Exhibitor's Trade Review (Sep-Nov 1921)

1810 EXHIBITORS TRADE REVIEW Volume 10. Number 26. Arch Bamberger of the Empress, Owensboro, ran First National's "The Girl in the Taxi" and to attract unusual attention he just covered up his house front so that patrons felt they were walking into a taxi for a fast drive. The front was built of beaverboard and cost $9. National Joy Week in St. Louis was an event which attracted much attention because of the live exploitation given to it by Manager Greenman of Fox's Liberty, where "The Connecticut Yankee" was shown. This is a photo of the crowd taking in the tie-up with Woolworth stores. Manager Coleman of the Majestic, Memphis, Tenn., got a pair of scales, put them in front of his ticket booth, and instead of recording weight a specially printed dial recorded emotions that were stirred by the various thrills in Realart's "One Wild Week," which he was running at the theatre. Made 'em sit up and cough! National Joy Week Details of a comprehensive exploitation campaign, conducted in Chicago for the premiere presentation of Doris May's "The Foolish Age," at Barbee's Loop Theatre, are announced in a special bulletin from R-C Pictures. Heading the list of novelties provided by experts from R-C was a lobby display which converted the Barbee entrance into a veritable "carnival of joy" exhibit. By the use of serpentine, colored bunting, silk lanterns, streamers, various novelty cut outs, balloons, pennants and other materials, the idea of "joy" and "happiness," as exemplified by "The Foolish Age" and the first annual Doris May National Joy Week which was observed throughout the country in recognition of Miss May's starring debut, was firmly impressed upon the Chicago public. Passersby along Monroe and Dearborn Streets "stopped, looked and listened" with the decorative favors fascinating their eye, and the strains of a National Joy Week jazz band, concealed within the lobby pleasing their ear. Perhaps the most interesting phase of the Chicago campaign was the new novel appeal employed in the regular advertisements on the picture. Departing from the commonplace in layout and copy, the Barbee ads steped right out into print and actually "talked" with the thousands of employees of Chicago's big department stores, who were urged to "smile and be happy" by seeing Doris May in "The Foolish Age." One of the ads carried the big headlines. "To employees of Marshall, Field & Co., The Boston Store, Mandel Brothers." This was followed by copy reading: "Your duties are important and exacting! Good Cheer Always Essential! You'll Be Happy and You'll Be Smiling Every Hour of The Day By Coming TODAY To See Doris May in The Big Comedy Hit, 'The Foolish Age'." Wheat Week As a feature attraction for the thousands of visitors to the big Wheat Show celebration in Wichita, Kan., the Wichita Theatre selected the Metro picturization of Polly With a Past. ' So popular did this comedy drama prove to the crowds at the big fall celebration that the management of the theatre broke their established rule of changing pictures twice a week and ran Polly With a Past for the entire week. As proof of the hit it made, L. D. Baldy, manager, in a letter to the home office of Metro in New York, stated that the returns increased each day of the run. In connection with the showing of the famous Broadway success, the Wichita arranged a prologue consisting of a Rose Festival Musical Revue, under the direction of Lucius Ades, who presented the May Festival and many other pretentious offerings. Selections from the musical program of the Zeigfeld Follies of 1921 were sung by soloists and a chorus of twenty-seven voices. For his newspaper exploitation Mr. Baldy made use of the advertisements listed in the press book issued by Metro on this production, running the four-column ad for his big smash and the smaller ones during the showing.