Motion Picture News (Oct-Dec 1930)

134 .1/ 0 t i o n P i c I ii r e N e w s October 4 . 19 3 0 MANAGE!?!' KOtND TABLE CLUB Holden Florida Regional Chairman! When Wally Allen vacated his berth down in Florida and came up north to sell shows for Loew, he automatically resigned from his position as Regional Chairman for the State of Florida. After a week or so of deliberation, the Managers' Round Table Club takes pleasure in announcing the appointment of the new Regional Chairman. Earle Holden, manager of the Fairfax Theatre in Miami. Having been one of the most active members of the Club for the past two years, it seemed only natural that the place should fall to Holden. and we are more than pleased to be able to offer it to him. His new duties, though, will not excuse him from being an active member; that's where the catch comes in. The Regional Chairman has to be more active than an active member! Well, Earle, we know that you are capable of filling any of the above qualifications. So let's have some of that speed that you display down in your district and see if you can't do to Florida what Pete Egan and Wally Allan have done for Canada, along the lines of showman representation on the Club pages. Limerick Contest Helped Watson to Crash Newspaper It takes showman personality to land free space in the newspapers of big cities and we believe that J. E. Watson, manager of the Broad Theatre in Columbus, Ohio, must pos^ — — ""— — ^~ ^^^^~ sess it; for how else could he run a limerick contest in one of the biggest papers as an aid to his show selling? The following is a copy of one of the advance notices that appeared in the Columbus Citizen on the Limerick Contest: "Do they intrigue you? When you see four lines of one with the fifth and 'punch' line left to the reader, do you itch to seize a pen or a pencil and fill in the missing words? If you do, here is your chance. "The Columbus Citizen announces its Limerick Contest, starting Tuesday. Every day through to Friday, The Citizen will print four lines of a limerick. To those readers who send in the best answers The Citizen will award 44 tickets to Loew's Broad Theatre to see Norma Shearer in 'Let Us Be Hay.' which opens Saturday. "Now get this. Read carefully the following four lines of verse, fill in the vacant line, and mail into the Limerick Contest Editor as soon as possible. Here is the first one: 'Norma Shearer is coming, they say. In a picture called 'Let Us Be Gay,' So now is the time, To round out this rhyme, — — . "Other limericks will appear on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. "Eleven prizes will be awarded each day. First prize answer will receive four tickets ; the second, two tickets, and the next five will receive one ticket each." The Columbus Citizen received hundreds i>i replies to this iting contest, and it was a great success. Limericks, so it seems, are a big favorite with any number of persons. Perhaps your local editor would appreciate it if you should propose a tie-up of this sort. Remember, you can use it on any picture, and there's plenty of angles can be injected into it. Listen. Mr. Watson; we've an idea that you are pulling some fine showmanship out in Columbus. Let us in on it, will you, so that we can pass it along? Give Heinie Johnson a paint JohnSOn & Polacek brush and something on which •c -kt /-< l t0 aPP'y paint and he'll turn .borm .New Combine out a display that is a display. At Robb Theatres Ani «hen if £red ,P°lace,k J5 with him on the selling of the — ; picture, for which Heinie paints the display, you have a crack combination that means business for the R. & R. Ritz Theatre in Big Spring, Texas. Allowed full sway by Mr. J. V. Robb, the house manager and one of the owners of the chain, this team has been turning out some fine stuff. In the past we presented only Heinie with his display work, but now we want to introduce you to Fred Polacek. the assistant manager of the house, who, as Heinie says "is something of an exploitation genius." Welcome into the Club, Fred. In the photos we are showing, you can get a little dope on Polacek's work in the picture of the knockout street ballyhoo arranged for the selling of "The Dawn Patrol." This street ballyhoo was a plane built on a miniature automobile, the car measuring four feet long and about three feet wide. The plane itself measured eight feet wide and twelve feet long. The motor in the car was a motorboat engine, and by running a straight exhaust, it proved to be one of the most effective stunts the theatre had used for some time. The rather highpowered motor in the car had the speed and power to carry the plane in and around traffic safely, sometimes with too much safety — as the curious natives would gather around to look at it. The ballyhoo stopped them all, young and old. The roar of the exhaust resembled that of an airplane engine on the take-off and this attracted considerable attention and comment. Results were equally as good when the plane wras parked in a roped-off section in front of the theatre. It was a beauty as regards colors, being checkered in white and lavender with Iron Crosses and lettering in black and red. Of course, Heinie did the painting. The lobby display was also a corker. One of the pieces of which we are showing. Both sides of the lobby were covered with large paintings of No Man's Land. The scenes depicted early morning on the battlefront. Cut-out airplanes were placed in combat formations. The title of the picture was in cut-out tinseled letters. Posters were also used. The posters were painted in flashy, eye-arresting colors. The entire campaign for "The Dawn Patrol" clicked from the moment it was started, and Heinie authorizes us to challenge any city of 10,000 to produce like effects. So if you have anything special, shoot it on to us so that we can present it on our pages and let your fellow members look it over. Oke Heinie. and remember we are looking forward to seeing what you and Fred are going to do with the new season's products. "THE LIFE OF THE THEATRE!" WALLACE J. BUTLER Says: "/ want to express my deepest and sincerest thoughts in regards to the Managers' Round Table Club that has so successfully come to the front in such a short period of time. It also is becoming the talk of the industry; I might add in a few words and say that it is "The Life of the Theatre" in more ways than one." Manager, Ritz Theatre, San Bernardino, Calif.