Motion Picture News (Jul-Aug 1919)

A u g u s t 2 , / p / p (Exhibitors Service) 1069 "Merchandising mYour Film Attractions Some Observatipn?. on the Method Pursued by Von Herberg witli the Figures on a Recent Jensen and Campaign ONE of the firms first to take stock of exploitation of motion pictures and decide to banish all previous forms of advertising in favor of the daily newspaper was the Greater Theatres organization in Seattle, more widely known under the ownership names of Jensen & Von Herberg. . ■ , This big firm controls the Coliseum, Mission, Liberty and Strand Theatres in Seattle, two or more theatres in Portand and the handsome new Rialto in Butte. Now, as well as over a period of three years, Jansen & Von Herberg are unquestionably the largest exhibitor buyers of newspaper advertising space in the United States. The number of their theatres in individual cities makes their volume of advertising dominate. The meaning of this will be more clear when one learns that on a single Sunday in one newspaper Seattle, for the exploitation of four shows sim.ultaneously they have bought for each theatre five full length 300-agate-line columns per theatre — a total of 6,000 agate lines in a day; each advertisement on a separate page with separate -publicity articles, pictures and advance reading or feature notices. Often on the larger of their attractions for a day a full-page of 2,400 agate lines will be bought for the one attraction and the three other theatres will have five full columns each. No department store in Seattle exceeds 6,900 agate lines in a single day. In addition large space is used in the other ■Sunday fiewSpaper of Seattle and second-in-vol,ume space is carried in an evening paper of •Seattle, the Star. This is colossal advertising, broadly and in.telligently conceived hot by agencies that build hard, metallic copy on' theories or philosophies of .what ought to appeal to -the Seattle public, but by skilled advertising men exclusively employed by the Jensen & Von Herberg organization. In the same city James Q. Clemmer, owner of the Clemmer Theatre, and a direct competitor of SATUBDAY— A dynamic play by America's foremost stage author, built upon the tremendous theme of a man's faith in his wife— AUGUSTUS THOMAS' ASA Doing full justice . to a notable stage success — challengingly dramatic from its first gi-ipping title to its climax— its Four Arts Ball is a bit of pictorial gorgeousness. Symphony Orchestra Coliseum's News Service Friday — Lasf Times— WiUiam Famnm in "The Lone Slar Eangcr" the bigger organi/alion, thpugh with but one theatre, parallels aiix,'0^'it;'^..unit of the bigger competitor with equally f^pWertful and intelligent advertising and his house is a money-maker. Jensen & Von Herberg have had at least two managers known to me with an abiding faith in newspapers ; the same faith that Mr. Von Her ; berg has in pcrsdii. These two managers were Ralph Ruffncr, long their powerful man in Port ' land and later transferred to their Butte Rialto to launch it in keeping with the organization's policies. Mr. Rufifner has since left them and is now guiding the Rialto on Market street, San Francisco. The other strong stand-by of his two chiefs is E. J. Myrick of Portland and now in Butte at their Rialto. Both of these men are showmen who have always understood the vital sales power of the daily newspapers. Knowing all the tricks of the trade, knowing how to catch attention by stunts and outside exploitations, they have never rated their stunt knowledge as their first asset. They have counted on newspaper advertising power first and stunt-attraction as secondary ; the latter a good thing in its way and place, but not the certain way of making the box-ofiice figures come out right on Saturday night. I imagine that the exhibitors in the larger cities of the United States, at least, will be interested in seeing a typical Jensen & Von Herberg advertising campaign on a single production and I have therefore collected such a campaign from our Seattle manager, Mr. P. G. Lynch, on " As A Man Thinks." This production has just finished its engagement at Jensen & Von Herberg's Coliseum, Seattle. Mr. Von Herberg personally liked the show. •It possessed many opportunities for good advertising and exploitation and he told his managers to " Go to it." They did, as is evidenced by the summaries appended herewith and by the pictorial reproductions of their entire series of advertisements. Tabulated in lineage their appropriation reads as follows : July SEATTLE TIMES: Lines. 140 by 3 520 140 by 3 520 275 by 5 1,375 140 by 2 280 140 by 2 280 145 by 1 ' 145 110 by 1 110 THE SEATTLE STAR: July 200 by 3 220 by 3 140 bv 3 140 by 2 140 by 2 110 bv 1 POST INTELLIGENCER: July 140 by 2 135 by 2 130 by 2 3,230 Lines. 600 660 420 280 280 110 2,350 Lines. 280 270 260 810 This was Friday's ad in the Seattle Times. Spac£, ten inches, three columns Here on one production is a concentrated skilled advertising campaign with a total lineage of 6,390 agate lines covering the three daily newspapers of the city. The expectations of Mr. Von Herberg as to the " turn-over " at the box office on this production were fully realized. Analysis of the copy will reveal that Jensen & Von Herberg's system of printed salesmanship is to sell the plot of the story to the public through the newspapers. There are many exhibitors who rank high in the industry who consider the revealing of plot to be unintelligent and damaging to business. In this attitude they are unmistak Fridoy— .Final Showing, of a Red-Lcttcr Offering— WILLIAM FARNUffl In "THE LONE STAR RANGER" SATURDAY A remarkable drama, dealing with the tingle &Undard of morality; the Btory of a good woman in bad coropaoy — ■ AUGUSTUS THOMAS' As a Man Thinks With beautiful LEAH BAIRD as its star, the play calls, for many superlatives. Its Four Arts Ball is 'a splendid spectacle. The story strikes home — a man con'demns the very same actions of his wife which he excuses in himself! SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA— 31 Men— Under Brambill — Coliseum's News Service — The run opened on Saturday. This is the three column, fourteen inch ad used on Friday ably wrong. Selling " plot " via advertising does not mean for the advertising man to tell all there is to the story, but to lead reader interest and imagination into the seeing of the show by taking challenging and inviting leads or angles out of the plot. Book publishers for a decade have founded their entire system of printed selling on this policy. Similar selling of the plot of " As A Man Thinks " to the public of New Orleans resulted in an eleven-day run at the Saenger Globe theatre in that city and a like method exploitation . gave " As A Man Thinks " a two weeks first run at the Alhambra Theatre, Los Angeles, with a third week held open by the management for. the prolongation of the run to twenty-one continuous days. Similar advertising in St. Paul produced a ten-day continuous first run at the Blue Mouse Theatre in that city. . 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