Harry Reichenbach (1882-1931) is one of the pioneers of public relations. He was born on a ranch close to Frostburg, Maryland. His father was a grocer and taproom- guard.
He was an US press agent and publicist who was known for the kind of sensational publicity deeds that he came up with to promote movies and other clients. He worked as an agent for actors and a promoter for the studios. He was also one of the founding members of the Associated Motion Picture Advertisers.
When it came to generating hype for his clients, he wasn’t just creative, he was bold, gutsy and at moments indeed went to the juncture of being atrocious. Still, the press loves controversies and his clients were glad even if his ways weren’t what most PR professionals would even dream of trying. Nonetheless, it’s worth knowing about them.
Sober Sue
One of his earliest jobs was to promote a woman called”Sober Sue”and he did a fabulous job. She never smiled but he worked out in getting her a deal at the Victoria Theater on Broadway. He asked them to offer$ 1000 to any New York comic who could make her laugh. This never occurred because the woman had paralyzed face muscles and this made her unable of smiling.
Fake abductions
At times, Reichenbach would set up fake hijackings of actresses who would appear in his flicks. Once this involved crossing the border into Mexico and this had an awful counterreaction when the US President Woodrow Wilson wrote an angry letter asking him to stop!
The Return of Tarzan
Once he was given the assignment of promoting the sequel‘The Return of Tarzan’. He got quite innovative and employed an actor who stayed at the Hotel Bellclaire with the name ThomasR. Zann. His luggage contained a crate so huge that it could only be moved into his room through a window. Naturally, this intrigued everyone. Once this was done, he called for fifteen pounds of raw beef. The chef and the hotel operative arrived to figure out what was brewing and ascertained that the meat was for the guest’s pet lion. The hotel called the police and”Mr Zann” explained to them and to the press that he was a huge Tarzan aficionado .
Grow a beard
He helped actor Rudolf Valentino resurrect his sinking career by making him grow a beard and also asking the Master hairdressers Association to avoid the picture. This generated plenitude of hype.
Art deal, an Ordeal.
One of the biggest publicity stunts that Harry Reichenbach pulled off was when he was working for a New York City art dealer in 1913. The dealer had bought 2000 duplicates of the painting “ September Morn” and had to vend them. It featured a naked girl being in a quiet pool. The illustration was priced at simply ten cents all but yet it lay unsold. Reichenbach daringly stuck one hard-copy on the window of the store and also called up Anthony Comstock, head of theAnti-Vice Society. When Anthony arrived at the scene, he was worried finding youths looking at it and passing commentary. They had been hired by Reichenbach too however Anthony didn’t know it. Upset with the turn of events, he appealed to the courts and banned it. This made the picture well-known as it appeared in papers and duplicates vended like pancakes at a dollar each.
Most PR professionals may not be able to go to the lengths he did, but out-of-the-box thinking can surely help induce more hype for clients.
