Moving Picture World (Aug 1920)

August 14, 1920 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD 877 Experienced Publicist Answers Editor Who Criticised Press Work on Pictures SOME points in the article appearing in last week’s issue of the Moving Picture World under title, “Why Newspaper Baskets Are Always Choked With Motion Picture Publicity,” by A. H. Lyon, managing editor, Tucson (Ariz.) Citizen, are well taken, while others open channels of debate. The contention that there are many fakers in the publicity field in New York is undoubtedly true. The writer has had twelve years’ active experience in the newspaper game as reporter, desk man and war correspondent. As manager of the United States Treasury Press Bureau in New York he was in charge of direct newspaper publicity for the Liberty Loans. In that capacity he was responsible for the preparation of more than 50,000 columns of Government propaganda material printed throughout the country. Exclusive articles for more than two thousand publications were written under his direction; these articles were prepared in accordance with preliminary outlines which had previously been accepted by the respective editors. Establishing His Position. At the present time he is directing the publicity for Hemmer Superior Productions, Inc., a recently organized independent motion picture concern. His connection in the latter instance is responsible for the reply to Mr. Lyon’s somewhat severe arraignment, although it must be said in all fairness that some of Mr. Lyon’s deductions are true in part. The foregoing is cited not in a spirit of bravado but to establish the right to take up the cudgel in defense of those in publicity who who are publicist in name only and who are in deed, spirit and heart newspaper men in every sense of the term. The writer disagrees with Mr. Lyon when he lays the blame at the door of producers for not gaining a knowledge of publicity. Long experience has taught the writer that publicity is a highly specialized branch of newspaper work and as such it would be impossible for anyone to gain a comprehensive grasp as to how it ought to be carried out without requisite training in the hard and fast school of the newspaper profession. Real Newspaper Men Succeed. Thte man who knows the lights and shades of the newspaper game from the inside is the one who attains any degree of success in publicity work in New York City. In other words, it’s training that counts — the sort of training that comes through reporting events of the day for the daily papers. By that token, then, it seems to the writer that the only successful policy to follow is to report whatever event with which one may be associated as a publicity director just the same as if he had been assigned to it by a city editor. The big side of the 'motion picture field insofar as publicity is concerned is the feature side. Straight news items in the main are short and although there is a fund of material of this nature, yet it would not suffice to serve the best interests of producers. For that reason the feature side is the important side to develop. Not a Good Parallel. The comparison between baseball and motion pictures is somewhat overdrawn. They By G. SELMER FOUGNER iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimmiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiimiiiiii parallel each other only in the respect that both enjoy wide followings. Sports have always been live news, while motion pictures naturally have fallen under the category of theatrical news. It seems to the writer measuring news standards of both amusements, that sports, especially baseball, stand alone, and the fund of news found in sports could never be duplicated in motion pictures. Film Publicity Has Lagged. Mr. Lyon is quite correct in his claim that publicity has lagged far in the rear of advances made by the motion picture industry, but he is wrong as to the reason. It is the writer’s firm conviction that more harm has been done to theatrical enterprises, both motion picture and legitimate stage, by the press agent of the old school than by any other one force. As a newspaper man Mr. Lyon knows that press agents are taboo with city editors because all bear reputations of fakers. A concrete instance of the lengths to which some press agents will go to grab space was had in New York recently when an alleged publicity man staged a fake suicide in Central Park Lake to advertise a motion picture being shown in one of the local theatres. Police dragged the lake three days in an effort to recover the body. Finally the District Attorney’s office became active and hunt is now being made for the offender. As the result of that sort of exploitation, the honest publicity man in the city is made to suffer. He is one with the vast army of fake press agents now operating not only in this city but also in other large metropolitan centers. “Stunt Man” a Parasite. This variety of parasite is known as a “stunt man,” and the majority of them have never seen the inside of a newspaper office. But he gets away with it and is richly rewarded for his efforts. His code is measured in dollars and cents and for the foregoing mentioned reason the terms faker and publicity man are regarded synonymously in the offices of every large daily in the country. “Anything for space” was the cry in the old days. Never mind the facts, was the attitude ! — just break into the news columns ! And so this policy was followed for years. The publicity man in New York City today, actuated by honest motives, who knows the newspaper profession in its every phase, has the fight of his career on his hands trying to live down inherited ills passed on by generations of press agents of an older day. But he is gradually crowding out the fakers. In the fullness of time will succeed in establishing an invulnerable position in the affairs of the community. Work on Reconstruction. The days of the “milk bath” type of story have long gone by. The future of the publicity game rests not at all upon the wild flights of the imagination of the socalled press agent. Truth will ever be more startling than fiction and the only type of successful publicity in the future will be that based upon a careful study of the facts and a greater application of news values. During the past two years it has been the writer’s privilege to have had charge of the publicity work of the greatest campaigns ever conducted in the United States. Men trained to the game under his guidance were loaned by him to the great war drives for funds, and the staffs of the Red Cross, Y. M. C. A., Salvation Army, etc., were built up with publicity men who came from his school. Stands on Record. Personally he has assumed charge of nation wide drives conducted by such important organizations as the Boy Scouts of America, Actors’ National Memorial Fund, Serbian Relief Committee, National Budget Committee, Home Community Corporation Union of American Hebrew Congregations, National Committee on Prisons and Prison Labor and many others. Standing on his record alone he is willing to leave to city editors of leading New York dailies the decision as to whether or not his copy has been fit to print. | Producers and Distributors Are Urged | | by Cohen Not to Sign Up with Lynch | g F | \ HE following telegram was sent on August 2 to manufacturers, distributors g § I and producers by Sydney S. Cohen, president of the Motion Picture Theatre g g Owners of America: g B “Trade papers state that S. A. Lynch is negotiating for the output of all g g producers for the entire eleven Southern states. As he already controls the g g output in these states for Paramount, Realart, Triangle, and in Texas, Oklahoma g g and Arkansas for First National, this would mean absolute monopoly. g g “We urge you not to enter into an arrangement of this nature with Mr. Lynch g g and his associates, and thus show that your concern will not be a party to g g this booking scheme, which tends to control the market in these states and g g deprive the independent exhibitor from doing business directly with your g g company, and may eventually deprive your company of a market for your g g productions. g g “The exhibitors of the United States will resent any such arrangement being M g entered into which will permit any person or persons to use the control of the g§ g bookings of any producing organization to threaten or intimidate exhibitors g g into disposing of their theatres, or to compel them to book their theatres g g through any individual or combination of individuals. g g “We ask for an immediate reply from your organization so we can print it g g in a special bulletin our organization is sending out to every exhibitor in the g g United States.” g