Moving Picture World (Sep 1916)

September 30, 1916 THE Mo\ [NG PIC1 i Kl WORLD not stand ou( as t ii,-> should Tha baok page curries lomt doom ohoU and b discussion of the coming program. Blnot tha editor MB writ* later the turn, ha doss no! neve to thron In a bloa and gold picture. The Olympla uaee a small -i\ pact r on cheap paper. The paper Is thin and the Ink so oily that It goes right through the paper to tha other dd*. With su pages only two by four the] area manage ■ oouple ot outalde adTertleanienta and some house talk, in one Inatanoe they <ie not aeam certain of their second teatnre, and foolishly seek to "cover up" with tills nhsurdlty : SURPRISE ATTRACTION With an All-Star cast. ■7a are so certain you will like this attraction wo are withholding its namo to surprise you. Not many persons will believe that thej have an attraction so good they will not advertise it. Most will know that they do not name tho offering because they cannot, and win dran their own Inference, "To be announced later" is much belter than this rather clumsy effort. Long Between. It takes Will 1, lieebe. ot the ran. lor theater, Candor, N. H., a long time to set around to Witting a letter. He unblushlngly admits that It Is a couple of years since he has written In, but offers In extenuation that he reads the department each week and adds : I have a small house — 240 seats — In a village of only 750, therefore cannot get out anything more elaborate than a four page weekly program. You will note that I am giving a blogrnphy of the leads In each feature which serves as a sort of Introduction, and my people feel that they are already friends when the players appear on the screen. It appears to work well. We would ask nothing better than a four page program in a town with as many thousands as Condor has individuals. A four page program is plenty for any house If It is not possible to print more. It will work hard enough for any house if it works right, but with our own lily white hands we would strangle the printer if he did not give us what we wanted. But first we would have a talk with him. and were we Mr. Beebe wo would plead with the printer person to hide that border with which he encloses each page. It looks like those Straight Cut cigarette advertisements that reproduce the style of before the war. We would plan, too, to get a shorter program. This is 6 by 10'/^ inches, too long for the width. He can save paper, and, by using smaller type get it all in and have a more sightly sheet. That rugged break rule should also be put back of the stove, along with the border, and the impression bettered, if possible. This may not be possible, but it should be possible to Improve the make up a little. For his own part Mr. Beebe should get more intimate in his house chat. It is good, but a trifle stiff. He is talking as a manager rather than as a friend. He should get chatty and friendly. He writes : In presenting the following program for the first week in September, we believe we have selected and booked the strongest list of attractions ever presented in a single week at this theater, or in fact, in any other theater in similar or even much larger towns. The list of stars are among the most celebrated in the land. We t'eel like urging a large attendance, knowing that general satisfaction will be the result. We aim to book only high-grade features for each program, but these particular numbers are above the average. Yours for good pictures, WILL L. BEEBE. Suppose that he bad said this instead : The program for the coming week is going to open the regular season with as good a list of pictures as I've ever been able to book. They are better than just good pictures, and list stars and plays out of the ordinary. Charlie Chaplin gets more money each week than you can find in all the pay envelopes in Condor on a Saturday, but he works just as hard for you as he does for New York audiences. Tom Wise seldom gets very far from Broadway because they won't let him, but in "Blue Grass" you get one of the best examples of his work. Robert Warwick is another metropolitan star who plays Boston and no other New England town, but he is here Wednesday, and in his best form, while you know how exciting "The Broken Coin" has been in its earlier episodes, and the twelfth is better still. It is a program so unusually good that I wish that you would make special effort to see as many of the attractions as you can. You cannot afford to miss any of the good things. Try it this once. You'll like it, I'm certain. It says the same thing that this program says, but it talks man fashion and not manager fashion. The use of biographies of the stars is particularly good in the small towns where the stage in general is not closely followed. Now