Motion Picture News (Jul-Aug 1916)

392 MOTION PICTURE NEWS Vol. 14. No. 3 enthusiasm on the part of the writer — and she did not go alone. Before long. Bill discovered that his letters brought people to his theatre who had never visited it before. And because his name was signed to them, his patrons got into the habit of asking for him. The fact that he was always to be seen in front of his theatre, coupled with his genial personality and his evident effort to please, won for Jones a decidedly profitable following. It was to be expected that the other exhibitors in the neighborhood would adopt Jones' methods, but the pioneer's start enabled him to hold on to his people in spite of the fact that his competitors were almost bursting their bloodvessels in addition to their pocketbooks in frantic efforts to catch up with him. Once he discovered how valuable an ally Uncle Sam's postal system could be, Jones did not confine his direct advertising efforts to letters. Postcards containing the weekly schedule proved valuable, though it speedily became apparent that, to be thoroughly efficient, they had to be gotten up by a printer who knew his business. Bill wasn't long in learning that a program that merely represented a sloppy mess of assorted type was speedily discarded, while a postcard program, presenting an attractive appearance was generally saved for a day or two at least. Bearing in mind the fact that his house organs were, as a rule, thrown away by the patrons after each performance. Bill wondered whether he couldn't endow the booklets with a longer period of usefulness. An idea came to him while glancing over the magazine section of his local newspaper. i House Organ and Letters Mailed Together | The following week the house organ was sent out in the letters which were regularly mailed to Jones' patrons. In place of the items containing unimportant and unbelievable information concerning the players. Bill saw to it that the gossip of the stars published in his house organ was worth while. In addition to this, he ran interesting household recipes culled from magazines and newspapers. That the latter was a popular feature was apparent from the fact that fans frequently asked for copies of the booklets to replace those that had been mislaid and which contained certain recipes. Bill gladly complied with such requests, figuring that it was good advertising to have his house organ before his patrons' eyes. Best of all was the discovery that, as the result of his direct advertising campaign, a better class of people was being attracted to his theatre. These people weren't at all interested in country stores and propositions of a like nature. Nor did they care for long, drawn-out shows. A program that lasted for perhaps an hour and a quarter was just about right — and so Bill found himself ahead on his film rental bills. Bill laughed when his brother Bob, who owned a theatre in a neighboring city, asked him for the secret of his success one day. " Nothing secret about it whatever," he replied, " I've simply graduated out of the ' showman ' class. You know what I mean — the class made up of exhibitors who believe in the effectiveness of cheap ballyhooing and flashy advertising methods." I Business Principles of Successful Merchant Applied to | I Theatre | " Analyze my methods and you will find that I am pursuing the same business principles as does any successful merchant. The same principles that will bring business to a tailoring establishment or a department store, will bring business to a moving picture theatre. " I've done my all-firedest to make my house reflect MY personality, just as John Wanamaker's Philadelphia and New York stores reflect his personality. Letters have enabled me to bring this about because they put me into closer touch with my patrons and when other exhibitors realize how powerful an assistant in this respect they have in Uncle Sam, they'll work him and work him hard. " Now, unless I have something extra-special on tap, " Bill continued, " I mail but one letter a week. I figure that if the fans visit my house for one performance as the result of my letter, they will, in all probability drop in to see other shows during the same week. " My direct advertising amounts to twenty-eight dollars every week. When I inclose my house organ in a letter, it boosts it about twelve dollars — the cost of getting up the thousand booklets. However, I've got to have the latter whether I use them in connection with my letters, or merely distribute them in the ordinary, inefficient fashion. To come right down to brass tacks, my direct advertising really costs me nothing, since I used to pay what it amounts to, to the exchanges that formerly supplied me with the old eleven or twelve-reel daily service. " To sum up, Bob, the time is coming when every one of the big film organizations will maintain departments that will cooperate with exhibitors who seek to build up their business by means of direct advertising. One company. Universal, is doing that very thing right now. But, my advice to exhibitors is that instead of waiting for other film companies to get on the job, let them get busy as I did, and tackle this proposition now ! " How to Make the House Organ Effective By Oscar Cooper THE house organ is the exhibitor's own personal message to the public. On the one hand, it is a weekly or monthly catalogue of merchandise ; on the other, a news medium. The best house organs combine these two elements, and recognize each as indispensable. Through his theatre the exhibitor is selling entertainment, in the shape of I. Individual pictures. II. Music and other forms of enjoyment. III. The comforts of the theatre itself. These three things are his wares. In disposing of them to the people cf his community he is in the position of a merchant. That is why we said that the house organ, in the first instance, is a catalogue of merchandise. But this is not all. The exhibitor is also selling interest in the whole picture industry — at every angle that touches his patrons. The pictures which he flashes on his screen week in and week out represent, in miniature, the industry of which they are a part. Their stories, the players who appear in them, their especial features of atmosphere or of setting, and the thousand other things which arise in their production and presentation are items of news —news of a big and growing industry. And the house organ is peculiarly the place to put the picture fan in intimate touch with the industry, thereby increasing his interest in the pictures which his exhibitor shows. i House Organ Must Be News Medium | No house organ which fails to realize its possibilities as a news medium is a complete house organ. The exhibitor may have only a small four page organ, but it is not too small to carry some news, always fi-om the human interest angle. He may be issuing a twelve page magazine or an eight page newspaper ; so much greater is his chance to spread before his readers news about his pictures, news about the industry. How can the exhibitor link up news items most effectively to the pictures he is selling to the public? In other words, just how can he make the news end of his house organ bring in business for him? The partial answer to this question is found in examples of what progressive exhibitors are actually doing. They are printing Short, illustrated biographies of players. Query departments. Brief news items about plays and players. Scenario departments. Special articles written by stars. I "Personal Appeal" Essential in House Organ | These are alii aimed at the patron's bump of human interest, or