Motion Picture News (May-Jun 1925)

3046 Motion Picture News Lesser s Results MORE than twenty per cent increase in profits durina: August, 1924, over August. 1923, at the West Coast Theatres, California, ns ii result of last year's Greater Movie Season, is reported by Sol Lcsocr. "Because '.be benelits of the season have b<jt n made so very certain to us, we are taking advantage of this business-getting opportunity this year with renewed vigor and enthusiasm," states Ler-ser. Actual percer.tages of increase of some of the important West Coast houses over July. 1924, and August, 1923, are given in the following table: Pet ot Pet of gain Aug. gain Aug. 1924 over 1924 over Theatre July 1924 Aug. 1923 California, Bakersfield 67% 6GA% California, Pomona 29.7% 76.2% Strand, Los Angeles 7.8% 6.5% Circle, Los Angeles 4.6% 11.5% Wilshire, Los Angeles 7.1% 18.3% r. & D., Oakland 8.8% 41.7% California, Stockton 16.1% 26.15% San Jose, San Jose 18.3% 22.8% Capitol, Redondo 4.9% 28.8% Loew's State, Los Angeles 17.3% 17.8% The average increase over the entire circuit, comparing August, 1924, with August, 1923, was 20.16%. "We regard this increase in business as a genuine accomplishment," says Lessor, •'particularly in view of the fact that in the majority of our theatres August has always been a poorer show month than July, and, too, this remarkable showing was made despite the depressed conditions following the hoof and mouth disease epidemic and the great drouth suffered by California last year, together with the generally unsatisfactory business conditions. "We would also like to state that the business done during August of last year, as a result of the Greater Movie Season activities, was greater than that done during manj^ of our fall months, when the motion picture business is at its peak. "Last August initiated our participation in the Greater Movie Season activities, and was largely an experiment — the details not being thoroughly worked out. This year we are thoroughly organized and, having learned a gi-eat deal about its possibilities, we look for even greater results." Newspaper Contest A NATIONAL newspaper contest with a trip for two around the world as the capital prize and trips to Miami and Los Angeles for second and third, has been arranged as one of the interest-buildei-s for Greater Movie Season. The Eed Star liner, Belgenland, beginning her second world cruise November 25th, will carry the winners from New York to the Orient, India, Eg>-pt and Palestine, Italy, the Riviera and Spain, returning to New York April 6th, after a tour of 1.32 days. First class expenses will be paid throughout, including shore excursions under the guidance of the American Express Company. The winner of the second prize will have the choice of a trip for two to Los Angeles or Miami, while the third prize is whichever tour the second winner does not elect to take. The winners will be guests of the Miami or the Los Angeles Chambers of Commerce during two weeks with transportation and hotel expenses paid. According to plans the Will H. Hays office has formulated, the contest takes the form of an essay on motion pictures, not longer than 300 words, and debars only pro fessional writers and I'liiployees of theatres and newspapers that participate. It will be placed with one newspaper in each city or town where Greater Movie Season is celebrated, with preliminary announcements during July, and closing date towards the end of August. In addition to the principal prizes, local awards will be arranged — donations by stores, commercial firms and theatres — so that the extent of cooperation between merchants and theatre-owners may be widened immeasurably. Working in conjunction with exhibitorcommittees, the national bureau will handle details of syndication. A special presssheet has already been prepared. Conditions governing the contest, feature stories and advertising displays for newspaper use, quite apart from theatre material are contained in this sheet. Pictorial one-sheet posters for newspaper delivery wagons, newsstands and billboards, together with slides to accord each cooperating theatre full benefit of the publicity, are included among the contest accessories. As a means not only of promoting interest in advance but also of maintaining it throughout the season, this contest, which is perhaps the most ambitious yet attempted between newspapers and motion pictures, stands as one of the high-lights of the Greater Movie Season direct-to-the-public campaign. Navy Co-operation 'TP HE U. S. Navy has swung behind A Greater Movie Season in battle formation. For the first time since the war — although in individual instances the Naval Recruiting Stations have lent their aid to specific pictures — a complete national tie-up has been effected between the movies