Publix Opinion (Nov 22, 1929)

“YOU HAVE THE MERCHANDISE SELL IT! Vol. Ill Publix Theatres Corporation, It is a matter of common knowledge that strain. The coming December Profit-Drive of our man-power. | “Leave no stone unturned to help Publix maintain the high standing it holds in the world of theatres.” Publix S Opinion Published by and for the Press Representatives and Managers of PUBLIX THEATRES CORPORATION | SAM KATZ, President A. M. Botsrorp, Dr. Advertising Benjy. H. SzrKowIcH, Editor J. Atpert Hirscu, Associate Editor ; Contents Strictly Confidential EXPLAINING ONE FLOP! A few weeks ago, Your Editor was visiting at the desk of the City Editor of a daily newspaper in a 100,000 population town. A theatre manager came in, chirped “Hello!” to the City Editor and tossed a pressbook for “The Lady Lies” onto the desk, together with a few stills, mats and a copy of “PUBLIX OPINION.” . “You'll find all the dope on ‘The Lady Lies’ somewhere in this stuff,” blandly announced the theatre manager. “Just pick out what you want to use and throw the rest away!” he added, as he walked out. The city editor re-lit his pipe, and with a single motion of his foot (his feet were cocked up on the desk) he swept the whole pile of “The Lady Lies” selling material neatly into a huge waste-basket. oo “No brains and a lot of guts!” grunted the City Editor, to this writer., “Why the devil should I read thru all that stuff to, get the meat of it. If I did that, Ud never have time to do my own work or think about my own problems. If that guy expects me to do his sales-chores, he’s crazy!” Your Editor agreed. He also made it a point to watch the “sales effort” this manager had given his attraction. sisted merely of canopy copy, lobby posters, advance trailer, and a series of small ads that merely gave the theatre name an address, playdate, picture title and names of the stars. What a shame that he let his $1,250,000 theatre, and his $1,000,000 show take a seven day beating at the box office. We hope the manager will read this message and recognize himself before his district manager does. For his benefit, we'd like to offer these few elementary suggestions : 1. Pressbooks, manuals, and PUBLIX OPINION should never be given to newspapermen, Or taken from the theatre. They should be studied there, and typewritten material prepared from them. News copy should be double-space typing, on one side of the paper—and should be NEWS, not advertising. You're paid to do your own, thinking. News that benefits your enterprise must be prepared in such a manner as to be of minimum effort for the newspaper editors, if you expect them to use it. If you expect to tell your message to the thousands of newspaper readers, go about it as seriously as though you were addressing them orally from a platform. that merely announce are non-effective. alluring information and desire-creating and they'll sell tickets. For instance the names of the stars, and the name of the picture “Lady Lies” is not enough to sell tickets. You MUST say something in addition that gives a reader reasons WHY that attraction compels attendance. To become a thoroughly competent writer of advertising that sells, and publicity that is printable and convincing, requires as much thought, training and experience as it does to become a top-notch doctor or lawyer. You can’t expect to learn it in a minute, but you ean give it the respectful study and effort that its practice demands. These million dollar theatres and million dollar shows require equitable return on investment. That return can only be had by -gkillful and conscientious merchandising. We think it’s too big a job for amateurs—but if amateurs are to be developed and put in the position of making the effort, then Publix Opinion thinks they should be fully conscious in advance of the, responsibility that rests upon them. They should be guided by all available information and experience of others and not be hesitant about asking for help. Display ads Give enough enthusiasm to your ads, A ubilix The Official Vous of Publix It con| d| will be well to ey Paramount Building, a man’s true ability may best be judged by how he acts under a| as an illuminating commentary on __SAM KATY, President, Publix Theatres Corp. will serve — SOUND TIPS From Publix Department of Sound and Projection. HARRY RUBIN, Director SOUND BULLETIN No. 35 Grid Leak Trouble , The records show an increasing percentage of movietone troubles due to loose or dirty grid leaks in the P.E.C. amplifier. These grid leaks are arranged in, clips so as to be readily removable. Very high resistances of this sort are apt to be unreliable and to go bad suddenly. However, the arrangement has been found to lead to another sort of trouble, noisy sound, fading, loss of volume and even total loss of sound, due to the spring clips that hold the leaks losing their tension, or to dirt or oil. i The leaks can be seen on the left side of the movietone amplifier as you open the door. The one that connects to the lead from the photoelectric cell should be of half (0.5) megohm value. The other, which. is across the grid of the first tube of the amplifier, should be of ten meg value. Ten meg leaks are always marked, but sometimes the half megs are not. An unmarked leak can generally be