Motion Picture News (Jul - Sep 1930)

July 5 , 19 3 0 Motion Picture N etv s 43 MANACEKJ' ROUND TADLE CLUBi Scotch Band Was Means For Sewing Publicity Tight Sufficient evidence that Ralph Phillips IS ^^rfcre'^Tha,,:! Doing Great Work nooga, Term., is displaying j~ _ _ . . . . showmanship is seen in the On Merchandising recent exploitation stunt he ' conceived in the form of an "etiquette" throw-away to plug "Such Men Are Dangerous." The unique herald contained a list of seven pertinent questions which were headed by the title. "Is It Correct?" The questions asked the correct thing to do under certain circumstances and according to first hand reports right from Ralph himself the questions caused more word-of-mouth publicity than anything he has tried in months. The novelty tied in with the picture by closing with "Whether these are right or wrong, you must see Elinor Glyn's smart society romance "Such Men Are Dangerous." In addition to this, his activities also numbered window tieups in jewelry stores, florists' shops, men's clothing stores, ladies' dress shops, a book store window display, three days radio announcement in advance and an essay contest on "Should a pretty girl ever marry for wealth alone?" which was suggested by the theme of the picture. These numerous activities resulted in the theatre doing better than average business. We're glad to note that Ralph is stepping out and selling his shows down there and we know he will continue the active work. The photo we are reproducing below will show you what a "natural" the "Cohens and Kellys in Scotland" offered to Chris Georgas, manager of the Classic Theatre in Owen Sound, Ontario, Can., when it came to exploiting it and how he exploited it. With Scotch bands abounding around the cities of the various provinces, Georgas was enabled to recruit an outfit of Highlanders and have them parade about town plugging the picture. The seven men. preceded by a youngster in uniform i < leorgas' heir by the way), bearing a banner plugging the picture, attracted plenty of attention tn the show at the Classic. The band paraded about the main streets and the more thickly populated neighborhoods, causing windows to be raised and heads stuck out. The value of the stunt was seen in the subsequent business that marked the run of the film. We think that exploitation angles of this sort should prove especially well, considering where Georgas is located, and from what we have seen of his work to date we believe he is of the same opinion. We are glad to see that he is displaying showmanship along these lines and we know that he will keep it up. How about it, Chris? You know, to keep along with the leaders in the Canadian division of the Club, you have to be pretty active; in fact, you have to be active all the time. So keep us posted on whatever else you are doing so that we may rank you in the position your stunts entitle you to. Oke? • In order to sell his picture, "The Golden Calf" to the residents of Ogden, Utah, R. C. Glasman, manager of the Orpheum Theatre, did some "ankling" around and promoted a special contest. The tie-up was made with a Knitting Company who put out 4,000 cards calling attention to the fact that El Brendel was unusually interested in hosiery that they (the Knitting Co.) were having a contest somewhat similar to that in the picture. HHHHH Glasman Promoted Free Printing To Plug His Picture Program Reader Mere is an interesting program reader used as one of a series by J. J. Dempsey at the Strand Theatre in Dorchester, Mass. We recommend it to any theatre whose policy permits the use of material of this kind. Pride is a natural human trait possessed in some degree by all of us. It has its outlets in different degrees and its objects embrace things both material and imaginary. We may be justly proud of the ownership of a home, and we speak of it as any proud owner would, dwelling with honest feeling on its beauty, its location, its modern improvements and comfort. We may be proud of our car and boast about its speed, its pick-up, its dependability and the mileage we get on gas. We may be proud of an infinity of things from a golf club to a mansion. And why? Because in the joy of possession is intermingled the pride that they represent our choice, our selection of these particular objects from any number of others which we might have chosen. And then why should we not have that same feeling toward the theatre we have chosen as our regular place of motion picture amusement? It cannot be denied that today the theatre is one of the strongest factors in American life. The weekly attendance throughout the country in theatres of all kinds emphasizes this fact. The fact that you are here is evidence that you have chosen this theatre as your theatre. You have chosen it from a number of others for various reasons, its proximity, its structural beauty, its high-class programs, its smooth running shows and its service. In other words, it is another possession of yours and which on that account should on occasions be the recipient of praise to those who have not become acquainted with it. It is a just pride. We do not believe that anywhere is there a neighborhood theatre that exceeds this one in the attributes of a good theatre, and for this reason we are proud and would like to pass this feeling on to you because it is on our part not only a feeling of pride for the beautiful theatre we have, but a bigger and better pride in the fact that we are proud of you, as our patrons, and we just can't help telling you about it. The copy on the card further stated that a young lady displaying hosiery would be in the store window from 2 to 5 P.M. on the two days current with the showing of the picture. And all that was necessary to win one of the prizes was to guess the size of the calf of the girl's leg. The estimates were made on the card that had been distributed in advance. So popular was the stunt that there were over 250 guesses handed in on the first day and nearly a thousand more on the next day. The other side of the card distributed by the Knitting Co. carried copy about the picture, theatre and playdates as well as tying up the contest to the picture. The stunt proved very popular as was evidenced from the returns submitted and was an excellent medium for advertising the picture. An angle that helped a lot Robert C. FrOSt towards selling "Young ; Ea gles to the residents of BirmPlaCed Plane In ingham, Ala., was the stunt t« r^e rr\t pulled by Robert C. Frost, £ rOnt Ol 1 heatre manager of the Strand Thea=^^=^^=^^=^^=^i tre in Birmingham, Ala., when he parked a home-made aeroplane in front of the house. The aeroplane was obtained through the Southern Aircraft Corp., and remained on display in front of the theatre for the entire week in which the picture played. The plane attracted such enormous crowds from the minute it was placed in front of the theatre throughout the entire engagements that it was necessary to place a guard about the plane in order to keep people from molesting it. Neatly printed cards were placed on the plane at various parts, the cards offering sales copy about "Young Eagles," playdates, etc. As this happened to be the first time that the gag had ever been used in the city, it proved to be very effective and, as a result, the house received a lot of valuable publicity. As we are acquainted with the past work of this showman, we know that he covered many more angles in the campaign, all of which tended towards the complete merchandising of the attraction.