and the marines. Washington, quick to appreciate the immense public interest the screen will command during July and August, has instructed all naval recruiting station^ throughout the United States to display special posters linking Greater Movie Season with the fleet's Australasian Cruise. No less than six thousand five hundred of these posters will occupy the navy's streetboards in almost everv citv from Coast to Coast. "Greater Movie Season means better pictures on display. The Navy's Australasian Ci-uise shows the world in a navy way! " That is the message the Navy will broadcast and each recruiting office stands ready to turn its efforts in such direction as exhibitor-committees may ask. Noted Authors Helping ■pAMOUS authors have agreed to write special stories for Greater Movie Season, supplementing the general newspaper features the pre.ss-sheet contains. Among those who will contribute, each in his or her particular and well-known .style, are Rex Beach, George Barr McCutcheon. Cosmo Hamilton, Rita Weiman, Edwin Balmer, Temple Bailey, John Emerson and Anita Loos, Meredith Nicholson, Gerald Mygatt, Richard Council, Elmer Davis, Thomas Dixon and Wallace Irwin, whose Japanese Schoolboy will discuss most learnedly the honorable pictures that motivate. Particular interest attaches to the birth of the motion pictures as covered in an illustrated article by Terry Ramsay, historian of the screen. These stories will be syndicated from the Hays office on a regular releasing schedule, direct to theatres and exhibitors' committees, to be placed exclusively with local papers. Quite apart from regular picture patrons, the reading public is so familiar with the writers that their articles automatically influence the occasionals and absentees at whom the Greater Movie Season campaign is aimed. Strong Advertisements *t'~r^O clinch any campaign use newspa))er ■■• advertising. To clinch this campaign use more!" says an ad-itorial that accompanies an unusual array of copy, designs and lay-outs for Greater Movie Season. "Every dollar spent means not only an immediate return but also a continuous return; for Greater Movie Season is institutional, not keyed to one picture or to five pictures but to a whole year's progi'am. What you do now will build patronage permanently." Thirty-five examples of advertisements, from full page smashes down to two-inch single-columm teasers hit that objective. Sound constructive thought is evident throughout them — constructive but not ponderous; for the copy catches both the gala spirit of the occasion and the human-interest "behind the screen" appeal that registers with regular picture-goers no less stronglv than with those who must be ".sold."" Quoting the introduction of a full-page : "Celebrate Greater Movie Season .... From yesterday's flickers to today's masterpieces— yes, real ones: . . . From penny arcades to theatres of ease and elegance where most of us go to see and be seen — and don't we? . . . . From the battered piano to splendid orchestras. The drive's objective is well expressed. The new season's motion pictures have arrived; the improvement both on the screen and in the entertainment surrounding it is driven home by frank comparisons with movies as they used to be. That vein is followed in a quarter-page headed, "Don't long for the 'good old days!'" illustrating the entrance to an old nickelodeon in sharp contrast with a modern auditorium. Copy that for three years has stood the test of Los Angeles and San Francisco campaigns will be immediately recognized by California exhibitors in the three-column advertisement, "Are You Behind the Times ?" This is an appeal for fair judgment by people who are still prone to regard motion pictures from old-fashioned viewpoints. Experience on the coast showed that this persuasion won instant and favorable reaction. To repeat it, thus bringing it to the notice of all exhibitors, reveals a sound conception of responsibility on the part of the national service bureau. "Entertainment is for sale and entertainment means just as much to the critics as to the friends of motion pictures," according to a statement from the Greater Movie Season bureau. "The man who rarely attends picture theatres may or may not liave perfectly good rea.sons for his absence; but we have endeavored to present to him the verj important facts that motion pictures today represent the effoi'ts of leaders in every art, while, in most cases, the presentation of those pictures, the music and divertisement also entail considerably more thought than goes into the average theatrical performance at $2 a seat." Many suggestions are made for cooperative advertising, chief of which is a full-page lay-out that should find ready acceptance by stores when newspaper space-sellers are en(Continued from page 3048)