Moving Picture World (Jan-Feb 1927)

January 22, 1927 MOVING PICTURE WORLD 251 Edmund Lowe, Renee Adoree and Victor McLaglen in “What Price Glory” for Fox. met with greater success throughout the country, showmen assert, than would have been the fact had there been no protracted Broadway run. The city of Erie, Pa., is classified in legitimate theatre stastistics as “a three-day stand.” “Abie’s Irish Rose,” backed by its tremendous New York record run, played twenty-six weeks in Erie. The publicity via. the many newspaper syndicates that reach all parts of the United States is no small factor in building the fame of a Broadway production, stage or screen, and the skilled publicity hounds appreciate this fact. In addition to the population of more than 6,000,000 in the Greater City, and a few added millions in suburban towns and adjacent cities, one skilled analyst in the motion picture field points to the fact that New York City has a daily transient population of 100,000, and with a major portion of this classification seeing the big pictures in New York, the things they tell the home folks following their return spells excellent business for a picture when it plays outside “The Big City.” Big pictures now enjoying long runs on Broadway include : “Beau Geste” (Paramount); Criterion. “The Better ’Ole” (Warner) ; Colony. “Don Juan” (Warner) ; Warner. “Tell It To The Marines” (M.-G.-M.) ; Embassy. “The Fire Brigade, ” (M.-G.-M.) ; Central. “Old Ironsides” (Paramount) ; Rivoli. “Michael Strogoff” (Universal) ; George M. Cohan. “What Price Glory” (Fox) ; Harris. Howard Dietz, Director of Publicity and Advertising of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, stressed three points in his survey of the value of a Broadway run to the ultimate exhibitor. “The exhibitor derives a great many advantages from a Broadway run,” Mr. Dietz said. Charles Ray and May McAvoy in “The Fi-.-e r-o*dier M-G-M. William H aines and Carmel Myers in “Tell It To The Marines,” Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. “First, the Broadway run enables the theatre owner to capitalize on his booking by giving his patrons something at popular prices that had previously been established at extra prices. “Second : It gives the theatre an attrac tion already known to the public through the previous run, and the showman takes advantage of the bally-hoo which goes with the long run picture. “Third : It gives the theatre a ready-made advertising campaign, which has actually been tried, and proved to be of value.” “Briefly,” Mr. Dietz added, “that is the way I sum up this situation. It is always worth more to a theatre owner to pay more, if he gets more. His intake must be greater, if his product is better.” Mr. Dietz went into details regarding his recent big runs, which include “The Merry Widow,” “LaBoheme,” and “The Scarlet Letter,” released to exhibitors following the Broadway runs, but not road showed. He also discussed the road shows, asserting that theatre owners will find the M.-G.-M. road show product of great value when it is finally released. J. J. McCarthy is handling the road shows of "The Big Parade” and “Ben Hur.” Robert E. Welsh, Director of Advertising of Universal Pictures Corporation, the analyst above referred to, added : “William Wrigley did not spend $200,000 a year for an electric sign on' Broadway to sell his wares to blase New Yorkers. Not at all. He was reaching out for the many millions of transients who glimpsed his unique advertisement, and took the story Wallace Beery and George Bancroft in “Old Ironsides” for Paramount. Showing Lillian Gish in a scene in “The Scarlet Letter” for Metro-GoldwynMayer. back home with them. This is the fundamental thought underlying Mr. Laemmle’s electric signs along Broadway. They have been up for a number of years. The folks are taking ‘Michael Strogoff’ home with them today, just as they talked of 'The Phantom of the Opera’, ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame,’ and other U supers not so long ago. This means added revenue to the exhibitor, later on.” Harry D. Buckley, Vice-President of United Artists Corporation, and formerly the personal representative of Douglas Fairbanks, never fails to emphasize his faith in the fluctuating “hotel population” of the Metropolis. The records show that “Don Q” and “The Black Pirate” played eight weeks on Broadway; “The Three Musketeers” and “Robin Hood” played ten weeks ; “The Thief of Bagdad" played thirty weeks. Mr. Griffiths’ "Orphans of the Storm” played twenty-two weeks, and his “America” enjoyed a long run. Samuel Goldwyn’s “Stella Dallas” played twenty-five weeks at the Apollo. “It has been my experience that a Broadway run adds tremendously to the subsequent box-office value of a picture,” Mr. Buckley said.” Victor Shapiro, Director of Advertising and Publicity of United Artists, points out that “Stella Dallas,” the Henry King production for Samuel Goldwyn, after playing twenty-five weeks in the Apollo, moved up to the Capitol, and played to capacity for two weeks. “This picture,” Mr. Shapiro added, “later went out through the country as a striking example of the value of Broadway treatment in advertising and publicity. It was a cleanup for showmen, playing Chicago four weeks ; Philadelphia, four weeks ; Los Angeles, six weeks, while Akron, Ohio, kept it seven weeks.” (Continued on page 296) A scene with Ronald Colman in “Beau Geste,” for Paramount.