In
this way you will have a much better chance of avoiding the repetition
of titles. It goes without saying that originality in a title is only
less desirable than originality in a plot; yet every now and then some
manufacturer will release a picture with a title similar to, or even
quite the same as, one already produced by some other company. For
example, on July 15th, some years ago, Lubin released a picture called
"Honor Thy Father." Four days later, on the 19th, Vitagraph put out a
picture with the same title. Yet this was the merest coincidence. On
August 17th of the same year Reliance released "A Man Among Men,"
while Selig's "A Man Among Men" was released November 18th. The plots
were totally different, and the Selig story was written and produced
in the plant before any announcement of the Reliance picture was made.
Again, on January 8, of the next year, Selig released "The Man Who
Might Have Been." Twelve days later, Edison put on the market "The Man
_He_ Might Have Been," by James Oppenheim.
The exhibitor is the one who suffers as a result of these similarities
in titles; many people see the poster and imagine they have seen the
picture before, not noticing the difference in the make of film, and
so go elsewhere to see some show that is entirely fresh to them.
Pages:
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95