Moving Picture World (Sep - Oct 1918)

September 21, 1918 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD 1739 to blow a call before inserting a card carrying one of the current subjects, and the scheme worlted nicely until some other sensitive patriot objected to the commandant and the soldier was withdraw, though 1 soldiers and marines have been freely used to advertise many semigovernment films. For Mary Pickford in "How Could You, Jean," he used : Mary loved the cows, Mary loved the chickens. See this little photoplay. You'll laugh to beat the dickens. He also took "See Mary Pickford Kiss the Cow" from the Publicity Number and ran it on the screen and in the advertising. Here is some I more Ruff talk : I Perhaps "the boys" can use the two little bits herewith. We I keep pegging for the unusual ; to slip in a surprise here and there, sort of "yuh-nel er-know-what-to-expect-in-this-theatre ' feeling. The Rialto is using Pathe's "The House of Hate" as a filler on the three-day end of the week, and the town is groggy over "The Hooded Terror" and his pursuit of poor Pearl White. It has been customary in the past to end the various episodes with a slide announcing the continuation of the story, "next Thursday, Friday and Saturday," but on the 9th episode we B?Qe-ptepped this and used the following : "Lady in Butte says she knows who "The Hooded Terror" is — that he has darned near wrecked her life several times." The usual laugh which ends each episode of thlse serials was doubled in this instance, tor it hooked up a localism and made people wonder who the "lady" is. This slide was then followed by the regulation announcement as to the next date showing. Then in this week's Saturday Evening Post is a splendid article containing a bit of verse being sung by the boys "over there." Coming, as it did, just at this time when we are doing ■o gloriously on the Western Front, it made splendid ammunition for the screen. We figure on keeping the screen alive with other things than just plain announcements as to coming attractions and the like, so that during the running of the slides, a patron is always on the alert, not knowing just what is coming next. Into this part of the program we inserted these two slides, one of them being the verse in question : "The same American spirit that is knocking fire out of the Boches just now is responsible for this bit of song from 'over there' " : "Here comes the dough-boys with dirt behind their ears. Here comes the dough-boys ; their pay is in arrears. The cavalree, artilleree, the lousy engineers, they couldn't lick the doughboys in a hundred thousand years." Cooked up a little fife and drum tune, which the orchestra played softly, and at the end the applause nearly raised the roof. It's a sure-fire kick in an ordinarily quiet place in the show. Ruff used to stop at writing words, but now that he Is setting lyrics to music, we suppose that the next step will be a comic opera. We're willing to buy a couple of tickets to encourage real art. Indianapolis Advertising. Here is a characteristic advertisement from S. Barret McCormick, of the Circle theatre, Indianapolis. The story deals with the experiences of a cub reporter, which makes the newspaper frame appropriate. Apparently a local news £ro\rt'PAKBANKS/gPTOTO7-| p^^ldef ^Uh° a""'peci"al mEMiinsL luwii USES Its Bors MEW. ITvTDiri 'wrniiFMnmii heading by the artist, and litKKMBKEfiMiiNcd^l^j^j^^ l^^ the Centre mortised for type, for McCormick knows that the type is far more easily read than the best of hand-lettering, and he wants the fullest effect when he pays for space. As usual the house signature works in well, that signature seems to work well anywhere. The entire layout is excellent and it will not be noticed that by the use of the allied standards he gives the war reviews a special distinction without using too much space. This is easily the most attracttive display on the double page that contains most of the summer theatre advertising. It stands out above the rest, while taking no more space than the others, and even the travel pictures are invitingly presented, the "Bx-Cannibal Carnival," telling that they have petticoat police and a cannibal chief who is worried about his excess profits tax. It does not merely announce the pictures of a certain place. It makes you want to see them. Most of the space in the Indianapolis papers is a double inch and a half or two Inches; about the best of these in a A Characteristic Three Elevens for a Newspaper Story from the Circle, Indianapolis. recent issue are reproduced here. The top display is two Inches full and the bottom an inch and a half. There is very little appeal in these Sun., Mon., Tues.,Wed^ Bessie Barriscale In the true-te-llfe dranyi "THE CAST-OFF" AND A NEWS AND COMEDY REEL ■acH^— ■^M^—i ^niiiiii iwi — ^M— REGENT— "UNDER THE YOKE' —TODAY W'ednehdHy 7av« Story of th« Pbillppine lOc THEDA J3 JjlxL-A. A Two-Inch Double Column and One-Half an Inch Smaller. Neither Carries Selling Talk. small spaces. If the title is gotten over, the advertiser seems content, though much more might have been said in the two-inch space than that it was a true-to-life drama. The Regent even carries an underline in its inch and a half space. Three elevens seems to be a favorite large size for Indianapolis. All three large advertisements are the same drop, though one is made to carry a triple advertisements. The THf COOL JOT SPOT PEGGY HYLAND^ "OTHER MEN'S DAUGHTERS" idents ih fatherwhebi highly indign when other r _ trifle with hit daughter ai he hai trifled with theirs. > _ —EXTRA ADDED ATTRACTIONS THE CLEVERLY GIRLS NOVELTY SINGING AND DANCING 4-Bright Vaudeville Acts-4 NORMATAUVIADGE THE SAFETY CURTAjN The life utotj of a DtOsdanUir— favorite of the Londm mule lunn— Hbow Manh far U>ve.and BaroirieM ia parsDtd hj Iht ahwhw of m 'pMt,"' It is ■ wonderful rok far tbt rrtatcEt of AmnHrk'a cmotfonat orlbta. SCREEN mMnal^^ FIRST HALF TMIS WEEK WM. FARNUM THE BONDMAN ArrrnNOON— ALt. sura i isa MARY MILES MINTER Two Three Elevens, One of Which Carries Three Houses, Held Together by Twelve Point Rule and Getting Almost as Much Attention as That for the Single House. triple display is well held together and the attractor cut works for all three. It would be just as good an advertisement as though each had three elevens had there been some selling talk to the Lyric and Isis spaces, and this could have been done by cutting down the size of the type a trifle and making up with white spacing. Where there is a long title, as in the case of the Isis attraction, we think that to stagger the lines will give a better result than balancing. The Rialto signature is rather involved. The lettering is characteristic, but a new form of signature seems to be used each week. The Crystal seems to use "true to life" as a trade mark, for it appears in other advertisements. It is bad enough used one week, but to use it regularly is to strip it of the last vestige of appeal. It pays to take the time to dig up a good selling line, especially for a small space where but a single appeal can be made. Generally the company press stuff carries something, or a line can be taken from the Advertising Aids department. Something better than "true-to-life" can be arrived at without halt trying.' The Right Idea. "The Gold-Winner," the new Goldwyn publicity sheet, has the right idea when Editor Hunt Stromberg announces : Exhibitors will get from the service department a new and practical exploitation plan for every Goldwyn picture released to them. Our work on these exploitation methods will start on the day the picture is begun at our Port Lee studio and the entire plan, with everything that is a part of it, will be completed as soon as the picture itself is completed. This means that the exploitation plans and accessories will be in the offices of aU