Moving Picture World (Apr-Jun 1913)

372 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD comes. It IS an adaptation of the private cut in the barber shop, but anything that serves to give the patron the idea of regularity of attendance will prove beneficial. Get out a little circular or send out postcards something like this: Our seats are comfortable, but we supply cushions for a moderate fee or you can bring your own around and we'll take care of it for you. Have your own cushion. No charge for the service and no tip to the attendants. We'll take good care of it for you and hold it for your especial use. Last year one old gentleman kept at a certain airdome one of the inflated rubber rings and declared that he had vanquished his one objection to the open air show. If you do not supply cushions, get the white or brown wrapping paper or even paper towels. These last are thick and ine.tpensive, selling at three rolls of one hundred each for a dollar. They would be cheaper still m quantities. You will have to do something to counteract the prejudice against the bare benches if you want to get the best trade and you can do II with paper and advertising. New Business. -■ind keep well in mind the fact that the summer is the best time of all to get the new business. The theaters are closed, peojle do not want to go trolley nding or to the resorts every night, vet if they must stay in town they want to be amused. Get after the people who during the winter spend their money on the dramatic theaters and if you give the right sort of performance you'll hold them after the theaters open again. If you have refreshments put chairs and tables at the rear of the seats, perhaps on a sbghtly elevated platform. Serve ices and sodas there. If there is a restaurant close at hand arrange to serve sandwiches and cold cuts It will cost you nothing save the hire of a boy to run between the restaurant and your place, and many men and women who are too hot and tired to eat the heavy dinner at six will appreciate a bite as they watch the pictures, ihere 11 be plenty light enough to see, and yet, if you use a shadow box the picture will be brilliant. Make your place so attractive and convenient that the business man will prefer the airdome to the roof garden. If you can, iTovide parking space tor automobiles, but avoid the noisy automobile parties. Fight all forms 01 summer amusement not violently but tactfully. Get after the automobilist with some catchline like "Don't bump over dusty roads. Come to the Kex Airdome. Just as much breeze, greater comfort and splendid pictures. Iry It once. You'll not regret it." For the man who seeks the roofgarden say, "Why go downtown. You can drop around the corner to the Kex Airdome. There's a bite to eat, light drinks and a splendid program, bave time, save discomfort. Save money." Each class can be reached with some such appeal and if you keep the cir. culars going out you'll get them in. Free T-ickets. aend well-printed invitations to a selected list of addresses, to people whom you know are not likely to come without solicitation. Tell them youU appreciate it if they'll be your guest some evening. Meet such tickets at the door, see that the holders are well seated, are made acquainted with all the comforts provided and made to feel at home. All of this can Pe done nicely and without familiarity. Be courteous but not too effusive and once they are seated do not bother them again unless you can remember the.r faces and greet them as they pass out with a courteous inquiry as to whether they enjoyed their visit. If you can learn of the men who stay at home while their families go to the country make a bid for li.""^-;, J-' ?"J'^^}' '° '^"i" '" s^"^i evenings a week and perhaps they 11 bring the family around just before the season ends. If you have a winter house you'll find them there, for if you use the right sort of program, youli make fans of the men and > -men you would least exoect to get. ^ Be sparing with your ticket distribution. Do not get the tickets all over your locality. Make them something valued because not every man, woman and child has a pocket full. You have no matinees, so make the night houses represent as much money as possible. Rain Protection. If you can manage' it, have awnings; not tiny strips of canvas but ample ram protection. It is best, unless the seating space is narrow, to have a ndge pole run down the center aisle and drop on either side. If the space IS narrow and deep have but one cloth with the slant away from the direction in which ram is most likely to be expected and a straight drop on each side. Whatever protection you have, have it planned to be brought into oieration quickly. Have regular awning drills with each man trained to drop his cloth in the shortest possible time. One park has the awning so tricked that the cutting of a single rope drops the entire system. The regular rigging is used to raise the awning later, but there is just one movement to get the curtains down. It's the first few seconds that count If a woman gets her dress spattered, she doesn't care how dry she may be kept after that; the damage has been done. As part of the rain protection see that the ground is such that it drains quickly. If local regulations do not require board flooring, use cinders and so ditch the sides that the surface water from outside cannot be brought into the seating space. Give the people confidence in your ability to protect tnem from the weather and it may mean ten dollars or more each threatening night. Do Your Very Best. Don't get the idea that because you run only three or four months a year that any old thing will do for an airdome. If you have a regular theater you can make business for the long winter season. If you have no covered house you may be paving the way toward that end. If you have proven your ability to conduct an airdome proi.'erly, you'll find it much easier to get capital when you look for it for the erection of a regular theater. You may even build on that lot and put a roof-garden airdome on top for the next summer. In advertising you must work quickly and effectively. Get into the game as v5u TulH w ,.