The Billboard 1913-03-22: Vol 25 Iss 12 (1913-03-22)

MARCH 22, 1913. The Billboard What the Press Agent Represents By Floyd King Surely this is the day of the press agent. We have them everywhere, and it is indeed an unwise individual who clamors for limelight who can not boast of a publicity man. Hotels, colleges, automobile manufacturers, preachers, prize fighters, actresses, etc., are some of the institutions and persons who must have at least some kind of a press agent. Put this article is to deal particularly with the press agent of the circus and of his work, trials and misfortunes. P. T. Barnum is generally conceded as the daddy of the modern-day press agent, for it was that Connecticut wizard who was the first to sit up and take notice as to the value of printer's ink, the vehicle of news and information. It was P. T. who first conceived the plan that it would be a good idea to have newspaper men connected with his museum and he called them—press agents. A press agent is the go between of the institution he represents and the press It is up to him to see that the newspapers carry a maxi? mum amount of news for a minimum amount of advertising and tickets. The press agent, who can “plant” the most stuff on the fewest number of tickets and the smallest ads and still keep down the “squaks.” is the one most in demand and gets top money In the estimation of the press agent, he is the connecting link between the ticket wagon and the purses of the populace The boss generally thinks that he is a “certain party” who spends his money and gives his tickets away. Most press agents think that the show's valuable single asset is the pencil man, and likewise the stake driver and canvas rustler, too, think they are individuals who cut considerable sway in the running of a modern circus organization. It has been proven over and over, that a circus can move along just the same after a few of the so-called mainstays have departed, and hence none of us are indispensable, we are all simply units which go to make up a high-class business institution. Put a person may have the best show in the world, and yet, if the people are not told about it, the organization will count for nil. Publicity is the life-blood of commercialism. There is no need for stalling about it, the show business is one in which there is about seventy-five per cent bluff and twenty-five per cent merit. Now there are some who will take issues with this statement, some people will object to anything, but it is a fact Anticipation is always greater than realization, but it is natural to expect more than we get. and it is up to the press agents to see that these “Xpectations are given proper pastures in which to roam, | The modern-day press agent and the one of om old school are entire'y different personages The old-time press agent wore flashy clothes and huge lion's claw for a watch charm. He would ‘ty a cigar on the editor's desk, spread a lot of salve about the greatest yet and the only one in ‘ptivity, and then work the old gag, ‘write me something, old man.” It is something like "ls now-a-days, Enter like a Sunday-school boy with & write-up about a “get-together” so*lal in = church basement. And you say, sort of softly, ay, I'm ahead of the big show coming the 25th, aad about a little cut,” and reaching for your P pocket you draw it forth, and after he prom ~~ amen Xf uo — NX J — ~ —— \ ises to use the cut, he must use a write-up to accompany it, spring the write-up first and you will get it but probably not the cut, spring the cut first and you have to have a story to accompany it. The old-time press agent was not strong on the writing gag. Marvelous were the stunts he could concoct, but while he was adept in originating, yet he was lacking in ability to put them on paper. When the circus press agents had the field to themselves, editors were content to write their stories, but today the field is so plentifully supplied with press agents that it is now a pick of the best stuff written as to what lands. The modern-day press agent is a newspaper man, and to be a success he must be a good one, too. There is a technic about the newspaper business just like in any other line of work. A press as tereaseatccs how much news you shall get, or else the editorial room is the sanctum which hands out your verdict. And, of course, the first thing to do is to find out on a paper, who is the man at the wheel. He may be the city editor, managing editor, or the boss himself. Locate your man and then cultivate him. After all. it is with the newspaper man that the press agent must deal, and it is essential that his standing, as to veracity and honesty, is unquestionable. There are some press agents who will promise anything from an elefant down to any number of tickets for a story. Of course, the newspaper man takes the word of the press agent, and when the show day comes the promise naturally can not be fulfilled. PRecause a man is a press agent he need not be a liar, even if he always gets out of town before daylight. All press agents are not, from the nature of their calling, honorary members of the Ananias Club. I have always “ON CIRCUS DAY” agent must Know the inside workings of a newspaper. He must have a discriminating sense as to news value, know how to write it with vim and snap. The style of writing in use by newspapers is constantly changing. Words are being coined every day, and since it is essential that press stuff must be written in a snappy, breezy style, one realizes how necessary it is to keep abreast with the times. Press agents, to succeed, must adjust themselves with existing conditions. Stories that will go in one city will fall flat in another. Every paper has its policy, and you must adhere to it. For instance, on the San Francisco Call, your reading notices must say, “The Little Pig Show is said to have fifty clowns,” and in all notices used by that paper that idea must be kept in mind. Other papers thruout the country have their whims and peculiarities. There is a paper at Nashua, N. H.. which writes over your story, “Py The Press Agent.” and the same is true on the morning paper at Salem, Ore. For the big cities—say all towns 200,000 in population—it is essential that the press stuff be written out on a typewriter and not mimographed or multigraphed. The big city papers don't like to follow anybody, and they went their stuff handed in like it was written especialy for them. Now there are two classes of newspapers. The “business office’ papers and the “editorial room” peper. Py th's T mean that the policy of the paper is dominated by one of these forces, either the advertisirg man is the boss anl says = tried to leave a newspaper i so that I would know that I would be welcomed back even better than on former i visits. If there is any one thing A which makes life miserable for the press agent, it is the pass or ticket question. Tt worries him by day and haunts him by night. As long as the press agent works he must have tickets for an alibi, the mere fact that advertising is carried is no reason why column after column of reading matter should be given. The merchants do this day after day and never get a line of local. So tickets after all, are the chief incentiv which moves the forces of a paper. You can run a theater. or even a circus, to some extent with a total abolition of all passes, with one exception, and that is those for the press. Newspaper men never have and doubtless never will pay to see a show, and in lieu for a ticket they are perfectly willing to give you many, many fold value of news, which, in some instances, can not be bought at all. But everybody who holds an executiv position with a cireus or any other amusement institution, knows the worry of the ticket problem. In justice to newspaper men, I want to say that all my life I have been in some way or other connected with the editorial end of papers and I have yet to see the first man who has soll a ticket and have only seen a very few instances where they have been given to outsiders. There are a lot of press agents who claim they can land in any kind of a paper, just like there are a lot of quacks who claim they can cure the white plague. I know papers on which the Good Lord Himself could not land. There are some newspapers who charge money to run a notice about a preachers’ meeting or of the Ladies’ Foreign Missionary Society. Now if such is the case, how is the poor press agent, who is boosting “the biegest and best ever.” going to land? Rut, in lieu. there are various schemes that will help a whole lot. For instance, the Commercial Appeal at Memphis severel vears ago got sore on press agents when thev had been stung, and they said “never again.” If a reporter mentioned the name of a show in the paper, it was a blue slip for him. The late Jimmie DeWolfe was ahead of the old Fore pough-Sells Show and he learned of the condi| tions. The boys were all willing to help him but their hands were tied. Jimmie and Col. Hugh (Continued on page 146.)