Publix Opinion (Jun 20, 1930)

8 ties of their staffs. “No one is going to be criticized,” Grove said, “if business is bad on some particular attraction, providing an honest and intelligent effort has been made in laying out a campaign to put the attraction over. But we certainly are going to be blamed if the attractions are not properly sold and houses are not properly operated. It is certain that this cannot be done by sitting in an office and ‘passing the buck’ to some junior executive to carry on your work.” Grove’s questionnaire, as forwarded to Publix Opinion by Divisional Director Arthur L. Mayer, is as follows: Am I preparing ad campaigns two weeks in advance? Am I giving proper time and thought to the preparation of these campaigns? Am I preparing newspaper ads two weeks in advance? Am I properly checking, rechecking and studying these ads for the sales value? Am I having the assistant manager study these ads? Am I carefully watching the proofs to see that the set-up is correct, that the copy is right, that the dates and the time of the shows are strongly emphasized? Am I laying out the copy for the art department ten days in advance? Am I giving proper thought to the selling copy, and to the layout in regard to legibility in the copy? Am I using stills in displays to their best advantage? \ Am I watching the dates on displays in my lobby? Is it an easy matter for an entire stranger to quickly ascer | tain the play date of any pic' ture in the lobby? Am I checking posting and _ Jjithographing to see that I am ,, getting the full value for the money spent? Am [I taking proper advantage of window displays and merchant tie-ups? Am I properly checking the ' killing of all displays the moment the picture completes its play, or do I have old displays in windows after a picture has gone? Do I personally see that every campaign is started and completed, or do I turn this over fo some junior executive with no further check up, and if the stunt is not completed or if the job is not properly carried out, do I “‘pass the buck” to him? Am I watching trailer copy? Am I getting teaser trailers on the screen far enough in advance? Have I organized the various departments, so that they thoroughly know exactly what their duties are? Do TI check on that daily and hourly, so that I know they are efficiently carrying out their duties, and following my instructions? Am I watching .the appearance of the front of my theatre—secing that there are no burned-out Jamps? Do I see that my lights are turned on—and off—at the proper time? Do I watch the cleanliness in front of the theatre, as well as other parts of the theatre? Do I watch the ventilation, or do I leave it to the judgment of some usher? } : Am I properly supervising the sound in my theatre? | Do I give as much attention a fs a sie PUBLIX OPINION, WEEK OF JUNE 20rn, 1930 to the importance of cueing on all pictures, so that the operators have a proper guide for the operation of their equipment? Do I watch every first show in my theatre to check up on] my Own cues, and make corrections on every fault? Do I step into the auditorium three or four times each hour to personally check the sound? Have I trained my sound observer properly, so that he has the proper ability to judge whether or not the sound is right? Do I do all of these things all of the time, or do I just do these things when I know my divisional director or division in adjoining colizmn.) stag 1 > & y no ” ti oes r te = epee manager will be in to check up In other words, amla on me? grandstander? “Let’s apply this questionnaire to ourselves,’”’ urges Grove, ‘‘and operate our theatres on a one hun __“VIEET THE BOYS!”— Know YOUR ORGANIZATIO AT CONEY ISLAND! The new “Paramount Talking Board” display on the boardwalk of Coney Island which is viewed by 2 million people daily. (See story The 24 sheet seem om the left advertises the current attraction at the Brooklyn Paramount, while the display on the right exploits Paramount Publix everywhere. Robert Weitman is manager of the theatre and Maurice Bergman is publicity director. & anf ~/ . Pamet ee 4 dred percent basis every day. The. men supervising our efforts will know it as well as if they were making personal visits to each theatre every day, because it is bound to be reflected in grosses.’’ CHARLES KARR Charles stationed Karr, District Booker in Phoenix, Arizona, was born in Longview, T \e7x a a. attend ing public schools there until he was 14, and selling papers every eveTints 3) eo) AG 16 he went'to Dallas, going to work as cashier in his uncle’s theatre. Six monthsof 1923 were spent at business college. Upon compil 6.b i n ‘2 his course Karr joined Paramount in the Dallas accounting department. For a year he worked at accounting and in the Ad Sales and Booking Departments. When Paramount Started the Ad Sales Coaches out, Karr was transferred back to that department, continuing there until Feb., 1926, when he was promoted to the post of Ad Sales Manager in San Antonio. Karr joined Publix, in the publicity department of the Metropolitan, Houston, the latter part of 1929. Within a few weeks he was appointed assistant manager, continuing until March 265, 1930, when he was made District Booker in Phoenix. HARRY BLAKE, JR. Harry W. Blake, Jr., manager of the Strand Theatre in Cheyenne, Wyom-—,| ing, _ started jin the mo‘| tion picture business as booker in the Midwest Film Exchange in Kansas City, in 1924. After several years in the exchange Blake was placed in charge On x road shows, with Towa |} and Northern i] Missouri as j| his territory. “Followin ge this he managed several Midwest Theatres, He joined boi oe in 1929, remaining in training at the Newman Theatre, Kansas City, for several months. When Publix acquired the Electric cirete ee was sent to Spring. Oo, @8S manager of the Electric there. * Within a short time Blake was transferred to the Kansas City district office as assistant to the district advertising and publicity director. With the opening of the Strand and Paramount Theatres in Cheyenne, Blake was sent there as manager of the Strand, Charles Karr Harry Blake, Jr. NEWTON BRUNSON “A home talent show put on by the Elks in my home town, bure, Ss. Cs? says Newto LE PH eb Wy os: ae Po OF manager of tne ay 1 mm a Tn 6'a..t 71 ee; i} Yuma, Arizfil ona, ‘‘started ‘| me in show i|business. !} After enacting the role of Nanki Poo in ‘The Mikado,’ I decided that being an actor, regardless of how bad, would be my life’s work, After c 0m Walser tuly high school and two years at Staunton u\', i tae Gm Gn ar: Fae ang Academy, organized a comedy quartette and worried agents in New York, until finally, when we had spent our last dime at the Automat, one got us a date. Worked (off and on) until war was declared, joined the aviation corps and took charge of the entertainment unit in my company. Only flying I did was to and from the mess hall. After the war joined Frank Tinney’s Atta Boy Company, then Gus Hill’s Honey Boy Minstrels, landing in the West. Played in musical comedy until Mr. Harry L. Nace showed me that the handwriting was on the wall for vaudeville, and gave me a job as doorman at the Columbia, Phoenix. Opened the Rialto, Winslow, and then came to Yuma.” CARLOS FRIAS Carlos Frias, manager of the Ellanay Theatre, IE) Paso, Texas, received his education in the city in which he is now stationed, fraduating from Palmore College there in 1917, Te entered the motion picture business immediately, and in the same theatre which he | NOW manages, beginning as a2 bookkeeper in 1918. Since that time he has occupied almost every position ion every theatre in 1 Paso; in the past twelve years he has been manager at various times of the Bllanay, the Palace, the Texas Grand, and the Wigwam, all in Il Paso. In 1927 Frias attended the Saenger Managers’ Training School which was conducted at Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, by John F. Barry. He has been a member of the El Paso Lions Club for the past six years, Newton Brunson Frias Carlos nc ean a Fe ry ee aT . —_ = JERRY P. BLY Jerry P. Bly, manager of the Nile Theatre in Mesa, Arizona, began h as programboy at the Gennett The“Seajatre, Rich — j}m on d, Indimemiana, in 1912. wai W hen (the mtheat _/jjand named = {the Washing‘jjton, in 1913, , j|Bly continued * las relief »-jj}cashier and ; iidoorman. The jjstage claimed j/him next, and 