Publix Opinion (Jun 12, 1927)

now THE NEW BOSS (The following article by William A. Johnston appears in the current issue of the Motion Picture News. It should be of great interest to all Theatre Managers). ve no stone unturned to give Publix the gz it holds in the world of theatres.” ig . andiL Publix OS Opinion ae @ by and for the Press Representatives and Managers of _ PUBLIX THEATRES CORPORATION ie SAM KATZ, President rorpD, Dr. Advertising The American Mercury has discovered an ‘‘amusement oc|topus.’’ In an article under that title the motion pieture Joun E. MclInerney, Editor cD # ‘ people are said to have throti _ SPECIAL ee oe New York city|t%, deliberately and _maliciatt .ccctvecotstimae ns +-+»-Home Office, : gta + canada ig Fig Se Aa Home Office, New York City ously, all other forms of public 500781757711] [paramount Theatre, New York City |¢ntertainment, from the legit sell B. Moon.. ae ae OR Re SR ee FO Te 6 eee imate stage down to carnivals. This is considerably at variance with our conception of the situation. The article in this, its leading theme, strikes us as not hitting on all cylindders, if indeed any at.all. * * * * .Olympia Theatre, New Haven Shea’s Buffalo Theatre, Buffalo Metropolitan Theatre, Boston Michigan Theatre, Detroit oeseenseererere eee eo eer eee eee eee eee ee Ce cee RL ee Seo. We Ore 6 Pie ee 6 9 Oe 8 A, 0.6 Ae ONS IO. Oe 8.788 Balaban & Katz Theatres, Chicago Publix Adv. Representative Weg ca cael glad i inert de aaa In one of the few, but always interesting interviews I have had with Adolph Zukor, he said that motion pictures got a wide open opportunity in the entertainment business because the stage business all over the country had gone to pot. Cheap road shows were put out and the public, objecting to the price and quality of the entertainment offered, was acutely ready for the diversion in both respects held forth by the dramatic motion picture. It has been my own impres Sie 60 eC eee A ee eee ee 8) Bi SO a0, 8g a Aneta al eee eee gore eee Metropolitan Theatre, Houston Saenger Theatre, New Orleans , .Loew’s Palace, Memphis Vea a eciee eee. O00) ATR ee ee! +O R: © 8 «0! ow 8 RN Re ee LALA OREN et a di Howard Theatre, Atlanta hborough...........Metropolitan Theatre, Los Angeles Pate Greve aia tw, ¥ ecbae his ia shale i auniainintbge alee t San Francisco Good Advice urch, at the Capitol Theatre, Des Moines, has issued g bit of sage advice to his staff appropos the Contest: : conducting a contest like this one, every effort must 1 to protect the young girls taking part in it. This ticklish situation — when we ask girls to come into re on a proposition of this kind and it is necessary to hem in every possible way. I cannot begin to explain results that would come to one of our theatres, should estant be in any way insulted or harmed. Therefore, Jerstand that these contestants are to be strictly nd respected—and any deviation from this order will ause for instant dismissal.’’ : surch aptly puts his finger upon a subject of vast ice. Not only are these girls new in the ways of the ut they are sponsored by the leading newspapers of ‘We feel certain, however, that everyone connected ix will go out of his way to make the ultimate winsjation with our Circuit one that these girls can look ith pride. The Charleston Girls of last year were ous in voting their association with us as one of the ‘t and most pleasant of their lives. SG eg About Children — ne'time ago our Chicago theatres ran an advertisement . following copy, ‘‘How about the children—the countousands of children who do not go out of town during mmer months? If they can attend one of our theatres ek, it will go a long way towards making their vacawhile. And there isn’t anything they will love more. another can break away from her household cares long to take the little ones to a matinee, it will break the ry of the day for her. She will enjoy the performance as the children will. And it wouldn’t hurt Dad abit he same plan. If parents find it inconvenient to r children to the theatre, they may send them alone. <e the best of care of them, find them guod seats em the same attention their elders get.’’ Here is a our summer campaigning that may be applied to our operations. The idea should not stop with an ent, it should be reflected in the conduct of our M KATZ. ell Slack Hours you doing to sell the slack hours, those times of the n business is slow? Are you reminding your patrons of the s of attending the theatre when most good seats are ' Are you selling them the idea of avoiding crowds? Are orning and matinee prices? There are many ways to se programs, ad corners, extra lobby displays, trailer ete. Analyse the daily reports and pick out the slack explode a few bombs about it. The results will surM. BOTSFORD. ene Oe Bee OO ew 8. OS, ola e 0 Cob Lee. OWS her Oe! Oe OL) 8 So the stage business was due largely to the fact that the legitimate theatres were tied up in a booking cireuit and therefore had to depend too much upon too little competition in production. enough that the stage business throttled itself; and some able producers are outspoken in the belief that it throttled itself by throttling production com petition at the fountain head. * * * * The title of the article gave me hope at first that it might deal with the situation, present and future, within the picture business. With the rapid chaining up of theatres