Moving Picture World (Jul - Aug 1918)

July 6, 1918 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD 65 rp g> gg %> g^g gj c^g-^^^^i^^i^JJJ^gj^.'^ ^ °^ "^ °^ ^ ^ ^ '^ ^ '^ '** '^i £ Advertising for Exhibitors Conducted by EPES WINTHROP SARGENT ^. ^. ^, gg r^^^^^^g^ >^« »£ <,♦">• ^ °3 -g? •> y=3 -5? ,-S y3 ,-5» «gs -^ -^ °> v9 ^ Proofreading. PROBABLY one of the chief contributing causes of poor advertising is to be found in poor proofreading, both by the management and the printing office. The printer is supposed to read proof only for the mistakes of his compositor. The rest lies to the advertiser, who Is supposed to catch errors in names and titles made by himself and also to pick up the errors due to illegible writing and which may not fairly be blamed upon the compositor. Also he gets a chance to head off blunders the compositor so often makes and the proofroom does not catch. The other day a correspondent from Trenton sent in an advertisement of the Lyric theater in which Elsie Ferguson was announced in "Barbcring Sheep." Of course the proofreader should have been sufficiently familiar with book titles to know that Barbary Sheep was intended, yet both the proofreader and the management permitted the hideous blunder to be aired in print. It is carelessness plus stupidity plus laziness to permit such a break to pass unnoticed, and yet no week passes which does not bring into this office examples of poor proofreading almost as bad. Any composing room foreman will be glad to show any advertiser how to read proof. It is no great mystery, and may be mastered in an hour, so far as the marks are concerned. The hard part is to develop the intelligent scrutiny that makes the errors apparent. Give more attention to proofreading. Do not leave it to the printer. He doesn't care a whoop whether your ad reads properly or not. It is not classed among the worries of his sinful life. It is up to you to see that you get what you want rather than what the printer thinks you should want. Go a step further than this. Get your copy in early and do not be afraid to tear apart a make-up that does not seem just right. Some of the samples sent in are disgraceful. And these errors react against the house. The patrcn is apt to argue that if the manager does not know how to spell a title or the name of a star, he is lying when he says that a play is great or a star unusually good. They lose faith in tue announcement, and not without reason, and the fans are far better informed as to titles and spelling than many exhibitors seem to be, even though the latter may have the printed copy right in front of them for reference. To announce the title of the Hitcnins novel as "Barbering Sheep" is not only to confess laziness, but ignorance of common literature that a live manager should be ashamed to own up to. Read your proofs, and read with care. A Page to Be Read. Here is an example of a page advertisement that does not try to carry too much type just because it happens to be a full page and not a two fives. It is sent in by H. C. Farley of the New Empire, Mont ANNOUNCEMENT EXTRAORDINARY The World War and a Woman Is the fascinating theme of Metro's great 8-act special production LEST WE FORGET The Mighty Arraign ment ol (he HLJIM Starring Die beauUlul survivor ol the LuslUoia dbaskrV RITA JOLIVET AT THE EMPIRE THEATRE THURSDAY and FRIDAY MAY 9th and 10th ' ADMISSION 1 5c This Great Picture is Being Shown in Every Other City at 50c to $1.00. Montgomery Is the Only City In Which Prices Were Not Advanced gomery, Ala. Much more might have been said, but the chances are that the bold display makes the few simple lines carry greater conviction than would a crowded display. If you are accustomed to crowding a couple of hundred words into a few inches it is sometimes difficult to take a whole page and say even less, but the little you do say is far more apt to be read. A Little Too Formal. Annabel Davidson, who does the advertising work for the City, Strand and Rialto theaters, Brockton, Mass., sends in some samples asking for a criticism. We think from her signature that she Is a newspaper graduate, but evidently she has not spent much time in the composing room during her newspaper days. Her advertising is generally good, but a bit too formal. It is all nicely lined off or boxed in or fenced around with border. The left hand example in the top cut is a three tens. It comes already cut from the page, so we cannot see what it. had to fight in the way of other display, but the three-point WHY WE MUST FIGHT GRAPHICALLY PICTURED IN AMBASSADOR JAMES W. GERARD'S WORLD FAMOUS STORY MY FOUR YEARS IN GERMANY HisltrKi it True Taken Front tht B-.o. b, Court A PICTURE OF PATRIOTIC VALUE AND IMPORTANCE CITY THEATRE ENTIRE WEEK OF MAY 20MATINEE AND NICHT •6 Watch for Sale of Reserved Seats "?5Cr £7theatrew A Thrilling Tale of Two Borders Canadian and Meiican Douglas Fairbanks Headin' South 5 (ltd n/terarl "Woman in (hi Web" "Son of Democracy" A Wonderful Heart Drama of Horns People ft) Forceful. Clean and Entertainini UNIVERSAL WEKLT "HIS SMASHING CAREER". Camedy \ V FOR YOU AND THE CHILDRENl 3 HEAR THE STRAND IAZZ ORCHESTRA (ft ; HUB KIMDRIN. trader 7 Reell ol Truth and ^ Laughs and PltjKJI rule border is a little too light if it is close to other large displays. It will he noticed that it all runs regular lines across the space save where the two smaller cuts break the space. Evidently the printer thought that white space was no good, for he has picked out a type for "Ambassador James W. Gerard's World Famous Story" which too completely blocks the film title. The "Graphically pictures in" should have gone in a light ten point, with the following line about as it is. AT THE STRAND Entire Week of Aprif22 (rjcepting Saturday) but with the "world famous story" cut uuwn to anotuer leu lo give some white space with which to show up the title. The text here is the weakest of the set sent in. There is no real fuss made over the film, no allusion to its long run on Broadway, no hint of the vivid scenes in the story. This was a chance to fairly bubble over, but tho