Motion Picture News (Jul - Sep 1930)

July 5, 1930 Motion Picture N eiv s 49 MANACei?r rcCUND TABLE CLUB Talk about lobby displays Harrison Hit Waco that PackT a ™alloP Here's one that J. P. Harrison, manOn Hit The Deck ager of the Waco Theatre in 0 • i ta • i Waco, Texas, turned out to OpeCial Display help sell "Hit The Deck." A =^=^=^^^^== beaverboard battleship in natural colors was what he worked out. One week in advance of showing, the battleship covered the entire center of lobby. Ropes leading to each side of the wall made into a ladder, were hung from the ship. Pennants with catchlines from the picture were strung from all directions to ship. Port holes were cut in ship with pictures of Jack Oakie placed in them and two big guns sticking out of center of ship gave a real atmosphere for the occasion. During run of picture, the battleship was placed over box office and tickets were sold through the port holes after removing several of the Oakie pictures. Harrison also planted a sign at a vantage point — on top of one of the construction houses at Waco's new two million dollar dam; the sign reading, "Hit the Deck — Waco — Friday." This was done one week in advance and since nearly three thousand persons visited the dam on Sunday alone the value of this stunt was easily seen, especially in view of the subsequent box-office re-action during the week. We want to thank Harrison for letting us see this one and we feel that when he engineers some more of his well known stunts in Waco, that he will keep us posted on them. How about it "J. P.," you know we're more than interested in seeing how you merchandise vour show. The trio who have been WeiSS, Short And startling Tampa, Fla. with . livewire exploitation are at it Allen Engineered again. Wally Allen, exploita mT> 'LU A/T a\~ ^on and publicity "ace," Har Ue KID DOn MOntn ry Weiss, City Manager, and Paul Short, manager of the Tampa Theatre, engineered a Blue Ribbon Month for June that is making them sit up and take notice. Feeling that this was not to be a Blue Ribbon Month for the theatre alone, the trio set out to make it an affair that would include all of the Tampa merchants. They hustled out and tied up every big store in the city. They roped in the Tampa Tribune, one of the largest papers in the city. We are showing a cut of one of the >pecial double truck co-operative pages that was run. A number of these were featured weekly. On Saturday and Sunday the local newspaper granted. free of charge, a reader on the front page plugging the Blue Ribbon Month. A GREAT TALUK CIVINC STENT! MONDAY SPECIALS -HAUGURATIN DOLLAH DATi m TKIII SPECIALS WILL J4VI TOU MONET Many angles were covered in the special month and two of them of special interest were the popularity contest and a special tie-up with one of the largest department stores. The popularity angle was a corker. Every store was provided with thousands of voting blanks and patrons spending a dollar or over were entitled to vote for the "Blue Ribbon Sales Girl." The girl who at the conclusion of the month had the most votes had fifty dollars in gold waiting for her. ICE CREAM TIE-UPS! Last summer we published many details in connection with theatre and ice cream tie-ups, and although we have not received any great amount of this kind of material up to this time, the thought still remains that here is a good gag that can be turned into b. o. receipts if you want to take a crack at it. Bill Bergmann, out in Nebraska, worked out a stunt whereby every purchaser of a quart of ice cream at the local distributors of a state-wide cream manufacturer, received a free ticket to the theatre. Comstock, out on the coast, engineered a kiddie matinee, idea by tying up with an ice cream company to secure a small brick of cream for every youngster who attended the special show. This went over so big that the company sponsored hundreds like it all over the state. (On stuff of this kind, keep in mind that the cream must be distributed after the show as the kids go out. Otherwise they will ruin your carpets and seats.) Give this angle a little thought and try to work it out so as to cost you little or nothing. Maybe you can sell your local ice cream parlor or confectioner a bill of goods so that he will furnish the cream in return for a plug on family trade. The other tie-up with a department store enabled the showmen to secure special heralds which were distributed by the store. The heralds plugged the month and invited all customers who spent five dollars or over to attend the Tampa as their guests. The tickets were purchased by the store and given away to the customers. Another angle that proved to be a valuable plug was the insertion of thirty thousand stuffers in the monthly telephone bills that went to the residents of the city. Three thousand special buttons were handed out at the theatre and stores. The showmen were given the whole hearted co-operation of the Tampa Merchants Association and since Wally Weiss and Short, sponsored the entire arrangement they built up a lot of good-will for the house and the Publix organization besides making some excellent contacts for future use. The activities of these showmen are always a source of pleasure to us as we feel that our members display more than a usual interest in learning what the Florida bunch is doing; especially with competition among the showmen to see who can lead the group, being so keen. Let's have some more boys, and we want to say that you three are certainly hanging onto the top rung. H. C. Bamberger sold a Department Store puzzle contest idea to a de# ,_ partment store that resulted Tie-Up Proved 1 O in excellent publicity for Maut-» t» »•, it /-v rice Chevalier in "The Big Be rrOIltable Une Pond," playing at the Ken ^^ tucky Theatre, Lexington, Ky. The puzzle picture contest appeared in the store's ad with a headline, "Won't you be our guest at the Kentucky?" Copy in the ad stated that it was necessary to cut out the little squares and assemble them, paste on a sheet of white paper and bring them to the store's Fashion Dept., and if you were among the first 25 to submit the correct picture, you would receive a pass to see the picture. The store also had a co-operative window display on the picture as well as flashing advertising material in their Fashion Dept., where the correct solutions of puzzle contest were exchanged for passes. Department store tie-ups ought to be easy for Bamberger. Just think of the famous department store of his name over there in Newark, N. J.