Variety (December 1914)

VARIETY 33 THE REAL PRESS AGENT. By Fred Schader PICTURE PRESS AGENTS Within the last five years there has been considerable change in the per- sonnel of that body of showmen who are designated as "press agents." For this there are a multitude of reasons. The first and foremost is that man- agers will no longer tolerate the "hail fellow, well met" type of agent who was wont to spend the greater part of his time leaning against the pol- ished mahogany, relating funny stories to newspaper men and by the purchas- ing of large quantities of alcohol man- age to get his stuff over. Another reason is that the duties of press agent as they are popularly conceived to be, have changed entirely and no longer is the man who gets the biggest amount of space in the pa- pers the king pin of his kind. The real press agent of today is the one who can actually show his worth to the box office by monetary lesults. This last fact has necessarily weeded out a large number of incompetents. But those remaining are known to be the top notch men of their chosen pro- fession, and as a whole the most un- derpaid men of all the branches of the- atrical craft. There is not another pro- fession in the world where the same amount of energy, aggressiveness and application that a press agent expends in behalf of his employer, would not bring a far bigger return to the em- ploye. The day of the "circus agent" is past and gone 'forever. With the passing of theatricals in general from its in- fancy to the staid maturity of commer- cialism there has sprung into exist- ence a different type of press agent and in latter years he has been designated ai "business manager." And business manager is the title that fits in fact. He is generally the whole works of the production and on him usually rests the burden of success or failure that the production he is repre- senting achieves. Whenever a show falls down it is because the agent is not worthy of his hire, but if the show is a success it is because the show is a good one. That at least is the man- ager's version. However, the reverse is often the truth, for many a show has been turned from a failure into a success by the efforts of a clever pub- licity man. Yet there is not a single manager in the producing field who will admit this and give the devil his due. There is not another line of business in this entire country where the sales- man is so universally blamed for f^ ure and so seldom credited with his when success* is achieved. Let a play be a hit—the manager will go back stage and pat all his actors on the back and perhaps hand some a raise in salary— but does the agent ever get any of the pats or the raises? In trying to place the theatricals on a dollar and cents business basis the manager has entirely overlooked his agent. If the manager ever stopped to realize that his agent is to him just what the traveling salesman is to the merchant, he would naturally form a higher opinion of the members of this particular craft. There isn't another line where the salesman is supposed to go along and sell his goods on noth- ing more than a gift of conversation that is laid before the public either by word of mouth or in cold type. Nor is the commercial salesman supposed to go along day after day and sell bills of goods ranging from $800 to $2,000 without a single fall down. Merry Xmas. LEW PALMORE And Hi* Eccentric Hats THE JUGOLER Now touring the LOEW TIME after a suc- cessful trip in England and South America. Booked solid. Under personal direction of IRVING COOPER Just as a matter of supposition, what sort of a salary could any commercial salesman command if he could go to a merchant or manufacturer and state that he was capable of selling on the average of $1,000 worth of goods daily without carrying a sample line. Just imagine $350,000 in sales annually— don't you think that his salary would be more than $100 a week? And yet there are men in the theatrical pro- fession who do just this and there isn't a manager who would think that they should receive more than $100 a week on a bet, because it is the show that is "pulling them in," not the agent. If that be so, why do they give up even the hundred to an^agent? Why not send out the show with an office boy to carry "copy" and let it go at that. However, there is a definite trend in the commercial world, in business oth- er than theatricals, where the value of the press agent is becoming recog- nized to the extent of his true worth. v Even kingdoms and empires have had js worth and the conflict raging infEurope has but further brought his value to light. Each of the warring nations is represented by its press bureau and while they dig- nify this particular work with some disguising title it is nevertheless noth- ing but press work, and the men who are turning out the material are press agents in the fullest sense. The power of the press in many ways is a wonderful thing, but it has been abused in as many ways through (Continued on page 106.) The development of the costly fea- ture picture has brought to the front a new variety of film press agent, a real executive and man of business as compared to the "squib writing" pub- licity man who ran the manufacturer's