The Washington times., 1915-05-19
THE BEST
Photopldy Department in
WASHINGTON
Patrons of Films to
Be Given More News
About the Plays
and Players

One Of the most glaring deflci-
encics OF the motion picture has been
found In the publicity given the
films-publicity that will tell the
patron the character OF the film play
and give him some inkling as TO its
quality.
There has probably been as much
money spent on publicity pure and
simple by the various producing and
distributing concerns during the past
year than by any other single in
dustry in the country. But the char
acter of this publicity has been OF a
Kind that contains an appeal to the
exhibitor rather than the patron. 1t
has been Of the kind that would be
given a breakfast food or a new sort
OF soap in the grocers' trade journ-
ais. 1t has been sales making for
the producer rather than interest
building for the patron of the ex-
hibitor.
Motion pictures introduced an en-
tirely new factor to the commercial
as well as the amusement world.
They are marufactured--but factory
methods Of advertising must not be
followed. They are produced and
Offered" as theatrical productions,
but the methods of acquainting the
public with the quality of the pro-
ductions cannot be the same for sew
eral rather sound reasons.
The providing Of amusement for
the individual or the mass OF people
is little more than a play upon the
emotions of the man or the crowd.
as the case may be. Emotions can
not be commercialized. For that
reason the sense Of amusement cam
not be appealed to in the same way
that appeal Is made to the sense OF
taste. The character Of play cam
not be stated In the same way the
quality OF brand of condensed
milk is explained. Hence the factory
methods Of exploiting film among
the patrons cannot be very we'll fol-
lowed
The film Is theatrical attraction
"a drama. But 1t Is drama about
which the public can know abso-
lutely nothing until 1t Is seen. The
system OF showing films under a
daily change Of program which pre-
walls at most of the motion picture
theaters. makes 1t impossible for the
patron to know anything about the
play he has selected for his enter
tainment until he has actually seen
1t. The only way he can select ts
by relying on his experience to tell
him what the actors and actresses
have done or what the company pro-
ducing the show advertised is cap
able of producing.
For the first few years OF the mo-
tion picture industry the novelty of
motion pictures was sufficient to OBJ
tain an audience. Then came the
combination of acting art with the
novelty and the first step toward es-
tablishing a stable industry was
taken. When. a year or two ago.
the novelty vanished and left only
the actual quality of the film story
or scene to determine its value-a
fuctuating value and a matter OF
pure opinion of the individual at its
best-the matter Of stating that
quality to prospective purchasers
started competition on a large scale
and made advertising necessary. -.
Up to this point the business of
renting films had been carried on en-
tirely with the exhibitor. without
reference to the public who event
ually paid for them. And the ex-
hibitor was usually a relic Of the old
novelty days when any old film
would draw a crowd to the theater.
The trouble Is that the matter OF