The Film Daily (1930)

THE ■%&& DAILY Monday, August 18, 1930 EXPLOITETTES A Clearing House for Tabloid Exploitation Ideas o Airplane Service for "Dawn Patrol" A SUCCESSFUL campaign was put on by Jack Edwards, of the RKO Orpheum theater, San Diego, Calif, in connection with "The Dawn Patrol." Original feature of the engagement was the arrangement of an airplane service which brought three excursions from three nearby towns especially for the purpose of witnessing afternoon performances. The lobby was turned over to the U, S. Army flying authorities at San Diego and a unique display of airplanes and airplane motors, together with dirigible models, anti-aircraft guns, bombs, parachutes and other aeronautical paraphernalia was of great value in enlisting the public attention. — First National * * * Free Chewing Gum Was Appropriate for Rogers T . E. DAVIDSON of the Pub■^ lix-Paramount, Cedar Rapids, figured that chewing gum was a sort of Will Rogers' trade mark, so he promoted 6,000 sample sticks from the Beechnut people and had cards printed reading: ' 'A refreshing reminder from Will Rogers (the original chewing gum comic), that his greatest laugh producer. 'So This Is London,' is coming to the Paramount for three days commencing June 25." These cards were die cut for two slits through which the sticks of gum were placed. — Epes W. Sargent MANY HAPPY RETURNS Best wishes and congratulations are extended by THE FILM DAILY to the following members of the industry, who axe celebrating their birthdays : August 18 Vernon Gray Gus Edwards Agnes Leahy Along The Rialto with Phil M. Daly TF WE Could Change Things That Way— We'd always find a seat on the aisle waiting for us the picture would be just starting as we walked in the two yaps in back of us talking in competition with the talkie would die of swollen tonsils overhead traveling cranes would deposit patrons in their seats so they wouldn't tramp on our corns newsreels would be run as newsreels, and not gummed up with inserted trailers ear mufflers would be provided so we could 'put 'em on when the dialogue in the talkie sounds like lines from the Third Reader and when it was all over, we could exit peacefully without having the waiting mob rush down the aisle and tear the buttons off our clothes TNGENUES WOULD remain sweet and charming, and not grow hard boiled comedians would stick to their comedy and not try to go Barrymore Hollerword gagmen would get together and agree not to swipe each other's stuff Hollerword press agents would quit writing fairy tales and tell us something of human interest about their clients, for they must be human after all, even as you and I picture titles would be selected because they belonged, and not just because they looked niced in marquee lights * * * * "EVERYBODY in the film biz would be a booster we would all work together in a common cause folks would realize that what injures one, injures all a gent who had proved himself worth while would always find a chance to work constructively and happily for himself and the advancement of this biz, for a gent who has given years of intelligent! effort is a Valuable Asset and Big Business should try to preserve its assets * * * * YEZYEZ, COMRADES, if we could Change Things That Way, our desk would be loaded up with Brand New Stories every morn we wouldn't be compelled to tax whatiittle brains we might have to swipe some other guy's stuff and change it about so that he won't recognize it and if he did recognize it, he'd be nice about it and say nothing, for the chump is doing the same thing himself, and he's a you-know-so-and-so if he sez he doesn't the publicity boys wouldn't get sore when we boil their two-page blurbs down to two lines, because two lines is probably giving them more than the stuff deserves and on mornings when we're feeling low, this kolyum would write itself and save us a helluva lot of headaches TF WE Could Change Things, we'd turn back the hands of Time, and recall the days of our youth joyous days carefree, innocent, unworldly when we cherished ideals and believed the light that lied as usual in Kitty's and Mamie's and Dotty's eyes when we dreamed dreams and lived for the day and laughed at the morrow when a pal was pal and we thought Western heroes were REAL cowboys and that the uniformed ticket-chopper at the neighborhood house was as important as the President and that Hollywood must be heaven because Mary Pickford came from there and we could laugh Out Loud and enjoy Charlie Chaplin without pretending to be Sophisticated and we believed all the bunk we read in the papers about the stars, because we didn't know what awful Bushwah Slingers these Press Agents are — mygawd ! AND FINALLY, we'd take a peek into the future, and see if we couldn't grab a little advance dope for ourselves we'd get the lowdown on the heels, and beat 'em to the draw we'd be able to tell Hollerword what kind of pix would click next season, and if the chumps didn't take our advice we could say "Haw-haw" BUT — if we did Change Things That Way, some chumps like the Censors would crab the works, anyway so what's the use, sez we, as we depart for an unearned vacashe and leave you boys and girls to worry along without us for awhile Timely Topics A Digest of Current Opinion — €)— Influence of War Films on Children TJ*HE second blossoming of war books and war plays some ten years after the Great War has been succeeded by a crop of war films. These too are realistic, emphasizing the horror of war. For adult audiences such cinemas recall a war they have lived through, if only as non-combatants thousands of miles behind the front lines. For children they present a new view of something which before they had only read about or heard discussed. At a time when disarmament and peace treaties are uppermost in the public mind, it would be interesting to know what impression a war film makes on the minds of children and adolescents. An experiment intended to record as freshly and accurately as possible just those impressions is described by Cesar Santelli in the Mercure de France. "Verdun Visions d'histoire," an attempt to present without bias certain scenes of the war, was shown before an audience of several hundred school children of various ages from 7 to 19. Directly after they had left the hall they were asked to write down their comments on what they had seen. There was no coaching, no leading questions, no suggestions. . . . The outstanding feature seems to be that the film gave the children a new conception of war, bringing to them a vivid picture of its frightfulness which words or books had never conveyed. New York "Times" The payroll of the industry for 1930 will approximate $500,000,000.