Motion Picture News (Jan-Feb 1922)

January 21, 1922 603 short reels for our Monday shows and were just breaking even.. We conceived the idea of double billing this one day and booked in a cheap feature in place of the short reels, in fact the second feature cost less than the short reels. The result was that our receipts were increased fifty per cent, we conclude that we draw the patrons who want quantity instead of quality, on this day. This being a combination house, we require stage help for road attractions. While the house is non-union we were paying the stage boys $8 per show, which is above the union scale here. When the general depression struck here we mapped out a schedule of $4 per man for afternoon and evening services and $2 for half time. The boys are well satisfied and we receive the same efficient service. We had been employing an organist at $75 Per week. We now have secured the services of a very competent man for $50 per week without injuring the standard of our musical program. It has been our experience in the small town to find many patrons who know more about running a show than the manager. It has been our policy not to listen to these kind of people or to long-haired people who can find something objectionable to the rising generation in most every picture they see. We run a good consistent program and keep up the standard of our program regardless of business conditions; we do not believe in allowing this standard to run down. We also do not listen to people who “ holler ” “ Don’t run serials,” when a good clean serial will sometimes draw more patronage than some features. We find it advantageous to give our patrons a little heart-to-heart talk through the medium of the press, expressing our personal opinions and adding local color to coming attractions. We have these articles appeal to them through interesting facts. The public is tired of the regular press notices using a lot of big words and bunk facts, wherein the manager has only to insert the date and theatre name for his press notice. Eliminating business advertising on the screen and using only your slides for your coming attractions puts more power to the show ads, and does not confuse the mind of the reader. When the subject of censorship was so generally discussed we invited the local ministers to censor our show and gave them passes. The result ! was that it brought new patrons throughout their congregations. Francis D. Egan, Merced Theatre, Merced, Calif. “ Put House In Order ” The industry must first “ put its house in order,” as the railroads, steel mills and other large industries are doing, so that we can “ see it through.” The dividends next year will not be paid from abnormal profits, as in the past, but will be paid, if at all, from the savings accomplished through careful production and management. Producers must learn that $1,000,000 spent on a picture does not make it a box office attraction. They must learn that they cannot pass down to the exhibitors the cost of foolish waste and wild extravagance. They must not base their production on standards secured during the heyday of prosperity just past, when exhibitors were able and willing to pay large rentals. Exhibitors must learn that Kansas City, Oklahoma City or Council Bluffs, Iowa, cannot attempt to rival New York or Los Angeles in the lavish presentation of pictures. They must learn that where they were once able to augment orchestras, stage prologues and in other ways add to their expense, these items may now mean the difference between profit and loss. Exhibitors must forget their personal pride and vanity. They must present a program that will be attractive, both as to taste and price. The era of unnatural and unhealthy prosperity just past saw established among the exhibitors many precedents now difficult to maintain and just as difficult to break away from. The producers, mindful of our past purchasing ability, still are making big pictures, spending large amounts, and must either get big returns or accept a big loss. Our public is so accustomed to exploitation that unless a picture is exploited they are uncertain as to its merits. Prologues and large orchestras have become an integral part of the programs of many houses and an educated public expects them. Now — What to Do? Pay producers as much as you possibly can in order that the standard of American productions shall not fall and carry the industry crashing down with it. Production must be kept up so that the industry, and the thousands it is supporting, can be “ tided over.” In advertising, put your money where it will do the most good. Look deeply into expensive and fascinating exploitation stunts that reach the eye of the very small portion of your population. In the last analysis, more people can be reached with a dollar through the newspapers than through any other medium. In newspaper advertising, take the space you need to tell your story — no more, no less. If you have a message that will bring people to your box office — get it across. If it can be done forcibly and attractively in three columns by ten inches, there is no necessity or excuse for using half a page. In the matter of prologues and “ trimmings,” I firmly believe the industry, as a whole, would be better off if exhibitors ceased to use them. In the first place, why should an exhibitor attempt to add something to an already completed attraction? In the second place, prologues and other entertainment features of similar nature only educate the public to a taste for vaudeville and for the legitimate stage. That leads them away from the motion picture theatre. In other words, the motion picture theatre educates the public to a brand of entertainment it is not directly interested in selling, and which it is not able to produce in competition with houses specializing in vaudeville and the spoken drama. My policy in the future, as in the past, will be to present pictures and make them my entire entertainment, as they are intended. I will advertise them adequately, but waste no money in foolish and far-fetched exploitation schemes. I will provide music that is fitting, but will not feature my music over the thing which I am most interested in selling — the picture. In other words, I will conduct an institution dedicated to the exhibition of photoplay alone, at a moderate admission, and at as low an expense as possible. I believe this policy will make money. I cannot be convinced that “ hard times ” have struck the industry. Normal times have simply returned and found us unprepared. Samuel Harding, Liberty & Doric Theatres, Kansas City, Mo. Bigger and Better Pictures, Says Nelson Always keeping in mind the fact that the show’s the thing, after all, bigger and better pictures should be the slogan for holding and increasing business. All through the so-called depression I have found that when playing such attractions business has not been bad. In these days the public is out shopping for pictures and the problem of the exhibitor is to study his public and book the kind of pictures they want, using care in the arrangement of his programs. Retrenchment is always fraught with danger ; but during the summer when business was off I decided to eliminate my orchestra and use the organ. I found that my patrons were well satisfied with this arrangement. Thus I decreased my expense greatly without losing my patronage. A good instrument with a capable organist who uses care in selecting his musical program answers all purposes very well. By eliminating costly prologue presentations and spending the money thus saved for better pictures business was improved during the depression and the public better satisfied. I have found that I could save in the aggregate a great deal of money by paying close attention to minor details of management the house itself, as lighting, heating, supplies and service. I found that I could save $10.00 a week on electricity by training employes to turn off lights not necessary. Considerable saving can be effected also by guarding against waste of coal on comparatively warm days when much heat would make the house uncomfortable. I would not advise too strict economy in matters bearing on service to the public as the accommodation and comfort of patrons is of utmost importance. The best of service is none too good and careless or inefficient employes are expensive at any price. (Continued on page 604)