Motion Picture News (Jul-Aug 1919)

August 2 , I p I p (Exhibitors Service) 1071 The Michigan Tyro JVho Showed Some Speed Lane, of Jonesville, Michigan, Had Plenty of Warnings From Oldtimers, But He "Just Went Ahead and Did It" EXPERIENCED small town exhibitors may say after reading this story "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread," all of which may be true and then again it may not. There is many an " old timer " in this business who is five years in arrears in his exhibiting ideas, and doesn't know it. He is using the same old methods that have always made him a living since he first used General Film service and thought he had to have it, never knowing that he has existed only because the interest in motion pictures has grown and not because he has progressed. Anyway this is the prize exploitation story of the season and concerns the phenomenal success of Alfred Lane, manager of the one and only theatre in the town of Jonesville, Mich., boasting 1200 souls within the corporation limits but with a good rural district surrounding it. This is what Mr. Lane did: He booked " Daddy Long Legs " for two days at a rental price of $150, plus a percentage of the receipts when his previous record price for film service had been $6 per day. He charged thirty-five and fifty cents admission for the feature, when his usual admission had been ten and twenty cents. And He Got Away With It. How? By exploiting the picture in a way and to such an extent that Jonesville is talking about it yet. Here are some of the exploitation ideas that Mr. Lane used. Manj' of them are not at all new but they were new in Jonesville and the result was " dollars net " which is what Mr. Lane has to consider if he is to remain a "theatrical magnet" in Jonesville. He purchased a quarter page in his local weekly. Heralds of this display were placed in envelopes bearing a picture of Mary Pickford in a scene from " Daddy Long Legs ' and turned over to the postmaster, stamped, to be placed in every rural •free delivery mail box within a radius of 27 miles. He engaged an energetic youth to strap on high stilts concealed by trousers with 12-foot legs and shoes nailed to the bottom, to distribute the dodgers and accompany a truck carrying a piano and a local quartette which visited the neighboring towns. " Dear Old Daddy Long Legs " was sung by a quartette until a fair percentage of the inhabitants could hum verse and chorus a week before the dates of showing. He contracted for 20 gallons of ice cream which he announced would be distributed free at each performance, and used plenty of " Daddy Long Legs " paper in front of the Jonesville theatre, which has a seating capacity of 500. Then he mustered an orchestra of six pieces 'and opened his advance sale with an encouraging response. Seats for all showings were reserved both in the balcony and on the main floor. Incidentally it is most interesting to note that Lane's first knowledge of the film was only gained from reading the ads in Motion Picture News, the review published by this trade journal, and the description furnished by the exchange salesman. Lane, by the way, came to Jonesville only a fewmonths ago and obtained a lease on the theatre which had become a white elephant to its owners. At the time the war had its beginning he was more or less famous as a jockey on the British turf and when he came to this country he obtained a position as a piano salesman in Detroit. Attracted by the motion picture theatres in Detroit, he set about to obtain one of his own and limited means necessitated seeking a location far from the beaten paths of the city exhibitors. After signing his lease and installing his projection booth and machine. Lane's knowledge of the business he had chosen was so limited that he did not know of the existence of trade journals or the customary Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Lane, standing at the entrance to their Jonesville theatre manner of obtaining films and this knowledge had to arrive in the shape of film salesmen who were attracted generally by curiosity and an eagerness to view an exhibitor possessing the temerity to open a house in a community with apparently nothing to draw from. It was Starr, of the Detroit First National Exchange, who loaned Lane the first trade journal he had seen — a copy of the April 5 issue of Motion Picture News. It is charitable to pass over some of the first programs Lane offered Jonesville, but Jonesville tolerated them and Lane slowly gained a requisite knowledge until he determined to give his rural and faithful audiences pictures that would not compel him to bend low over the piano which he played while his wife sold tickets, in order to hide actual blushes of shame for the quality of his entertainment. During the showing of the picture. Lane used a slide with the chorus of " Dear Old Daddy Long Legs " between each reel and it was a dignified president of the Jonesville Bank, who led the audience in singing it. Saturday's shows were patronized almost exclusively by the farmers and their families from the surrounding territory. Automobiles lined both sides of the Main street and the center of the town was so crowded that the visitors, eager to see '.'Daddy Long Legs" joined in the singing and eat free ice cream, used flivvers of their neighbors as anchorages for buggies and farm wagons. Starting his show at 8:30 p. m.. Lane used a short comedy, which with the chorus slide between each reel of the picture, held his audience until 11:30 o'clock and every merchant in Jonesville kept his store open and did a lucrative business when the theatre closed. It was a unanimous verdict that "Daddy Long Legs" had provided Jonesville with its biggest day in history, .\side from the record financial returns. Lane profited in having gained the friendship of every farmer within a radius of 30 miles or more, scores of them forming delegations that waited on the manager and pledged their patronage in the future if pictures of that sort were to be shown at frequent intervals. " They all figured I'd lose money," said Lane. " I wouldn't have cared very much if I had, because with this picture I've made more friends in two days than I could gather in a lifetime in any ordinary way. These country people have provedl my contention that they'll pay for good pictures, and at least once every month I shall launch a. similar campaign and put on a big feature. No. more junk for me. After 'Daddy Long Legs" there isn't an inhabitant on a rural free deliveryroute in this section that won't come in for myi show. Practically all of them have told me they would and that's the only way I can reach most of them." The dates of Lane's " Daddy Long Legs " showing came right in the very middle of a harvest season during which the farmers had spent even Sundays in the fields in an effort to make up for the complete lack of labor. Lane's expenses were confined to $18 a day for his six musicians, making $36 for the four shows; ■hire of an automobile truck to carry the quartette, postage for the rural free delivery notices, a low rate for his advertisement in the weekly and the ice cream. Alembers of the quartette and the stilt walker found so much fun in helping put the picture over that thej refused all offers of payment and are anxious to join in future campaigns. " This is the spirit to be found in almost any small community," said Lane. " Even in so small a town there is great civic pride and an intense eagerness to help in anj-thing that will make their town shine over surrounding ones. The auto truck and quartette used by Manager Lane covered all the nearby toums in boosting "Daddy Long Legs"