Publix Opinion (Feb 14, 1930)

2 TONG TRAILERS| ARE SERIOUS MENACE (Continued from. Page One) sation he had with a prominent business man who seldom misses 4 show at the best theatres and whose first comment was “Why don’t you fellows cut out those announcement things? I arrange to come to the theatre fifteen minutes after starting time so that I will not have to sit through them.” Mr. Botsford points out that the trouble, in most cases, lies not with the legitimate news interest and entertaining: announcements of coming attractions, but rather with the interminable local appendages which cannot help but bore and discourage the audience. Over-use of Screen “In our emphasis about the extreme advertising value of our screens in selling our coming shows’, declared Mr. Botsford, “sre we not leading our theatres into an over-use, Or an incorrect use of the screen with coming attraction trailers? With the tre‘mendous selling value of the kereen, such stress has been placed on advertising trailers that many of our theatres are not only carrying sound trailers on the following week’s attractions, but are concluding the trailer presentation with a series of frames about individual acts, cartoons, ete. in addition to which our theatres frequently run on their trailers tieup copy such as the recent ‘‘Shop and mail early’’ campaign, plus infrequently, New Show World trailers, plus miscellaneous copy on December Drives, plus other local messages having to do with selling. In addition to this the managers are many times required to write copy introducing the sound trailers, to, I suppose, lend a sort of personal touch to the trailer presentation. . “Now put yourself in the place of a patron of the theatre who is ‘confronted with this immensely long advertising message from the screen either in one dose or distributed through the program between various units. Double Evil “In the case of our houses playing split week policy, all this long trailer story is double. Just how much this boring repetition and over-attempt at selling lessens the admission value of the show is something that merits our serious study. I believe there is a definite reaction on the part of the public against this tremendous trailer drive and that we are weakening our sales messages by attempting to do too much. “Tt takes skilled men to prepare trailers with entertainment value. Roughly speaking, the sound trail‘ers on coming attractions are of ‘more entertainment value than ‘our attempts at writing additional copy selling these shows. “In attempting to tell our en‘tire story on the screen, the net result is we are saying nothing that remains in the minds of the patron and leads him to want to come back to buy a ticket for the next show. In fact, just the opposite effect is being had. The pa PUBLIX OPINION, WEEK OF FEBRUARY 14th, 1930 ACCIDENTAL PHOTO Lew Nathan, official photographer for Publix in New York, found this sign on the dictionary in Ye Ed’s office, and “shot” it. Then someone sold it to us as a “food-for-thought-feature” for the paper. He’s right, if you let your imagination go for a ride thru this picture. A MULE CANNOT POLL WHILE HE 18 KICKING=. NEITHER CAN ANY-ONE oF os! When to Work If you are poor—work. If you are rich—continue to work. Tf you think you arc not getting a square deal —work. If you are getting a square deal—work. If you are happy, —through work. keep right on being happy’ If you are not happy—work—for happiness. If disappointment comes—work. When faith falters and reason fails—just work. When dreams are shattered and hopes seem dead—work, Work faithfully—and work with faith, .* Work is a real tonic. It’s good for the body, good for the mind—and good for the soul. D9 Be D2 o-O-Oe-B-9 Oe-SOe Oe -O82-9 Os SOD °O?-S 82S Oo otice . The Technicolor trailer on “The Vagabond King’ will be ready in plenty of time. National Screen Service has 93 prints of it right now and further deliveries of prints will follow regularly from now on. The trailer is 325 feet long in its present form — and is a knockout in every way. You ought to rehearse this trailer in advance so as to determine the _ proper volume of sound to put on it when it is run. Our experience with the trailer, after running it some twenty or thirty times over a period of weeks, is that it is more effective when stepped up somewhat louder than) the operator normally would run it. This is especially true of the opening scene and the duet ‘“‘Only A Rose.’’ It also makes ‘‘The Song of the Vagabonds’’ come out with a terrific punch. A. M. BOTSFORD 09-000 O10 0-O-1 02-1 Oo S-1Oe-O-O-O-9O9O02 D9 O+ GS 2 O°-O-+ Oe -@ Os O1Ge-S+O+-O--O+-B-2OsOO OOO O' SOs S O'S O° OO O -~-D-9B 0-0 Bs -H-o B 0-H O eHO s-H9 O 1-2 O0-H-1Oe-S-2 GH °-S0 Oe-G2 Os-D0G sG2 He-H-Oe-S-9Os-D-+G*-D + O*-S + O-G 9 GsOOo G+ O°-D+G:-O0O:-H 0B -S-0O+-S-O2B+ O°-S'O*-B 9-H O*OOO O*-O+O:-S+G+SG: 4 Barutio Manages N. Y. Paramount Stephen L. Barutio, formerly |manager of the Rialto, New York, PROFITS INSURED BY COST CONTROL (Continued from Page One) is engaged in fixing the responsibility for expenditures on the people who spend money. “Tt is the experience of every business man,’ Mr. Dembow stated, ‘‘to find that sales expenses rise faster than they ought to. To counteract this, we have instituted cost control. We can thus tell, day by day, that we are getting a dollar’s worth of results for every dollar we spend, and if not we know just how the loss occurred and who was responsible. “Not only will this result in increased efficiency on the part of every member of the organization, but it will find itself reflected in increased business and strength for Publix and in greater opportunities for everybody connected with it.” tron is beginning to resent the interminable trailer copy which occupies our screens. ‘It is time for us to begin to plan a happy medium on this trailer situation and the matter should be taken up seriously on the ground that at present, I think we are over-doing our trailer copy.”’ PLEASE!! ONE must contribute. helpful material. and photos. his proper credit. eee eee UOC MUTI UMOTLTII porters for Publix Opinion. = UNNNUAAUT By express request from Mr. Katz, preceding any and all others, the privilege is not only extended, but it is definitely ordered that everyone, and anyone on the Publix rolls consider himself as a duly authorized correspondent and contributor to the company’s official paper—YOUR paper—the paper that YOU create’ and cause to be. : To insure its usefulness, and hence its continuance, EVERY We don’t want poetry or platitudes. to wade through a ton of useless verbiage to get a grain of Write your contribution as you would write a news-story, and accompany it wherever possible with newspaper clippings, Give everyone connected with the item you send, The most valuable contributions are those experiences which by publication will offer illumination to others who might find themselves facing the same situation. : Remember, YOU are one of the editors Sl Ih THANKS !! Also, we don’t want i and one of the re AMUN TAU UT TT Fil DEVELOP YOUR POTENTIAL TRADE: (Continued from Page One) fort is being made in Publix to get this business? Have we penetrated deeply and exhaustively enough into the schools and colleges? Are we contacting every literary and dramatic club, social clubs, fraternities and every other similar organization that each town contains? “The recent trend of manu facturing in the South has converted many of the towns there, formerly dependent upon a rural trade for its support, into thriving industrial centers.° The population has increased tremendously. Here, as well as in the larger metropolitan centers whose backbone is the manufacturing industry ;—have we gone directly into the mills and assured ourselves of their ‘vast employed’ trade? Have we carefully analyzed all the resources of a town and harnessed them to our business? “These are the questions which every showman must ask himself and must eventually answer in the affirmative if he is going to keep abreast of the times. “It has always been one of our main selling points that a Publix theatre is a community center. |The many benefits which a Publix theatre brings to a community are self-evident, and have often been repeated. The time has come for some hard, concentrated thinking on how to make the theatre enjoy every possible benefit from the community. That,’’ concluded Mr. Katz, “is the problem that I want every Publix showman . to tackle. Until every activity in every Publix town is definitely represented in terms of patronage of Publix theatres, I shall not con-| ¥ sider that problem solved.” has been transferred to the Paramount, succeeding E. T. Leaper, who succeeds J. C. Strock as supervisor of Front house operation for the New York theatres. G. Coats, succeeds Barutio as manager of the Rialto. DISTRICT HEADS “BENEFIT AT SESSION (Continued from Page One) of valuable knowledge and clarity of view-point which they con sider helpful from a practical. theatre operating basis. When, backed by this knowledge, they return to their posts and disseminate some of _ their newly-acquired ideas to the men. in the field, the benefits which their operations will enjoy will be impossible to over-estimate, according to the district managers. “Judging by the _ individual reactions of the men attending the District Managers’ Session,’’ declared Mr. Dembow, ‘‘it is safe to predict that the purpose of the meetings, as originally conceived by the Home Office executives responsible for the plan, will be more than fulfilled. The elimination of waste alone, in time, effort and money, which will result from the district managers’ intimate knowledge of and functions of the various Home Office departments, justifies the sessions. This is only one of the innumerable benefits derived from the course. ) “The spirit and interest displayed by the men have been splendid. I feel certain that the First District Managers Session will serve as a shining example for all those which are to follow.” The Opera House in Augusta, Me., is slated to go under a complete re-construction and re-modeling process. Work on this project will begin at the end of this month. FIGHT WEATHER JINX! Here is an ecxellent example of copy which combats bad weather. This reproduction of a two-column Denver Theatre newspaper ad illustrates an unusually effective treatment of the bad-weather problem. Minimizing the cold weather, it sells tickets to the current pro gram at the same time. Don’t Let the Cold & Nae 0 Weather Cheat You] of Seeing One of the Year’s Greatest Shows! Due to the lengthof this huge program no features repeated. Shows at (1:00) (3:40} (6:40) (9:20) The trip down may be a little cold, but don’t let that stop you! The thrills, action, romance and adventure In the all-talking screen hit, “DEVIL MAY CARE,” featuring RAMON NOVARRO, will make your trip a most enjoyable one: co TED MACK and the Denver Stage Band. in “THE VELVET REVUE” offer you one of the most elaborate and entertaining stage programs ever presented. The cast includes Deagon & Cannefax, John Quinian Walter Walters & Co., Blair & Thornton and the Mary Reade Ballet. FRED SCHMITT 4&as arranged a spectacular production overture, titled “CHINESE IMPRESSIONS.” BILLY MUTH offers “MUSIC IN THE HAIR,” an organ novelty. | ‘Paramount Sound News, the eyes and ears. of the world, rounds out this great program. DENVER ALWAYS A GREAT SHOW! the organization —