Publix Opinion (Apr 27, 1929)

* PUBLIX OPINION, ’ (LIVI LITT PPI LPI OPIS | Mr.Fool-Killer! This Way, Please If there is a fool-killer: available for duty in show business, he has ample opportunity now to get in a lot of double time work attending to the case of those creatures who make a livelihood from this industry—and then destroy public interest in theatredom by airing trade-secrets and stage-tricks to the press and public. LLLPV ITT? ONL LIV LPP PYYYYYVS SASATASS cA KARAAAATARAARAS YYVVYV VV VV VY VV YS LLLP rt “a'e's'a'o's's's'e's's'2 2999 KAARAAAL “Innocents of one of the box-office giants POVEPT “What!” you Real Showmen exclaim in amazement and horror. ‘Are there ahy such boobs ir: show business? ?” To which PUBLIX OPINION answers, loud, mad, and clear: ' “And How!!’ Who the simpletons are, no one seems to know. Suffice that newspapers, magazines, and even radio, day by day, disclose some trade secret or other that kills the illusion and newspaperporters from ) are wild ‘truth. They on is pre ee mactly as it piul stage play, latitude the akes possible. came famous KAA AAR ARAAARAAAAAAARARAAAAABAAAAAA “PARAMOUNT”’4 SUPER HITS ACE-HOUSES MP K ATZ —_—— | With the announcement that theatre in Omaha, and the almost! In addition to Des Moines are to be re-named | " . i “Paramount,” there seems to be re re horizon, in the opinion of Yr, Katz, Mr. Zukor, adopted by Publix executives for » Mr. Kent, the “ace” house in every other Mr. Botsford, who saw it in prepolitan” in Los Angles ‘was re-| View last week, at least bi named “Paramount,” which now three oth where thebest theatre in town is | power,—-are due soon, Publix “Paramount.” | Mr. Katz has seen “The Man I Paramount name 1s considered | LOVE,” “Cocoanuts,”’ “Burlesque,” worth more than it will cost in| and “Dr. Fu Manchu,” all of publicity campaign te re-establish the new name on the old stand in Mr, Katz, who is noted for not being extravagant in praise of | the palatial and famous “Riviera” equally noted “Capitol” theatre in, Paris,” likelihood that the iden will be Mr. Dembow, Mr. Chatkin, and Publix city. Recently the “Metro | | ers——s St Hidavek ctinilae dace gives Publix about twenty cities ers—super hits of similar drawing The established value of the each case for a new local ad and| which he Says are sensations public consciouszess. a Bartlet Cor e the screenar re-write edi‘American for ‘wrote “The though “Gentle* is * publicly glamour of some star, author, director or executive. | anything, Certainly there are “‘tricks” in show business. How else could the theatre go'on? But why expose the tricks? It’s like killing the goose that laid the golden eggs! What does it get the public, except disappointment, to know that Flossie Flounce is really tongue-tied and had to EVERY THEATRE iS IN DE LUXE CLASS NOW | (Continued from page 1) foes the limit in expressing himself about these four productions. In telling about them to Mr. Saal, Mr. Cowan and PUBLIX OPINION, he declared that if a $2 picture ever existed for a small town, “Burlesque” is the one. As for “Man I Love,” he KADAAAAARS grasp if we make the most of our|repeated what he said in a teleopportunity. |gram published i i a he “I do not want a showman in| d in the last issue. the circuit who is unable to visual| ize this, or who, for any reason, does not do his bit to make the most of it. This applies to soundequipment manipulation. It applies to the weekly forwarding of have a double to sing for her in her latest box office success? Why tell the public about the complex, mechanistic secrets of your sound+equipment to spoil for them what would otherwise be a romantic and realistic illusion? A ithored by Ward ly it was written jewspapermen ® toss of a coin \e )should be used | “Dr. Fu Manchu’’ is the most Overwheiming mystery play that I have ever seen,” he declared. “Aside from the story, which hurls you into climax after climax and leaves you breathless, the KAAAAAARAARAS BSS . It’s sad, but true that there are “managers,” and “press agents” and “performers” and “showmen” who go about spilling trade-secrets and spoiling box office returns whach AR “motion picture, | s sat-in with) KABAAAL progress rs of “Gentlemen fr. Cormack, to) sentation of re gripping. ® Richard Watts, id-Tribune; John N. Y. Sun; WilN Y. World, and ; s, Mark Bar“Tribune and ates in At:| pa is Chief of | x., Morehouse) h, Ga., Watts) nd Keefe news-| and Minne-| Man in the above’ at es the quintet) @ great big hand. their commotion || @ reason to} the press, here) Mnvite all of the) pf the newspapers | “in your sales-| md see it—-even leatre at one per-| fo it far in ad-! ydate. Be sure} iment-cards, ask-| write his name} ply, and give) ecard for dis-| sther with what) the play. Thus) lecal adyanceyour attraction to| 1 ADVANCE AD y Orleans manmous-Lasky = itedly request| € your managers | ove rs not) és in the sound fe sound is n. € y are con“80, and are ap-| @ these reels tohis office follow-, , she ws that evm one to two ) IT will ask you ‘to caution ce more » reels in hs. as each patch Ml atton of from of film. : > i I be glad to/§ Pi FEEEEERSD SOAS ELOS OSSD SSELESIOIESEL gives them bread-and-butter. Fortunately, Publix showmen cannot be accused of this sort of boobery. On the contrary, Publix showmen are found most frequently protecting the industry. From seyeral Publix sources, in fact, comes the news that when editors have been told the plain facts about the business, and apprised of the disastrous effect upon the box office caused by attempting to tell the “how” instead’ of “what,” the most astute journalists refuse to publish these “exposes.” More power to the Publix showmen who thus enlighten the press! More power to the sane editors who realize the economic value the successful theatre has in their community, and do all they can to keep it successful! More power to those who refuse to be kill-joys! BOOSTING THE GROSS! This attractive booth .in the magnificent lobby of the New York Paramount blends perfectly with the beauty of the environment and yet serves to materially swell the receipts of the theatre by the sale of sheet music, records and books on the pictures shown there. Furthermore, an effective method is provided for plugging coming attractions, SE ZELADI SEL ASESSEL SSSA program-plots. It applies to program building! It applies to merehandising the’programs in the intelligent, convincing manner| that the facts warrant. “Our new Publix slogan is | Every Publix Theatre Is Now A/} De Luxe Theatre And Every Publix Showman is now a De| Luxe Showman! Anyone in| Publix whe fails to visualize) this, and act accordingly, does | not belong in the new parade of | progress that Publix is starting. The march of progress has al jready started in such operations las San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Omaha, Des Moines, Birmingham, Atlanta, and other towns where we have replaced silent pictures and stage talent with stupendous programs — great fea‘ture pictures surrounded by programs of brief star-units created | by all of the finest genius in the theatrical world. “Our new selling energy is in; terms of de luxe showmanship in | ALL theatres, for these great attractions that we now have, and} are to come. I have seen some of the new product and it thrills me as no entertainment before has! ever done. Maurice Chevallier in | ‘Innocents of Paris’’ is destined to be one of the biggest box-office | magnets the theatre has ever had. With Publix showmanship it is | going to be sold into the greatest }of all successes. “In Portland, Seattle and San Francisco, our new policy of huge | entertainment programs has re-| placed the stage-band policy. Overnight this move has regis gre in direction and playwriting, as well as mechanical recording, is amazing. The story opens in China during the Boxer revolt. A dozen nationalities fo}low the thread of the romance and there is opportunity for everything that it takes to give an audience something to go out talking about.” BLUE? THEN READ ABOUT THIS JOB If you think your job of selling theatre merchandise is tough, conSider the job that daily stares into the face of Emil Stern, Walter Immerman, Herbert Elisburg, Abe Kaufman, and E. M. Glucksman who have the responsibility on their shoulders of making money for the Lubiner & Trinz circuit of neighborhood “second-run” theatres in Chicago. This circuit, a |Subsidiary of Balaban & Katz Publix, consists of all sorts of “theatres” in all sorts of neighborhoods. Their best theatres are too close to the ace Publix neighborhood houses, and their entertainment is nearly always second or third or fourth-run even in their own neighborhood. Newspaper advertising is out of the question for these theatres because it costs too much, and consequently, newspaper publicity is something that can rarely be ob tered a success that surpassed the | strongest kind of opposition. We} had “Broadway Melody” and | “Show Boat’ against us, but our| programs got more public interest and praise, and we topped the opposition. We told the public what | we had, and we had programs that were built up to towering entertainment proportions. Each unit of the program, non-syne features, shorts, comedies, etc., built up audience-interest higher and higher, climaxing into a breathless enthusiasm for the start of the feature. ) “Por your guidance, as soon as} possible, PUBLIX OPINION will} print the program-plots and trailer | copy that helped toj get these re-| sults. i “The success of the manager and} showman of the future is going to be revealed in terms of his ingenuity displayed in program-planning and selling. His use of the available non-synchronous and synchronized entertainment, his equipment manipulation, and his sales-effort are now his major resources. His district manager and district booker, and the resources of his Home Office are always available to him for advice,—an aid he can have for the asking. If he would have the suceess that others are enjoying, all that is a is the exertion 0 mind and body that brought that success to others. | kid-club, tained. The advertising budget is tiny for each theatre, and the slogan is: “If it costs money it’s out!” 3 The theatres, however, have to operate and make a profit, and that means WORK. With the astute William K. Hollander sitting in as general sales counsel, and through benefit of other Balaban & Katz executive counsel and information, the job is lightened somewhat, but it still represents an Hereulean task. Getting out a daily free full-page tieup ad throw-away for each house that neighborhood merchants pay for, and that are distributed by each theatre’s own is one successful routine idea. Trick-fronts, and lobbies, neighborhood perambulators, and other methods, constitute the main source of sales idea. The theatres are doing well, however, ;due to the effort, ingenuity and showmanship of the. organization. ‘Herbert Elisburg, as Director of Advertising and Publicity is doing a great job in providing workable ideas and “bullets” that don’t cost money, and the men in each theatre put them over.