'A Memorable Murder,' Thaxter."[10]

[Footnote 10: J. Berg Esenwein, _Writing the Short-Story_.]

"The American editor, like the heiress, is willing, anxious, to pay
big money for a genuine title; only she is on the lookout for an old
one, he for a new," says Mr. Harry Cowell, in _The Magazine Maker_.
And though he speaks of titles for fiction stories, what he says
exactly fits when applied to photoplay writing. Again, Mr. Cowell says
that "the best of titles, once used, is bad"--for re-use, of course.

Mr. Epes Winthrop Sargent remarks: "There are dozens of instances of
title-duplication to be noted in the past year, some of the titles
being used more than twice. A matter of greater moment is to avoid
duplication of plot." It is of still greater moment to avoid both.
Because he discovered that the Essanay Company was about to release a
picture called "Her Adopted Father," a certain writer changed the
title of one of his stories from "His Adopted Mother" to "The Bliss of
Ignorance." This avoided, not a duplication, but a too great
similarity in titles; at the same time the change was an improvement,
when one considers the theme of the story.

As a photoplay author, you should subscribe for one of the
trade-papers, if for no other reason than to keep posted on the titles
of the various subjects released by the different manufacturers. 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;