The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1924-02-05
20 MILLION IN ELECTRIC
SIGNS ON WHITE WAY
PAYS 100000 DOLLARS TO AID
VERTISE COFFEE ON OLD
BROADWAY IN NEW YORK
MAN GETTING THE LAST DROP

One Illuminated Suggestion to Public
Represents $4,000 Annual Rental,
$500 Monthly Upkeep and $4,000
For Construction.
NEW YORK.-A new electrical
light flashed its message to Broadway
tonight, adding its glow to the yellow
streak up the spine of the Great White
Way that runs it mile-and- a-half course
from Herald Square, at Thirty fourth
street, to Columbus Circle, at Fifty
ninth.
The flaming bulbs depict an ordi-
nary man-except in his height which
is 68 feet-in the act of drinking cup
of coffee for which he would pay
nickel, but the coffee company pays
pretty penny for suggesting that its
particular brand is good. The sign
represents an outlay of $4,000 for
construction, an annual rental of $780,
600 and monthly upkeep of 81 ,500.
! 1t is the newest in family of 1925
electrified suggestions to the public in
the 25-block strip that basks in the
| brightness of a MONDAY sun for "a
hours a day; it is small part OF the
$2O,000,O00 investment t hat produced
its effect
The craze is at its height Landlords
and signboard men dicker at high fig
ures for choice locations. One poster
company is paying $4,000 annual
rental for an empty roof to prevent
its rival from placing a , sign that
will obscure one of its own.
Hotel Closes Second Floor.
The Broadway C1aridge hotel, at
Forty-third street, has closed one side
of the second floor. She is helding out
for $4,000 for the roof space. She
doesn't care whether she ever rents the
three upper stories or not.
A woman who owns small TRAN
gular piece of property at Columbus
Circle wanted to improve it recently
and consulted her real estate agent. He
set about to find tenants for a four
story building Because OF the linn
tied space ne was offered only $3.50 a
month for each of three upper stories.
A bil1-posting company is paying her
$4,000 for the outside of the third
and fourth floor and $500 for the face
of the second floor. She is holding
out for $4,000 for the roof space. She
doesn't care whether she ever rents the
three upper stories or NOT.
Retards Sky Scrapers.
The White Way craze is retarding
the erection of skyScrapers along
Broadway. 1t is notable that while
great steel piles are going up else
where over the city not one is under
construction along the White Way.
Landlords find it more profitable to
keep their buildings low and rent the
roofs and faces for electric signs. One
of the most valuable pieces of property
in America, facing Times Square, is
covered by.a two-story building From
its roof great flaming messages are
sent forth and its sides are plastered
with billboards. They yield five times
the amount of rental the stores inside
do and net more money than sky
scraper with offices would
The biggest gamble taken recently |
was made by a movie house that rent
ed the 200-foot front of a building and |
erected a sign across the entire fourth |
floor for $4,000 to advertise a picture |
that is dependent upon the public !
whim. 1t may run three weeks, it |
NAV run a year The upkeep of the |
sign is $1,000 a month,
Attracted Prince of Siam.
The advertisement for a well-known /
brand OF nigh-beer attracted the at
tention of the prince OF Siam upon his
visit to America two years ago. He
ordered a replica from 0. ]. Guide &
Co., minus the advertising legend. Tt
was shipped to him in a specially
chartered boat and set up in the public
square at Bangkok, where nightly a
multi-colored electric eagle flaps its
wings.
The biggest electric sign in the world
advertises a nickel package of chew
ing gum, for which the manufacturers
paw an annual rental OF $108,000. It
runs a city block along Broadway at
Times Square and stands 40 feet in
height and 1926 lamps are required
to illuminate it. The monthly upkeep
is $1,000 and replacement of the
bulbs costs that much. The COM
panv that controls this, and most of
the other signs along Broadway, is
the biggest consumer of electric bulbs
in the world.
Does it pay to have Great White
WAY? Poster men reply that $780,
600 people pass each day through the
white light district. By actual clock
ing 10000 pedestrians and $1,000 au-
tomobiles pass daily in front of the ;
gum sign.