Reel and Slide (Jan-Sep 1919)

REEL and SLIDE 11 Getting Dealers' Co-operation on Industrial Films New Ideas Presented in Successful Campaign of Big New York House Pictures Loaned or Sold and Exhibition Tied Up With Newspaper Space By E. J. Clary THERE have been many notable successes in lining up local dealers as film distributers, as there have been notable failures. This. problem involves too many elements to answer in a general way, but the experience of those who have made a success of the plan may help those who have failed. Some time ago Reel and Slide magazine described the motion picture operations of the John V. Farwell Company of Chicago. This wholesale firm with its thousands of small dealers scattered over the continent has built up a film service that functions smoothly and effectively and a four years' test has failed to indicate any irremediable flaws. There has always been a brisk demand for the short length "Linweave Fabric" pictures ; there has been a waiting list for the films among the Farwell dealers. A campaign similar in a general way has just ended among the dealers selling Warner's Rust Proof Corsets, the product of the Warner Brothers Company of New York. Unlike the Farwell films, which were partly animated drawings and partly posed models, the Warner pictures combine humor and action and are calculated to offer entertainment to the audience. After two years of active motion picture work, the Warner Company naturally has garnered much experience of value to the advertiser with a wearing apparel line to exploit visually. Dealers Are Notified First . It was necessary, at first, to have an intensive campaign for the dealers in order to awaken them to the possibilities of creating new business for themselves by using the Warner short length films. This was accomplished by mail, using an attractive, illustrated circular and by letters. Dealers desiring to purchase copies of the film could do so at cost — $30. We quote below part of their appeal to the dealer : "A good idea doesn't come often, and we have not wanted to use the movies for advertising until we had an idea worth while. Now we have it — and you can have it, too. It is a 200-foot comedy 'trailer' three minutes long, to be run between films in your local moving picture houses. It just bubbles over with good humor, though modest and concise. It portrays the three features of Warner's rust-proof corsets — style, strength and rust-proof — features that you can tie up with your corset department through your newspaper advertising space. "This is the scenario : "Mother and father are discovered saying 'good-night' to their little boy and small daughter. Children, in their 'nighties,' leave for bed, but pause in their mother's roam to play. The girl, passing, stops admiringly at the dressing table and notices a Warner's Rust-Proof box. Opens it and finds her mother's new corset. She jumps up and down, holds it around her, poses before the mirror and admires herself. But the brother playfully grabs the corset and then the struggle begins — a war in which the corset is twisted and pulled. Finally, the girl pulls her brother through the bathroom door, where a drawn bath awaits. "They struggle toward the bathtub, the boy wrenches the corset away and flings it into the water, splashing it again and again. DownTug of War With Mother's Corsets stairs the moth (Photo by Courtesy of Randes Film Company") cr u 3. S heard the noise of scuffling and splashing. She rushes up to learn the trouble and finds — no trouble at all. Her corset, to be sure, is in the tub, but there's no damage done. 'Thank goodness!' she says, 'it's a Warner's and it's rustproof !' Do you want this film? It is just completed and we have one that we can lend you for your local use. If you want it, please order at once, for we have but a limited number to use at one time Vanity, Thy Name Is Woman {Photo by Courtesy of Randes Film Company) At the end of the film your name will be run. These films will be sent out, properly imprinted, to the first names we receive. They may be kept one or two weeks, j "As soon as we get your order we will tell you when you may expect the film, so you can arrange the date with your moving picture house. We will, of course, send it for the week you ask if we can. With the film we will include, for your permanent use, two real photographs of scenes from the movie. These can be used in your window with a card telling about the film, and when the film has been returned the photograph will still make an attractive display card. The films are merely loaned for your use. If you wish to buy one, we will sell it to you at cost — $30." The whole idea in this campaign was : First, to interest the women who attend movie shows in Warner's rust-proof corsets. Second, to tell them where the nearest dealer was located. Third, to tie up the screen publicity with the dealer's show window. Audiences at moving picture theaters consist largely of women. A commodity for women, therefore, finds intensive class appeal in the theater. Two hundred feet of action and entertainment, well made, is acceptable to the exhibitor and to the audience. Trailer Tells Dealer's Name Dealers were given a "trailer" on the end of each film advertising the fact that the Warner corsets might be secured at their store. Special window displays and window cards were supplied as part of the plan and local newspaper advertising was freely used for the benefit of the dealer and as publicity for the theater which agreed to exhibit the films. In addition to the above mentioned film, another of a similar nature was used later. This was an outdoor story, along the same lines, except that a little dog entered into the scene and pulled the corset around and a little boy, wearing a fireman's helmet, turned the garden hose on his sister who held up the corset to shield herself. The ending of the story was about the same as in the indoor film. Both films were made and circulated by the Randes Film Company of New York, the .head of which is Eugene Roder. The films were circulated all over the United States and in some cities of South America. They were routed from one merchant to another, allowing one week for running and one week for transmission to the next merchant; the system being kept going by^ means of post-card notices, forwarding labels, etc. While the corset company had some difficulty here and there, owing to unavoidable loss of films, it feels that on the whole the campaign was a success and singularly free from trouble. Reed College, Portland, Ore., to Produce Film That Reed College, Portland, Oregon, will produce a moving picture film in the near future, pictorial of the life of the institution, written and acted by its students, was announced at a meeting of the students and faculty, at which definite plans were formulated for the writing of the scenario. A wealthy citizen of Portland, whose identity is kept secret for the present, has provided funds necessary to make the production. The International Implement Company of Peoria supplied motion pictures for a community Chautauqua at Farmington, 111., recently.