Exhibitors Herald World (Jan-Mar 1929)

January I9r 1929 EXHIBITORS HERALD-WORLD 49 THE THEATRE How Would YOU Start a House Organ? HOW would you go about starting a house organ? How did you go about it when you started your own? These two questions are brought up indirectly in a letter to "The Theatre" from Dick Martin of the Columbia Amusement Company, operating five houses in Ashland, Kentucky, and two others in Catlettsburg, Ky. Here, folks, is a splendid opportunity to be of genuine lasting service to others as well as to yourself. It would be a tremendously important contribution to the theatre if each of you would sit down and write a letter to this department about it. Those of you who do have a house organ: Tell us just how you started it. The splendid house organs that come to this department daily are the result of a lot of study by the individuals, and as much perspiration as inspiration. We are likely to forget that when we run over them. The finished product in any line always looks like a simple affair; in fact, the simpler the house organs appear the better the proof of hard work, because they read smoothly. Those of you who do not have a house organ: You undoubtedly have a number of ideas back of your eyebrows as to just what you would do if you started one. Any one of a dozen reasons may explain why you do not have one though you would like to. Here's what Martin writes: "I am preparing to institute a House Organ to be distributed through the houses of this company, and would like to have some sample House Organs for suggestions. Would also like to have the names of some publishers of the same. (Hope you have received the copies sent you, Martin, as well as the list of members of our Exchange.) "Believe your Exchange is a great thing for exhibitors using publications." A Dozen Suggestions Following are a few suggestions that many be of service: to anyone contemplating the starting of a house organ: First: Be sure that you can follow through before you start. Nothing will give your theatre a blacker optic than starting something and not finishing it. Second: Analyze your budget and the expense involved. Check up with your local printer confidentially, as to just what it will cost you. Study Your Staff Third: Study jour staff and make certain that the one whom you will designate to edit it will not only be qualified but also will have the time to do a good job. Fourth: Study your patronage. Before going into the project, be sure that you understand your audience. For example, if you are in a college town, you will have to write it in a special tone. We don't mean flippant or ultra-jazzy, but at least airy. If you are in a mining town you can't use the language that win appeal to a campus clientele; your audience wouldn't have the faintest idea what vou were attempting to do, and probably even would resent it. Xor does that mean that your mining population wouldn't take to a simply written, solidly written publication just as enthusiastically as the college town patronage to its type. Fifth: You could kill two birds with one donick if you appealed directly to your clien TODAY. FRIDAY and SATURDAY TIME — 2:00 4:15 6:30 8:4S gag The Gala Event of the Y'ear. The Phenomenon of the Age — transformed into the mir-ele of the screen — at a cost of $2,000,000 in money — and two years of effort — the most important novel ever written in this country has been transformed i»to a dramatic marvel For To years it has touched the hearts of millions. Generations have loved it and passed it on to the next generation to love. The Greatest Human Drama Ever Screened ! The treatment of Harriet Beecher Stowe's beloved novel is a reverent and most authentic one. The characters seem to have just stepped from the pages of the book, bringing with them refreshing glimpses of the days befo' de wa' below the Mason-Dixon line. Certainly it occupies a niche all its own in the history of motion picI tures. Here is an ad that tells a story as well as announces the coming of L niversaFs "Uncle Tom's Cabin." The upper half of the ad is modernistic, the lower half historical; the upper half depicts the modern theatre and the modern playgoer, the lower half the freeing of the slaves, a symbolism of the freedom of progress that the upper half reflects. This ad icas sent in by ]. M. Blanchard of the new Strand theatre at Sunbury. Pa., a Comerford house. Mote also the prominence given the starting time. tele to tell you just what it would want in the house organ. You not only would get some ideas from the patrons, but you also would arouse their interest and that of others. Sixth: Decide for yourself whether you want a magazine type, a newspaper type, or a combination of both. There have been some interesting discussions of this point in these columns. Seventh: Whatever form of publication you decide upon, remember that each issue must be fresh in appearance and in reading matter. It must be interesting. We have seen house organs that had become so departmentalized that there was nothing newsy about them. The old definition of news is "that which is new or that which is interesting." Take both those factors into account. There should be something new in each issue, but if the "new" thing just does not appear by press time, at least make sure that the publication is interesting. Sometimes just changing the order of departments will help that, a little change in dress. Appeal to Women Patrons Eighth: Remember that your women patrons are the ones to appeal to in particular. They are, the ones who will take the publication home. And getting it into the homes is a big subject in itself that we cannot go into at this moment. Ninth: Play up your attractions, of course, but remember that that is only one part of it. If your house organ is to be no more than a handbill, then print it as a handbill and save money. Tenth: Do not let anything interfere with making the same date of publication either each week or each month, depending upon whether it's to be a weekly or a monthly. First get your public into the expectation of receiving the house organ on a certain date and then don't disappoint them. Eleventh: Establish contacts with your community in the matter of writing departments, if local circumstances warrant. But be particular to select individuals upon whom you can depend. Make It Pay for Itself Tzvelfth: At a special and attractive advertising rate to merchants, you should be able to make the publication self-supporting, even a profit-making project. But give your public something besides ads. Always remember that primarily your patrons will want to read stories and items, and that if they see only advertisements they won't read anything. A general rule there, of course, is to increase the amount of reading matter as the number of advertisements increases. Well, there are an even dozen suggestions, folks. And those twelve scarcely scratch the surface. They are a starter, however, and this department invites each of its readers to add his suggestions to this list, as well as to amplify them and even protest them, if his experience is at variance. Who'll start the ball rolling? We'll be glad to publish your comment. And always remember that only as you help others will you yourself be helped. That's the creed of the House Organ Exchange.