Part 22

This stunt, besides drawing additional attention to your regular slide, should result in permanent customers. Moreover, those folk who delve beneath the surface will realize that were not your goods satisfactory you would, instead, offer a quarter in cash. Do not neglect to have the names and addresses of the winners, together with particulars of their errors, screened, for it will assuredly prove an incentive to the unlucky ones.

XLIII.

HOW THE BOOK DEALER CAN TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE MOVIE ADAPTATION MANIA

The saloon-keeper may attribute decreased business to the versatile motion picture, but to the average book dealer the industry can be most beneficial.

It is what might be called the adaptation mania from which both publishers and book dealers have profited. To prove this, you have only to take into account “Les Miserables,” which, when released at the picture theaters, created an enormous sale of cheap reprints of the popular book.

This has been followed up by many other adaptations from novels and stage plays, and in every case it has meant extra trade for the book dealer who has been keen enough to make good use of the opportunities thus presented. Many movie fans, after seeing the photoplay version of a popular book, and finding it to their liking, have a desire for reading the story. Instead of borrowing the book from the local library, they prefer to spend up to a quarter on a cheap edition--and this is precisely where the book trade comes in.

Hardly a week goes by without some popular book or play has been produced in motion-picture form.

There are apparently few book dealers who have given this new field of business activity the close attention it demands. Some have been content to wait until the demand came--a most short-sighted policy that meant customers going elsewhere--whilst others have sat down and let the exhibitor reap the harvest.

I think it worth while for every book dealer to make a friend of the local motion-picture showman. The benefit would be mutual. The exhibitor could inform the book dealer well in advance whether he had any adaptations booked, so that the book dealer could lay in a stock to meet the demand. He could also announce outside his store that the picture was being shown at the theater in question, whilst all could obtain the book of the film from him.

The exhibitor would reciprocate the publicity thus given by announcing that the book was obtainable of the book dealer, or by allowing the latter to distribute circulars to the audience.

These are but suggestions. Other possible schemes may be devised by the wide-awake book dealer. It is, however, well to know that here is a source of revenue to be tapped.

XLIV.

SELLING REAL ESTATE BY THE FILM

The real-estate agent operating from a distance in selling vacant lots and houses is placed at a considerable disadvantage.

When a prospective purchaser comes along the chances are in nine cases out of ten that he has been so misled by some other members of the fraternity that all the arguments in the world will not convince him that a certain piece of property on your books is just the very thing he is seeking.

When you invite him to pay an inspection, he will probably say: “I’m not going on a wild-goose chase, so I want some tangible evidence that it is likely to suit me.”

The unfortunate thing about it is that the innocent have to pay for the sins of the guilty, and the only effective way you can convince such an individual is by a motion picture.

Then, on the other hand, there is the client whose time is limited and may not be able to make the trip on chance.

The motion picture is next to the actual thing, for it shows everything as in real life without any tendency to exaggerate or allow false claims to enter. It can not be thought, however, that the deal can be clinched without the personal visit. The film serves to pave the way for this.

This is not mere theory conjured up from the vision of an armchair. The credit for putting the plan into actual operation is due to Western enterprise. I refer to the Newell Murdoch Company, who own the San Francisco suburb of Forest Hill.

Bearing the title of “A Drive Through Forest Hill,” the film opened by showing the grand stairway at the main entrance, with the tract office in the offing. Then came a number of panoramic views, introducing the spectator to the serpentine turnpikes, streets and avenues. Finished houses were revealed, as well as those in a partial stage of construction. A tract salesman is also shown meeting automobile parties of prospective purchasers. This film was presented for public exhibition in the ordinary way at twenty of the downtown theaters, where it created much interest and ultimately produced some more buyers.

It might also be well to show the interiors, for the inside of a house is even more important than its exterior aspects. This was formerly impossible, owing to the adverse photographic conditions and the difficulty and expense in installing adequate artificial lighting equipment. Lately, however, an invention has rendered it both possible and practicable.

Additional interest would be lent to the motion picture by introducing residents in typical poses, recreations, and so forth. This would enable the prospective resident to gain some idea of what his neighbors would be like. Another convincing touch would be added if the transportation facilities could be introduced.

Romance figures in practically every photoplay. Of all the themes, domestic troubles form the most prolific one for the scenario writer. It stands to reason, therefore, that motion-picture audiences would better appreciate a comedy. There is abundant material for introducing the advertising element, such as a newly married couple who finds paradise on your estate, or a family who experiences a great difficulty in securing the right house, and yours measures up highly to their exacting wants. These are but suggestions to indicate just what lines you should pursue. A story can be easily woven around your estate, introducing characteristic scenes in a perfectly natural manner.

The local theaters will be more than glad to have your film, if it conforms to the usual run of photoplay stories, and you may get them to show it for nothing instead of for a fee.

Maybe you would not care to go to the expense and trouble of fitting up a room in your office as a private theater and installing special motion-picture apparatus, so would suggest that you make arrangements beforehand with the nearest movie exhibitor for the hire of his hall and operator when not engaged. You can then show your dubious prospect at any time convenient to him.

XLV.

ADVERTISING YOUR DEPARTMENT STORE BY MOTION PICTURES