Boxoffice (Oct-Dec 1963)

French-Slyle Evening Is Offered by Radio Spend an evening in Dallas ... In the French Style . . . was the invitation sent out by radio for the opening of “In the French Style” at the Fine Arts Theatre. Ed Sherbeyn, manager, and Dick Empey, Trans-Texas Theatres ad-publicity director, worked with Bill Lewis and Toby Woods of Columbia on this film. The radio tieup was with KLIF, which devoted 40 gratis spots to the contest in which listeners were asked to tell in 25 words or less why they would like an evening in Dallas, starting with a visit to Henri, leading hair stylist; free use of a big limousine; flowers; dinner at the Dominique restaurant; gifts of a cosmetic bag, shoulder bag and French perfume by the Fine Arts Theatre before seeing the film there; late dinner at the BonVivant Club and a free baby-sitter. Other promotions: a wine-tasting party at Dominique’s covered by the newspapers, radio and TV; street tours by bannered Renault, two screenings and a sneak preview, plus displays. Army Brass Dazzles At Leavenworth 'Day ' The brass and gold braid really flashed at the Hollywood Theatre, managed by Henry “Bud” Sommers, at Leavenworth, Kas., on opening night of “The Longest Day.” There were two Congressional Medal of Honor winners and 75 officers, some of them generals, present. As Sommers reports, he really “had something to work with . . . but the cooperation was extraordinary.” You see Leavenworth is built around the Army fort, one of the oldest military installations in the country, and is the home of the Army Command and General Staff College, whose “students” are mostly majors and lieutenant colonels. In the theatre audience as part of “The Longest Day” opening festivity were officers representing 42 countries in their colorful uniforms. All 75 were introduced from the stage. Col. James B. Shay, one of the technical advisors on the film, was one of them. The two Medal of Honor winners were presented two framed proclamations by Leavenworth mayor Victor Shalkowski. The 371st Army band gave a 25 -minute stage concert. There was the presentation of colors. Outside, with proper lighting, an Army “duck,” or landing craft such as used in France on D-Day, was parked. A PA set announced the arriving officers, and all week played soundtrack airs. Showman Is First MOD Donor Lew Bray jr., manager of the Texas Theatre in Pharr, Tex., came through with the first donation to the March of Dimes telethon auction — 50 theatre passes — and the presentation to the MOD chairman was depicted in a three -column photo in the local paper. The Telethon auction was scheduled for December, and a benefit show at the Texas in January. Rental to Chamber of Commerce Fred McBee rented the Piqua (Ohio) Theatre to the Chamber of Commerce for an October 25 Kiddy show. Pick Thrill-Giving Stars Of Yesteryear for Prizes and Passes to Thrill' T*»« UK _ WIN FREE PASSES/ At NAME THE MYSTERY ACTRESS OR ACTOR ^ 100 BIG PRIZES.'/ \ * f, *7, J : The boxoffice was really “thrilled” when “The Thrill of It All” played at the Twin Drive-In at Cincinnati. Knowing that movie addicts pride themselves on remembering stars from away back, Twin manager Robert L. Oda arranged a contest to test their skill. Prizes and passes were awarded to movie patrons who could correctly identify actors and actresses who were Academy award winners from 1928 through 1962. He received permission from the Kresge store, located in the heaviest traffic area in the Swifton Shopping Center, to use a window to display the stars’ photos. Contestants were requested to identify the photos marked with red stars and black numbers, which matched the correct names on the entry blanks. Oda also was given free space to advertise the contest in the Swifton Center’s big sales promotion supplement which ran in the Post and Times-Star. These two promotions provided the Twin boxoffice “thrill,” reports the energetic drive-in operator. Stay Out of Rut; Variety Is Spice of Theatre Life Richard I. Cosby and Merrill L. Johnson don’t like to get into a rut, especially with their theatre advertising and promotion. Their motto is — change your ad style, change your promotion pace, add something new to the program schedule, give the theatre a change in personality often. Cosby and Johnson were managers of the Indiana Theatre in Salem, Ind., several seasons ago. As for ads, they reported they avoid using the same size of ad all the time, or putting the same punch (adjectives) into their layouts day after day: “We try to make each ad as different in personality and atmosphere as our pictures are.” Occasionally they have ads as large as 15 and 18 inches deep and three columns wide in the Salem leader. One time, for a change in program pace, the partner-managers got a print of “Grand Canyon,” a Walt Disney feature, from the Indianapolis BV exchange and invited all the children in the elementary schools to see the film as guests of the theatre, 580 at one matinee and 565 at another. Buses transported the youngsters to and from school. To speed up things, there were no previews, or concessions sold. It was purely a goodwill event. They include gimmicks in their ads. For example, they will advertise they are going to make ten telephone calls on a specified day and give passes to all persons answering with the words of the cur rent film title and theatre name before saying “Hello” or anything else. On one occasion they gave out 75 passes thus, since it seemed everybody was answering correctly. Imagine all the people they didn’t call that were answering with “(film title) is at the Indiana.” This is what a “yum yum" tree looks like in Albuquerque. This one was used as advance promotion for "Under the Yum Yum Tree," which opened at the Fox-Winrock Theatre in that city. This tree and several others in the Winrock Shopping Center were decked out with large heart-shaped cardboard signs, on which was printed the word "yum." The stunt was arranged by Winrock assistant manager Dan Newton. BOXOFTICE Showmandiser :: Dec. 9, 1963 — 195 — 3