Reel and Slide (Jan-Sep 1919)

12 REEL and SLIDE ■«MMii|1]rnii«niiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiMiiimrimiiiii[iniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniinmiiiiiiniiiiiimniiininiiiimiiiiin iimimmnmniimninr Ad Slides — Good and Bad A Department of Criticism, Edited for Reel and Slide Magazine by Jonas Howard imimfflMMi!iffliim'iim^™i|||"m^^ OXE thing that is certain to impress the thoughtful person when considering theater lantern slide advertising is the general policy of trying to tell an advertising "story" in space designed to . comfortably accommodate fifteen words and to be read in as many seconds. Undoubtedly, the most successful advertising slides have been those that contained not more than ten words and often less. The slides offer only a flash. This department is in receipt of the following in a letter from G. W. Gauthier, manager of the Chicago office of the Victor Animatograph Company, a concern long noted for its excellent screen material : "There are two reasons why the slide has an advantage over most advertising mediums in certain lines of business — small cost per thousand readers and effectiveness." Now, small cost does not largely influence the really important advertiser. Effectiveness is of much concern. A slide will reach 1,000 theater patrons more cheaply than the same amount spent in a daily newspaper. But, unless the slide copy is prepared for the screen expressly, it is doubtful whether such is the case. It is largely a matter of carefully considering the conditions under which both mediums are read. The theater patron merely gets a flash, but must see the slide whether he will or 'no: the newspaper reader decides whether he will read the ad or not, but he has more time. If you have the attention of the newspaper reader your ad has served its purpose and the chances are he will read further. The slide needs no attention-getting element : the screen furnishes that. Therefore, we say, keep your slide copy simple and under ten words. Don't try to catch the eye by freak stunts ; rather try to impress — to hold the attention after the slide has been withdrawn. That is why slogan advertising is the ideal slide copy. * * * We reproduce here a slide made for the Brunswick Balke Collender people by Victor recently and widely distributed just prior to Christmas. Note the screen effectiveness of the slogan. "The utmost in gifts." With this is tied up the local dealer*s announcement. The absence of copy on this slide gives it real selling value. It expresses the spirit of the season, carries out well the idea of the Brunswick Phonograph and is certain to prompt a percentage of those who see it to buy. Here we have the combination of national publicity for the manufacturer, direct advertising for the local dealer and a timely reader appeal. This slide lacks the "cheap" art work which so often spoils a campaign of this kind. The picture tells the story plainly. Anybody can get the various elements at a mere glance. * * * We understand that the Du Pont people have placed a large slide order with the Standard Slide Company of New York, for immediate execution. The Du Pont Company has long been an important believer in and practical use of lantern slides. Incidentally, these are busy days around the big, new offices of the Standard Company, occupying the Slide Building right off Broadway. This company is a combination of four of the biggest and best known slide houses in the United States. * ♦ + Reed Brothers of Cortland, New York, well-known raisers of cabbage and cabbage seed for the farmers of the United State-, have found a novel use for slides. Mr. E. N. Reed of that firm is delivering a series of lectures on cabbage raising and cabbage seed, under the auspices of his company. Mr. Reed is using a set of slides owned by his company quite effectively, lecturing personally before groups of farmers at Chautauqua and community meetings. Another concern in a widely different field to find the lantern slide of great use is the General Railway Signal Company. Mr. S. M. Day of that company recently made an illustrated talk on "Alternating Current Signals and Signalling" before the Rochester, N. Y., section of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. Signal installations made by that company are screened before special groups. Swift & Co., Chicago packers, have employed Mr. M. Whiton as a lecturer to talk on the Swift packing plant, using stereopticon slides to illustrate same. Editor Opposes State Censorship of Motion Pictures THE black cloud of state censorship of motion pictures is again seen on the horizon — at Albany. It is to be hoped that the fresh wind of clear thinking and ar.tistic sincertiy will soon blow it completely away, writes the well informed motion picture editor of the conservative New York Times. Assemblyman William F. Brush of Orange county has introduced a bill into the Legislature that would establish a department of motion pictures, headed by a commissioner whose duties would include the censorship of films and the drawing of a salary of $7,500 a year. The idea of a department of motion pictures for any of the several purposes mentioned in the bill is not attractive, but the writer does not care to speak positively at this time on any of them except that of censorship. Evils Would Multiply An official censor, any political appointee of a Governor, empowered to say what the people of the State shall see on the screen and what they shall not see is an obstacle in the way of moral and intellectual progress as well as a czar whose existence is a denial of democracy. Official censorship is bad in theory and worse in practice. The very idea upon which it is based denies the fundamental truth that real growth and development must be free, and experience gives abundant testimony to the fact that censorship is almost . invariably characterized by stupidity, ignorance, and bigotry, and sometimes selfish interest. No unbiased person denies that many photoplays are worse than trash. It is agreed among disinterested people that the influence of many pictures is not good. But this is no reason for an official censor, because of two facts : First, agencies of restraint and education are already at work correcting the existing evils, and, second, an official censor would hamper these agencies and fail to correct the evils. The evils would grow during his regime. Perhaps he would suppress a few scenes not good for young minds, but, unless he was such a censor as the world has never seen, he would permit the exhibition of many more scenes of unhealthful influence and suppress sincere photoplays whose influence would be good. His idea of what to suppress would almost certainly be born of narrow-mindedness. He would be guided by irrational rules and prejudices well known today for their efficiency in stunting and distorting mental and moral growth and their incompetence in recognizing real values and true processes of development. He would be controlled by political and social bias, regarding as evil anything that did not fit into his ready-made conception of what ought and ought not to be. Police Are Now Empowered But this is discussing probabilities. The certaintv is that the evil of official censorship is inherent in censorship itself. The production of wholesome, artistic photoplays is dependent upon the education of the public mind and taste, and education in this sense means the power of selection properly exercised. This power comes from practice under such favorable conditions as are provided by the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures and many other community and private agencies. How can there be adequate popular practice in selection if an arbitrary censor is to do the selecting for everybody? Any standard maintained by censorship, even if admittedly good, is established on sand and will not endure. The people, relieved from restraint, as they must be from time to time in the ordinary run of events, will turn to license, as they always do under the circumstances, and their last state will be worse than the first. Whatever standard is established by popular education is maintained by its own sure strength in the minds and hearts of those for whom it lives. It is their own creation. And it does not remain ^at a fixed level. The higher it is the higher it tends to go.