The film daily year book of motion pictures (1932)

changing their minds and coming In to see this picture instead. Newspaper advertising has taken on new originality. Space is being used to more advantage with arresting copy. * As tastes become more jaded, copy must become more startling and angles of approach more original in order to get the proper attention. The good showman will not shout about every picture. Using superlatives on a poor picture is wasted effort and does far-reaching harm because such superlatives become commonplace and then, when they are used on a deserving picture they don't get the proper attention. On the other hand, a picture can fool almost any showman. A comedy may not get a laugh in a cold projection room, but in a theater it will rock the house with laughter. A drama may seem colorless if viewed alone, but when the mob sees it they may go for it hook, line and sinker. For this reason a showman should not trust too much to his own judgment on a picture but should try to get the opinions of other people there before he plans his campaign. If he knows the picture is doing fine business in other spots, then it is up to him to give it "the works," and get behind it so that he can get the proper return out of it. Every picture doesn't deserve an extensive billboard campaign; but every third or fourth week one comes along that does. It is the SPECIAL effort a manager puts behind a picture that rivets the attention of the entire city. People come to regard his campaigns in the usual way. The minute a manager steps out and starts to make a special noise about a picture his public knows that the picture must be good or he would not be yelling about it. A big campaign on a motion picture is like a mark-down sale at a department store. It signals a SPECIAL and people go for specials. Today people who will not move out of their homes for an ordinary picture always flock to these "specials." Showmanship can make any picture a special for the opening night. After the opening night the picture must stand on its own merit. It is common horse-sense to play for a big opening night on a good picture. It is suicide to play for a big opening night on a bum picture. The money spent on a special campaign works two ways for the theater. It sells the picture to a big opening. And then, with the crowds in the theater, by means of the trailer it sells the NEXT picture coming as well. It gets a lot of people who have broken the movie habit back to the theater. It may start the habit with them again. Every theater should run at least one big showmanship campaign every month — big newspaper space — billboards — good herald distribution — mailing list — ballyhoo — an all-around job. That not only sells the picture, but it keeps your theater before the public as well. In between the big bulges of showmanship, the enterprising manager should use his wits to get the most out of small expenditures. He should vary his campaigns. He can use a ballyhoo one week — a large herald distribution the next week — a radio contest the next week — cooperative newspaper pages — newspaper contests — school shows — glee clubs — window tie-ups — a thousand and one stunts open and adaptable for every theater. He should not be afraid to use a stunt that someone else has used if it has not been done for quite a long time. An old stunt is oftentimes better than a new stunt. A tried and proved stunt with a new twist is best of all. The movies made money with circus methods years ago. The methods gave it such an impetus that business carried on without methods for quite a while. Now with depression talk everywhere the manager must hop to it and sell his shows bigger and better than he ever did before. As Mr. Laemmie says, "It can be done!" It is being done. It has been a bugaboo of this business that the weeks before Christmas always go in the red. Look at the records that "Frankenstein" hung up in the two weeks before Christmas this year. It smashed records of five years' standing — despite the depression — despite the so-called red weeks in which it was being played. One reason it did so was because it is a great picture. The big reason it did so, however, is because the ace showman of the country got behind it and slammed it across with outstanding campaigns. They gave it their best. The houses were mobbed for showings. It made the weeks before Christmas the most profitable weeks of the year. But far better than that, it also sold the succeeding shows in tip-top fashion, and proved that even with a great picture real showmanship efforts pay tremendous dividends. ALL THE NEWS— EVERY DAY— READ THE FILM DAILY 677