Motion Picture News (Sept-Oct 1916)

September 30, 1916 MOTION PICTURE NEWS 204r Picture-Group Advertising is McClure Plan Publishing House Entering the Field Intends to Push Its First Seven Releases by National Advertising, All at Once — First Subject Is Entitled "Envy," with Ann Murdock; the Second, "Pride," with Blinn; the Third, "Sloth," with Nance O'Neil, and the Fourth, "Greed." IN the first announcement relative to the pictures of the McClure Publications is found an indication of the future picture producing policy of this concern. The first picture to be released will be called " Envy," and will have Ann Murdock in the stellar role; the second will be called " Pride," with Holbrook BHnn ; the third is " Sloth," with Nance O'Neil ; the fourth is " Greed," and so on until all of the seven deadly sins have been portrayed on the screen. Each play is to be complete in itself and will stand on its own feet, but all seven form a group that can be advertised together. It is the belief of this concern that a picture in order to be successful must be nationally advertised, in order that all of the people of the country may know all that there is to know about it and so make up their minds as to whether they desire to see it. This is naturally impossible with every five-reel feature, as the gross income of one picture would be much less than the amount of money required to exploit it nationally. Therefore the only solution is the grouping of pictures in such a manner that this vast amount of money required for national advertising may be a legitimate and profitable expense. A forthcoming article in McClure's Magazine will say : " Most bad pictures lose money, many fairly good pictures lose money, but every extraordinary picture makes money and in large quantities. The drama with a really big star based on a big idea is always welcome. The drama that is fully advertised nationally so that all of the people will know what it is like and why they will like it, is sure to be profitable. " The best example of the sure-fire success of the extraordinary picture is the socalled motion picture serial, which is advertised all over the world in magazines, newspapers, on billboards and by mail until everybody who is interested in such a picture knows that it exists and where and when it can be seen. Public Welcomes Advertised Picture "If it were possible to give the ordinary five-reel feature the same degree of publicity the man who produced it and exhibited it would make so large profits that he could afford to make better and better pictures. But with a single feature the entire receipts obtained for it would not justify the producer in investing several hundred thousand dollars in educating the public as to its nature and subject matter. There is no doubt that the motion picture public is tired of going to see plays that it knows nothing about, and that it would welcome some way of finding out in advance just the kind of play and production they may expect. The public will welcome the advertised motion picture. " So it has remained for a publishing company entering the picture field to solve the commercial difficulties of advertising a feature play so that all the world can know whether it wants to see it or not. In these days it is not enough in the picture business, or in the button business, or any other business for that matter, to make a good product and let it go at that. It must be advertised in order to make it successful. " No one of the seven plays that are to be released in the first group of McClure pictures is big enough, although each is a magnificent production, to justify a national advertising campaign, but all seven taken together are bigger from a financial standpoint than any spectacle or serial picture that has been produced, and for that reason can be advertised everywhere. The motion picture of the future is to be the advertised picture." Frank Tells Object of " It May Be Your Daughter " Author and Producer of Picture for Moral Uplift Society States That Purpose of the Film Is to Warn Girls Against Certain Evils Two Gripping Scenes from " It May be Your Daughter " (Moral Uplift Society) ALEXANDER F. FRANK, the author and producer of " It May Be Your Daughter," the forthcoming production of the Moral Uplift Society, stated in a special interview with a representative of Motion Picture News that his sole purpose in writing and producing this picture was for the purpose of pointing out and j)resenting in a strong, forceful manner the evils and dangers which surround young girls at the present time. " This is not a sex picture in any way, shape or manner," he said. " There has been no attempt to incorporate into it any sex appeal. It contains nothing that is salacious, lascivious or in the least bit off color. It does present, however, in a strong, forceful manner the dangers which may befall any innocent young girl, who has been left ignorant by the neglect of her parents. " It has been produced purely for a moral and uplift purpose, and its main feature is a vivid presentation of the penalties, the danger and the sulTering that inevitably result to those who stray from the path of innocence and virture to follow the false glitter of the white lights. " The picture contains nothing to which exception may be taken. It is entirely different from anything of this kind that has been staged before, in that it is put out purely as an illustration and a preachment against the temptation that many young uninformed girls are constantly meeting, and pointing out to them the horrible result that is bound to follow, if they be weak enough to give way to that temptation. " One may talk and one may write forever, but when a thing is once seen it is not forgotten. That is the object that I hope to accomplish with this picture. The picture will be shown privately in the near future for the purpose of obtaining opinions and critcisms. Those making up the cast are Hugh Thompson, Peggy Sweeny, Charles Hallock, Virginia Campbell, Edith Thornton, Harold West, Dorothy Gwynne, Caroline Lee, Helen Jordan, Joseph Baker and Charlotte Edwards. MANY NEW ENGLAND HOUSES BOOK WORLD FILM FEATURES Among New England houses obtaining World features in the last two weeks are: Maynard theatre, Waltham, Mass. ; the Brighton theatre, Brighton, Mass. ; Starkey's theatre. North Attleboro, Mass. ; Mystic theatre, Mystic, Mass. ; the Park, Bangor, Me. ; Union Square, Lewiston, Me. ; the Empire, Portland, Me. ; the Majestic, Burlington, Vt. ; the Park, Barre, Vt. ; the Star, Concord, N. H. ; the Scenic, Keene, N. H. ; the Town Hall, Orange, Mass. ; the Court, Worcester. Mass., and the Grand, Marlboro, Mass. BRANCH MANAGERS OF GENERAL FILM MAKE CHANCrES The General Film Company announces several changes in its branch offices. C. H. Coburn, acting branch manager at Toronto succeeds H. Law as manager of that office ; A. E. Fair succeeds as manager of the Denver Branch, T. Y. Henry resigned; W. S. Tuttle will serve as branch manager at Houston, Texas, succeeding T. O. Tuttle, who assumed charge of the New Orleans branch office, September 18, succeeding H. G. Morrow, resigned.