Moving Picture World (Jan-Feb 1927)

478 MOVING PICTURE WORLD February 12, 1927 The Movie M issionary IS How a Trained Press Agent Might Carry the Doctrine of Publicity Into the Great Wide Open White Spaces of Rural Newspapers in America By Guy Fowler Wih Sketches by the Writer ' HEN you say “press agent’’ to a newspaper man, smile. Even then he might assail you with his verbal bolo knife. Nor is he without pretty fair reason for his feeling about it. Press agents have bombarded newspapers with stuffed shirt copy until the average editor shies at even the familiar initials “p.a.” But the problem of motion picture publicitygoes much deeper than the purely personal problem of the press agent. The big league editors accept an enormous amount of “press agent copy,” because it is good stuff. The buncomb seldom gets a break in type. But out in the great wide open white spaces of country journals the situation is far different. Out there they receive the stuff that comes from press books. Not one story of a thousand that appear in these press books would be sent around to the New York newspapers. On the other hand, the copy that gets by in the big town would not be practicable for the journals out beyond. The average American newspaper man thinks motion picture publicity is hokum. He uses it because the exhibitor buys advertisingspace. The result is indifferent publicity that frequently leaves a public equally indifferent to the picture. There is a vast misunderstanding between newspaper men, producers, press agents and exhibitors. It is as though four great camps of people occupied a certain territory, misunderstanding one another’s motives and flinging a wicked shot one at the other from behind trees. Out there in that region a missionary, with a knowledge of all four camps and a bigdesire to effect a working agreement, would face one almighty job. He’d have to run the gantlet in all four camps and never would a hand be raised except to fling a boulder in his path. But if he was wise enough and determined, he might succeed. No real cause ever was won without a struggle. Accordingly, with the producers and the Hays office, perhaps, working in unison, what about a little band of missionaries to take up the problems of picture publicity? Perhaps, as has been suggested by G. Horace Mortimer, the exploitation ace just back from Europe, a good start might be made with better press books. “I’m not certain whether it’s ever been done,” he told the writer, “but it isn’t difficult to build a press book in such a way that it becomes a practical thing for the small exhibitor. The showman who runs a picture one night can scarcely ever use the same exploita tion that is suggested for the long run. It seems to me that a page, or an allotment of space should be devoted entirely to the problem of the small town exhibitor.” Mortimer smiled -reminiscently and continued. “I wonder how many press books ever state definitely what kind of a picture it is. The New York office doesn’t seem to know the type of men who show pictures. It’s easy enough to say that the exhibitors don’t make a study of their business. It’s a cinch to put them all in a single classification with the remark, ‘They don’t even read their press books.’ “Admitting that a large percentage of them don't — that’s where the missionary comes into it.” Mortimer laughed outright. “This missionary,” he went on, “will have to be a showman, a newspaper man and a martyr. It’ll take him a year to make a dent. But I agree with you that the dent can be made. Not all the brains of the country are concentrated in New York by a long shot. And with a little missionary work among the exhibitors and the newspapers, an enormous lot of good could be accomplished. ” In a few words, the missionary’s task would be to visit every exchange in the country. He would carry with him a new type of press book containing publicity and exploitation written specifically for the exhibitor in the one-night stand town, with another set for the larger exhibitor. From the exchange he would go to the individual exhibitors. In one town he might get into the understanding of his showman in a single night. That’s where his judgment of human nature would enter. In another town he might be required to stay three days, and in another, a (Continued on page 484)