Motion Picture News (Oct 1913 - Jan 1914)

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32 THE MOTION PICTURE NEWS Suggestions Invited, Questions Cheerfully Answered Address : Exhibitors' Department, The Motion Picture News IN the advertising department I say that the best way to advertise the picture is to give a good show, to deliver the goods and not to try to make money on ugly and sensational posters. Appearance and manners also have much to do with the success of a motion picture theatre. The clothes do not make the man. A neat uniform on the back of a cleancut fellow can improve his appearance and good manners, while the finest uniform on the back of a hoodlum will not convey the desired impression. Some men look neat in even an old suit of clothes, while some men will always look unkempt in the best clothes. While the uniform can improve the general appearance, it is not absolutely necessary. Uniform a Badge of Authority The uniform does not teach manners. A man can be polite and courteous in his plain street clothes. The only real quality of the uniform is to make the attendant more conspicuous in case a patron wants something. It is true that the uniform imparts a sort of authority to the wearer and is a mark of refinement to a theatre. Uniform or no uniform, the manager must see that he has the proper kind of help, as the doorman, the ticket seller and the ushers can make the success or the failure of the theatre. The main trouble with many managers is that they do not want to pay living wages. They have an idea that there is no work of importance in the taking of tickets or the showing of seats. The managers who want cheap ushers cannot give the proper service. I visited a leading theatre on Broadway, charging 10c and 15c admission. As I could find no seat on the main floor, I went to the balcony to find same as crowded as the lower floor. I had to stand for a whole picture. Patrons continued to arrive, they walked up and down the aisles trying to find some seats, but as none were vacant, they had to return to the standing room. This constant stream of persons going down and up the aisles, hunting for seats, was very annoying to the audience and many patrons complained that they could not follow the picture. Yes, the management had some ushers, but what ushers? Men of no experience, who remained standing or leaning on the back of the last row of chairs, who paid no attention to the visitors and who did not try to keep order. If these ushers had known their business they would have placed themselves at the head of the aisles and would have asked the newcomers to wait, as there were no vacant seats. By so doing they would have averted this constant stream of seat-hunters going down and up the aisles and would have made the place more tolerable to the audience in general. Work Hard for Girls The only work these ushers attempted to do was to see that no one would occupy the two first rows of chairs (reserved boxes) without an extra ticket, and this very simple work they did not seem able to perform correctly. They allowed any one to go down the aisle, seat themselves, then one of the ushers would go down the aisle to ask for the extra tickets, and, as in most cases the persons had no reserved seats, they had to walk up the aisle for the standing room. Now, if the ushers had asked to see the tickets before the visitors would go down the aisle he would have spared much trouble to the visitors and to himself, and he would have spared the nerves of the audience. Only a few days ago a manager told me of his troubles with his attendants, and informed me that he would have girls in the future, as he believes them to be more reliable than men. I do not believe in girls as ushers and doormen, as it is asking too much from them to not only stand twelve hours on their feet, but to expect them to walk down and up the aisles so many times a day to show seats. I fully agree with this manager that girls are more reliable and less rude when you cannot employ men other than the down and out class, who are willing to work at low wages until they can find something better to do. On the other hand, if the manager wishes to pay decent wages, he can secure clean-cut young men, who will prove more reliable than girls, in my opinion. It is a very serious question, to which the best managers are paying much attention. I have been surprised during my last Western trip to see the great increase in men cashiers. The managers who employ young men as cashiers know the weakness of women for brass buttons. J. M. B. HELEN GARDNER IN "A DAUGHTER OF PAN"