The Film Daily (1924)

14 DAILY Sunday, September 14, 1924 SPEAKING OF SHOWMANSHIP (.Continued from Page 10) out of focus. I can't run a piece of junk like that." When we asked him whether he had handed out the red and green glasses that go with the film he wanted to know what we meant. Then he remembered that he had gotten several thousands of them, but thought he had merely bought some cheap souvenirs which were meant to be handed out before the picture was shown at the house for the purpose of advertising it. An hour after a supply had been rushed out to him, he called up to tell us how great it was and that his patrons were raving about it. This glass incident reminds me of another exhibition of "showmanship" displayed by a small exhibitor. Real showmen in this territory found that that patrons who took these glasses home with them were giving "PLASTIGRAMS" the finest kind of advertising— the mouth-to-mouth publicity which goes more to help the box office than any other medium. This particular exhibitor demanded the return of the "PLASTIGRAM" glasses after the picture had been shown upon his screen. They cost him money and he didn't purpose to lose the eight or ten dollars they cost, even though they had absolutely no value to him after the showing was over. Uses Children to Help There is one exhibitor in this territory who has from fifty to ohe hundred children working as advertising assistants for him all the time. This showman is Joseph Bernstein, who runs the Stadium at 19th St. and Third Ave. Not content with the usual form of advertising, Bernstein invites, with the permission of the school officials, the pupils of the 4-A and 4-B classes of the school nearby to attend his show one afternoon a week. This after school has let out. The show over, these kids spread the news of its quality all over the neighborhood. Talk hard times and poor business to Bernstein, and he asks you to pardon him while he snicks a few snickers. Right here it is pertinent to mention that Bernstein feiows well in advance just when ha is to run a comedy of special merit. Any time you see him splurge on a lobby display, program advertising, screen announcements, etc., in connection with a comedy, you can rest assured that that particular comedy is considered of equal value to the feature so far as his box office is concerned. I should be doing a grave injustice to another Bernstein — a former film salesman who hopped to the other side of thgrfence to become an exhibitor ifii^.'who runs the Windsor Terrace avfr in Brooklyn, if I failed to cite hjim as an example of a real showman. When Bernstein, whose first name is Harry, bought the house, he was earnestly warned to wear a suit of vanadium steel armor so that the squirrels of Prospect Park, located right near his house. Big Theaters Are Poorest Advertisers of Short Subjects By PAT BOWLING Christie Film Co., Inc. Generally speaking it is the small town or the small theater exhibitor who is the most consistent and the best advertiser of the "short subject" end of the program. . ' The small theater exhibitor measures his business and his expected profits in a small number of dollars. He has to be continually on his toes to make a profit from day to day. It is he who realizes better than anyone else the value of advertising his comedies and the other short novelties on his bill. He is continually after a few dollars of extra business because those few dollars mean his profit or his loss. He knows that by advertising his whole show he has that much more chance of staying out of the red day in and day out. When you come to the big city theaters and the big circuits you find, as a rule, very little consistent advertising of comedies and novelties on the bill. These people are way behind the parade in getting the full value out of the short subjects which they play. Comedies as a rule are slipped through with little mention. Naturally the comedy and short subject producers appreciate the big business which they are, getting from the large first run theaters and the circuits, and therefore they hate to raise their voices and keep requesting the big theaters to advertise their wares. With lust a few exceptions this condition exists with practically all of the big city theaters and large circuits. In the fast rush of city life, the smaller things are forgotten. In the big circuit offices, comedies and short subjects are booked and dates set, and that is the total of the" effort which is put on them. Unlike the small exhibitor, with whom every possible chance to attract the public may mean a few dollars of profit, the large customer of films is not yet a good advertiser of short subjects. The condition cannot be laid to the distributor of short subjects, for in these days practically every kind of accessory is furnished with which to advertise the short length features of the bill. II u couldn't get him. They being well I Bust." known for their partiality towards nuts. Bernstein bought the Windsor Terrace for about two cents more than the cost of the proverbial song as the result of his showmanship it would now cost the price of three or four Rolls-Royce Sedans to even make him listen to a proposition to dispose of the house. This showman thinks enough of his short subjects to tell every man, woman and child within a radius of three miles — I mean this literally — whenever he has a short subject bill which he thinks is worth talking about — which is