The Moving picture world (September 1923-October 1923)

September 15, 1923 MOVING PICTURE WORLD 251 Two Displays are Along Same Lines These two displays on The Brass Bottle show the same general idea, but we prefer that of the Circle Theatre, Indianapolis to that of the Loew State Theatre, Cleveland. The Brass Bottle is about a brass bottle and not about a man and a woman standing at a door, so the picture of Harry Meyers holding the bottle is much more characteristic than the photograph of a man and a woman used by the State. Moreover the layout is generally better. The Circle is 150 lines across three against 138 lines for the State, but this is not necessary, since the Circle would have been just as good in 140 lines as with the additional 30 lines to be paid for. Keeping down the overture and the comedy would have given an easy saving, but apparently the design was made for 150 because that is the theatre's regular space. This feature is something you cannot sell on a single photograph, no matter how good the BRASS TTGtf A Maurice Toarntur Product OME prepared to laugh at thin modem Nighla" tale. A fanUatic ati.ry of mirth and magic, myatcrioualy told In a magnificent manner Harry Myers, who will be remembered for hia wurk in "A Connecticut Yankee." has a aimilar role here — who goea hack 7.000 j genie aa hia guide. Everything that happened before happens to him here. A Pint National Picturo OVERTURE "THE BARBER OF SEVILLE" A First National Release THE INDIANAPOLIS EXAMPLE still may be, so the Circle trusts to type to get it over. It takes ten lines of leaded eight point to tell what the type of play is, to suggest it is different from others and tc make a glancing hook-up to a Connecticut Yankee in which Harry Meyers also had the chief role. The figure drawing is merely to get attention. The selling is done with type so disposed that few will pass it over unread. This is the better course, since the Anstey story belongs to an earlier generation. Comparatively few persons under twenty recall it, and others may have forgotten, but the type tells you it is a good story, and makes you desire to see it. The best connection is the genii head at the bottom, which is not as good a placement as it would be at the top. In this the State does better. Connect the genii with the title and the mind recalls the Arabian Nights tale from which the modern version is derived. On the other hand the State makes better use of the players in the cast, but the selling talk is a bit too superficial. This reads 'A thousand delights and adventures of a dash ing modern American and his all too genial genie." Genie, with an e, by the way is feminine, though probably no one will know or care. The chief fault of the State is the use of a still that might be used for scores of modern titles and which conveys abso PHIL1P SPITALNY'S JAZZ BAND Br Tk. SbOin.^-R-um, WIU Hall. Tka Vw-ti J. Wthlaa f*. the Saari»— Wko Dla T— P>at AJUr AO*—* A First National Release THE CLEVELAND SPECIMEN lutely no suggestion of the unusual type of this story. If this plate is supplied from the publicity book, it should have been routed out and a more definite cut set in its place. It's about the last sort of photoggraph to be used for a story dealing with all sorts of odd adventures and excursions into pre-Adamite history. By the way, there is a good exploitation angle here. Offer a prize for the best answer to "Who is King Sulieman?" Most persons suppose that it was King Solomon of Jewish history who was lord of the genii, but as a matter of fact the owner or owners of the famous Seal of Solomon were a race of six kings, all of the same name, who lived before the time of Adam, and it was they who had dominion of the soulless creatures of the air. Just Plain Type Is Good Advertising Just the other day a correspondent commented on the lack of good display ads set wholly in type. We use them whenever they can be had, but good all-type displays are scarce, and Mr. Gill is evidently closed up down in Hugo, Okla. He used to send in some of the best examples, but perhaps that white mule he used to write about is — well he sent in nothing lately, anyhow, and if he wants to clear himself of suspicion, he'll shoot some stuff in. Meanwhile we offer this 80x2 for The Covered Wagon, from a Boston paper — of all places — as an example of what can be done without the use of cuts and with a very ordinary layout of display faces. Being in its thirteenth week, the picture did not need much sales argument other than it was good enough to run that length of time, but it sells well on copy, and the display is very well done. No space is wasted, and yet it all gets over. The use of a bold italic in twelve point for the under line gets a contrast with the squareness of the Gothic title, and really invites reading, where another three lines in Gothic of that size might have been passed over as being too difficult to read. The use of Gothic for the three word title is good, since the lines are short enough to stand up, but reversion to an upper and lower for the display below increases the appeal of the text to many times the value of a twelve or even an eighteen point Gothic. A little Gothic at the top is all right. The signature will be taken in and the lines below have nothing to do with the selling. They come in after the prospect has been sold, in case he needs direction. The general run of these Boston MAJESTIC THEATRE TREMONT and BOYLSTON STREETS TWICE DAILY AT 2:16 ana Sl15 ALL SIATS NEICRVCD JESSE L. LASKY Presents 143rd to 154th Showing* COVERED WAGON A PARAMOUNT PICTUM Founded Upon Emerson Hough's Glorious Romance of the Wagon Trains and the Conquest of the Westerrt Wilderness ADAPTID OY JACK CUNhHHOHAm OIR.CTUJ »Y JMU CMOt PRIftFQ poP DaM» MsUnsss, 60s sntt H.oo miUEiI Eve>. and Sat. Mats., EOo, *1.00 * S1.BO A Paramount Release GOOD TYPE WORK FROM BOSTON Covered Wagon ads is decidedly above the average. They are not large; they use no cut attractor, but they sell and sell week after week. Contrasted with the remainder of the page, with its Boston-style of hand lettered atrocities, it is better than when it appears isolated from the rest. It gains through contrast. Homeward Bound Has Good Stock Material Judging from the examples, Homeward Bound is provided with a better equipment A Paramount Release A USEFUL DRAWING of cut material than most of the Paramount releases, not that these are generally poor