Exhibitors Herald (Dec 1923 - Mar 1924)

40 EXHIBITORS HERALD January 5, 1924 LETTERS TO "THE THEATRE" ton's Kolossal Komedy. Our Hospitality. Astor, Now Playing." Another 10.0(10 small cards " with the same wording were distributed downtown. Extra newspaper space carried the glad tidings, too. and all there was to do was to wait for the folks to come — and they came! Great business. A valuable tie-up w^ith the picture is the three generations of the Keaton tribe, together with Mrs. Buster. \Vc let 'em know that, too. Am mailing under separatecover a still of the lobby front on the picture. Playing Griffith's "The White Rose" this week. Am laying off stunting for this week and concentrating solely in newspapers. — Len S. Brown, Astor theatre, St. Paul. ]\Iinn. Personal Appeal Registers The personal element was retained by Frank H. Burns, Beacham theatre, Orlando, Fla., for hts campaign on "Human Wreckage," and big business was enjoyed. Mr. Burns writes: THEATRE EDITOR. E.xhjbitors Her.\ld. — Three weeks in advance special personal letters were sent out to all the prominent people of this city and also numerous others throughout the state whose names are contained i n the inside front page of the press book. These people on the Honor Roll all answered quickly and heartily endorsed the picture, and along with the city endorsements I had some twenty letters to put in front of the theatre. A week in advance I sent out 500 personal letters from the management asking for the patronage of the people and telling them about the picture. It brought wonderful results. Tlie usual heavy amount of cards and heralds were used and in addition we posted paper like a circus and covered all the neighboring country for a radius of twenty miles around. Our Thanksgiving opening was big. the second day we feared opposition in a circus but had a good business, and the third day, Saturday, was also big. "Human Wreckage," if advertised on the personal letter appeal angle and properly endorsed by all the societies and organizations, can be put o\er to good business in any town. — Fr.axk H. Burns, Beacham theatre, Orlando, Fla. Doubles Yield Of Banner Advertising two pictures on a single banner, Leo G. Garner, Columbia theatre, Bristol, Tenn., doubled the field of his space and produced a record week. He writes: T H K A T R E EDITOR. ExHimroRs Hp.KALn.^Enclosed photograph is of a banner stretched. 20x12. advertising "St, Elmo" and "The Virginian." We ran each of these pictures three days and. inasmuch as both are widely read books, we conceived an idea to advertise them as shown in the picture. This banner was the talk of the town and. as the location is the best in Bristol, we were more than satisfied with the results obtained. We incidentally broke all receipt records for the Columbia theatre for the week ending December 1. — Leo G. Garner, Columbia theatre, Bristol. Tenn. Penny Stunt Goes Big How a simple penny stunt which anyone can adapt to his own purposes increased business 60 per cent is told by Crosby & Schwierske, Rex theatre, Colby, Wis., as follo>vs: THEATRE EDITOR. E\hibitor> HerAi.n. — Here is a stunt which is not new to a great many, but it made us some money, so we will pass it along to some who may not have heard of it. We booked Harold Lloyd in "A Sailor Made Man" and Buster Keaton in "Cops," four reels and two reels, and advertised it about three weeks in advance as a big comedy show. Then, two weeks before showing, we put an ad in the local papers sometliing like this: "Extra! Extra! Reported that pennies made in 1900 worth l."i cents each. Watch this space next week for further particulars." The next week we ran an ad advising that pennies made in lyOO would be worth 15 cents each and to ask management of tiieatre about particulars, and advised all the kids to get as many 1900 pennies as they could find. The week we ran the pictures we announced in our ad and on paper that we put out, that all children under 12 years of age having a lliOO penny would be admitted to the big comedy show for one cent, and you should have seen the 1900 pennies. We didn't think there were so many coined in that year as came in during the three-day run. The kids pestered the life out of the business people looking for pennies, but. believe me, that was good advertising. The result was that we showed to about 00 per cent more people than we had all year, and the 1900 pennies brought out adults that hadn't been there before nor since. — Crosby & Schwierske, Rex theatre. Colby. Wis. Bucking Bronco Draws Passerby A bucking broncho front for "The Ramblin' Kid" proved highly effective during the run of that picture at the American theatre, Columbus, Ga. Hugh G. Martin, inventor of the automaton, describes it in the following letter, one of the photos mentioned having failed to arrive up to press time. The other is given on another page. T H E A T R E EDITOR. Exhibitors Herald. — I am mailing under separate cover two photos of the display on "The Bucking Broncho," an idea gotten up by my operators and myself to use in conjunction witli the Universal picture. "The Ramblin' Kid," featuring Hoot Gibson. I had this subject booked for two days at my theatre and. as the days were Friday and Saturday, 1 realized that we must have action to draw the Christmas shoppers' attention to my lobby, thereby selling my picture to the thousands that were on the streets. The result was more than I could ask f()r. as we played to capacity the last (lav and did well the first. I knew that the wild broncho played a un;minent part in the picture, so I finally fount a bucking broncho that I could use for a cut out and cut Gibson's head from another poster and posted it in position to fit the occasion The two photos, one of my lobby and the last showing the simplicity of the mechanism of the affair, explain more than I can put in words, only that there were not many that passed my place in the two days' run that did not stop in their tracks to watch the bucking horse, as well as the curious ones who tried to figure out how it worked. The whole affair only cost me $2.50 besides a little carpenter work on my part, and the majority of the cost was for the cut out, which cost $1..50 of the amount. The motor attached to the mechanism is the variable speed type, therefore I could make the horse gallop at any speed I wished, and the noise effected by its operation sounded very much like real horse's hoofs hitting the ground, which helped to attract attention. The stunt attracted many new faces to my theatre and the picture, being an extra good one, made them come out smiling. Many patrons complimented the picture as well as the novelty stunt. — Hugh G. Martin. .American theatre. Columbus, Ga. Adams Provides Specimen Card Roy W. Adams this week provides a specimen of the card output of the small printing press recently purchased and described in a letter to this departmnt. He writes: THEATRE EDITOR, Exhibitors HtKALi).— I wrote a few weeks ago telling you about a small printing press I bought recently and its great aid in publicity. 1 am enclosing herewith a specimen of one of my first jobs, one of 1,300 cards I put out on "The Mark of Zorro," which brought me three days' pretty fair business. I also use the press in making advertising slides, by printing on gelatine, much neater than a typewritten slide and with a greater variety of type faces. The cards were also addressed on the press,— Rov W. .'\d,\m.s, Pastime theatre, Mason, Mich. "IF WINTER COMES" is assuredly not a draji-'em-in title, but that's just what the picture's doing, that and making the writers of drag-'em-in titles look ridiculous. TITLES are a study in themselves. Tile cry is for short ones, and "Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood" picks up all the glory in sight. SUBTITLES are different. Lots of room for improvement there, as G, J. Ritter pointed out in the report departnient recentlv. PUNCTUATION isn't expensive, nor is English, and certainly the films can afford both. WHTf ruin a *300.()00 picture with $.30 grammar? Rodgers Visits Exchanges NEW YORK.-W. I--. Rodgers, sales manager for Goldwyn Cosnioooliian for the western division of the United States, has left for a trip to the distributing corporation's exchanges in the Southwest.