Moving Picture World (Jul - Aug 1918)

July 6, 1918 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD 67 to the week for which it is sold. The general admission price is not stated, but if it is 15 cents, this strip Uckci is a good p an. me days are nicely dated and not too much copy is used, with a good choice of display typos. The Fairmount, a Zimmermann house, gets a rather messy looking job of printing. The ink offsets and the borders are off their feet. The days are not dated and the too-common error is made of giving the 'same display to star and play, which detracts from the display of both. i The Regent and Victoria are now using the two-front-pages idea, the I manner of folding determining whether it is the Regent or Victoria program. It gives a very casual mention of "Tarzan of the Apes" as the attraction at the Victoria. It looks more like an underline than , an announcement of the current attraction. Someone must be fast asleep over there. Even with a film above the average you must advertise to make money. There seems to be an utter lack of aggressiveness in the Philadelphia program. It is a wonder that they even get out programs. Knows Better. Williamsport, Pa., with a trick Bedford, sends in a three nines Someone around the Grand theater signature that might be J. something with this K. C. B. : No advertising staff artists. A small town paper. Must lay out ad in detail to get any kind of results. Small theater. Space limited. Enclosing you one of our ads. Think it better than some we have seen in your department. Think it is a damsight worse than most. Hope to do better * * * if You will just hop on to this. Don't be too hard on us. This is just a start for a poor boob. Who thinks. He may do better some day. We're ready for the pan, go to it. P. S.— Get us right, we are not trying to be funny, we're dam serious. We think the correspondent knows he has got a pretty good looking advertisement, but one good advertisement does not make a publicity man, and we would like to see more samples. You will note that he GRAND 2— DAY 2— MORROW 2— FEATURES 2— DAYS ra ali. THAT S ALL ■ Ill MM I' SPECIAL POUBLE FEATURE PROGRAM. PRISCILLA DEAN . SAME PROGRAM FRANCIS X. BUSHMAN BEVERLY BAYNE "WITH NEATNESS AND DISPATCH" .WOULD YOU CR^CK A SAFE FOR THE GIRL YOU LOVED? A fascinating comedy drama, — entirely dlRerent from any play this popula: Mar has ever appeared in— surprises every minute — both, for the hero anil thi Coming •"Tbe Doctor and the Woman" *m^X ^,"'* makes his layout which is why he gets a good type display. We think that we would have played up the local player more strongly even at the expense of the small type bank that follows. The second bank is argument enough, and so there was room and to spare. As it is there is a little too much small type in both sections of the ad to make really good display. On the other hand, the panel work here done effectively shows a good use of rule work. There are two distinct announcements held together by the break which is something different from ohe play announced in two sections. And we like the restraint cf the underline. "It is not intrusive, and yet it is there to be seen. But we think we would have shortened those panels a little to give -three lines and a better drop to the "on the same program." Thl would give greater emphasis to the double feature, though We Can't Bee why anyone should "am to sit through ten reels. Should Be Able to Spell. Anyone who lives in Punxsutawney, Pa., and is liable to spell the name of the town correctly should be able lo tackle anything, but hi a recent issue of a local paper, out of three houses the Gem Norma "Talmage" and the Maje tic announces Mabel "Norman." The missing D is supplied by the Ian, it is to be presumed. More than that the quotation "The little girl you can't forget" is spoiled in the Normand advertisement by merely quoting "little girl" instead of the entire catch phrase. It is not recorded that cither bouse offers a prize lor misspelled words, but if they did ! Circusing the Kaiser. W. L. Woodin of the Keystone Opera House, Towanda, Pa., sends in a circus bill he got out for The Kaiser. "Circus bill" is what he calls it and circus bill is right. We don't know where Mr. Woodin learned how, but he doesn't have to back down before Dexter Fellows and tinrest of the adjective slinging crew ; not that Mr. Woodin offends in this regard, but because he has produced a piece of paper with the real circus pull. It is a sheet 11x25 and was evidently got out to drag in the surrounding towns, for the entire county is warned by name to come and see it at the Keystone or forever after lose their chance. This is the first honest-to-goodness hustle advertising we have seen for The Kaiser. It was made to be circussed. It brings in the most money when it is circussed, and yet few Exhibitors seem to have gone at it from the proper angle for the entire clean-up. What if the film does more than make good with an indifferent advertising campaign? If there is one ten-cent piece coming to you that you didn't get you have lost some money on the film. We wish we could reproduce this bill, but the yellow stock prevents. It is ideal for its purpose both in layout and copy. Mr. Woodin is "there" with the goods. This holds good for all sensational subjects, whether they are propaganda or not. You must make a fuss over them to get your money, and the more fuss you make the more money you will get, and we take k that is what you are in business for. Lately we told how S. Barret McCormick spent $4,000 and cleaned up on the Gerard film. Mr. Woodin cleaned up just as much in proportion sending this circus paper into the surrounding towns. Don't use small throwaways. They won't do. You never 6aw a real circus put out a 5x8 throwaway. Neither should you when you want to raise a riot. And mind you the bill is not glaringly sensational. It does not fairly drip blood. It just reads to get your interest, that's all. Imported Blotters. One of the dangers of having advertising done out of town is a possible change of bill. The Third Street, Easton, Pa., had to overprint the face of the blotter recently and then print on the blotting side because their blotters were printed in New York and sent down to them and the bill for the week was changed while the programs were on the way down. Mr. Buss, by the way, has gone into the photographic division of the Signal Corps and is studying at Columbia University. Loud But Permissible. Distributed matter should be carefully considered, especially stuff that is liable to come into the hands of children. Hennegan has got out an ingenious advertisement for "The Kaiser" that would be outside the pale for any picture but a strong propaganda. It is a card 2% by 9 inches, with the upper 3% inches fouled over on itself. At the top the text reads, "Take off his mask and give him" ; just below is a circular window showing a red "H" on the under card. The rest of the fold is a partial picture of the Kaiser matching with the lower half of the under picture. Raising the card transforms the Kaiser into the Devil and the red H now becomes the initial letter to "Heartrending and Horrible Cruelty." The idea is clever and even permissible, but we think it would have been better to have left the H out where the piece is apt to come into the 'hands of so many children. Even less good is the epitaph adorning the back page. Even in propaganda film not all things are permissible in the advertising matter. Someone who writes from Cincinnati, but says he is a West Virginia exhibitor, sends the novelty in. A NEW HELP FOR MANAGERS Picture Theatre Advertising By EPES WINTHROP SARGENT (Oooloetor of Advertising (or Exhibitors in lha Moving Plclir World TEXT BOOK AND A HAND BOOK, a compendium and a gulda It tells all about advertising, about type and type-setting, printing and paper, how to run a house program, how to frame yom newspaper advertisements, how to write form letters, posters o. 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 neip you By mail, postpaid, $2.00. Order from nearest office. 9 Moving Picture World, 516 Fifth Ave., New York Schiller Building Chicago. IU. Wright and Cullender Buildba* Los AnrcUa, CaL