Motography (Jan-Jun 1918)

1026 MOTOGRAPHY 1059 Clever Methods of Advertising PUBLICITY THAT MAKES FOR PROFITS Kehrleins Score Heavily with "Ads" California Exhibitors Feature Arrow Trademark Everywhere and Make Houses Well Known as Result AMONG exhibtors who are extensive advertisers and owe much of their success to this fact are the Kehrlein brothers, owners of the Kinema Theatre, Los Angeles, and two other houses in Fresno and Oakland. A trademark arrow is the feature of all the Kehrlein advertising. By night, in bright incandescents, two flaming arrows illuminate the wide expanse of the side walls of the Kinema. The fire-tipped omens point downward toward the street on which the entrances of the Kinema open and at the upper ends of the arrows are red bulbs, denoting the feathers that steer the arrows in their flight. In the newspaper advertising this arrow symbol pierces a "still" scene used to herald a coming or present picture and links the house still closer to its trademark, from which no open-eyed reader, pedestrian or motorist can escape. On billboards and painted signs the arrow persists — in the heart of the city, on the boulevards to the sea and along the roads leading out into the desert to the east. Emil Kehrlein, himself managing director of the Kinema, is a distinctive and virile advertiser. He exploits a picture both inside and outside his theatre in such a manner as to invest it with the Kehrlein personality. And while he at no time neglects his attractions, he makes his policy a fifty-fifty one of building something that becomes a permanent house asset. He remembers the value of the two whiskered brothers pictured on the cartons of a famous cough-drop; he remembers the uplifted finger of the famous and now departed Dr. Munyon; he knows the value created by the nude baby and the much-mustached Dr. Mennen on the talcum powder tin and, following the wise lines laid down by these national advertisers who have by these signs conquered, he has made Kinema and its arrows beacons of the day and night in his community. Emil and his brother Olivet, who resides in Fresno and watches over the destinies of the Fresno and Oakland houses, are imaginative showmen. They are showmen of the new school — collegians who are willing to disregard the precedents and old-style principles of showmanship and strike out for themselves, creating their own precedents. They are the firmest kind of believers in newspaper exploitation. They ignore, in the main, the cut-to-pattern advertising and publicity supplied by the producers and create copy adjusted to the towns in which they operate. They believe in copy simplicity; they believe in and use big space; they believe in plenty of open or white space. Therefore, '.hey obtain dominating copy in whatever papers they use, whether the space occupied be large or small. The Kinema cannot be said to emphasize over-strongly any one phase of its program. It attempts to offer well rounded showmanship. Its musical program is remarkable; its house atmosphere is almost without a parallel and its house comforts would require much space for description. Mr. Kehrlein seeks constantly the biggest motion pictures — and usually finds them. But no one leaves his Kinema feeling that the picture has been the big or the only thing seen and felt. It has been part of an enjoyable entertainment — which is as it should be. Lions Featured in Fox Comedy A comedy remarkable because of the great number of animal "stunts" that figure in it, is "Wild Women and Tame Lions," a Sunshine Comedy release for June from Fox Film Corporation. This fun-maker has some thrilling scenes in which lions and crocodiles take part. —2d and LAST WEEK 5 MORE DAYS WHISPERING CHORUS Asr Those vvno Saw Itr-^ PRICES AS USUALi MATINEES— 15c, 20c; Loges30c Except Saturdays and Sundays EVENINGS — 15c, 20c, 30c; Loges SOe FEATURE STARTS— 12,2,4,6, 8, 9:30 For Reservations — Phones: Main 101 — F1010 mema 7H»atgran3U Hon: the Kehrlein Brothers advertise.