Moving Picture World (Jan-Feb 1925)

20 WORLD MOVING PICTURE January 3, 1925 Can You Add Time to a Run and Qet Them in on Return Date? Schwalm Does! Exploitation and Patron Confidence Should Do the Trick for You By E. H. MAYER Four years ago John A. Schwalm, president of the Jewel Photoplay Company, Hamilton, Ohio, opened the Rialto Theatre as the last house in the chain of theatres operated by that organization. The house was remodeled from an old hotel building which was in a decidedly dilapidated and run-down condition, but the location was an excellent one — in the very heart of the business section. The predetermined policy was twoday runs, which at that time was the maximum booking for practically all pictures. Business flourished from the opening day, and Schwalm, who is a pioneer exhibitor and thoroughbred showman, was quick to conceive the idea of adding extra days to the run. This, however, was practically a new venture insofar as this city was concerned, and it therefore was attended with considerable apprehension on the part of the management, since the wiseacres among the patrons nodded their heads negatively and declared that it couldn’t be done. However, despite the pessimism of the crepe-hangers, “Passion” was booked for a four-day run, with heavy exploitation through the daily papers, lithographs, onesheets, heralds, trailers, etc. The first day’s business broke the house record, the second day was excellent, the third good and the fourth fair, thus giving Schwalm about an even break on the run. “Pm going to educate these birds to patronize longer runs, and what’s more. Pm going to make ’em like it,” was Schwalm’s confident declaration after viewing the result of his initial experiment. “We’ve broken the ice and we’re going through with the proposition.” True to his statement, other pictures were booked at various intervals for four days, with about the same result as before. “All right,” said Schwalm, “if they don’t want ’em for four days, we’ll compromise the situation and book ’em in for three days hereafter.” This was the beginning of the threeday runs in Hamilton and the nucleus of the extended run arrangement. Business on the three-day bookings was good on the average. “All right,” reasoned Schwalm, JOHN A. SCHWALM “we’ve got to crawl before we can walk, and now that we’re all set on the three-day basis, we’ll try and stretch the next run to a full week.” And so it came to pass that Norma Talmadge in “Smilin’ Throv^h” was run for a solid week, after being thor> oughly exploited from every angle, and although business begem to dwin> die toward the end of the run, the result, taken as a whole, was satisfactory. This was subsequently followed by Harold Lloyd in “Dr. Jack,” “Girl Shy,” “Safety Last” and others for a week’s run, and the word of mouth advertising which the pictures created kept business up very nicely, although there was a perceptible decrease near the last of the week. “I would like,” continued Schwalm, “to add extra days to the run at will whenever I find a picture going big, or doing sufficiently good business to justify an extension, but this is impossible. Competition in the nearby cities, in which are located some of the largest and best equipped houses in the country, compel us to publicly announce our bookings at least four weeks in advance, which is done through our monthly house organ and other similar media. "This, of course, precludes any possibility of extending our runs for, if we were to do so under our present three-day booking arrangement, we would not only cause complications with the exchanges, but the public would lose confidence in our announcements and our policy, and I for one contend that an exhibitor should maintain a regular fixed policy and adhere to it rigidly, otherwise his prestige and the prestige of his houses are going to suffer pretty badly. Commenting further on the situation, Schw2dm continued, “I naturaJly want to book a promising picture for the longest possible run, but believe I have even a better plan, and that is to book for the regular fixed nm, and if the picture draws unusually well bring it back for a return showing a little later on. “This was recently tried out and proved successful with ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame,’ which was roadshowed at our Jefferson Theatre at top prices and flopped miserably. I brought it back a short time ago, playing it at the Rialto at popular prices for three days, and broke the house record. I then booked it again a few weeks later for two days and did a comfortable business regardless of the fact that there was a constant downpour of rain. I candidly believe that if the weather had been favorable I would have duplicated the three-day record. ‘The Sea Hawk,’ which was recently shown for five days, did a phenomenal business and I intend to bring it back again soon, expecting to again clean up with it.” Schwalm, who is an executive of the M. P. T. O. A., and treasurer of the Ohio organization, is of a keenly analytical mind and has made an intensive study of audience psychology, having had ample opportunity to do so since he started the game in 1906, when he operated a “nickel show” in the Pittsburgh district. “Feel the pulse of the public,” he advises, “and give them what they want, but I am beginning to believe that the box office check-up will produce a broader smile if the public is served in broken doses, rather than giving it to ’em all at once. It gives them more time to think it over between showings.” “But, above all,” he added, “have a fixed policy, and once you know that policy to be right, stick to it, and soon the people will learn that they can depend on what you say, which is really half the battle.”