb.