Exhibitors Herald (1927)

23 September 17, 1927 EXHIBITORS HERALD Critical Collegians Present Problems to Theatre Owners Delight in Picking Shows to Pieces, Says Observer — Situation Especially Difficult in Small College Towns — Opinions Carry Lot of Weight By JOHN LEROY JOHNSTON Possibly no exhibitor has any more problems confronting him than the showman in the college town where students of the impressionable and boisterous age demand the best, and present a hyper-critical resistance to ordinary sales arguments. Personal contact with nearly 15,000 college men recently convinced me that collegians delight in picking any show to pieces. They assume an attitude that is decidedly hard to fathom and a resistance to suggestion and conservative appeal that is difficult to overcome. Says Students Distrust Motives Briefly, and frankly, they distrust the motives of motion pictures and either feel that most pictures are cheap (despite the fact that they get a real kick out of them) or not plausible. The average collegian has a keen analytical sense that isn’t always fair and a keener sense of humor that tends to ridicule rather than merely amuse. DeMille Head Returns from European Tour (Special to the Herald) NEW YORK, Sept. 13.— William M. Vogel, general manager of Producers International Corp., foreign distributors of Cecil DeMille pictures, returned recently from Europe, after an absence of two months, during which time he visited the various offices of the company. Vogel reports that many of the European cities are making arrangements for the showing of “The King of Kings,” and that all DeMille pictures are being successfully pushed by the various offices. Theatrical History of Tombstone Is Revived (Special to the Herald) TOMBSTONE, ARIZ., Sept. 13.— The theatrical history of Tombstone, Ariz., when the city’s theatricals were in their hey-dey, is to be unearthed and put in booklet form by A. H. Gardner, secretary of the Tombstone Commercial Club. In those happy days Tombstone played engagements rather than one night stands on the kerosene circuit, and the town was rated as a good stop on the big-time circuit. King Manages Savoy (Special to the Herald) WASHINGTON, Sept. 13. — Clarence J. King, for some time assistant manager of Crandall Colony theatre, last week was appointed to the managership of Crandall’s Savoy theatre, to succeed Joseph Flynn who resigned to devote his attention to a different line of business activity. King assumed his new duties last Monday. Supreme Films Moves (Special to the Herald) BOSTON, Sept. 13. — Supreme Film Corporation has moved to its new offices at 54-56-58 Piedmont street. These angles plus the fact that going to college nowadays requires considerable money, second-hand cars that encourage driving out of town whenever occasion permits, fraternity and class dances, debates, football, baseball, basketball and track activities, offtimes form an enigma to the man who tries to present the best at popular prices at his little theatre. Collegians are also clannish and the opinions of a few carry a lot of weight. The small college theatre man has more problems than the large college town man because his business is vitally affected by college work and vacations and finances. Exhibitors Show Fine Spirit The fine spirit evidenced by many small college town exhibitors is worthy of record. At Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Cecil Grimes has installed a 12 piece orchestra in his ’Bama theatre. This orchestra plays matinee and evening and on Sunday, when the presentation of pictures is prohibited, the ’Bama theatre gives a free musical program. Grimes has won hundreds of patrons because of the true public spirit in evidence at the ’Bama. W. C. Kyle, an Alabama student, is manager of this house. Colonel A. G. Gidley of the Palace at Athens, Ga., has made his theatre two blocks from the U. of Georgia, — so much the center of campus social activity that not only do his regular shows attract considerable patronage from the school but his theatre has become looked upon as a school theatre and quite frequently special performances for college boys and girls alone are necessary. At Ithaca, N. Y., Manager Dillion of the Strand presents his pictures very frequently before the first runs in New York for the benefit of the Cornell students. Princetonians Critical The Arcade in Princeton, N. J., is forced to keep a pretty close watch on new pictures to satisfy critical Princetonians. At Austin, Texas, the Majestic theatre has found he Texas U. students a vital factor of the theatre’s success and the best music and best pictures are essential at all times. Harry Britton of the University theatre at Norman, Okla., has been five years in developing the interest of the Sooner students. A minor incident in some pictures that does not seem plausible, or is exaggerated, will, Britton states, turn his entire collegiate audience against a picture. Manager Glen W. Dickinson of the Browersock theatre at Lawrence, Kan., keeps a large orchestra matinee and even ing to satisfy the demands of Jayhawker collegians. He reports many big roadshows have flopped miserably in his house because of certain technical errors and exaggerations. Transients Aid Larger Towns In the larger college towns drop-in trade and transient trade offsets to a degree the collegiate appraisal of pictures but it takes real effort to bring collegians into city shows. Dewey Mounson of the Knickerbocker theatre, Nashville, Tenn., has won the confidence of conservative Vanderbilt students. In New Orleans the Saenger theatres have found the rivalry between Tulane university and Loyola productive of good business. The Stanley Company has won the confidence of Pennsylvania collegians through pictorial news events made at the school and by encouraging critical considerations. The same condition exists in Pittsburgh, where Carnegie Tech, and Pittsburgh students are intensely interested in dramatic work but can be “sold” only through the most carefully designed ad copy and promotion program conducted by Harold Dygert. Yale Students Conservative Manager Charles Pincus of the Olympia, New Haven, Conn., has found the Yale students considerably more critical and conservative than his former California university clientele in San Francisco and at Providence. It also takes a pretty consistent program to appeal to the Brown university students. The University theatre on the edge of the Harvard campus at Cambridge has won some favor among the student body through Harvard men employed in presenting the latest pictures. Spike Booth has helped a lot. Manager Walter MacDowell of the Strand at Syracuse is a most popular individual among the Syracuse student body. MacDowell is a human dynamo and actively interested in every event of interest at Syracuse University. Large groups of Colgate students come 30 miles to attend his first nights. Audience Hard to Analyze What is true in Tuscalossa is likewise true in Ann Arbor, Mich., and at Corvallis, Ore., and Missoula, Mont., with the Oregon Aggie and Montana University students. Madison, Wis., is an ideal college town and Arthur Desormeaux of the Strand finds his audience difficult to analyze.