Moving Picture World (Jun 1919)

June 21, 1919 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD 1795 IBS' ! IIBlMMMlMIMIMflllllilMIBIBiiiiii ll|||I!IlilI!|i||,"™XTiF"!''l,r "" Advertising for Exhibitors Conducted by EPES WINTHROP SARGENT Summer Stuff. EVER make capital of the fact that it is summer? Did you ever plan to make the season help instead of hurt you? Suppose that instead of kicking about the heat you lay in some nice cool scenics and make a special bid with these. You can get some old stuff cheap. You can pick for return books some old plays, which may be new to your patrons, with a large proportion of snow and ice. Take "The Brand," for instance. What do you suppose you could do with that blizzard in the middle of July? It was more or less interesting in March, but in July a huge "Actual Blizzard Inside" will pull almost as much money as Mary Pickford's name. Never mind if the picture is not first run. If it makes money for you, what do you care about the date? And for a dollar a reel or so you can get scenics with snow-clad peaks and frozen waterfalls. What is a puny little "15 Degrees Colder Inside" compared with "One million tons of snow and ice inside?" Put in a few electric fans, work on the ice suggestion and you won't have to worry about the hot weather. You can make capital of it. McCormick's. Advertising "The Brand," S. Barret McCormick took three fourteens for his Saturday and Sunday display with a thirteen for the less important papers. The story is made the feature above the play of the big blizzard scene or the production generally. The entire appeal is hung upon the fact that this is a Rex Beach story, with a mention of the story in support of the appeal. For the Monday to Wednesday he used four seven's, and these make a more direct appeal with situations from the story rather than the designs, it will be noted, are framed in a rope, in allusion to the stunts he does with a lariat. The space is shared with A Pair of Four Sevens for a Through the Week Display. whole of the drama, but Beach is played up in the title as strongly as the play. Effective use is made of black and white, to suggest the snow-covered wastes, with lettered quotations and type talks to back up the scene cuts. All four of the displays offer strong tableaux, the weakest being that on the left in the smaller cut, though here the quotation gives greater strength to the situation than the action in the other stills. "Sis Hopkins" followed for the latter half of the week, affording a strong contrast, and here the slate idea was employed to advantage. The text is the same in both displays, but the designs r\ /////////// /j f "J .ffi\Tv3H fjfflm w |C^Swiu|. JSL: A Three Thirteens and Three Fourteens for "The Brand." ers, who are dropped completely after the Sunday display. The drawing on the right shows that used as a base for the colored advertisement. In the colored design that portion printed in black behind the players comes up in an orange with the mountain peaks white and a blue sky, running down the side and into the house signature which shows a red house name on a black ground. It is worked in only two colors, but is showy. In both displays the story is the chief angle played up with a leading paragraph for the author and his work. There is no mention, even, SSJSP Rex Beacn'a "The Brand" A Pair of "Slates" for Sis Hopkins. differ. Mr. McCormick has had unusual luck with the reverse in getting the half tones to stand out. In a slate idea the. usual device of routing out around the cut could not be employed, but a careful choice of cuts has brought a good result. This is the first time we recall seeing a Circle advertisement without the usual house signature, but the sketched parody is helpful in marking the contrast, and will probably bring a laugh from most regulars that will help the general effect. We think this is the final touch. Fred Stone got three eights to announce his coming in "Johnny, Get Your Gun." Both A Pair of Three Eights Announcing Fred Stone. Arbuckle, but Stone gets the best of it on the left, though the division is more nearly equal on the right. Fatty appears to be a big favorite in Indianapolis, and it will be recalled that he was boomed above Caruso not long ago. No effort is made to play up his story. His name and the main title are apparently all that is necessary. Dies Hard. Hand lettering dies hard in Dayton, Ohio. Mark Gates, of the Dayton, no longer uses all hand-lettered displays, but he does give aid and comfort to an enemy alien in the shape of an artist who knows more about art than he does about advertising. We show half of a recent advertisement in which the effort to make the title ms'sterious results only in the suggestion that the play has a Chinese MfDNtOWT PATROL Romance and Intrigue of the Chinese Underworld Startling in It's Realism , TWO BIG SHOWS Kidnaped from the street nnd held in bondage worse than death itself, the heroine is rescued from the dens of th" Chinese nnderivorld by Ihe Intrepid Daring; of the Police. Lightning-like In Us action— aniaiing In its force, it astound] -and thrilia. Another Bad Case of Hand Lettering. locale. If the title is to be kept a dead secret, it would be better to represent it by dashes. The lower half of the display is sane and good. Gardner Quits. H. E. Gardner has left the Princess, Colorado Springs, to go into commercial work again where his advancement -will keep pace with his efforts. He will probably be back again, because he is a born