Moving Picture World (Nov-Dec 1927)

December 17, 1927 MOVING PICTURE WORLD 35 Selling the Picture SELLING WHAT PRICE GLORY WITH TIN SOLDIERS Harland Fend, of Loew’s Ohio Theatres, stole an entire Woolworth window in Cleveland for the showings at the Park and Cameo. Two big enlargements and fifteen stills back up1 the three desk display of the military stores. Very nice work. WITH large theatres discussing rising costs of presentations, while admitting that the idea brings large returns, the smaller theatres are following the leaders into precisely the same trap, for small vaudeville shows in small houses raise the receipts and reduce the profits just as surely as large presentations in large capacity theatres accomplish the same result. The trouble is that one cannot stand still. The shows must get better, and between the salaries and transportation, the average ambitious show is a pretty expensive proposition. But the small theatre, particularly the 1 neighborhood house, has the advantage in that it can call on local talent for support > and be assured one or two good nights a i week, regardless of the film feature. , ' I 'HERE is nothing particularly new to this idea. It was developed from the old “Amateur Night” idea, and credit probably should go to the Loew houses for bringing “Opportunity Night” to its fullest development some ten years ago. Loew managers took the old idea, gave it a new name, eliminated the idea that the acts were put up to be jeered at, and capitalized 1 on the interest naturally felt in the neighbor1 hood stars. Later the idea was amplified into bathing girl nights, clown nights, and similar devices ) and was commercialized in the cities by j agents who booked what might be termed 1 semi-professional acts. This virtually killed the interest, for the people knew that the acts were hired, and they were not good j enough for professional talent or local enough to be interesting in themselves. In a certain section there were two houses close enough to be in competition. One used two nights a week of hired talent. For a time the receipts were bettered. After two or three months the interest waned, and the idea finally was dropped because it repre DE MILLE IN GERMANY The Tauentsien Palace, Berlin, dressed for the run of the King of Kings. The big sign looks pretty much like Broadway. Times Square has no copyright on the big letters. A department of practical exhibitor helps, Established September 23, 1911 by EPES W. SARGENT and continuously conducted by him for more than sixteen years. These are not stunts for certain pictures, but for certain types of pictures. Apply the ideas to your own problems. Locals Make Big Savings sented an expense without any appreciable addition to the receipts, which had dropped back to their former average. T'HE other house has clung to Oppor tunity Night each Wednesday, and the house is packed, because the patrons know that the talent is recruited within half a mile of the house, and generally each patron knows one or more of the contestants. But this long run is possible only where the spectators are sold the idea from the right angle. They are made to understand that the youngsters have a right to be heard. Any guying is promptly stopped. The applause is confined to the finish of the act. As a result the same boys and girls come back repeatedly and others come in, with the result that there is a constant supply of acts. The wise manager will not only follow this plan, but he will carefully mark down the more clever of the contestants and use them in other stage work. Harry Seel, one of the Saenger managers, developed the idea to a point where he had a stock company of more than a hundred amateur players many of whom were as clever as the average small time professional, and he put more than one weak attraction over with a presentation, and even sold Abraham Lincoln in the extreme South to a large profit. T F you cannot produce yourself, get in touch with some dancing teacher or the woman who is forever getting up Sunday School shows. You can find someone, and the home made production will beat anything you can hire for box office pull. Thy it out. Don’t let the production bug bite you.