Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1928-09-28
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CHApTER YXU

CHAPTER XXI
Such campaigns cost a great deal
Of money. and are therefore quite
beyond the reach OF the moor, the
struggling. Mr.. Evans made II clear
70 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 con back. he explain
ed. later ON. but in preparing the
field for this golden harvest the
blowing must be done thoroughly,
the seed scattered win lavish
hand. Under the magical spell or
lrene's charms. Davidson loosened
his purse strings. gave Mr.. Evans
carte blanche.
Modern methods Of gaining pub
licity are infinitely more subtle
than those which prevailed a decade
or two nro. Then. before the great
war had shown the public what
propaganda can do. matters VI -e
handled crudelv. a stolen necklace,
a divorce scandal. an elopcment.
might give the real or imaginary
victims a front page spread for a
day. but the effect was not lasting.
III a week the whole matter was
forgotten. Nowadays, publicity
agents recognize the tremendous
power Of repetition-the countless
drops Of water wearing away the
stone. "A dozen minor notices.
properly placed. may be far more
efficacious than a single biz spread
because they are likely 20 be seen
hy more persons, and more often
BY the same persons. By spprov-
ed "follow-up' methods. the name
70 be advertised is hammered ever
Isstingly into the rublic's con-
sciousness-urtil mental reactions
become automatic. And vet. IN sll
this endless hammering. propaganda
must still he news. Newspaper men
are anything but rullible. They
have an sbnormallv developed ahii-
itv 10 scent mere salf-advcrtisinr.
and unless the material presented to
them possesses news value. will have
none Of IL. MIR. Evans was an ex-
pert IN the art Of cleverlv combin-
inF the two.
His first move was 10 have Mr..
Davidson asked. through the proper
channels. to express In the pages
Of a Sunday newspaper his views on
the burning question Of the day.
What i wrong with the movies2"
An article. ~cleverly prepared under
Mr.. Evans supervision. appeared
over LEWIS signature within a few
days. Mr.. Davidson was one of the
biz men in the picture industry. his.
opinions carried weight. In the ar
ticlc IN question. he Ssid. or was
made to say. that the crying need Of
the hour I'm pictures was youth.
This BY no means original opinion
he Numbered forth for several coll
umns. fitting with windmills. max
ms . great deal of noise. Tucked
away In an obscure paragraph was
a statement by Mr.. Davidson that in
order 10 prove his theories he had
recently replaced his erstvhile star,
Alice Carroll, BIZ a Young woman
named Irene Shirley, whom he had
discovered in Hollywood. and who
gave promise of rising. in a phenom-
enally short time. 10 the very high
est stellar honors.
The purpose Of this statement
was two-fold. first. to goad Alice
Carroll into a lawsuit. wh.h IL did.
and second. % launch Irene's pub
licity campaign in q dignified and
effective manner. Insiders. knowing
the game. smiled with their tongues
IN their cheeks. but the public took
IL nc its face value.
To the reporters from the theatre
cal papers who presently came
around to secure more information
about this hitherto obscure actress
Mr.. Evans handed out an array of
superb Photographs which no art edi-
tor. from q purely pictorial stand
point. could resist. A rarely beau
tiful woman Is always news. He
also was ready with q 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. 70 newspapers. mags-
Zines. trade journals. brief but
spicy items concerning Miss Shir.
ley's skill a. = horsewoman-with
photograph. her pet armadillo-with
photograph, her fsvcrite dish ard
recipe fer making it-vith photo