Moving Picture World (Jan-Feb 1927)

290 MOVING PICTURE WORLD January 22, 1927 Burns Gets College Thanks for a Ballyhoo Idea A NICE DISPLAY ON COLLEEN MOORE FROM DON NICHOLS This lobby piece was used at the Paris Theatre, Durham, N. C., for Ella Cinders. Miss Moore stands between the director and the cameraman on a stage that nearly fills the lobby front. It was very effective. Addison Works Fast on Mayor's Hurry Call Suddenly deciding upon a municipal Christmas celebration, the Mayor of Binghamton, N. Y., played his ace and telephoned H. M. Addison, of the Binghamton Theatres Co., that he had been made chairman of a committee to carry out the plans. Mr. Addison promptly appointed an important looking committee, to give tone to the newspaper stories, and then went ahead, knowing that he could accomplish more if he did not have to hold a bunch of committee meetings. He had only two days in which to sell the idea to the children, and there was no time to waste. Right on the Job He came out the next morning with the announcement of free ice cream and candy, peanuts and other childish delights, and had his plans all laid out to open the merry-goround, a toboggan slide and the skating pond. More than five thousand children had a wonderful time and naturally they figure that “Addy” is Santa Claus’ first cousin, or something like that. It’s all part of a community service that keeps the theatres to the fore and links the houses to the suggestion of amusement in any form. It means a lot of hard work, but it means a lot of gilt edged advertising. He’ll be mayor of the town himself one of these days. Some Bust ! Breaking a record by a couple of hundred dollars is going nicely, but H. M. King, Jr., of the Imperial Theatre, Asheville, N. C., hit his three day record a $1,484 clout with We’re in the Navy Now. He knew he had a money maker, so he drove hard from every angle and cleaned it all up. Just because a picture is a winner don’t think it’s a self-seller. The better the chance, the more intensive should be the effort to put it over. If you did a new stunt for Laugh Month, send it in. We can use it next year. Effective Setting For Fashion Show For a fashion show used with The Midnight Sun, Charles H. Amos, of the Carolina Theatre, Greenville, S. C., used an effective set showing a book, lettered “Fall Fashions,” flanked by two urns. The book had a practical front and opened to disclose a woodland backing against which the models stood before making their parade. At the finish of the presentation the urns broke, disclosing two of the models in poses, with another pair in the book setting. It made a pleasant departure from the usual stilted entrance, and got greater interest for the costumes, which were supplied by a local store, which gave hearty advertising co-operation. For the lobby Mr. Amos used a rising sun effect with electric light rays with a cutout of Miss La Plante at the top. There was also a shadow box, made from the one-sheet. Mounting a second dancer figure back of the sheet and using a flasher lamp back of this seemed to give animation to the dancer. It put the picture over very nicely, and, of course, the fashion show was a clean-up. Burns Was Thanked For Ballyhoo Idea Because he had The Quarterback just before the biggest football game of the season, Frank H. Burns, exploitation man for the Beacham Theatre, Orlando, Fla., sold the High School the idea of coming down to the theatre to do a little ballyhoo. The team was invited to come as guests of the management, but the student body paid full price. The cheer leaders were given ten minutes to rehearse the crowd for the following day, and that added strongly to the local color. After the showing the entire crowd, of more than 500, paraded the street and then came down and thanked the management for its assistance in advertising the game. Naturally Manager Vincent told them that the pleasure was mutual. Not only was the picture put over, but the goodwill engendered will last for a long time. Cops Helped to Sell Advertising Banner Using a couple of men dressed in illfitting naval uniforms for a perambulation on We’re In the Navy Now, Guy Kenimer of the Arcade Theatre, Jacksonville, used them to carry a banner in a football parade. The banner was about 20 feet long and the letters were large enough to be read across the local Stadium, where the men parked the sign when they followed the players onto the field. During the halves, the men attempted to carry the banner to the centre of the field. The Stadium is a municipal institution and no advertising is permitted, so a couple of husky cops stopped the boys in the center of the field and demolished the banner, but not until every person in the crowd had been able to gain the information that the comedy was coming to the Arcade. In this way Kenimer extracted the last ounce of publicity from the sign. A NATIONAL TIE-UP ON CANDY BARS WITH RED GRANGE The Red Grange Candy Bar, produced by the Shotwell Manufacturing Co., provides a convenient hook-up where this widely distributed product is available. The truck shown is bannered for a local engagement in Chicago.