Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-10-14
COMMON CLAY" AT THE GARRICK; KELLF
Mysteriies Of Marketing
Million Dollar Movies
How William Fox Srent Fortune on "A Daush,e,
= of the Gods" and How He Can Get
1t Back Again
By ROGER w. BARsoN

20 play for Il II can prepare a hundred or a
snousAno OF the nlms almost as cheaply as
one. As result tho movie company that
enploys the star can show It's play with
.s ner as the star at thousand theaters each
hisht instead OF at only one. This not only
gives the producers OF movie plays an i'm.
nnitely greater field TO draw upon, but THAR
eggs are not all In one basket
instead OF being dependent upon the
wnlms OF one community at a time they are
appeahng simultaneously to thousand
cues IN View OF this the law OF averages
makes the movie production n real invest
ment, while the same thing for the old
iasnloned Broadway theatrical MANAGER
would be foolish gamble
80 tar as the most trusted EXPERTS nee
.ne amusement field will always continue
70 ne the great money-making opportunity
for the movie people. asked Herbert
Brenon, who has produced the greatest
SHOWS up 10 this time to shut his eyes and
tell me what he thought the movies would
% golns ten years hence. said he:
rhe hrst development, which Is already
IN progress Will be toward longer reels or
rather longer productions. Instead Of hav-
ing halt a dozen different plots shown in
one evening, or even two or three, the entire
evening will be devoted to one production.
1 refer to such productions as The Birth OF
Nation. Neptune's Daughter etc. The
new creation, The Daughter Of the Gods
VIII be along these lines.
rhese longer plays will Inevitably lead
10 long runs. For instance. instead Of the
movie houses In New York thinking that
they must have a change once or twice a
week. they win be content TO run the same
production for several months or an entire
season After n play runs In the leading
theaters Of f1ve or six big cities the pro-
duotion Will be shown in other cities. Grad
uaily II VIII appear In smaller and smaller
places.
This gives a long life to a play. a life OF
at least five TO ten years. This has its COM
mercial as well as its sentimental value
Although the price TO the theater for the
use or the reels will decrease as the size
cities In which the production will be
shown will rapidly increase as their size
diminishes
For instance. the FIRST year the producers
might get $4,000 each from FIVE theaters
making total % s250,00 the second year
they might get only $4,000 from each the.
ater, but they would be receiving an income
from fifty theaters; while three years later
they might receive only $3.50 per theater
but thousand theaters would be showing
It,"
In these remarks OF Mr. Brenon's n,
touched on the great economic possibilities
or the game. Nothing succeeds without
reason, hence there Is real reason WIN
the movie business n such a financial sue
cess, and always will be. II bears the sam,
relation to the amusement field that tn
chain stores bear to the merchandising
field.
When cast plays In the old way IL
income Is absolutely limited each day to tn
capacity of the theater. Hence there is al
most physical limit to the amount o
money which can be spent profitably Il
producing play TO be shown along the oil,
lines. When a cast. however,, plays TO tn
movie camera its efforts can be shown ever!
night to thousands of audiences Moreover
these audiences are not confined to any on
country. as pictures are universe
language. With this thought In mind 1t vii
be seen that there really is not so muc
risk in spending a million dollars for on
production before the camera as in spendn
a few thousand dollars for one Broadwa
production TO be shown along the old lines