The Moving picture world (February 1920-March 1920)

March 27, 1920 THE great advertising stunt was put on by the Adams Theatre Company, of Des Moines, Iowa, last week. The company secured a full page in the rotogravure section of the Des Moines Sunday Register and "sold" the idea of the Adams company. The page included pictures of the three officers and exteriors and interiors of eleven of the twenty-two houses now Adams-owned. The Adams company has no house in Des Moines, but the Register with its 85,000 circulation reaches the great mass of people in the towns of southern and central Iowa, where the circuit has its houses. The company is only twenty months old, but is now one of the strongest in the country. It is growing at the rate of two theatres a month. J. L. Adams, managing director, came to Iowa from Salt Lake City, where he has been connected with exchanges for a numbers of years. J. W. Adams' secretary and treasurer, is Mrs. J. L. Adams. W. D. Jamieson, president, is democratic national committeeman and one of the stage's "big" men. Adams chose the Iowa field for his circuit because he thought it capable of the most development of any in the United States. Now Plays 109 Films a Week. The circuit began with the Lincoln during July, 1918. As soon as he got that on its feet — it was a rundown proposition — he secured others in the immediate vicinity. By July, 1919, he had ten houses. Then he opened headquarters in Des Moines, where he still is, at 600 McCune Building. The circuit now includes twenty-two houses in fourteen county seat towns. There are 256 employes. The circuit plays 109 pictures a week, all films being booked around the circuit, but playing two or three days, depend ing on the size of the town. The company expects to expand to fifty houses during 1920. The company is interested primarily in the small towns, and while one man devotes his entire time to looking for good "buys" no towns of more than 50,000 population are considered. All but one of the houses bought were "lemons." They were not paying propositions and Adams secured them at a low figure. But every one is now paying its own way and making real money for the circuit. Adams considers the small town field the best paying and for that reason confines all his efforts to that field. Build Up Rundown Theatres. "We feel that there are no 'hick' towns," he explained, "and that accounts for our success. People in small towns want picture palaces, and the same presentation, the same pictures, the same projection and the same good music that they do in Des Moines, Chicago or New York. They are willing to pay for it, so we give them the best— and only the best. Adams theatres have become civic centers in the communities. In many instances they are the only theatres in the towns. "Our policy is to buy rundown propositions and build them up. We know we can make them successful. The only thing we are interested in when considering a town is its size. We are not afraid of the town's 'spirit' or its religious preferences or anything else. We ask for no help from civic bodies, and we don't need any." Adams buys all his theatres outright and they are all owned entirely by the company. The company, by the way, has but <!tf^ stockholders— the tTiree officers. We intend to make our company cooperative some day and take in all our employes, from managers down," Adams THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD explained. "That is still in the future, however." Foster Community Spirit. The company owns a $25,000 printing plant at Chariton which prints the weekly program that is uniform for all the houses on the circuit. The program has a circulation of 60,000 weekly. One man devotes his entire time to securing advertising from local merchants for the program and the venture more than pays its own way. Every house has its own manager and the managers are all trained by Adams. Each manager does all in his power to co-operate with the people of the community in making the house more than a place of amusement. No worthy charity conducting a campaign in an "Adams town" ever fails to secure a 100 per cent, benefit performance at the theatres. Ten thousand children were made happy at Christmas by the theatres. Every house had a Christmas tree and a special performance for the kids. Free candy and nuts were given the children. In addition, the theatres co-operated with charity organizations and "good fellow" clubs in providing useful gifts for needy children. All children in the community were asked to write to "Santa Claus" at the theatre. The letters were turned over to a civic committee and all worthy requests were granted. Prices Remain Uniform. There are no "small time" theatres on the Adams circuit. Every one plays the biggest films that the company can secure. Every house has an orchestra or a pipe organ. Many have both. There is no difference in the way a film is presented at the Garden, Waterloo, which has a population of 40,000, than throughout the circuit. The lowest is 20 cents (tax extra, 10 NEW and novel exhibitor stunts, the result of long and unhurried study far in advance of release date, as unusual exploitation for the next three Marshall Neilan special attractions, to be obtained by providing theatre owners in each territory with a complete synopsis and story theme months before they play the pictures, will be sought by James R. Grainger, general representative for Marshall Neilan, in a tour of all First National Exhibitors' Circuit exchanges. He will leave New York next week. Mr. Grainger's plan is to establish facts which will demonstrate the relative importance of carefully considered advertising and publicity and its benefits at the box office, in contrast to overnight adjustments of prepared matter to fit peculiar local conditions, eliminating the need for haste, instant conclusions and impromptu exploitation by providing exhibitors alert to showmanship possibilities with necessary information months before the productions are released. Wants Maximum of Exploitation. "This," he declares, "is a practical business move to obtain the maximum of exploitation value from every Marshall Neilan production. Mr. Neilan wants every release he makes through First National Exhibitors' Circuit to have specific exploitation advantages which can be traded on by exhibitors in their advertising and publicity designed to attract patrons to their theatres. "An attraction may have unusual artistic merit, but if it lacks story twists and situ 2163 Rounders (Up). Fatty Arbuckle, star, and George Melford, director, of "The Round-Up," a Paramount-Artcraft. cents for children). Big features bring iis and 25 and 25 and 35 cents. Eastern film men who have visited Iowa recently and have seen the remarkable growth of the circuit and its great popularity have called it "the most efficient theatre circuit in America." The houses included in the Adams chain are the Lincoln and Isis, Chariton; Willard, Creston ; Olympic, Star and Grand, Knoxville; New and Idle Hour, Leon; Orpheum and Victory, Fairfield; Auditorium and Pastime, Mt. Pleasant; Graham, Washington; Empress, Indianola; King and Comet, Albia ; Rialto, Newton; Empress, Shenandoah; Irving, Carroll; Garden, Marion; Garden, Waterloo. ations and appeals which can be turned to good account in advertising, both in text and illustration, it is less than 50 per cent, efficient at the box office. Every really big screen success in motion picture history has had unusual exploitation angles. There have been many releases with superior artistic advantages, but they have not been the box-office triumphs their producers and distributors anticipated because they lacked exploitation material which could be used by exhibitors to strike a responsive cord in theatre-goers." To Make Personal Calls. The continuities for the next three Marshall Neilan productions have been completed, and, from these, detailed synopses have been prepared which Mr. Grainger will take with him into every territory, where he intends to call personally on various exhibitors who hold contracts for Neilan releases. Beauty Chorus in "Dinner Hour." A big "dream of fair women" chorus and orchestra composed of California beauties are an added feature of the new Rolin Comedy, "The Dinner Hour," released by Pathe March 28. "Snub" Pollard, the "pintsized" comedian is starred in the. production. Marie Mosquini, Eddie Boland and "Sunshine Sabo" lend their efforts to make the fun of the fast and furious variety. One of the most elaborate sets ever seen in a two-reel comedy, showing a big cabaret in full swing, was built for the principal scenes. "AdamsOwned*' Houses Are Being Built in Iowa Towns at Rate of Two Monthly Marshall Neilan Plans Novel Stunts for Exploitation of Next Three Films