^" " '""! '= '" "• You cannot run a long campaign you must ,z« in r„ M ?' "■'^i"'/" ^"'^ °f y<"'' regulars are away and well Get a ter the "\"'' .=""* ""= '^'""Ser within your gates as had one P, „,n ^°" ""^"'.^ ' «°' """^ >■<>"'" have two where vou venience and c'^^^r"' '" ^°Z ""="'""" ^^d P'^J "P "mfort, coolness, con:uTesr.he"r'esfoftr:ppeaf " '" ^™^ '"''^^'^^ "'=" '■" '"" -" Keep cool, we'll show you how. Bring your overcoat — ^you'll need it. Don't sweat— shiver. We can explain Come to the North Pole-it's right around the corner. ^ou don t need a fan. We'l. sup,ly the breeze. Co to the seashore if you can; If you can't, come to the Rex and cool off Don't sit on the steps all evening. We know it's hot, but we know where it's cool. Please Don't. tisiiir'A'!l°v"''f"'",^'"° ";" "'" '' ^"^ '="°"Sh for you?" style of advertising Advertise the coolness; not the heat. Don't rub it in by such IZTrl? "^F'''"',^ Speak of the comfort to be had, not the discomforts of ratta, ,^e ^ ,■ ''"" "^'" '■'.*r«"!'. but you do not collect a herd of goa s at the same time. A man will catch more quickly at the suggestion of cool spots than at the bald statement that it's hot suggestion vour'ntr/ Xr,, """^ It" """ "<"'>' *' "''^^P P"P'= '=^n ^' "^"^d i"'° uxury and they will come, too, to swell the crowd. All work along this h1f,k",'w/H^„?l '?"' "["Z"' """""^ ="■' 'f y"" set after the men who thmk two dollars not much for a seat at the theater, you'll get the regular spenders. Save in the poorest localities the five c^nt sh^ow should be dropied for the summer. Charge ten cents and give at least a ten cent show. Build up with specials, play for extra attractions, but keep the price up. You can get it, and perhaps when you go under cover again in the winter you can still get the dime ins .ad of the nickel In many localities you'll find that you can erect boxes' at the sides of he regu ar seats and get twenty-five cents for seats as easily as you can ten. Lots of people would come if the prices were higher. They do not want to sit with the ten cent people. This is snobbish, but it's human na ure and you re m the amusement business not to educate snobs but to cater to them if you can make it profitable without offending the other patrons Try some sort of box scheme this summer and see how it works' m most places where it has been trieo it works splendidly. Photographs. In the next few weeks we shall be [.articularly glad to receive photographs of airdomes that are out of the ordinary and airdome advertising of all sorts. Let s have your schemes and we'll pass along to you the schemes the other managers send in. Has a Booklet. Mi^higal! 'utZt"' ^ '■ '''^'-"=" °' '"^ ^"°"" ^"'" «^''^"' Inclosed you will find our first "booklet." which we have distributed from house to house and mailed to our country patrons. We trust that you will not call us too hard on our maiden effort, as It was gotten out in a hurry. We expect to issue them every two weeks, giving our Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday program, but not our Saturday program, as we do not get advance bookings on films except features. iVe are running only four nights each week now, on account of local conditions, our leading factory having failed. We note^ what you say in your last issue regarding "hanging a poster in the window of the corner grocery." We think we have a better one than that for small towns. We have two "A" boards painted black, with a removable front (many fine wires drawn tight across, instead of glass, which hold poster in place) which we set out on principal corners about town, changing location of them each day. We tried putting posters in windows, but find that -A board puts the poster "right in the person's eye" and IS much better. We have a small snipe reading Princess— Tuesday, etc., which we fasten on poster and we find it's great advertising. We use three posters m front of theater and four in "A" boards on each feature. It might be of interest to you to know that we conducted a voting contest as to whether our. patrons wanted the illustrated song continued. They voted it down 3 to i, and voted for multiple reel pictures over single reels 4 to i. The booklet is small, even for its age, but it's a step in the right direction and we hope that the success of the scheme will lead to longer strides along the same path. Most managers know what an "A" board is /.''.rf,."°' !'"'' "" '°°'' ^' ""^ '="" =""^ understand that the two sides of the A each carry a poster, the cross bar keeping the lower ends from stretching apart. We think that most audiences would vote against the illustrated song if they were given opportunity and would vote for the multiple reel for the reason that the additional footage permits the story to be told intelligentlv and intelligibly. * ' The booklet gives the leader for each of three performances for two weeks, the back page being given to chatty paragraphs and humor the most markedly humorous paragraph being to the effect that Maurice Cos '^1 ... JT° "^'"'l'^'' " \"'y, ^ind ^ eirl. The paragraph does not state whether Helen or Dolores is tie boy. To induce a reading of the program a prize of ten tickets is offered the person sending in the longest list of misspelled words. A good catchline on the front is "keep me and keeo posted. ' IP We think something more attractive than a line cut of a projection ma chine could be used on the front jiage in subsequent issues.