Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1928-09-24

CHAPTER NH
Such campaigns cost n great deal
Of money. and are therefore quite
beyond the reach ar the poor, the
struggling. Mr.. Evans made It clear
10 Davidson. before he undertook
the contract that Irene's new hacker
would be obliged to open his purse
both frequently and wide. The mon
ey would all come back. he explain
cd. later On. but in preparing the
field for this golden harvest the
blowing must he done thoroughly,
the seed scattered with lavish
hand. Under the magical spell az
Irene's charms. Davidson Ioosened
his purse strings, gave Mr.. Evans
carte blanche.
Modern methods If gaining pub
licily are infinitely more subtle
than those which prevailed q decade
or two ago. Then. before the great
war had shown the public What
propaganda can do, matters wc-e
handled crudcly. A stolen necklace.
a divorce scandal. an ~elopement.
might give the real or imaginary
NAtNAAAN - AADAA NNAN FfAGNW ANI ~
DAY. but the effect Was not lasting.
IN a week the whole matter was
forgotten. Nowadays, publicity
agents recognize the tremendous
rover Of renctition-the countless
drops OF water wearing away the
stone. "A dozen minor notices.
properly placed. may be far more
cfficacious than a single big spread
because they are likely 10 be seen
By more persons. and more often
hy tho same persons. Bv approx
Cd "foilow-un" methods. the name
20 be advertised is hammered ever
lastinEly into the public's rom
sciousness-until mental reactions
become automatic. And yet. in all
this endless hammering. propaganda
must still be Newspaper men
arc anything but Eullible. They
have an abn0rmally developed abil-
ity "a scent mere self-advertisinE,
and unless the material presented 70
them possesses news value. will have
none or Il. Mr.. Evans was an ex-
pert in the art Of cleverly combin-
ing the two.
Ills first move was 70 have Mr..
Davidson asked. through tho proper
channels. % express in the pages
OF y Sunday newspaper his views on
the burning question Of the day.
what IL wrong with the movies 2"
An article. cleyerly prepared under
Mr.. Evans supervision. appeared
over Lew's signature within a few
days. Mr.. Davidson was one Of the
biz men In the picture industry; his
opinions carried weight. IN the ar
ticle in question. he said. or was
made 70 say. that the crying need %
the hour in pictures was youth.
This By no means original opinion
he Numbered forth for several col
umns. fitting with w~indmills. MAX
ing a great deal of noise. Tucked
away in an obscure paragraph was
a statement ~ Mr.. Davidson that III
order TO prove his theories he had
recently replaced his erstwhile star,
Alice Carroll. By a young woman
named Irene Shirley. whom he had
discovered In Hollywood, and who
gave promise Of rising. in q phenom-
cnally short time, to the very high
est stellar honors.
The purpose or this statement
was tW o-fold. first, to coad Alice
&1iA9AA lHtW "a lawsuit WHICH ~ UlAH
and second. to launch Irene's pub
licity campaign in a dignified and
effective Insiders. knowing
the game. smiled with their tongues
in their cheeks. but the public took
il at its face value.
To the reporters from the theatre
cal papers who presently came
around 70 secure more information
about this hitherto obscure actress,
Mr.. Evans handed out an array Of
superb Photographs which no art edi-
tor. from a purely pictorial stand
point, could resist A rarely beau
tiful m is always news. He
also was ready with a sheaf Of bio
graphical sketches, largely f~ictional,
but for that very reason extremely
interesting. The large and eff
cient staff employed by Mr.. Evans
sent out daily, TO newspapers, maya
zines. trade journals. brief but
spicy items concerning Miss Shir-
ley's skill AZ a horsewoman-with
photograph. her pet armadillo-with
photograph, her favorite dish and
recipe for making it-with photo
graph. her views on art, child cdu-
cation, divorce. prohibition-all with
photographs. ad nauseam. A great
part Of this material persisted in the