Moving Picture World (Nov-Dec 1923)

November 24, 1923 MOVING PICTURE WORLD 401 rract trom tne attention. The slogan, over to the left, sinks in a little, but Griffith's name comes out fairly strong and for a change of pace this forms a decidedly good appeal. It is hardly something to be worked week after week, but it is good for once. We particularly like the way the signature is worked in at the top. The first three letters of the house name solder the sig to the plate. More white space there might have cut the signature off, but this is a part of the plate without actually running into it. Circle Still Wastes Its Display Spaces While the Circle Theatre, Indianapolis, turns out some very good advertising, we think that it wastes a lot of space down at the bottom of its advertisements. It strings out the smaller features to undue length and increases the space bill beyond the point where the extra space can possibly LAST TIMES TODAY TO SEE JACKIE COOGAN ‘CIRCUS DAYS" VIVID romanco Orleanc— th« 1 reputation — THE mighty Mississippi overflowing its banks — the roaring inferno of o devastating forest fire — a modem newspaper plont at precstimc. These tcenes form the background for this most powerful photodrama. 77/OS. II. INCE PRODUCTION MAY McAVOY— LLOYD HUGHES And an Eicellcnt Supporting CaBt A First National Picture OVERTURE ‘POET and PEASANT” MODEST ALTSCHULER MUSICAL DIRECTOIl A JUVENILE COMEDY "YANKEE SPIRIT” ilh Den Alexander and Kid SL A CIRCLE TRAVELOG CIRCLETTE OF NEWS mac t First National Release TOO LONG BY FAR bring extra returns. Beyond the point of visibility, extra space can sell extra money only when it is used to further argue in favor of a sale. Were this not so, it would be the simplest matter in the world to buy a full page and sell four times as many tickets as you can in a quarter page. That would be a very delightful condition, but unfortunately it does not exist, and there is always a point at which excess space becomes waste. This is reached when you exceed the point where your space is needed to put over ypur argument. It is a wasteful policy to “save” space by not taking sufficient room in which to note the added fea tures, but it is just as wasteful to take too much space for these smaller details. By doubling up. the small stuff could be as well carried in an inch or an inch and a quarter instead of the two and a half inches required here, so that some 50 or 60 lines are added to the cost without compensating return. It would even be better to pull in the space and add white above and below, since that would at least add to the attractiveness of the display. Cult Waste Saved by Well Placed Title This cut for Scaramouche in the display for the Chicago opening at the Woods’ Theatre, does not give a very good reproduction. You can make out the figures and the crowds, but there is nothing sufficiently distinct to do real selling, though the cut does serve efficiently as attractor to the space and the title is so well played up in a reverse strip that it gets over with both feet. Often a reverse title wastes money but here it is a real display and gets the attention for the smaller matter. It is all hand lettering, but it is fairly legible. Probably it looked li . e too much of a job to set type in all those mortises, but type could have been set to fit and then pasted onto the line lay ITOWGHT iTHEfl .TWICE DAILY ■^PRICES^ MIGHTS (WDSAT.MATS 50« 75< $|op $|50 OTHER MATS 50< i 75c (MSS (plvstaxV / RAPHAEL V f Saqati n i s \ THBiitinG SIOSv «/l kove. pATeioTisn/ \6 6DVEflTURE / “WIS 5TOf1E (K1GRAMS PAPJv1 AMD A VAST COMPAMY \ GREATEST J yOTHEG* PLAYERS V^piCTUREy/ ALL 5EATS RESERVED HOW SELLING A Metro Hr lease A WELL-PLAYED TITLE out with comparatively little trouble once some printer is educated to the idea. Nelson Bell often does this for the Crandall houses ' in Wasliington with unusually neat results, and if he can, anyone else can. A Full Display Is Still Attractive By the best standards of advertising, this space from the Temple Theatre, Toledo, is too full of type and cut. There is too much talk and too little white space. That’s according to the rules, but as a matter of fact the rule is shot to pieces because there is good display in spite of the apparent overcrowding. This is largely because the title and star are segregated from the rest of the space by the cuts, and yet joined through the type run-down from the title to the support display below; a layout, by the way, which gives the fullest display to the star and permits equal capital to be made of the well-known support. This is about the only excuse for the smaller cut over to the left. It probably will sell few tickets, but it serves its purpose in playing up Arliss and the drama, and probably does this better than would white space with this particular arrangement. It just helps to prove, if proof were needed, that there is no rule that is so hard and fast it may not be disregarded if this is done as in Goqpess ■ — ti. jii, I Rpsiutv ! Thrilh! Beauty. Drama ! —on En^lUh tx&oty atlanpt d "by wil ALICE JOYCE. #;• DAVID POWELL /? / HARRY T. MOREY .jgU Ttmr nl Shell, m ’ SPECIAL ADDED FDATUR’ JAPANESE EARTHQUAKE HulLdawt — CHILDREN A Goldwyn Release FULL, BUT READABLE telligently as in the present instance. The placement of the larger cut is a little awkward. The star has his back turned on his space, which is poor practice, and yet, if the cut were shifted to the left he would not come into the space much better, so it is just as well to let the title run into the cut as to let the cut look at the title. Ordinarily it would be better to put the cut over to permit the eye to pass over the cut to the title since all reading is done from left to right. A considerable space saving is effected through cutting the foot of the girl into the border. It gives a full quarter inch to the entire space since the foot sticks out a half inch beyond the rest oi the cut. Plays Small Features Equal to Big Length It is a healthful sign when a theatre like the Apollo, Indianapolis, plays up the smaller features with proper distinction. This is the lower third of a recent display in which .4 Pathe Release PLAYING UP BACK STAGE this part is wholly given over to the Our Gang comedy. This portion of the space is about five inches deep across three and it gets just as much display as the dramatic feature.