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CHAPTER XXVII TITLES CLE\'ER titles do not make plots any better, but they most as- suredly help to advertise them. If you were an Editor and in opening the mail came across a story entitled "The True Story of How Lizzie Smith Married Henry Brown," the probabilities are thai you would send it back unread. No one who knows how to write a story would employ such a title. You would know that to read the story would merely be to waste your employer's time. On the other hand a snappy title such as "Father Said They Shouldn't" will engage your interest. What was it tliat father said they should not do, and why did he say it? You will show the same curiosity that presently others will feel if the story is put out. 2. A good title gets the Editor into a receptive frame of mind. A poor title has the reverse effect. More than this, he knows that a good title will help the exhibitor to sell the play to some people who might not visit the performance were the titles unattractive. You have only to stand before the lobby of some downtown picture theatre to watch the people look at the posters and either enter or pass on. Either the titles have attracted or have failed to rouse interest. 3. It follows that the best title you can think of is none too good, so do not rest content with the first one that comes to mind. Think of a dozen or more and select the best one. You may offer a choice of two titles, but good titles are valuable and it will pay to keep them for yourself. Keep a pack of cards and write down all the good titles tliat come to you. Carry cards in your pocket and jot down ideas whenever they come to you or wherever you may see a suggestion. In no time at all you will have some good titles and a lot of poor ones. Spend your rainy Sundays trying to improve the poor ones. When you have used a title, throw out the card. 4. The essential is that the title should be brief. There are two reasons for this. A long title will not look well on the billboards. It cannot be displayed to the same advantage here or in the newspaper advertising. A second reason is that a short title is more easily re- membered. It can be taken in at a glance and almost subconsciously, yet in the evening you will remember that Tricky Tess is at the Bijou and you will want to go down and see it. The Editor knows, and knows that the exhibitor knows, that the short, snappy title will make for business. He knows that it is part of his duty to give the ex- hibitor something that he can sell to advantage that he may be able to pay his exchange bills. The exchange pays the manufacturer, who pays the Editor, who pays you. Your interest is doubly personal. 5. The title should be applicable to the story. If you lead a patron to expect one thing and give him something else, then you have disap- pointed him. What you have given him may be better than what you 105