The Truth About the Movies, by the Stars (1924)

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¥9 Good Publicity, Like Art, Conceals Itself A GOOD publicity man makes you think of one thing by suggesting something else. The man who familiarized the world with the stability of the Rock of Gibraltar was a good publicity man. Publicity is a commercial commodity. Two-thirds of the inhabitants of the world depend upon it for their livelihood. They had famines and earthquakes in Japan and China a hundred years ago. No one outside knew about them, so the people died. Today, with the aid of publicity, funds are raised to help the victims of catastrophies. A hundred years ago men had boat races, horse races, boxing matches and chess competitions. A few hundred people knew about them. The races today and the boxing matches are not really more interesting or more important. But publicity concerning them interests a few hundred million people and magnifies their relative importance. Publicity changes luxuries into necessities. Clever publicity also convinces one that many a necessity is luxurious. Publicity writers, as a rule, are newspapermen. They might be termed the entertainment committee of the Fourth Estate. When their entertainment grows uninteresting they no longer conceal their art. No one can do anything without a supply of publicity. The bigger the thing, the more publicity it requires. Publicity makes it possible to manufacture goods in Boston which sell in Australia. It also makes it possible to catch people in London for crimes committed in Timbuctoo. Publicity is a law of nature. There is nothing in the sky, on the land or in the water which does not advertise its presence in some way. Mankind has developed publicity into a fine art. Even shrinking violets are widely known because of their shrinkage. Men and women who put all their energies into not being heard of, invariably are publicized, along that line. If you had to start again with empty hands you would be forced to depend upon publicity of some kind to advertise your existence. Motion picture publicity is in a distinct class. It deals with personalities and pictures. If it is to achieve useful results it 500