The Moving picture world (May 1922)

May 20, 1922 MOVING PICTURE WORLD 273 Paramount Expects to Eclipse Great Record It Has Made Abroad THE production program for the remainder of the year 1922, as announced by Mr. Lasky, is hailed with particular delight by the foreign department, inasmuch as it promises a continuation of the successful policy of producing Paramount special productions of the type which have been received with such tremendous popular approval throughout the world. During the last year the various foreign offices of the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation and the allied distributing organization have given their unqualified endorsement to the policy of presenting all star casts in Paramount super specials by reporting the largest business in the history of the foreign department. There is every indication that the record breaking success of 1921 will be eclipsed through the agency of the many big box office successes scored by the production department in recent months. Such Paramount specials as "The Gilded Lily," "Sacred and Profane Love," "The Great Moment," "Footlights," "The Aflfairs of Anatol," "Experience," "The Sheik," "Behold My Wife," "Mid-Summer Madness," "Forbidden Fruit," "Something to Think About," "Why Change Your Wife," "Humoresque," and others have established new box office records and have given new life and greater breath of viison to the motion picture industry abroad. The demand for the highest grade American motion pictures — a term synonymous with Paramount Pictures in the eyes of thousands of exhibitors in Europe, South America, Austrailia and Asia — was never greater than it is today. The long line of notable Paramount successes of recent years has been an important contribution to the uplift of motion picture standards in all parts of the world. "If it's a Paramount Picture it's best show in town" is a slogan with a dollar and cents value in the eyes of thousands of the globe's leading exhibitors. The outstanding event in the history of the film industry in Australia has been the phenomenal success of "The Sheik" at the Globe Theatre, a leading first run house, in Sydney. As this is written George Melford's Paramount special has completed the ninth week of its record breaking run and the enormous crowds demanding admission have made it imperative to extend the run indefinitely. This is the greatest reception ever given a motion picture in Australia, and it far eclipses the brilliant record of "The Affairs of Anatol," which, a few weeks earlier, had established what Australians believed to be an unbeatable record. E. E. SHAVER By EMIL E. SHAVER Assistant Treasurer and Director of Foreign Department When Paramount established its own releasing in France in October, 1921, "The Gilded Lily" made a new high water mark for box office records, doing much to turn the tide for the better in the film business of that country. Cecil B. DeMille's world famous productions, "Male and Female," "Why Change Your Wife?" "Something to Think About," and "Forbidden Fruit" have proved to be the great PARAMOUNT'S six months' series of forty-one new productions will be known before next fall to every picture fan in .'\merica reached by magazines and newspapers. General magazines of national circulation, all of the fan magazines and 1,300 newspapers in more than 900 cities and towns are to be used to tell the story of Famous PlayersLasky's greatest effort. It is the most extensive advertising campaign yet attempted by this organization, and this means much to exhibitors, because Paramount pictures have been consistently and continuously advertised nationally for the past seven years. The program is being enlarged constantly under the supervision of A. M. Botsford, advertising manager, and with the cooperation of Hanff-Metzger, Inc., on the nationally circulated copy. Under the main features of this new effort the Saturday Evening Post and the Ladies' Home Journal will be used to introduce the directors and stars and to emphasize Paramount Week. The entire list of forty-one productions and the feature productions for Paramount Week also will be given. The newspaper program will be in the key cities. This will be only a part of the advertising to be done during the next six months, however, as trade papers are to be used extensively, accesories are to be prepared on a larger scale than ever before and sales messages setting a new standard in direct-to-exhibitor advertising will be sent out from time to time. Fall Display June 17 The big display bearing upon the fall program will start June 17 with a double-page layout in the Saturday Evening Post containing pictures of Paramount directors and stars, to be followed on July 8 with another doublepage display on the talent which goes to make up the Paramount organization. ONE of the most remarkable developments in the sale of motion pictures to exhibitors is the beautifully printed and illustrated booklet, "Your Contract for Paramount Pictures," which the Paramount advertising department has issued in connection with the announcement of the new season's line-up of productions. Distributed by Paramount salesmen to exhibitors, this booklet not only is an unusually complete advertising help, but it also is, just as its title implies, the contract which the exhibitor signs when he books next season's Paramount product. In the back of each book. est box office tonics yet produced for the entertainment of the world's millions. New box office records have been broken wherever these Paramount super specials have been shown. An indication of the prestige enjoyed by Paramount abroad is to be found in a recent newspaper contest conducted in Brazil to determine the most popular brand of pictures. Paramount won by a vote of more than four to one. The forty-one splendid Paramount Pictures to be released in the fall of 1922 offer the best insurance for the continuation of Paramount's tremendous vogue in foreign countries. On July 29 there will be a double-page layout in the Saturday Evening Post containing the names of the forty-one pictures which go to make up the greatest program ever announced by any company at one time. Immediately preceding the fifth annual Paramount Week on September 2 the Post will carry a double-page spread on Gloria Swanson in "Her Gilded Cage," a Sam Wood production, and William deMille's production, "Nice People," with Wallace Reid, Bebe Daniels and Corad Nagel. Both are for day and date release on September 3 and they will be two of the leading features of Paramount Week. Spread In Niblo Film This will be followed on September 9, also in the Post, with a two-page elaborately illustrated spread on Fred Niblo's production, "Blood and Sand," starring Rodolph Valentino, supported by Lila Lee and Nita Naldi. Two weeks later on September 23, another big feature of the program. Cecil B. DeMille's production, "Manslaughter," with Thomas Meighan, Leatrice Joy and Lois Wilson, will be announced in a double-page spread. The day and date release for this work is September 24. In the July edition of the Ladies' Home Journal there will be a full-page layout on the stars and directors, and the August issue will carry a full-page layout on the August productions. All the leading fan magazines will carry double-page layouts in the July and August editions. On July 31 full-page advertisements containing a list of the forty-one new productions will be published in newspapers in ninety key cities. The biggest newspaper campaign for motion picture advertising ever attempted will precede Paramount Week, which will be September 3-9. bound into the advertising pages, and as a part of the book itself, is the application for a contract on the Paramount Pictures to be issued during the first six months of the new season. Thus, every exhibitor when he signs his contract for next season's product, will have, as a part of that contract, a beautifully illustrated, permanent record of the pictures he has booked and dated. Twelve thousand copies of the booklet were printed and are now being shipped to Paramount exchanges. These booklets will be distributed among exhibitors by Paramount salesmen on their rounds. **Your Contract for Paramount Pictures" A New Development in Picture-Selling Paramount Advertising Is Planned on Larger Scale Than Ever Before; All Possible Mediums to Be Used