Moving Picture World (July-Dec 1909)

THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD 753 Plain TalKs to Theatre Managers and Operators. CHAPTER XXVI. EMPLOYEES. A cheap or poor operator is dear at any money. Get a good operator and see to it that he produces the results. Remember, however, that the people of old could not make brick without straw. Neither can an operator produce results unless he has the equipment to produce them with. No matter how small the house, there should be at least one usher, and he should be well and neatly dressed at all times. The ticket taker should also be neatly dressed, in a uniform, if possible. The writer has in hundreds of instances seen a ticket taker in his shirt-sleeves, unkempt, and even with a cigar or cigarette in his mouth. Such a spectacle would convey the impression to my mind that the show was likely to be as sloppy as the man in the door. Others, 1 think, would have the same idea and pass the house by. The ticket seller should preferably be a young lady of good appearance, minus the usual wad of gum. She must know how to make change accurately and quickly, of course. ADVERTISING. Jt pays to advertise. But the best methods of advertising a moving picture show is a subject on which there is wide diversity of opinion. The neat colored posters which may now be had with nearly all films at low cost are excellent for the arcade. Xeat showcards announcing the program are also excellent arcade advertisements. In small towns it is more than likely that the papers can be induced to give space to some him synopsis matter, especially if an advertisement be carried by the house. A common arrangement is to contract for a given space by the month or week, the publisher agreeing to give an equal amount of space to notes of the show in his reading matter. Giving of souvenirs is not, as a rule, good practice. It savors too much of hiring people to come to your show, paying them with some comparatively worthless trinket that is more than likely thrown away. Spend the souvenir money in improving your program, is my advice. If you have a competitor and you start giving "souvenirs," he will follow suit immediately, and neither of you are the gainer, but both lose just that much. One good, and perhaps the best, advertising scheme is to have a genuine feature film occasionally and advertise it to the limit. The people your advertising draws to see that film will have their attention effectively drawn to the house, and if they see a good show they will return to see other films. Another excellent scheme is to secure some good patriotic film and have a children's day on Saturday. Secure the school principal to lecture on the subject, if possible, and admit the youngsters at two or three cents on that occasion. Have a good comedy film, being careful that it is strictly "clean." The children will tell their parents all about it and the talk will advertise your house, of course. To do this properly, however, the school teachers should be interested. In fact, there are many forms of advertising possible to the man who uses his brains and thinks. You must be a schemer to make the best success in the show business. The man who goes into the moving picture business thinking it is play, that the money will just roll in without effort on his part, had better try something else. The show business, moving picture or otherwise, requires hard work, and lots of it. Of course, in its infancy, while moving pictures were a curiosity, almost anyone could make big money with almost any old show at all, and without much effort. But, take it from me, those days are past and gone — and they aren't coming back, either. There is still money in the business, and good money, too, for the man of ability, energy and eternal push. FILM SERVICE. In the matter of service you must remember that a flowery advertisement, full of promises, does not necessarily imply the best service. It rather indicates that the advertiser has in his employ an excellent ad. -writer. There is just one really business-like, intelligent way of buying film service. By subscribing to the Moving Picture World and keeping its copies all on file you will be enabled to not only see at a glance just what each new film is — a synopsis of its action — but also see its exact date of release. Now decide just what limit you wish to place on the age of films sent you and then write to several exchanges, asking for quotations on that service. To illustrate: Suppose you decide you want no films older than fifteen days. You write, asking for quotations on the number of reels you want per week, changed so often, no subject to be more than fifteen days old. You are now in position to check up and get exactly what you pay for. If you think some subject is older than your contract calls for, all you have to do is glance at its date of release in the files of the paper. If you use two reels you can contract for one reel with ten or fifteen-day limit, and one twenty, thirty, forty or sixty-day limit. The point, is, you place yourself in position to absolutely demand and get what you pay for. You should demand a clause in the agreement that any subject over age shall be paid for at half price or be not paid for at all. This is the sensible, business-like way of purchasing film service. It absolutely eliminates all disputes. The terms "first run," "second run" and "third run," as now used, depend largely on the elasticity of the exchange manager's conscience. "Commercial run" means nothing at all — or, rather, it means anything the exchange thinks it can work off on you. Of course, exchanges will ridicule this, but it is cold, hard facts, nevertheless, as they well know. Keep all film release dates carefully on file, buy your service with age limit, and you can't be buncoed. In the matter of carbons, nearly one-half may be saved by purchasing in 1,000 lots. EDUCATION BY MOTION PICTURES. (From the New York World.) Upon the white screen is shown a stalk pushing its way up from the ground; leaves developing; bolls swelling, then bursting to reveal the white substance within; and in a few moments the whole life of a cotton plant has been in review of a hall full of people who never saw one growing. Next may come a factory wherein some industry of national importance is carried on; every process appears in exact detail. Then a film taken by Chinese photographers, imported by way of San Francisco, showing how tea is grown, harvested and prepared. A Russian or Australian film may follow. Then a mountain climbing scene, with rope and iceaxe in use; a battle, Wright's aeroplane in flight, a camei caravan. The whole world is not only seeing but making motion pictures. The phonograph and the vitagraph have penetrated every continent and are pleasing or instructing all manner of man from the Zulu to the Berlin doctor of philosophy. Purely on the theatrical side the industry has become so great as to require subdivision. A distinct specialty has thus grown up in the making of "chasers," as those series are called wherein policemen, nurse girls, grocers and other characters go through obstacle races at great speed. Most recent and most marvelous are some of the scientific uses of motion pictures. Thus, the Merchants' Association of New York, convinced of the ravages the house-fly is doing, has arranged for educational motion films showing the enormous loss the nation incurs by it. More wonderful still, the most delicate and dangerous surgical operations are studied by camera and film. The operation itself, if serious, can have no spectators, or few at the most. The surgeons rehearse with a dummy to get "in the picture," the operation is performed before the camera, quickly, deftly; later the film may be explained to a thousand students. The pictures can be run slowly so that the exact manner of using the implements may be seen. They can be repeated a thousand times and made in duplicate for many schools. The formation of a voluntary commission for censoring motion pictures in the interest of public morality has received much attention. Quite as important as this praiseworthy effort of the manufacturers to prune entertainment of any objectionable features is the daily discovery of some new educational or business use to which pictures can be put, and educators the country over are actively aiding in suggesting new films. Trade, advertisement, surgery, commerce, the training of soldiers — what work will not the motion pictures yet be set to do? One of the most recent engagements made by the Vitagraph Company of America for its stock company is the addition of Signor Lugi Alberteri as one of the directors. Sig. Alberteri is a ballet master of note, having been connected with both the Metropolitan and Manhattan Opera Houses in New York, and more recently he was the director of the production of Italian grand opera at the Academy of Music. Although he is best known as a master of ballet in this country, in Italy he gained fame as a general stage director. With the Italian cast recently added to the Vitagraph permanent company some remarkable films are anticipated, for it is generally conceded that the Latin races are far in advance of those of northern climes in the art of silent expression. Sig. Alberteri does not replace any of the other directors, but is an addition to the present staff.