El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1920-11-20
Moving Picture Managers of FL
Paso Don't Run Business on
'Hit or Miss Plan.
ByGA MARTIN.

ND you ever stop 10 think Of the
u men who lay the plans for your
entertainment
Tou 90 20 e picture show and you
laugh or You cry. but how many OF
you have ever given q thought to the
work that vas necessary 10 give you
the picture.
Did you know that ths manager Of
that theater, tired. perhaps, as you
would be at that hour, sat I'D until
TWO o'clock some night TO pass judy
menr on Il and select Il for your
Wen. that is Just what happened.
Ben Lewis, OF John Patrick lIcCue or
VIII Winch, OF jim Quinn or Tin
HerVeT OF J II. Edgar Hart sit I'd al
most every night locking at a picture
20 ses whether they think il VIII
please you
some people have an idea that a
manager secures some service" from
come picture company and takes what
he gets and II It Is good, It is good
and IL not 10 Is bad
II g picture Is bad. you can blame
10 on the manager, for he is respon-
sihle, but you seldom see a bad one in
Fl F1sc. for the competition Is keen
here and a poor picture does not pay
A Hard Job
Does q take act 70 select p ctureSl
Well. rather. You know the public
is exciting and hard TO please Give
the picture fans q few poor ones and
they fight shy Of your thea1er. Give
EN- good ones and they keep coming.
with Thousands OF people going 20
every Fl Paso theatsr every week
thousands OF people With different
taEtes-do you think she manager has
a SOFT Job" picking pictures for your
II Vou do, iust think again
= d a a
that theF please 50 many people so
vel all the tine
Only about one picture out OF ten
viewed b. a manager Is shown % his
patrons. Re must Judge the picture
rom al angles and decide IL @ has
the proper punch at the right time;
AZ the Interest IS sufficiently sus-
talnsd or II the photography IS good
eu1uEh and keep IN mind q hundred
other points. Hundreds Of films are
made that never are shown IN Fl
Paso.
The tilm maEazlnes review them
all and some people may think that
helps. but you can pick up i've 1i1m
maEeEineE and no two Of them say
the Same thing about a picture. One
pans" g. in the language Of the pro
fassion. and another says 1t is ms1i-
ocre While another may say il IS "the
greatest ever" So the film magazine
is liutle help 20 the manager and he
must Eand for the film, look 90 over
and decide for himself If he picks
right 81 means a good weeks busl-
ness ami praise from his patrons If
he picks a ~Givver" it means that he
loses money and viii have hard time
getting q crowd into his theater
again. Hs knows this, and picking a
picture is hard work.
Working Up To II.
Weeks before a picture is COM
HmmM g.
making. Later they review it. Then
the manufacturing corporation an
nounces that il is ready for review.
Then the manager applies for q chance
70 see it and in due time D. comes
along he has it Tor one day and
must get il back Into the express OF
flee and off TO some other manager
who wants 20 see it, This means that
r. must be run after the regular show
IS over and EteuueurlT a manager Sis
alone in On empty house as his opera
Tor grinds of the reel, cycling its
every move % decide whether be
wants u or not. when ne decides 10
take It, Fl he does. he wires and then
waits for announcement OF when he
can get IT, Then he begins to adTer-
r-se IT, That Is why when a man
agar says. 7 can recommend this pic
ture-' he knows what he IS talking
about. for De has seen H. he nasn {
tor it,
II Is true that some managers have
contracts with certain producing cor
poratIons Tor their outpuu-pracri-
caIly All Of them have-but they don {
have TO and don't take all the output
4 contract merely means that the
producer has first call on the picture
In most cases. il IL is big produc-
ton. he takes It, for the reason that
the producer has seen 10 10 that it Is
picture worth while-if IL were not
he could not get back the millions in-
vested in its makiug-bur no man
eyer has 20 take the entire output
Of e corporation because he has a
contract for its product.
PlcizinE @The Little Ones
And the big. feature pictures are
not the only output Every concern
turns out dozens OF pictures that are
not feature pictures in one sense or
Abe other, yet may be good pictures