The Moving picture world (November 1922-December 1922)

December 30, 1922 MOVING PICTURE WORLD 865 A Burglar Invasion Wrote the Teasers Because there was a big robbery in Reading. Pa., not long ago, the Hippodrome Theatre hooked it to the Goldwyn production of "Sherlock Holmes," which was its underline, using a two-inch single for scatter ads all through WARNING! Thieves, Yeggmeo, and Other Lawbreakers Beware Sherlock Holmes Is On His Way to Reading. A HuUlwyn lieleine THE BURGLAR TEASER the paper, and as soon as possible followed this up with snipes to the same effect. There was no connection with the house in these displays and it had the people wondering just what it meant until the house came along with the regular advertising, of which the second example is typical. There was not much they needed to say about the attraction, which had been pretty well sold on the teasers, so they simply remarked that everyone was talking about the play and offered the suggestion that it be seen at once. That house name looks HIPPODROME-HIPPOOROME-HIPPODROME ■ Everybody's Talking About — JOHN BARRYMORE J "SHERLOCK HOLMES" FMtur* Umwi Better See It Today! l^S. liW. SaS. 7ilS, 3:1S HIPPOOROME-HIPPODROME-HIPPODROME A QoUixoyn Release. THE FULL DISPLAY almost too large for a border, but it looked better in the paper and served very well. We think, though, that the "everybody's talking about" would have been better in a lighter line, preferably italic. Then it would have had the same reading value and yet you will have given more display to the star name. The same sized face could have been used and it would have been precisely as legible and distinctive without being as hampering. It does nicely at it is, but does not yield the fullest display value. —P. T. A.— Let Hearst Paper Give Theatre Party Ue Sales Harrison, of the Howard Theatre, Atlanta, Ga., worked a good stunt on "The Old Homestead" when he permitted the Atlanta Georgian to entertain the inmates of the Home for Confederate Veterans and from an old ladies' home at a performance of "The Old Homestead." It cost only forty tickets and it broke a story on the front page, usually reserved for the Cosmopolitan productions in the Hearst papers. A new stunt was throwing on the screen an announcement of the arrival of the guests, with due credit to the Georgian, and then throwing on the house lights while the party was ushered in. The spectators rose in courtesy to the aged, and it gave a very impressive yet smiple ceremony. This can be worked wherever the age of the guests makes it permissible. —P. T. A.— Stanley N. Chambers Trusts to All Type Now and then Stanley N. Chambers, of the Miller Theatre, Wichita, Kan., discards the plan book line cuts he uses so effectively and goes to all type. Sometimes he does this because he has no cut, but more often because he knows that now and then he can put over a big attraction better in a type display of unusual form than he could with an entire page of cuts. He worked it on George Beban's personal appearance in "The Sign of the Rose." The border is the repetition of the star's name, set in a bold italic twelve point. It might have been raised to an eighteen with perhaps a slightly better effect, but a twelvepoint border is generally ample, and it gives more white space to set off the real announcement. Mr. Chambers figured that if he used tft^f—B4i^~lMt*—taim^t<Sim — Btim~Btbm — Bthm — Baai WARNING Wichita U Jiut waluns up to the fact that the MiUer Theater ha* brought to WichiU the worl^'a greatMt character actor, Mr, Gcorga BEBAN who ia appearing at thit theater, with hi* splendid company of playen, three times daily in • itage and screea presentation of The Sign of the Rom." Thi. U po,hi»ely the mokt expcrutve (u weU oi remarkahl* f^ttire ever ihown in any motion picture theater in the world. Only a (mall percentage of the people of Wichita can be ju--onimodated between now and the clo«e of thia remarkable engagement Saturday DighL We want to warn you to come <arly today — comd to the raatiBee— or you will always regret it There is no ratae is admiMioQ— 25c aftemooni, 40c nights. Never before baa an attraction of thit magnitude been ihowii at theae pritet. ITS OUR TREAT. COME I J <!! I I iiim—Bthm — B<lra — Sifen — IMm — 8<(m — lUm — Mm—Jtha An American Release A DIFFERENT STYLE the regulation announcement it would suggest the same old thing, so he used type to tell that it was different because type can talk better than the most elaborate cut layout. The "Warning" is hooked to the fact that the house is going to be too small to hold the crowds, and the other display lines hook to this and carry on the display. One of these every week would soon lose its effect and degenerate into ineffective selling, but for a special now and then it will talk harder than the most elaborate cut. The very form of the display sets it apart as something unusual, and the reader starts in to find out what it is all about with that impression strongest in his mind. If Mr. Chambers seldom used cuts, and then only to designate the most important attractions, then cuts would have the same effect. It is not a matter of cut or no cut, but a matter of difference—the change in pace which makes for importance. /• r. .1. Fought County Fair C. A. Crute, who manages the Lyric Theatre, Huntsville, Ala., is wise in his generation. He planned his vacation just when county fair time came, and A. L. Snell, who moved over from Gadsden, to relieve him, had to put over "Blood and Sand" with the fair for opposition. He bannered a wagon, which got twice around the racetrack before the police chased it off, and even the chasing aroused a sentiment in favor of the theatre. Then he parked the car just outside the gates where people simply had to see it. A faxe blind man proclaimed that he would be willing to give $1,000 to see "Blood and Sand," and when the charitable dropped coins into his cup he would hand the money back with his thanks and the suggestion that they apply it to the purchase of tickets to the Valentino picture. Used Plan Book Cut for Effective Space Evidently the Rialto Theatre, Baltimore, appreciated the fact that there can be good in the plan books, for the cut they used on "E^st Is West" a 165 line by four was clearly a plan book design. The type in the cut is not as clear as that in the few lines of original text, evidently because the cast was a little faulty, though this will probably not suggest itself to the untrained eye. This was a "world premier" and they swelled the display to get that fact over to the appreciation of the public, A First Nfitiotml Release FROM THE PLAN BOOK chiefly through the line at the top. Plan book cuts work all right where they are well planned, and this seems to be as good as anything the local artist could have done. The best point is the display in the panel, which stands out, though mostly in hand lettering. The proportions are preserved and full value is gained for star and title. —p. T. A. Puts in Pictures Just to Fill In Nelson Bell, of Washington, I). C, puts in a couple of poses in his display for "The Masquerader" just to fill in. Probably he did not expect to sell on the cuts. He sells on the talk he writes, and it is the sort ot talk which sells. He used the lines to throw tlie selling talk into relief on the page and put in a couple of cuts to help break the monotony on the principle that they would not hurt and might help a little, but evidently