Every now and then a motion-picture producer comes a cropper. With the speeded-up production methods at present prevailing, he can seldom give adequate attention to the little things that count. It matters little whether the play is historical or modern—it is almost certain to contain at least one error of some kind. Now, photoplay fans pride themselves upon their smartness in detecting these silly slips, and therefore an added stimulant would please them greatly.

In addition to your ordinary slide at the local movie theater, why not have same preceded with one worded somewhat as follows:

“If You Find a Mistake Pertaining to the Dry-goods Business in a Photoplay Screened at This Theater, We Will Present You with 25 Cents’ Worth of Goods Free”?

The first thing is to determine as to what constitutes an error. In one photoplay a daughter ran away from home and returned to the family fold five years later with the same dress on her back.

Almost as bad was another picture in which the chief character, an old gardener, began his day’s work with an old overall. At the end of the day he blossomed forth in a new garment.

Mistakes are quite as prevalent in Western dramas. Imagine, then, as I did, seeing an Indian girl wearing silk hosiery.

There are much worse mistakes in historical films. You will remember that “Jane Eyre,” Charlotte Bronte’s famous novel, was set in the early part of the nineteenth century, but the heroine in the photoplay version was up to the minute in fashions.

It is quite likely that more than one spectator will detect the same error, in which case it will prove too costly a stunt, so it is advisable to limit same to the first four persons who report the error. As the average motion-picture theater changes its program daily, it will be hard to verify the mistakes, which may not prove to be such. To guard yourself against the unscrupulous, it is well for you or somebody you can trust to see each program. Failing this, stipulate that spectators report the error to the exhibitor immediately after seeing the picture.

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.