4ifrom 1917 to 1919 he was ~ fi property man : at the Washington. Bly went to 101k, Ssinine : Oining & Nace at that time and returning to the frortt of the house. Until 1926 he was emPloyed in various capacities, among them handling reserved Seat sales. For several months during this period he managed the Rialto Theatre in Tucson. In 1926 Bly was appointed manager of the Nile and Majestic Theatres in Mesa, for Rickards & Nace Menhennett Theatres, Inc. He continued in this capacity pene Due Es Majestic be m ublix eatres, o ber ist, 1929. cee Jerry P. Bly Rickards JOHN P. READ John P. Read, City Mana er in Colorado Springs, Colo., Sea born in Temple, Texas, and attended Texas A, & M. College ion 1916 and 1917, leaving in December to join the U. S. Army Air Service, He was discharged as a reserve military aviator on April 1, 1919, . Read joined Southern En| terprises in Nov., 1921, as | aT pak ee assistant ager Austin, he te age Galveston, in Sept., 1922, Tremont, ager of the estine, Tex in : supervising Tittle Rock, Royal and Rialto Springs was Read's next Ser pn ment, first as manager of the Ri alto, and in Dec., 1928 a y Manager, i ASAE ee APPLY THIS QUIZ FOR SELF-ANALYSIS! MEASURE MERCHANDISING — ‘AND OPERATING EFFICIENCY District Manager H. D. Grove, supervising theatres in Rock Island, Moline and Davenport, has supplied his. managers with a questionnaire for checking themselves on organization and activi GIGANTIC BOARD FOR RESORT CROWDS A huge display board, 180 feet long by 28 feet high, towering 75 feet above the Coney Island crowds, has been constructed and equipped with the latest radio re. ceiving set and record reproducing device to entertain the daily mij =“! |lions of this popular resort and also to advertise Paramount pictures and Publix theatres, The amplifiers, which may be heard for a distance of a half mile, are assisted in attracting attention by the immense “Para. mount Talking Board,” ‘which is. visible for about three quarters of a mile. This display is brilliantly illuminated by powerful] lights. More than 100 gallons of paints and oils were used in painting the gigantic display board. At the boardwalk endof the ‘Paramount Talking Board,” a 24 sheet framed poster panel tells. passing prospective patrons of the current program at the Brooklyn Paramount Theatre. This panel is changed weekly. The license tags of thousands of automobiles parked nearby indicate that they come from all over the United States and Canada, guaranteeing nation-wide distribution of Paramount. Publix leadership. The ‘‘Paramount Talking Board” is the only board of its kind ever built. Try this stunt at local Amusement centers with the aid of a portable pho-nograph, radio set, etc. Split cost with park or merchant, Straw Hat Season Opens _ With a Bang in Detroit Art Schmidt’s publicity staff in Detroit took a tip from the Publix Opinion Reminder Calendar, and opened the straw hat season with a bang. Organized a luncheon for hat merchants at the Book-Cadillac Hotel on May 15th, followed by a parade to the City Hall, where Sammy Dibert, Rt viera Theatre M. C., presented one of the city officials with a straw. Newspapers and newsreel photogs covered the stunt. Straw hat window display material on Maurice Chevalier, built around the special hanger from the Paramount exchange, wére distributed to all the dealers at the luncheon, Results, over oné hundred window displays, pictures and stories in dailies, and news reels, Valentino Contest Serves As Picture Revival Build-up Neighborhood theatres of thé Publix Greater Talkie circuit Detroit planned a series of Valeatino revivals, and got the Detroit Daily to run a “Valentino Succes” sor” contest for a week as a build uD. Ballots were printed from day to day together with pictures possible successors. To tie in with contest, theatre® Staging revival ran two one-column three-inch ads, at a total cost | of $14.40 and some passes. benefit of contest was gratis sin¢® theatres do not tun daily advertis 4 ing in the paper. ORGANIST MOVES ver Theatre, Denver, has a transferred to the Worth Theatr Fort Worth, Texas, as featur’ organist, ° iS ee? 2 ee, ee, hae ee pus me _ Billy Muth, formerly at the Dea y