that Mr. Beebe has the habit again, we hope he comes in more often. Make the Paper Help. The Pathe exchanges seem quick to take advantage of the newspaper openings for their stories. Tarleton, Winchester, of the home office, sends in a couple of samples. One is from a Minneapolis paper in which a shopping expert, maintained by the paper, was given a private showing of the Florence Rose fashion stuff, and then recommended her feminine readers to look up the film. It is, of course, advertising such as cannot be paid for, save in tact and courtesy. You may have some local newspaper woman who does society. If you have, take the trouble to give her a private showing of these reels as they come along. She can see them just as well at the regular show, but give her a private view in the morning, cater a little to her sense of her own importance, and i" ii i''i iii. i to i'ii ii" readi ■ * limply muxt \ on ma) i" too lata i" gal Into tho paper bofoi niin |i gone, but there are othi i In thi time and ihe'll Iceep on plugging far you ir only to toll how the bad a private view. You might not be abll ! lor to i , one to the nr.ular show, but the prlvati rlen will '.itch hor t\,l\ lino. Tin other co-operative itunl la to Induoi tho oowapapen thai print the story of a serial to do Homo advertising on their own account that also advert I i . the lion I and the Bin. BUOfa a nolle.' rumen from Q, Iowa, where (he Argus lent out llil .aid lor the triple alliance of lion .-. newspaper, ami Patho: SOMETHING EXTRA FOR YOU! The Argus' New Serial Story "THE IRON CLAW" Begins This Week This notice is .sent especially to you to advise you that Arthur Stringer's gnat serial story, "The Iron Claw" begins in this week's. August 3, issue of the Vrgus. It's a wonderful story, full of gripping incidents and we are sure you would like to read it. In addition to this story being run in the Argus, the moving pictures of this great story will be shown each Saturday evening at the Lyric, and after reading the story you can see the scenes enacted on the screen. The first episode will be shown Saturday Evening, August 5th, at the Lyric This is an unusual story and it will interest you from the start. We want to send you the Argus with this great story. The subscription price is still One Dollar per year, even if the cost of everything that enter into the make up of the paper has been advanced — less than 2 cents a week — and the paper is worth double the subscription price. You get all the local news and the paper is worth more than the subscription price asked — but what's the use of arguing further, you realize its worth — so come or send a Dollar bill to this office and you will get the opening chapter of this great serial story. Do it now — you'll not regret it. Sincerely, HAL C. FULLER. Thia is on a folded mailing card and on the back is DON'T START IT IP YOU HAVEN'T TIME IT WILL GRIP YOU. Almost any circulation manager can be persuaded to do some special advertising from your mailing list or to nearby towns, and he has to mention your house as well as his paper. Dates, Please. The Orpheum Herald, Moscow, Idaho, is a well printed four pager, but one stingy little date in a box 1% by 9/8 inches is the only means of identification. This appears in one corner of the heading, balancing the name of the town on the other side of a "Herald" that fights both boxes down. After that it is merely the day without date and even a regular reader has to look twice to see if this is last week's or next week's program. It would be better to rearrange the program either to give two days to a page or three programs a page, In the latter case keeping both front and back for house stuff and chat. The different days should be separated by rule and made more distinct. If the two days to a page scheme is used then the front page should be kept for chat. There is the making of a good program here, but the layout can be greatly improved and it can be turned from a herald into a more dignified program. A NEW HELP FOR MANAGERS Picture Theatre Advertising By EPES WINTHROP SARGENT (Conductor •! Advertisinj to Exhibitors in the Movint Picture World a TEXT BOOK AND A HAND BOOK, a compendium and a guide. It tells all about advertising, about type and type-setting, printing and paper, how to run a house program, how to frame your newspaper advertisements, how to write form letters, posters or throwaways, how to make your house an advertisement, how to get matinee business, special schemes for hot weather and rainy days. All practical because it has helped others. It will help you. By mail, postpaid, $2.00. Order from nearest office. Moving Picture World, 17 Madison Ave., New York Schiller Building Chicago, 111. Haas Building Los Angelas, Cal. ■■