into a few big groups we seem) on the surface, to be following at present the experience of the stage business. And that leads to some very pertinent speculation over the future of motion picture entertainment. The recent conversation held all over the country —at an expense I am told of about a thousand dollars a man—would indicate that there is plenty of competition among picture distributors. Certainly this huge effort to pep up sales forces gives a flat denial to those who gravely tell us that, so great are the theatre chains today, the selling of pictures to theatres is done across a desk in New York City. And I don’t see any great decline in production é¢ompetition. There are fewer independent producers today, but such as these are, they are offering sizable programs and they are able, so far as I ean PUBLIX OPINION, WEEK OF JUNE 12rtx, 1927. sion, also, that this decline in| _ At any rate it is apparentis What Publicity Will Do For You! What Are You Doing For Publicity? WHIRLING AROUND THE PUBLIX WHEEL ‘Winter Nights,” the John Murray Anderson production which laid off for a week following its engageiment at the Olympia Theatre, New Haven, will follow Ted Lewis into the Metropolitan at Boston and then continue its tour around the Circuit. Bud Gray at the Metropolitan Theatre in Boston styled Borrah Minevitch the “harmonicomedian,” a good catch name which might be effectively used whereever the “Boyhood Days” act plays. Jim Loughborough at the Metropolitan in Los Angeles effected two good tie-ups with the Postal Telegraph Company, one for Raymond Griffith in “Wedding Bill$” the gag line for Postal being: ‘Your ‘bill$’ ‘can be paid or collected more conveniently by Postal Telegraph.” The other tie-up was on “The Whirlwind of Youth,” the catch line being: ‘For a whirlwind of speed and service, always use Postal.” Charlot’s first Publix stage production goes into rehearsal next week and will open at the Metropolitan in Boston on July 2nd. : The title of Lottie Mayer’s act will be ‘‘Maid of the Mist.”’ This is slated to open a tour of the Publix Unit Houses at Boston June 25th. Princess Kohona got another great break in publicity at Des Moines this week. She is featured in the Boris Petroff production, ‘‘Egypt.”’ BARS SA PC RR HE See eR § Paramount...........New York City Winter Nights (Anderson)........... Laying Off POA iC WAG Oe cele eves bid oo 8 oie 0'b's webbie Metropolitan: ives» bo cca ees Boston te) OW COUPON D sidid-o aces 015 69 6s AIO Ss oboe bee oo oleg Buffalo, N. ¥. ches (Anderson).........eeeeeeees DEICRIR AN. o'vininio bhi eeie a Detroit, Mich. Vienna Life (Cambria).............. MSRICB Os 6. cco BA S.s oe Chicago, Ill. Birthstones, (Anderson)...........0.. AVOUS 515576 a'a0.3 4-3 so aos Chicago, Ill. Borrah Minevitch (Cambria)......... LIDLOWE at's sa aise eek Chicago, Ill. The Sampler (Anderson)............. Layo 36: Gaye) sic. SG sevice sce beebe® Way Down South (Cambria)......... Ambassador.......... St. Louis, Mo. Memory’s Garden (Anderson)........ NOWMAR ssc cs 055s Kansas City, Mo. WAMING: ADU eos cates te be eh at eee PIWACTE 5. 'iivis oie: poops Omaha, Nebr. Milady’s Perfumes (Anderson)....... GRDILO]) sa cielo Sewisiecclate Des Moines, Ia. Egypt (Petroff) .... 2.2 cece eee ee ee 2 eAVOR (1 WEEK)... 0. cease ae eee scene Stone Age Follies (Anderson)........ PAJRCO:.ssia vow secs ss soe Dallas, Tex. Alpine Romance (Cambria).......... bi > <2) Ree fi ner Oe San Antonio, Tex. Sea Chanties (Anderson)............. Metropolitan ......... Houston, Tex. Paper Revue (Petroff)............++SHON BCT aic.0 tics aussie ais N. Orleans, La. Venetian Glass (Anderson) .......... Loew’s Palace...... Memphis, Tenn. Under The, Brooklyn Bridge (Cambria) Sbetwiaes Riek Sk weles wees FLOW IPO: ie c00id swiss oo estas Atlanta, Ga. see, to turn oyt just as good an average picture, if not better, than those big producers who are now so set upon the production of road shows. ; There seems little doubt that the big theatre chains today dominate the industry. First the distributor dominated, then the producer gobbled up distribution and ran it to suit himself; now the theatre chains are in the driving seat. And—it strikes me—theirs is a vast responsibility. * * * The big producer today is out for the ownership of a thousand theatres, more or less, and makes no bones about it. With such an outlet he is guaranteed his negative and distributing cost. But that doesn’t end him of his worries by a long shot. In fact, it would seem to increase them—for— Those theatres have got to pay. They have got to pay above every other consideration. For the investment in them beats the investment in production and distribution. The stage theatre circuits were only booking circuits. The picture producer, through his ownership of theatres, nowadays, goes direct to the public with his wares. And those wares have got to be acceptable to the public. So that, apparently, theatre chains or no chains at all, the producer today is under heavier than ever obligations to turn out good pictures. Unless my brief argument here is full of holes it would seem as if Hollywood today needs the brightest show brains the industry affords, even at the expense of other branches. And that, since theatre suecess while primarily a matter of pictures is also one of management and advertising, in both these lines we need man power and facilities as never before.