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Motion Picture News ("The Exhibitors' Medium of Communication"; "Motion Picture News has the quality circulation of the trade"), one of the many trade magazines sent to movie theater owners starting in the early 1910s (it was very similar to Moving Picture World, which apparently was its main competitor in the 1910s). We don't know when this magazine began publication or when it ceased, because issues of it are incredibly rare! Each magazine measured approximately 9" x 12", and each contained many pages. Each weekly issue would be filled with profusely illustrated articles about upcoming movies, statistics about box office grosses of current releases, and sometimes articles about coming developments in motion picture technology, and sometimes sections illustrating how theaters advertised current movies. Of greatest interest to collectors are the dozens of advertisements (most full-page) from all of the major studios! The studios spent a great deal of time and money creating the ads, for it was through these exhibitor magazines that the studios gained bookings for their upcoming releases, which was the direct income they received from those movies (by contrast, the posters they created helped theaters take in more money, but that did not directly benefit the studios, except when they owned the theaters, or if higher grosses resulted in more bookings). Note that these exhibitor magazines were ONLY sent to theater owners, and the general public never had a chance to buy them. But most theater owners treated them like old newspapers, throwing them away after the movies had played. Consequently, they are extremely rare, especially those from the 1920s and 1930s! Note that we do not have the time to list the contents of each magazine we are selling (this magazine does not have a "table of contents", and of course, the most interesting part of the magazine is the great illustrated ads), but we have pictured the cover, and several interior 2-page spreads. Each of these magazines, which were NOT printed on newsprint, and were printed on quality paper, is packed with very interesting visual and written material, almost all of which has not been seen since the date the magazine was published. We doubt anyone who buys these magazines will be disappointed by the content! Note that there are two differences between this magazine and Moving Picture World. One is that the ads are almost all in black & white, and that the ads are more separated from the editorial content of the magazine. If anyone knows more about this magazine, please e-mail us and we will post it here.

Important Added Info: Note that this is a "Booking Guide" put out by Motion Picture News of October 1922, that gives the "pictures released between March 1, 1922 - September 1, 1922". Motion Picture News published this magazine twice a year for a least part of the 1920s, but we have never before auctioned any example of it! What makes it really interesting is that in addition to providing text summaries of each of the movies released during those dates, it also has, interspersed through the magazine, images from several of the movies that look like they may be 24-sheet images! If anyone knows more about this publication, please e-mail us and we will post it here.

Note that we have provided a picture of the front cover of the magazine, and also pictures of one or more interior two-page spreads (but we didn't make much effort to find the best ones!). These images should greatly help you judge the overall condition of the magazine. Please realize that sometimes there were only a few ads in each magazine, and sometimes quite a few, but that often the bulk of each magazine is taken up by stories about current productions and other information of interest to theater owners (and I don't know that this information can be found anywhere else or that it has been reproduced in any book since its first publication!). Please know that these magazines are sealed in bags and are ready for shipping, and we cannot answer any questions about them or look through them for you, so please bid (or do not bid) based on the images we have provided.

Our address for UPS or FedEx only is:
Bruce Hershenson,
306 Washington Avenue, West Plains, MO 65775