The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-10-08
Chooses Age-Herald Adver- Using Because of His
 High-Class Product
SAYS HIS PICTURES
 CAN STAND ANY TEST
If Any Picture Is Not Up to the Standard He Believes News papers Should Say So
 Frankly
nv RICHARD K. LUssIER

Here is a unique character amongst motion picture exhibitorsl
 He is Manager L. B. Leftwich of the Triangle threatre-and he is unique be- cause of his belief that if he shows a bad
 picture the newspapers should knock it.
 He makes the broad statement that full
 some praise of a nasty photoplay creates
 6istrist in both the newspaper and the
 theatre where a poor film is shown.
 Manager Leftwich is attempting to edu-
 cate the Birmingham public to Triangle
 photoplays, but he is finding 1t a little
 rough at first owing to the unusual
 artistic merit of these film productions
 which are the works of the master minds of the shadow world-David Wark Grif- filth. Thomas H. Ince and Mack Sennett. The Triangle pictures are produced to attract thoughtful people.
 But intend to think, talk and dream
 Triangle picture" said Manager Left wich, until the Birmingham public un- derstands the high merit of these nims. l I am going to show the amusement low I ing masses of Birmingham what pie ture supervised by David Wark Griffith, the creator of The Birth of Nation, and his latest spectacle, Intolerance, means. It does not mean hero, a heroine and a villain with final happy ending. No such shoddy stuff for Grif- 1 filth He is a foremost thinker, and he 1 puts forth in every production an Idea, | a reflection of a certain phase Of life and | it's moral lesson. Griffith is genius, painting with broad brush and his dis ciples in the screen world are legion.
 ABOUT NICE
 l "Then we come to Thomas H. Ince, the creator of Civilization and The Bat 1 tie of Gettysburg,' and The Cup of Life !! Here is another superdirector. His lieu i tenants, c. Gardner Sullivan and Reginald West also tower above the mediocre in the production of finished photopfays. In l fact, an Thee supervised production is
 an event wherever shown.
 But we have to have comedy re- | lief and for this purpose comes that | genius of farce and burlesque and keen ] satire-Mack Sennett. His comedies are 1 shown with every Fine Arts and 1nce' production and they rank just as high l as the dramas.
 Now to put such an artistic programme before the public in a manner that VIII 1 lift it above the ordinary photoplay necessieates the cooperation Of hlgh- class medium, and one that will reach the thinking people. This medium, after 1 a lengthy investigation, appears in my opinion to be The Age-Herald In fact, l there is no question in my mind but ] that The Age-Herald is the most power- l full factor in molding public opinion In l Alabama It is well and cleanly written and 1t is the newspaper of Birmingham | that goes into all the homes.
 GOOD ADVERTISING PAYS 1 "But one should not advertise sloppi- | ly. An advertising campaign should be | the result of careful thcaght. In fact, | the securing of free copy from news
 paper should be the last thought of a motion picture exhibitor. Free copy, in
 my opinion, is more costly than paid ad- yertising. It usually is press agenty,' and so fulsome in it's praise 1 that it repels rather than attracts. In i fact a good substantial knock is, in my opinion, far better than undeserved praise.
 .The impartial opinion of a photoplay | is the most valuable publicity. A good
 many motion picture managers are glad | to foist upon a newspaper a quarter of | a column of press agent dope. They 1 believe they put something over but as
 a rule they have only injured their cause
 and incidentally have discredited the
 photoplay page as a medium of unbiased 1 film information.
 1 sIn fact, such writing does not fool anybody, except the motion picture man ager whose one ideal is getting free
 copy It's rot, and the public knows | that it is rot.
 ! ''The best advertising, in my opinion l is public opinion. and the nearest thing | to that is a frank review of photoplay by a regular member of newspaper
 staff. Let the merits of photoplay be written fairly and no harm is done te ! any one in particular In fact, only gooc can result from such honest dealing with 1 the public.
 'T speak thus frankly because believe | in Triangle pictures. I believe these pie lures can stand the most rigid test of unbiased publicity In fact, as Triangle pictures are the brain children of the greatest directors in the game. they
 should be criticized only by writers of | intelingence which accounts for my choice of The Age-Herald as the medium | to inform the Birmingham public of tn, high merit of Triangle photoplays."