Reel and Slide (Mar-Dec 1918)

32 REEL and SLIDE "Close-Ups" of Screen Leaders (No. I) "The best advertisement in the world will never be written because moving pictures are the superlative advertising medium and exceed the limitations of any pen." — Watterson R. Rothacker. By Lyne S. Metcalfe SOME years ago, when the American public was being treated to_ its first "canned drama," an advertising man, who was particularly wideawake, saw _ in moving pictures a tremendous selling power. He did not find many others in the advertising business of the same opinion, but he believed he was right and he proceeded to pioneer by making a study of the subject. He who had been selling merchandise by the cold, written word, saw in the screen a living "argument to buy." He saw the clothes we wear and the food we eat and the houses we live in — the whole huge world of production and consumption utilizing this amazing new force as the "master salesman"^the silent but potent and convincing "representative" who never grows tired or who goes to the eventual waste basket like the printed word. This man was Watterson R. Rothacker, president of the Rothacker Film Manufacturing Company of Chicago, the greatest power in the industrial film industry today. Mr. Rothacker, in the last 8 years, has proven the truth of his beliefs of a decade ago. He has seen the industrial film business and his own business grow to proportions never deemed possible even by the first pioneer — himself. To-day he talks of film by the million feet ; to-daj' he operates a plant which no film magnate fails to visit and inspect when he lands in Chicago. A Busy Man? Look Here! I found the leading specialist in screen advertising at the helm of the biggest industrial studio laboratory in the world — a moving picture plant that reflects the experience and self confidence of a man whose dream has been realized — and who has proven himself big enough not to ^4l»l*6 grow with his time, but to always keep just a little ahead of his time, making an exact science of his specialty, and directing the multitudinous activities of what has come to be recognized as the most efficiently managed studio of its kind in the world. My first impression of the man who penned the motto at the head of this article, a motto which sums up his attitude toward the screen, was the amazing orderliness everywhere apparent. Most of us who frequent studios have come to look upon them as "palaces of waste" and monuments of disorder. But not so in the mammoth plant in Chicago. Mr. Rothacker's office rug, his polished furniture, his well-lighted room, the nifty neatness of papers are only the beginning of a s}'stem which extends to the shipping rooms in the rear of the building. Yet, one feels that there are big things transpiring behind the huge walls of this place. And there are — always. Many important decisions concerning industrial film production have been made therein. Mr. Rothacker, known far and wide as "Watty" among the big men in the film and advertising game, besides managing the biggest industrial film laboratory in the world, finds time to accomplish a few other things — yes, quite a few. Just at present he is, among other things, on the National Cinema Commission, of George Creel's bureau, engaged in the interesting job of gathering educational and industrial film subjects on America to be shown abroad, through the Y. M. C. A. and other organizations. He is a member of the War Cooperation Commission, appointed with Mr. William A. Brady, by the National Association of the Motion Picture Industry. He is chairman of the Studio Committee of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers. ■ He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Motion Picture Department of the American Red Cross and was first vice-president of the Motion Picture Board of Trade. These indicate just a few of Mr. Rothacker's activities in the really important modern movements in the world of film. A Little More History Mr. Rothacker was the first and is one of the few experienced and successful advertising men who have turned their attention to motography as a powerful educational force, as well as an unequaled selling medium. The industrial pictures he has directed and manufactured have made screen advertising history. Here are a few of the national advertisers from whom he has acted as a specialist in {>in screen advertising: Du •••• Pont Powder Co., Pos tum Cereals, Hart, Schaft'ner & Marx, Winchester Arms, C, B. & Q. Railway, H. J. Heinz Co., Imperial Oil Co., General Fireproofing Co., United States Gypsum Co., Kewanee Boiler Co., Ritter Dental Manufacturing Co., Underwriters' Laboratories, State of Illinois, Wilson & Co., Mayer Bros., Armour & Co., W. G. Sou The Longest in the Business Tom Phillips 5728 State Street, Chicago Maker of SLIDES For Every Purpose Service With a Personal Touch