right often, in view of the fact he plays everything Educational has to sell. His advertising literature is in every mail box within the three mile radius and he thinks nothing of featuring his comedies over and above his features when the latter are not particularly strong. Knowing w.hich of the comedy stars ■ are favorites, he takes the fullest advantage of their personal popularity with his patrons. A Knockout Show Max Cohen of the M. & S. Clinton was in to see us the other day. "I don't know whether you're increasing or decreasing the amount of product you're turning out this season," he said, "but I hope you're going to increase it." Pressed for an explanation, his answer was that everytime he tan a weak feature he bolstered it up with the strongest short subject bill he could find. In proof he showed this line up. 1. The feature. 2. Cameo comedy, "Family Fits." 3. Hodge Podge, "Realm of Sport." 4. Wilderness Tale, "The Trader Keeps Moving." 5. Christie Comedy, "Reno or In conclusion, he said "I could have left the feature on the shelf and still had a knockout show." His idea of bolstering up his show represented showmanship. Showmanship was also represented in the way he advertised this bill. After all, an exhibitor may make money without exploiting every element in his show and still lack showmanship, but think of the money he is keeping away from his coffers because he hasn't appealed to those people who would be attracted by the short subjects he shows in any event. It can all be summed up in the remark made to me by a man I met up in the hills this summer "Why is it that theaters don't show those good comedies they used to show?" he queried. "You don't see them advertised any more and they were the best part of the 'show to me." Pinned down for a specific instance of houses which "weren't showing those good comedies they used to show" he mentioned just one theater — his neighborhood house. My investigation revealed that that theater was using Educational product. Also, that the theater advertised them not at all. And because he did not see them advertised, this lover of good comedies was taking it for granted that the entertainment he preferred above all the rest of the bill had passed out. The result, a lost patron. In the second paragraph of this article I said that a showman is the man who plays up every angle of his theater so that every element which goes into his enterprise looms up as being of equal importance in the minds of his prospective patrons. It is with this thought that I want to bring this to a close. Without] Benefit of ^1 Megaphone "The most patient director in Hollywood, is the title bestowed on Louis H. Tolhurst by those who have watched him direct only a single one or perhaps many thousands of insects for some of his scenes. Of course there may be some directors who get upset and shout impatiently to their players when they get temperamental and fail to "emote" properly — but not Tolhurst. He waits — quietly — for the spirit to move his tiny actors to "do their stuff" and then he starts his camera. Tolhurst, is the man most responsible for the increasing knowledge — workable, visualized knowledge — of insect life, through his microscopic motion pictures of their lives, which he is making for Sol Lessor, president of Principal Pictures Corporation, and which are released under the title of "Secrets of Life" series. Incidents both pathetic and humorous are recounted by this young scientist in talking of his work among the earth's tiniest creatures. "One of the most ludicrious actions I have ever witnessed," says Tol hurst," was performed by a lowly tumble bug, when I was filming thel life of this beetle, known as thej Egyptian Scarab. Clumsy, top heav as he was, it was very amusing t watch him patiently attempting t roll his burden up a little hill. JusS as he was about to succeed, his "buC ita ter fingered" hands slipped and dowi ki the hill rolled his ball. The pool t'l tumblebug looked foolish, turned around a few times and then startec \. out to find his lost treasure. Hi j* first move was uphill, but he wander ,™ ed around and finally recovered hli '^'' commissary and stirted back U] _ the grade. Jj "Of course," he continued "all tb ^ funny stuff, doesn't happen to the in ii ,. sects. Something happened the othe day that was, so to speak, horse o me. Not at the time, but later, I goi a laugh out of it. Painstaking prepara tions for the photography of th' metamorphosis of a caterpillar inti a butterfly had been made. A subj ject caterpillar was just ready t begin the spinning of the cocoo w.hich cloaks the insect during th change. Guarding against accident to films and possible changes in fo cus two high speed cameras had bee mounted side by side. These ma chines together with the lights, wer connected to a switch button, read for the crucial moment. Then waited, silent and watchful. Late th; night, after five and one half hout of this patient watching, I was n lieved by seeing the insect begin 1 writhe and go through all sorts ( contortions in the pain of beginnin the proceedure of forming the cocooi "I pushed the switch button. Tl lights glared and the cameras starts instantly, beginning to record tl movements of the insect. It mov< faster, and after a few more prelimi ary flourishes began to discharge tl web-making material and soon a th veil of the filmy substance was b ginning to take shape around t caterpillar. Just then the whole la