Moving Picture World (Jan-Feb 1927)

MOVING PICTURE WORLD 61 January 1, 1927 If You Can Make The Kids Your Friends, You Win Hewitt’s Birthday Was on the House Joe Hewitt, of the Strand Theatre, Robinson, 111., had a birthday recently. Being a shy young thing he does not tell what the serial number of the event is, but he admits that he has been in the business for twenty years, so he’s off a milk diet. Anyhow Joe had the birthday and thought the town might as well know about it, so he proclaimed a couple of days of feasting. The first day any little girl could walk right past the doorkeeper at four o’clock and get the best seat she could find. Joe had a special program with a Sportlight dealing with child athletes, Little Red Riding Hood, with Baby Peggy, Dippy DooDads, r kid comedy, an a’ccordeon solo by a profes.'onal friend of Joes and the song School D„ys with very original slides by J. Hewitt. Buys the Next Day The following afternoon he substituted a western drama for Red Riding Hood and gave a stag party to the boys. No tickets, no formalities, just walk in and hand Joe a smile. But lots of the kids brought little presents that tickled Joe immensely. And the mothers and fathers and big sisters and brothers and cousins and aunts and the school teachers and the ministers and the flagman down at the railroad crossing are all slapping Joe on the back. And the funny part is that Joe did not sense the advertising value. He just wanted to stand treat in celebration of the double anniversary. That’s why it went over so big. It was spontaneous. And here are our own good wishes and the hope that presently he will be celebrating the fortieth anniversary. Joe has been a regular fellow all his days. Production Hints from Edward L. Hyman Managing Director, Mark Strand Theatre, Brooklyn On the pre-Christmas week program were 6 incidents, of which 3 were on the screen and 3 on the stage. Altogether the show ran an even 2 hours, of which time 91 minutes were given to photoplay subjects and 29 minutes to 'musical numbers. The feature picture was “The Girl From Coney Island,” the First National with Dorothy Mackaill and Jack Mulhall, which ran 58 minutes. A Harry Langdon comedy, “Saturday Afternoon,” which was in 3 reels, took 25 minutes. In addition there was the Topical Review, running 8 minutes. In keeping with the season, there was an overture of Yuletide opening each de luxe performance, taking up 8 minutes. This opened with transparency drop of the exterior of a church. Voices behind the drop sang “Unfold Ye Portals” as the bridges threw soft blue augmented by the same color from the dome on to the transparency. Toward the close of this number these lights dimmed ofif and deep blues from open box lamps came up behind the drop disclosing the singers, dressed in surplices lined up behind an altar. On either side were orange mosaic candlesticks and to one side was a statue of the Madonna, posed by one of the Mark Strand girls. On this there was a halo spot and shaft of steel blue from the bridge with borders and box lamps of deep blue. With the same lights soprano sang “Holy Night,” which was followed by “Silent Night” and the “Hallelujah Chorus” by the ensemble. For a flash finish a second trans parency, this one being a window of the church, was used, disclosing a life-size picture of Christ in the manger. Incident number two was the Topical Review, after which there was a full-size number called “Along the Gypsy Trail.” The setting was a gypsy camp with landscape background and props including set-trees, stumps, kettle over fire and grass mats. This number opened with light blue foots with 4 orange colors in the center section. Ten steel blue spots from the bridge hit the birch trees and 6 deep blue open box lamps lighted the set. Borders were blue and the dome had violet floods augmenting the blues. The group of 15 gypsies were shown on the stage at opening in various positions, and the first number was “Two Guitars,” sung by the ensemble. This was followed by a gypsy dance done by 8 girls of the ballet. Bass-baritone then sang “Gypsy Love Song,” after which a team of dancers did the “Czardas.” This was followed by a gypsy violinist who played the selection from “The Countess Maritza,” “Play, Gypsies, Play,” and the presentation closed with “Black Eyes” by the ensemble. For the first dance the bridges threw orange spots on the dancers and for the vocal solo all lights dimmed off and soloist was spotted by an orange spot from the dome. For the violin solo this was repeated except in the color of the spot, which was amber. For the finish previous lights were augmented by 4 lemon spots from underneath the bridge. This presentation took 10 minutes. Ukelele Ike (Cliff Edwards) used up 10 minutes with 4 selections, which he did on the apron of the orchestra. The gold draw curtains were closed over the small production stage and all fabric was covered by soft blues from the bridge. There was a white spot on the artist from the dome. Felix Felicitates the Boss Felix, the cat, with Pat Sullivan, looks over prize-winning drawings in the Educational contest. A Sectional Clue In Buffalo the Lafayette Theatre hooked the Times to a Black Pirate treasure hunt through giving a special performance for the newsboys and route carriers. The treasure chest in the lobby was to be opened by a hidden key, the clue to which was given in an eighteen-word sentence. What sold the newspaper was the fact that the sentence was given three words at a time, which helped to sell six issues of the paper. Calling Cards L. A. Quinn, who handles U. A. in New Zealand, has new copy for The Bat that can be used for any thriller as well as for this mystery story. The cards read : You will MISS A. THRILL If you don’t see The Bat The top and bottom lines are set much smaller than the suppositious name. They make excellent throwaways as well as a house-to-house stunt. A Happy New Year to You