The Moving picture world (November 1922-December 1922)

November 25, 1922 MOVING PICTURE WORLD 351 sketching is not at all in the usual Paramount style and it does not sell. Miss Joy's armpit comes too close to her shoulder blade to be anatomically correct, and Meighan's head is all wet. He might have used a tailor's dummy to pose for him, while the facial expression of Miss Joy is idiotic in the extreme. Probably the average reader will not analyze the cut, but he will know that he does not like it and the un "WS^oiighter" LOEWS COLUMBIA ' —HOW PUtlNG!- .1 faramounl Release A FAULTY DRAWING favorable impression will be transferred to the title. It will not hurt so much on a second week, for by that time the public will know about the picture, but we have seen the same sketch used for first runs, and we think it would be better to junk the cut and use all type, rather than kill down the impression with this inartistic and meaningless cut. The text is all that could be desired and the advertising man has even split the eight point into two columns to make for easier reading. He has done his work well, but he is a poor cut picker. A poor cut is worse than none at all, and this is a pretty poor cut. —P. T. A.— Art Display Held to Proper Limits S Here is a display from the California Thcstrc. Los .\ngelcs. which might well „ jackHolt IDoroth^^Dalton X)iiTheHimSeast THE MUSICAL SCNJATloA M tOS^IMCIXUt serve as a model. It advertises Jack Holt and Dorothy Dalton, so you see them. It announces "On the High Seas," so you see a bit of water. Then the artist calls it a day and leaves room for Tom Reed in which he can put the special attractions and other details. Three months ago he would have put in a couple of full rigged ships and perhaps half a dozen thumbnail scene sketches, and thumbnail scene sketches are not worth the paper they spoil so far as selling or effect go. Keeping it down to right proportions gives an open display more pleasant to the eye, and makes for a generally better advertisement. The use of the half tone is not always safe in Los Angeles, but it got over here, and the copy is well laid and well written. The California has improved its advertising wonderfully in the last few months and is setting the pace for the other houses. Some ilay the Los Angeles pages may look like big town stuff. Meanwhile, the California gets the cream of the transient trade because it makes the best appeal. —P. T. A.— Halftone Worked; Result Was Good When you take a chance and win, you win. If you lose you get the blame. The THOUSANDS TURNED AWAY HELD FOR SECOND WEEK— BY PUBLIC DEMAND Norma Talmadge '^The lStTrnai Flame" A4*p«*d Fnn Balut'a "La Duchn* De Lariftals' STipported by CONWAY TEARLE Reel. AsUi» i»Uh the Wine of UfcS llilft— 3Jt~4afl — S:50-~T^tO— «M -KnTTbodr'* CoIbi f ORCtTESTRA A i'uramonnt Release PROPER PROPORTIONS A J^'iisi J\i.tionol Release AN ODDITY FOR STYLE Rivoli Theatre, Baltimore, took a chance on a half tone of Norma Talmadge for "The Eternal Flame" and won. Had it lost, the result would have been atrocious, but half tones are a reasonably safe bet in the Baltimore papers, and the odds were reasonably in favor of the house. As it stands it is an unusual display and helped to sell the idea of something better than usual. The photograph is the soft focus type, and it printed very nicely. Since it announces the second week of the play, it is not necessary to urge the feature on the reader but merely to announce the continuance, which accounts for a seeming lack of selling talk. The compositor, entering into the spirit of the display, has given a very nice job for the lines, and the effect is really artistic. At the same time it is a selling advertisement!, since all it has to sell is the pro longation of the engagement. A similar style the first week might have failed to get a hold over. Now and then this sort of thing can be done to advantage, but it will not pay to use such a half tone unless you are practically assured that a good impression can be had, for badly done this would be very poor indeed. You know what your own printer can do for you. Think well before you decide upon a similar form. —P. T. A.— Makes Pictures Sell Where Talk Is Weak Apparently this space from the Rivoli Theatre, Baltimore, is based on a larger cut, reduced in size. The captions under the vignettes arc so small as to be almost undecipherable, though the central panel gets a sufficient display and that is what gets over. Most of the selling talk suggests that the press agent does not believe in the show himself, for he fails to be A First National h dense MOSTLY CUT convincing. One bank reads: "Thomas H. Incc has done it again! Eclipsed every success in 'Skin Deep' — a remarkable drama of dual lives, dual loves. Packed with the Ince punch." That is too general, and it does not do the play justice. You can write stuff like that for any play without having seen it — and perhaps write it better for not having seen the production. It is not going to win the hard boiled and it does not strongly convince even the Ince fans. The other appeal reads, "Drama to grip you; thrills that get a gasp, romance, remarkable portrayals and a plot amazing in conception." A little talk about that amazing plot or about the nature of the thrills that get a gasp would have infinitely more sales value. It is too late in the day to sell even Ince on glittering generalities, and a little definite talk is worth much stuff like this. The play deserves a better handling than this. —P. T. A.— Searching for something different got a nice lobby for M. F. Estes, of the Beacham Theatre, Orlando, Fla. For "A Fool There Was" he enclosed his entire lobby in a compo board structure painted in five-inch strips of white and on this placed his cutouts. It was a novelty, and it got a lot of attention. The idea is particularly good for any play dealing with the Catholic church as white and gold are the Papal colors.