publicity campaign in the earlier days of the industry. The old time press agent ground out reams and reams of small items many faked and few having any real news value. They sought to "gold brick" publications into exploiting the little fads of leading ladies, the $4,000 auto- mobiles just bought by their com- pany's leading men, accidents in tak- ing pictures and an endless variety of similar trifling affairs. This material, together with bushels of gushing praise of the particular company's actresses, actors and prod- uct came to the editor's desk and at a matter of routine went into the waste paper basket, except when advertising contracts called for the publication of a certain amount of the material as a matter of reciprocity. With the later growth of the indus- try to a place of dignity and impor- tance in the amusement field, the new type of press agent has become an ad- ministrative officer\of the manufactur- er. The dissemination of the news of his concern is but one department of his activities, and probably for this rea- • son he is chosen rather for his knowl- edge of the film business itself than because of his training in the newspa- per craft. First of all he is the writer of adver- tising copy and the contractor for ad- vertising space in the trade journals. In this duty he handles considerable sums of money. Upon his discretion depends an important source of the manufacturer's outlay; he controls a big item of the fixed charges of doing business. Trade journal advertising is but a branch of the general business of ex- ploiting pictures by means of printer's ink. There.are the posters to be made up and the endless variations of ad- vertising novelties. If the picture, by reason of some defect in subject or studio detail is somewhat below stan- dard, the press agent is called upon to devise means for pushing the sale. He is called in as an advertising spe- cialist—a sales expert—and on his ad- vice is fixed the amount of money to be expended in that particular sales campaign. He may even be called upon to decide on the question wheth- er the film shall be marketed under the name of the program under which it is released, or sold to another pro- gram for what can be secured, the maker pocketing a loss rather than en- danger the reputation of his brand. These details are quoted here mere- ly to point out that the picture ;>ress agent's interests are too much .•«:.•- tered. He could do better an-J tiki publicity work if he were able :-, ' ,m- centrate his attention on that <\r;\ r» ment. There seems to be a mo »tn;ent in this direction. One of the most suc- cessful feature makers in the field re- cently signed a publicity man trained solely to that work and in connection with a special campaign a big film manufacturer recently retained the services of one of the biggest publicity men in the business. Several of the big programs issue "house organs," publications dealing with their own in- terests and these for the most part are handled by trained newspaper men, paid entirely for that purpose and con- tributing nothing otherwise to the pub- licity business of the manufacturer. BURLESQUE IN CHICAGO. Chicago, Dec. 23. Burlesque in Chicago has had its ups and downs, and the map has been changed variously since the opening of the season. Things opened fairly well with a new house, the American Music Hall offering the Progressive brand, but things did not go very well there and it became dark after six weeks. The Englewood deserted the Progressives for Columbia Circuit shows, the Hay- market took over the shows from the Empire, and the latter went into drama. The Casino had a precarious season, and closed just before Thanksgiving. In order of business the Columbia runs ahead, the Star & Garter, second, and the Englewood, third. In fact, the Columbia it said to be the banner house on the circuit and has had a most prosperous season under the manage- ment of William Roche, who succeeded E. H. Wood. At the Star & Garter, Paul Roberts succeeded Dick Rider. The weather has been the greatest drawback to this section of the show business, as it has been warm all the season which had not been conducive to big attendance. William Roche, Chicago representa- tive of the Eastern Wheel, in speaking of conditions in Chicago, says: "We have no complaint to make except that weather conditions have been bad. I have found that Chicago demands bright, clean burlesque shows. They want real burlesque and not musical comedy. The managers must learn to know the difrerence between a clean and a smutty show, and when they do they will demand what the public wants. A smutty show may please a few drunks down in front, but will of- fend 500 or 600 sober people in other parts of the house. "Here at the Columbia, we have a large attendance of women, and they are all of the better sort. There is never a show but that the mezzanine floor has a big showing of women, and many occupy seats on the main floor." The picture camera has shown many actors things they never expected to see. A man can act while he lives—a woman while she looks good. Any number of house managers should still be travelling men. The advance man is seldom ahead of the show, excepting distance.