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


Such campaigns cost a great deal
NJ money. and are therefore quite
beyond the reach Or the poor. the
struggling. Mr.. Evans made II clear
to Davidson. before he undertook
the contract that Irene's new hacker
would NJ obliged t0 open his purse
both frequently ard wide. The mon
e. would al come hack, he explain
ed. 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 Of
lrene's charms. Davidson loosened
his purse strings. gave Mr.. Evans
carte blanche.
Modern methods of gaining pub
iicitw are infinitely more subtle
than those which prevailed . decade
or two aco. Then. before the great
war had shown the public what
propaganda can 40, matters wee
handled crudely. IN stolen necklace.
a divorce scandal. An elopement.
might give the real or imaginary
victims n front page spread for a
day. but the effect was not lasting.
In a week the whole matter va
forgotten. Nowadays, publicity
agents recognize the tremendous
rover Of reDetition-the countless
drops Of water wearing away the
stone. A dozen minor notices.
properly placed. may he far more
cfficacious than a single big spread
because they are likely to be seen
BY more persons. and more often
by the same persons. BY approx
cd "foliow-up" methods. the name
to be advertised is hammered ever
lastinEly into the rublic's con-
sciousness-until mental reactions
become automatic. And vet, in all
this endless hammering, propaganda
must still he news. Newspaper men
are anything but gullibie. They
have on abnormally developed abil-
ity 10 scent mere self-advertisinr,
and unless the material presented TO
them possesses news value. will have
none Of ii. Mr.. Evans was an ex-
pert In the art Of cleverlv comhin-
INK the two.
His first move was 70 have Mr..
Davidson asked. through the proper
channels, to express in the pages
Of . Sunday newspaper his views on
the burning question of the day,
"Wha. il wrong with the movies III
An article. cleyerly prepared under
Mr.. Evans supervision. appeared
over LEWIS signature within q 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. ar was
made TO say. that the crying need 81
the hour in pictures was youth.
This b. no means original opinion
he Numbered forth for several col
umnE. fitting with windmills. max
ing a great deal Of noise. Tucked
away in an obscure paragraph was
a statement by Mr.. Davidson that IN
border 10 prove his theories he had
recently replaced his erstwhiie star,
Alice Carroll. BY a young woman
named Irene Shirley. whom he had
discovered in Hollywood. and who
gave promise Of rising. in a phenom-
enally short time, 20 the very high
Ct stellar honors.
The purpose az this statement
was two-fold. first. TO gcad Alice
Carroll into a lawsuit. which it did,
and second. to 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 az its face value.
To the reporters from the theatTi-
cal papers who presently came
around 10 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 woman Il always news. He
also was ready with "a sheaf OF bio
graphical sketches. largely fictional,
but for that very reason extremely
interesting. The large and eff
cient staff employed b. Mr. Evans
sent out daily, 70 newspapers. maya
zines. trade journals. brief but
spicy items concerning Miss Shir-
ley's skill as a horsewoman-with
photograph. her pet armadillo-with
photograph. her favorite dish and
recipe for making it--with photo
graph, her views or art. child edu-
cation, divorce. prohibition-all with
photographs. ed nsuseam. A great
part Of this material persisted in the