Evening star., 1940-05-12
Pithy Slogans
Have Made
Many Stars
Title Such as AIMS
'Oomph Girl Maaas
Sure Success

By Harold Hefernan.
HOLLYWOOD.

4AoAA1 "NN/O.
Nimble- -witted fellows who can
pound out short, arresting CATCH
phrases and slogans are worth their
weight in gold to ballyhoo- minded
Hollywood-and have been since the
very beginning Of the business. But
the boys are never paid of.
Producers freely admit that some
of the greatest personalities in mo-
ton pictures were created and pro-
PEELED to the ladders top rung
almost altogether on the strength of
pithy slogan that caught on"
It's difficult to imagine, for in
stance. where Ann Sheridan might
be today if q chap named Bernie
Williams, member of the Warner
Bros. publicity department hadn't
thought up for her the "Oomph Girl"
title and the contest" which pre-
scribed Ann as its owner.
This inspired bit Of publicity in
trigue hasn't converted Mr.. Will
liams into wealthy man. but he
does have the personal satisfaction
Of knowing that practically over
night he made an obscure actress
into an internationally famous
figure. What's more-that his en-
ployers stand to profit by his two
word slogan to the extent of a mil
liam dollars or so.
Down through the movie years,
one or two or three little words
to paraphrase a once popular ditty
-solidly implanted in the mind of
the ticket-buying public as syn
onymic with this or that screen
figure has paid rich dividends at the
box office. But of the dozens of
slogans coined by the movie-makers
going far back to Biograph's des-
ignation of the then anonymous
actress, Mary Pickford, as "the BIZ
ograph girl"-every bit of public
reaction points to "Oomph Girl" as
the most compelling of all.
Hurrying to copyright the phrase,
Warner attorneys stumbled into
several obstacles which they even
tually hope to clear. Meanwhile,
they're threatening injunctions
against merchandisers who dare
make use of the title without license
from the studio. To date Warmers
have granted only two "oomph"
lcenses-one to an oil distributor
which billboards a lithograph of
Ann and advises motorists to "get
more oomph out of your gas" by
using that product and the other to
a magazine now publishing a serial
titled "Oomph Girl" The latter
parallels in a way the real life
story Of Ann and later may be taken
over as picture vehicle for her.
A $4,000, 900 Name.
One appelation that certainly car
ries its owner far over the SO 00OO,-
600 mark Is that which still clings
to Mary Pickford as Americas
Sweetheart" After Biograph was
forced to identify Mary she strug-
gled along for years without q
slogan-until she and other stars
formed United Artists. It was then
that Arthur zellner became her
publicist and personal adviser.
Zellner, still q brilliant studio pub
licist, put those two simple little
words together and applied them to
Mary in q worldwide campaign
that carried instantaneous and last
ing appeal. In recent years efforts
were made to transfer it to little
Shirley Temple, but the public re-
fused to accept the second -hand
Identification and the drive. was
soon dropped.
Another memorable coined line,
antedating Mary's ln-3he top value
ranks, was William 8. Hart's. whose
nickname Of 'Two-0un Bill" was
substantially responsible for the
1see HEfTERNAN, Page F.3.l