Picture Play Magazine (Sep 1920 - Feb 1921)

There are, we suppose, a few authenEciSV ^c cases in which a man buys oil stock or mining stock and becomes rich. Money Now and then a man bets on the right horses a number of times in succession and makes money without working. But to date The Observer has never heard of a member of the general public who has made an unusual profit by buying wildcat motion-picture stock. Yet throughout the country men are making goodsized fortunes in stocks of nebulous motion-picture companies. The men who are making these fortunes, however, are those who are selling the stock, not those who buy it. There seems to be an unusual lure about speculating in motion pictures. Men and women who would not think of gambling in oil, or in investing in a machine for turning one-dollar bills into twenty-dollar bills, will listen to a promoter who comes into town with a blue print of a studio, a scenario, and pictures of a few actors, and will pay good money in the belief that the proposition is one that is going to make them wealthy. There are motion-picture stocks that are legitimate investments, although all of them are speculative. The common stocks of even the largest companies are continually fluctuating and are to be considered as "buys" only for those persons who can afford to play the market as a game. Several cities have had unfortunate experiences with motion-picture stock jobbers. The plan usually is to go into a city, arouse the Chamber of Commerce with promises of a studio for the city and with glowing tales of the world-wide advertising that will result from the establishing of the city as a motion-picture production center. Some prominent business man is persuaded to accept the presidency, and the stock is quickly subscribed for. The first picture is made, and because it has been produced haphazard the company either fails entirely in its efforts to sell it, or else gets rid of it at a loss. It takes experts to make a good picture, and the experts are not out taking part in this kind of stockselling propositions. The only expert in these production plans is the expert who organizes the company, and who takes a big slice of the money for his work. How some of these schemes are worked will be told more in detail in the next number of Picture-Play Magazine by Roy D. Hinds, whose series of articles on "Crooks that Follow the Movies" begins in this issue. We strongly urge our friend readers to read this series, since these swindlers, though they have been shown up in some of the localities where they have worked, have not been generally exposed before. And, since you never can tell when some one of them will show up in your town, it's well to be prepared. You may be able to save a friend, later on, from being fleeced, if not yourself. a j Every once in a while some one er~ writes to The Oracle, asking why such Writing and such a star failed to answer his or Strike ^er letrer> or wriy this or that star failed to send a photograph in answer to a request. Of course, all that The Oracle can do is to suggest that probably the letter got lost in the mails. We recently heard of one star, however, whose fan mail is not answered because she has gone on a letterwriting strike. Being known the world over, her fan mail is tremendous. The company for whom she formerly worked relieved her of the task and expenses of answering the requests and inquiries of her thousands of admirers, but the company by whom she is now employed do not furnish this service to their stars. Rather than assume an expense which would amount to thousands of dollars a year she decided to drop all this correspondence, and the bushels of letters which come addressed to her each week are refused and sent to the dead-letter office, since the government will not allow them to be received and destroyed. Into motion pictures has come a new The New profession — "exploitation." Perhaps D . . you do not realize that the theaters and Profession rrie producers have gone in so thoroughly for this development of pressagent work, but if you stop and think a moment, you'll appreciate what is being done along that line. A year or so ago "exploitation" was simple. The motion-picture business was almost exclusively a star business. The theater told you that Mary Pickford or Theda Bara was appearing there that week on the screen, and you went or you did not, according to whether you liked that star or not. The name of the star was your guide, and all the guide you needed. Now, however, many of the finest productions are those in which there is no star. There are no names to guide you to the big "special" productions. That makes it difficult for the advertising departments. They have to convince you that the starless picture is going to please you. So they have contests — ranging from puzzle pictures in the papers to diving girls at the lake. They get the department stores to put in window displays featuring the picture, and the book stores advertise the book from which the story was taken. Clever young men, who understand psychology, arouse your curiosity, imbed the title of the picture in your memory, and when the show comes along you say to the folks : "I hear that's a good picture. Come on." Although probably you could not put your finger on the thing which created in your mind" the feeling that you ought to see this production, you have unconsciously absorbed the idea that the exploitation man wanted you to have, and you'll head straight for that theater.