Motion Picture News (Jul - Sep 1930)

46 Motion Picture N c w s J u I v 1930 LOST AND FOUND ! ! ! Send Us the Blank — We'll ] Do the Rest for You! J MANAGERS' ROUND TABLE CLUB, 729 Seventh Avenue, New York City. I would like to learn the whereabouts of His last known address was City State He was last employed by I last corresponded with him on (date) Remarks (Include here any other information that will guide us in helping you locate this party.) SIGNED ADDRESS CITY STATE Krier Put Plenty Of High Hatting On For This Campaign This photo we are showing will let you see that John N. Krier, manager of the Columbia Theatre in Davenport, la., is right there with the goods when it comes to "Puttin' On the Ritz" at the box-office, as well as telling the town about it. The Chief of the Theatre's Service Staff put on a complete suit of evening attire including the high silk hat, gloves and cane. A car that had been promoted from the Hudson agency was used in driving this well-dressed man about town ; the chauffeur being dressed in regular chauffeur's uniform. The car made a tour of the business district, schools, and other places where there were people. The car would stop at these various places where the man in the evening clothes would pass out calling cards reading, "I am not — HARRY RICHMAN— You can see him in 'PUTTIN' ON THE RITZ' starting Saturday at the Columbia Theatre." The spare tires on both front fenders carried a disc on which was imprinted the title of picture. The stunt went over great and if the rest of the work that Mr. Kriti turns out is of tlii^ sort we know that it will click. ►4 k * w""'^ M — >< l Jim kfe_ ft ^ / Matt Press Pulled A Corking Stunt On Treasure Hunt TREASURE HUNT£ "HOLD EVERYTHING" Come On, Shoppers TREASURES Tr»<j. D.r. Jul, 3rd . "Thar's gold in them thar hills of Hope," shouts Matt Press, the manager of the Saenger Theatre in the Arkansas town. And he ought to know for he engineered a ^^=^^^=^i^=^=; Treasure Hunt recently that had them talking from the time it started until a week after it finished. Six coming attractions were arranged in a group and Matt labeled them the "Treasures of the Show World." This served to giv.e him a wedge to start his Treasure Hunt. And what an affair it was. He started his advertising in the newspaper by working on his regular space and wound up with a full page cooperative ad that broke on the day of the hunt contest. Nearly every merchant in town plugged the novel angle and in the ad you'll notice the Kiddie Klub plug that he gets. The kids who participated in the hunt were invited to line up at the theatre at 10 o'clock on the morning of the hunt and the mob of kids who appeared were divided off in groups of 100. Each division was placed in charge of a boy who acted as leader. The itinerary was so arranged that the various groups would not appear at the local shops at the same time. The bands were conducted about the entire town and the cry of "Hold Everything" (Press's first picture of his six) was heard by every resident. Five hundred gifts had been purchased from a novelty house, the Coco Cola Company furnished drinks, which were distributed by one of their local dealers, a fruit company donated their product, another company, ice cream, and other merchants donated candy and pop corn. The kids surged all over the town and received the various awards and after covering every spot indicated in the Treasure Hunt route they returned to the theatre where games were conducted, announcements made and the awards given away to the more fortunate of the hunters. At the conclusion of a comedy that was shown them the youngsters were dismissed and, with dirty hands, faces, and shoes covered with dust, they returned home to clean up for the evening meal and look forward to Matt's next hunt. It was only a short while ago that we ran a box on the value of these Treasure Hunts and we are glad to note that Matt thinks enough of them to use one. This is an excellent time of the year for you to pull a stunt of this kind and with the schools closed you should be able to do a lot of planning and cover a lot of other angles. So if you think you can use this stunt in your town go to it and we are sure that the good-will derived from it is bound to react towards your box-office. JOHN V. WARD Says; "/ certainly spend a pleasant hour perusing the pages of the MANAGERS' ROUND TABLE section, since you have started this department. I look forward eagerly each week to receiving my copy of MOTION PICTURE NEWS." Manager, Capitol Theatre, Niagara Falls, Ont., Canada.