Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-06-15
A SMOKING MONKEY
CLEVER ADVERTISING FAKE IN.
VENTED BY II. S. MADDY OF
THE HAGENBEck SHOW.

Recently Tells Truth Regarding the
| Story Which Caused the Show to Be-
come Involved with Indiana Author.
tiles.
One of the best fake press stories OF
recent years was invented by H. s.
Maddy, who was in Ottumwa a few
weeks in advance of the Hagenbeck
trained animal show This was the
story Of the smoking monkey, which
causd the show to become involved
with the Indiana authorities.
When p T. Barnum said: 1.-THE peo-
pie like to be humbugged," perhaps he
was advising his press agents, or at
least speaking of their work, as well
as of the freaks inside the big show.
But there is vast difference between
the fakes put forth by the good press
agent and the fakes inside the show.
A good press agent Is allowed free use
of his typewriter, but he must never
promise nor advertise things to be
seen when the big show comes that
cannot be shown.
How, then, does he perpetrate fake
story?
"Founded Upon Fact"
Easy enough. The fake story is
written merely to make the interested
reader familiar with the name of the
show or the star performer, and Is al
ways an incident that is in no way
directly connected with the show it.
self. The best fake advertising stories
are founded upon fact" If the fact is
not there originally, the good press
agent will create the fact and in this
lies much of his worth to the company
he represents.
Every successful circus and theatri.
cal manager knows all the noted press
agents and knows their fake stories
when they see them, and is ever on
the lookut for just the right man to
advertise his particular star or show.
The press agent is required not only
to write, but to plan, stories and sug.
gest them to the regular daily newspa
per men with whom he comes in con.
tact every day. This keeps him busy
and he soon exhausts the star or show
he is working for. For this reason, II
is seldom that the same man Is
"ahead" of one company for more
than one or two seasons. In tina,
time he will have written everything
possible he can imagine about the
show and the people, and another
company takes him, so that he has
new subjects to work upon.
Fakes Not to Fool People.
Generally speaking the fake newspa
per advertising story is not to foo
people, but merely to amuse them and
keep the name Of the show before
them.
For years an actress stolen jewels
and the terrible man-eating lion were
worked overtime, but these ceased tt
| interest the public after a while, anG
something new was demanded. The
press agents responded to the demand
but to do so they were forced to draw
heavily upon their imaginations anc
the imaginations of their friends.
The Smoking Monkey.
Mr.. Maddy, one of the best pres.
agents in the country, is an ex-newspa
per man, a good fellow and pleasan
talker and entertainer. A few day,
ago he told for the first time the trut1
of the Hagenbeck smoking monkey.
The newspaper men wanted to heal
more and told them all about mon
key we had that must have cigarettes
Now, you author of the mothers ashes
pipe, you know that the monkey was
a creature of my brain, but those chaps
didn't, at least most of them didn't
But the fellow wanted most to take
the story, a reporter on the morning
paper, did not seem to be greatly in
terested. l thought he failed to see the
value of good story, and put hin
down for chump. But kept peggins
away.
Finally, when the others left, hi
smiled softly to himself and said
'Maddy, that's mighty good story, bu
I'm afraid of it. I'd use it and play i
up for all it's worth, and that's whole
lot, il | wasn't afraid those other feel
lows would get wise and give the snal
away 1t would be nuts for them
wouldn't hurt you greatly, but would
mako me the laughing stock of every
body in town.
II saw at once that he was wise, am
l liked the way he saw the value O.
my story, so l tried to persuade hin
to use it by telling him that | woult
stand for it, but he declared that would
not do.
We've got to have something tang
able to work on he said, chewing his
pencil and thinking hard.
ssC.