Exhibitors Herald and Moving Picture World (Jan-Mar 1928)

February 25, 1928 EXHIBITORS HERALD and MOVING PICTURE WORLD 35 As we said before if a deluxe picture house is situated in a community neighborhood that desires a personality attraction then it would be advisable to select a capable band leader that can also act as a master of ceremonies. Whether or not you should continue the policy with the band on the stage depends entirely upon the community. If at any time, you feel that the band leader's popularity is failing then it may be wise to replace him or try a different type of presentation show without the band on the stage. Its Up to the Manager The theatre manager is entirely responsible for the success of his house and the policy that finds favor with his audience. By that we do not mean that you must juggle your policy around so that your audience is at a loss to know what to expect next, but you must give them a variety of stage entertainment intermingled with some novelty that will keep them coming into your house each and every week Every conceivable form of stagehand presentation has been done but no one as yet outside of Paul Ash and a few others who just take a stab at it occasionally have really given the plot idea any serious thought. Deluxe motion picture theatres have enormous investments in their projects that by a mere slip of not giving the audience something substantial and satisfactory for their admission each week they are apt to endanger this investment by losing out at the box-office. The probability of this happening will be done away with if the powers-to-be at the heads of huge circuits and men who have their hands on the moneybags will only have these things in mind when they make out their weekly appropriations for staging entertainment at their theatres. Serves as Added Attraction It is not at all necessary to spend a fortune on stageshows and deprive your screen of a good film. Presentation in a picture house was never meant to submerge motion pictures. It is exactly what the audiences have always thought it to be, an added attraction that would make them attend the beautiful picture theatres whether they were in their neighborhood or in a business district. At one time it was possible for people to go to a vaudeville theatre and see a good stage program. There were very little films shown in vaudeville theatres several years ago. Therefore the public was compelled to seek their different styles of entertainment in different classes of theatres. When the vaudeville stage became flooded with all sorts of freak attractions and mediocre talent the public began to look around for diversified entertainment in picture theatres. The reason for augmenting the entertainment policy in these picture theatres was simply for the fact that there were never enough big photoplays produced that would draw a crowd into a motion picture house without any extra attraction. This fact was more than true with only a very few exceptions which automatically brought the business of the motion picture theatre to the point where today it is a great institution conducted on a greater paying basis than hertofore. Stageshows Help Box Office You may wonder and ask if presentation or the stage entertainment has been responsible for this growth. It is safe to say that it has. At least 50 per cent of the audiences attending picture houses today would never go to the same theatre the second time if it were not for the fact that they could expect to see something else besides just a picture. Now that the situation has gone as far as it has, the public insist and demand extra attraction for the admission price and in order to keep this great army of supporters coming in to pay their weekly contribution to your box-office, you, as the theatre manager or production superviser, must try to please them and in return give the class of entertainment that is desired and within reach of your appropriation. At this writing we cannot think of any better way of building up a neighborhood business better than injecting plots into your stageshows such as Paul Ash did last week in "The Mikado of Jazz." By offering a story with the local favorites playing important roles you are really building an institution that will receive the utmost support of your public. Film Producers After Grauman Prologues (Continued from preceding page) premiere of Cecil B. De Mille's "King of Kings," to be followed by Douglas Fairbanks' "The Gaucho." Although United Artists have a heavy financial interest in the Chinese, Grauman has announced that future productions will not be confined to the U. A. product, his policy being to present the films, regardless of the producing agency, of general appeal and the long run caliber which have given him his reputation as master craftsman of picture presentation. Presentation LETTERS In this open forum those interested in presentation may discuss important matters bearing upon this phase of theatre entertainment. Only signed letters will be published. PRESENTATION ACTS— To the Editor: I was very much interested in the article on page 47, your issue of Feb. 4th relative to song elides. There are various phases to this matter which I will not go into. I just want to give you my particular method of handling this form of business. I use a card similar to the sample enclosed. The plain side of the card is used for the address side, like a postal card, except that it of course takes a two-cent stamp. I do not claim that the card (or the method) is perfect, as on my next batch of cards I expect to make some changes. Heading and salutations are of course as an ordinary letter. The first takes care of any new complimentary music received from the publishers. Certainly the courtesy of the publishers in sending complimentary copies is worthy of a twocent stamp of gratitude. The next item asks whether 6lides are obtainable on requested numbers. The next sentence is selfexplanatory, as some publishers send slides unrequested, and they cannot be used, at least at the time sent. My schedule for running slides varies according to the program of the theatre. Slides are returned immediately after use, and notice of their return sent by the next item. Under "Remarks" comes — "Remarks." Either in regard to the slides or new music received, etc. The printed form saved a lot of time in corresponding with the different publishers, and to my notion makes a neater job than a hastily written letter each time. What has become of the various articles relative to organ music in the theatre especially in the "Better Theatres" section ? Let's have some more of them. They surely must be of benefit. They always were to me, I assure you. And your "Organ Solos" column, and the "Five Best Sellers" under the "New Music" column. Very truly yours.— Wm. J. Cowdrey, Organist, Sherman theatre, Chillicothe, Ohio. PRESENTATION ACTS— To the Editor: Brad Braley's Orthophonic-Organ concerts have come to Concord to stay. They are to become regular features on our bill from popular demand. The selection used this week is called "When Day Is Done," this also being recorded by Paul Whiteman for the Victor. This concert was greeted with greater applause and more personal comment than the first. I believe that the gifted organists of the country will grasp this idea as an invaluable aid in selling their solos to the public. Yours in better presentations. — J. C. Lund, Capitol theatre. Concord, N. H. 0 10 A SHADY TREE" WALTER. DONALDSON 1LEC>. IFIEIISYincI 23IW.407ST, New York.