Motion Picture News (Jul - Sep 1930)

Record Details:

Something wrong or inaccurate about this page? Let us Know!

Thanks for helping us continually improve the quality of the Lantern search engine for all of our users! We have millions of scanned pages, so user reports are incredibly helpful for us to identify places where we can improve and update the metadata.

Please describe the issue below, and click "Submit" to send your comments to our team! If you'd prefer, you can also send us an email to mhdl@commarts.wisc.edu with your comments.




We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.

Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.

19 3 0 Motion Picture News 55 MANACHRr.'ftOUND TABLE CLUB "Journey's End" Offered Sherred Plenty Of Angles Remember the broadsides that went out on the openings of a recent musical production? Well, it seems to us that the campaigns that our members are turning out for "Jour;^^=^=^^=^^^=^= ney's End" will vie closely with anything that was done in the past. One of the first accounts we have come across from Pennsylvania is the campaign turned out by Carl Sherred, manager of the Mishler Theatre in Altoona. Despite the fact that Commencement Exercises at the local schools and hot weather prevailed throughout the run of the picture, Sherred managed to pack them four and five deep during the picture's run. His first move was to tie up the American Legion, since, knowing his town the way he does, this seemed to be the most valuable move that could be made. The Legion men, forty-five in number, had brought back from France a box car which they had mounted on an automobile chassis and whenever they held a parade in Altoona this was almost always included. Sherred tied the Legion in with the picture and they agreed to stage a parade every evening for four days. The first was held on the opening night and the photos we are showing will give you some idea of the success of it. As an added feature, the Legionnaires gave a fifteen-minute concert in front of the theatre and it completely demoralized traffic. The Legion's secretary mailed out three thousand cards, calling the attention of members to the picture. As most of the ex-soldiers are business men of Altoona, they permitted Sherred to dress up their store windows with the beautiful oil paintings that he made up for the occasion. In return for their courtesy, Sherred granted them 60 per cent of the theatre's profits on a special midnight show which was run during the week, and, as we have stated, that he packed them in at every show, you know that the Legion men were more than satisfied with their share. Of course, Sherred used many other angles to sell the picture, but as most of our members have also used them at some time or another, we did not deem it necessary to set them forth. We want to commend Carl on what he did to sell the picture and we know that if he continues the live-wire activity that is evident in every stunt he uses around Altoona, he'll be breaking records week after week. Irving Cohen Uses Many Mediums To Sell Attractions By tying up with one of the local newspapers Irving Cohen, manager of the Paramount Theatre in Waterloo, Iowa, was enabled to put "Sarah and Son" over to big box ' office receipts and big publicity gains. Irving sure is in with the newspaper folks. The newspaper announced the contest with a front page reader and followed this through with a large ad on the classified page explaining in detail about the stunt picture, theatre and playdates. The names of five Waterloo mothers and five Waterloo sons were scattered throughout the classified page for two days — during the first two days of the picture's engagement. Every mother whose name appeared in the classified columns VNDERTRAINED OR OVERTRAINED The subject of ushers seems to centre around the one pertinent question: Are they properly trained for their jobs? Observing the usher staffs in many theatres that we visit, we often get the impression that they do not arrive at the happy medium. We find them either undertrained or else much too overtrained. Taking a Broadway house for an example, we would say that the boys in the Roxy Theatre hit closer to perfection, in our opinion, than any other house on the main stem. They seem to maintain their military bearing without being overbearing. They make no attempt to force you into undesirable seats so long as there is a chance that other empty seats are to be had. And they radiate a feeling of welcome that seems to catch hold of the patron too. Many theatres, starting off with a military style of staff, impress the ushers with too much of the stiff-looking appearance; so much so that the boys can't seem to relax when asked questions, etc. Which is not so good. It leaves the impression that the customer is being "high-hatted" and no staff ever won over the patron with that kind of stuff. Are you coming into New York for a vacation this summer? If so, make it a point to visit some of the Times Square houses and particularly observe how the boys handle themselves at the Roxy. It's an education. was entitled to free admission to see the picture provided the name of her son also appeared during this time. And likewise, every son whose name appeared was entertained if the name of his mother was also published. A tie-up was effected with the First National Bank wherein the bank ran a 20-inch ad in the newspapers advertising the fact that they would open a $10 bank account for the first son born in Waterloo on the opening day of "Sarah and Son." This ad also carried sales copy about the picture as well as mentioning name of theatre and playdates. The stunt proved to be an exploitation bonanza, and though we haven't any special dope on whether any one claimed the prize, we feel that plentv of attention was attracted to the theatre, the bank and the film and that both the house and bank rated a lot of good-will. Not only on pictures like "Sarah and Son" does he step out and grab a bunch of publicity, but on every attraction that plays his house. When he had the "Benson Murder Case" he decided that a "mystery car" would be just the thing for word of mouth comment. He promoted a new car from the Cord agency and since the lines and body of this car are of an unusual type, it helped the effectiveness of the stunt immensely. The windshield and all the windows of the mystery car were covered on the inside with black cheese cloth. And from all (outside) appearances the person driving the car could not see. Banners carried on the car contained copy, "How does the driver see to guide this CORD mystery car? It's quite a mystery, but not nearly so baffling as the mystery confronted by Wm. Powell as Philo Vance in S. S. Van Dine's THE BENSON MURDER CASE— a Paramount all-talking picture— Paramount Theatre, April 5-6-7-8." We have often wondered where Irving gets all the pull he seems to have in Waterloo, because, no matter what sort of a stunt he wants to engineer, he is pretty sure to receive the cooperation of any merchant before whom he lays his plan. Why don't you let us in on the secret, Irving, by writing us a little article about it so that we can pass the low down to the rest of the Club?