taken to be a half megohm. If it is not a considerable difference of volume between the two machines will be noticed when a leak known to be a half meg is used in one and the unknown leak in the other. In case of movietone trouble, particularly noisy movietone, it| pay attention to these leaks. In searching for noise in movietone a good order of attack is 239A tubes, B batteries, and then grid leaks. From there to photoelectric cell, slit assembly telescope, exciting lamp, loose connections. This list does not in| elude sprocket-hole noise «due to the sound track being out of line, as that is usually identifiable at once by the character of the sound. While the leaks on occasion go bad, the chief trouble seems to be loosening of the clip tension. The clips can easily be bent to take a firm grip, to break off unless bent too often or too far. Dirt, AND PARTICULARLY OIL, between the clips and the leak itself can cause serious | j trouble. Simply rotating the grid leak in the clips will usually show up this source of noise. The leak should then be removed at the first opportunity and it and the clips carefully cleaned, and the clips adjusted for good tension. It is good practice, to keep a a TTA AT YOUR f NEW YORK | THEATRES @ WEEK OF NOV. 22 THEATRE PICTURE Paramount, Saturday Night Kid The Trespasser aul LE Bklyn Paramount, Welcome Danger Criterion ($2), TY HAL he Love Parade ANN l El priarianst New York, Week of November 22nd, 1929 ; and are not likely| ¢ SELL IT! FILE THIS! IT WILL HELP PLAN PROGRA service in every issue! Watch t Watch Publix Opinion for this trade papers LENGTH OF FEATURES Make for it, tool Record No. age Subject ist Nat'l 6287 MG: 5600 . 7150 6205 6100 5720 Painted Angel—7 reels (ONS) Ss hoc The Kiss—7 reels (S) Song of Kentucky—9 reels (AT) Battle of Paris—8 reels (CAL) Ae: Tamed Legs—8 reels (AT) Sacred Flame—7 reels (AT) (AT)—AIl Talking (S)—Synchronized ote aN ae ee Paramount RK Warner ~ LENGTH OF TALKING SHORTS PARAMOUNT se ey ae eee rt eC ce ea ee ae SOS Rae oh ancomst wanion eo nede Cece nmue ne eRe Ree lal ap sn sign helea! stalieh ene nerana er ee meen ence (oe 8 ne eeeee SABC ix xc SOCOM a OL woe eee et Stepping Out ear Neth na CEE BE ey aig 2s Se a Ne Lo A Song of Spain Length of Synchronous Shorts PARAMOUNT ERR Riles oak oon tehlon as otjetehewem ene a aehen 8) Sse one: COLUMBIA Hell’s Bells—(Disney Cartoon) Springtime— (Sound Cartoon) CASTLE AAC ONC ia a Ce ee a eg oe ere oeeeseoe so erieeveneene es, eae e506 Where Flowers Bloom. VISUGRAPHIC A Stitch in Time Length of Non-Synchronous Shorts PARAMOUNT News INO: 29. coaches tenet ees etn ree 880 few spare leaks These should be ordered from Elegtrical Research. In case of emergency, however, they can be secured from any store stocking radio supplies. mack Square Theatre. ‘“Trespasser” Places No Trespassing Signs Countless number of signs placed on the highways and in Publix Merrimack Sa., Sunday, Nov. 17.” I I a a a ila a aa IRE E INDEX _ Page Col. Merchandising December Drive Publix Forces Rally List of Prizes......¢++--es+° West Coast Activities......Paramount News Joins.....Hot Hunches and Tips.....Hot Hunches and Tips....--. Arthur Mayer’s Wire....-. Blue Mondays Remedies and Stunts.....-+. Thanksgiving. Hints Tie-up with School......--- Special Pictures Glorifying : American Girl... 5 Gold Diggers q Love Doctor Trespasser Moran & Mack Speedway Saturday Night Kid Hollywood Revue His Glorious Night Special Stunts Name Change Manual....... Umbrella Service Institutional Booklet Football Tie-up Free Newspaper Ad Radio Dealer Tie-up....----Planting Telegrams Magazine Markers Football Tie-ups Subscription Tie-up Moving Blilboard Talks.....Boosting Supper Shows....- SPECIAL STUNTS Holloween Stunt 3 Speech to Kiwanis......--.Clock Face in Ads......+.6 Music Radio News ...cccseceeecees Songs Featured in Pictures.. 2 Dave Rubinoff Scores....... 8 Kresge Song .Window....... Maintenance of Motors..... 4 Sound Tips 12 | General. Information Length of Features......---> Boost Sound News.....s+++s Pre-View Instructions. .....Meet the Boys..... Ketacace’efeveter Students Study Light..... Peters Ordering Lamps Color Chart Editorials New York Bookings ....-+.++ Lloyd Film Warning....... General News ‘Love Parade’ Opens ‘Trespasser Breaks_ Records. . Anniversary Show Mark.... Vallee’s Premiere ‘Virginian’ on Rampage A.M.P.A. Magazine Out Film Industry Survey % New Ft. Wayne Theatre.. Trailer Copy Wanted Movies are ‘News’ Movies are ‘News’ Movies are ‘News’ Critic Tips Press Agents... 11 4 eoocceee seen eoeeesesceosoores ft DO C169 CLOT OU eeoeeeoe eoneoese (s) eee coeese ote co 5° po rt 1 09 BO Ft bo 09 0-10 -O-10+-O-0:-@-20+-O8-O10° O10 O20" Projection Room Advice _ YOU HAVE THE _ MERCHANDISE 8 min. | 6 min, | 6 min, 11 min, | 8 min. | 10 min. | | ) Page Col NOH OC mm cocom in the booth., wooded sections of Lowell, Mas proved to be effective word { mouth advertising media for “TI Trespasser,” at the Publix Men Manager Nathan Silver plad the following copy on the sign “Trespasser Beware Before ¥ Trespass, See Gloria Swanson: Stariii O18 +-@-28 2-0-2 '-O-10'-@-10+-O10" O90" S109 H OO 0B 0-@-0Oe-@-0Oe-O-0-O-08¢-@ (x. the individual ability | | MS | h the | FootRunn’g | Time | 70 min, | 62 min. | 80 min. | 69 min, | 68 min. | 64 min. | No. Il