The Moving picture world (January 1924-February 1924)

January 19, 1924 MOVING PICTURE WORLD 209 Pirate Emblems to Sell the Strangers Selling Strangers of the Night through stress on the pirate angle may not be wholly true to the film, but it is close enough and it has a fine effect on the box office. When H. B. Vincent got the Metro for the Beacham Theatre, Orlando, Fla., Frank H. Burns, his exploitation manager, planned a display that was an eye opener. There were skulls and crossbones all over the place, even on the top of the decidedly modern looking tin trunk which was supposed to be the pirate's safe deposit vault and which carried a padlock large enough to guard a sub-treasury. Black drapes masked the background and added to the thrill, but it did not scare even the timid away. In the matter of small details, note the ghost on the clock face. That clock is a permanent one and everyone consults it, so that anything on its face gets unusual attention. The general office of the clock is to get attention for the banner, but it worked overtime for Strangers. Had Extra Ballyhoo for Newsboy Parade In spite of its antiquity, there are still a few new kinks to be worked into a newsboy parade for Jackie Coogan. One of them was recently turned up by the National Theatre, Greensboro, N. C. The usual parade was organized for Jackie Coogan in Circus Days, but a special squad of kids was organized to carry cards, each bearing one of the letters in the legend. These youngsters were gathered before the theatre in advance of the parade and were drilled in formation. They would be grouped irregularly and at the sound of a whistle had to snap into line so that the cards spelled out the announcement. Naturally this took some little time, but patient effort brought them to a point of efficiency where they could form the words within five seconds, and sometimes even a little better. When the parade started this advance guard would straggle along with the letters in a seeming jumble, and at the sound of the whistle would straighten out and form the sign, repeating the evolution so that all the sidewalk audience got the idea. The parade is far from new, the single letter sign is old and the shuffled letter idea dates back to Eli Orowitz's debut, but this combination is new and will give at least a half tour extension to the usual ballyhoo. A Metro Release THIS MAY NOT BE TRUE TO THE FILM, BUT IT SOLD OUT How the Beacham Theatre, Orlando, Fla., stressed the pirate angle of Strangers of the Night and they swarmed in and went out again feeling that it was better even than the promises. Planned by Frank H. Burns, exploitation manager. Gets Interest in Monthly Program A. B. Crawford lias a new scheme for getting his monthly programs studied. He runs the Hippodrome Theatre, Taft, Calif., and gets out a cheap card stock program 6 by 14 inches with a punch hole to hang it up by. It lists the attractions for a month. Ordinarily such a program would be read and hung up and would work very efficiently, but Mr. Crawford felt that he could get more out of it than just that, so he pay* his patrons $25 a month to study the program instead of just reading it. It's worth a great deal more money than that. The stunt is very simple. Mr. Crawford mails out about 2,000 of the programs and distributes another thousand through various channels. He offers prizes of $15 and $10 to the first persons to select from the list the best feature picture of the month. When the decision is made a circular announces the winners and gives the Los Angeles press opinions on the picture to support the choice. Mr. Crawford makes his own selection, but we think that a better scheme would be to let the receipts tell the story. The idea is capable of all sorts of variations to suit local conditions. Write your own ticket now that you have the moving idea. Mr. Crawford also sends in an interesting booklet on Six Days an eight page issue made up of the cuts from the press book, one to a page with a front cover and a back page argument. It's very neat and not as expensive as the finished product would suggest. The cuts are printed on a single sheet, cut apart, assembled and stapled with a wire stitch. Better Than K. K. K. Developing a teaser stunt less startling, but harder working than the K. K. K. for Three Ages, the Warfield Theatre, San Francisco, put over Buster Keaton in Our Hospitality with a stunt that even the small towns can copy. Under the caption of "San Francisco Knows How" were the words of the title, and these were spread on the 24-sheets. Then came "Our Hospitality Week" with "of November 3-11." There was a suggestion of a municipal drive that interested the Native Sons, since the newspapers were saying nothing about it, and they were puzzled until the full bills came out a few days later. These were followed by special posters touching up the highlights, and later an appeal on the fact that three generations of Keatons were to be seen in this production, Joe, Buster and the latter's infant son. The wife and kiddie angle was particularly good for bringing in the women, who attended the presentation in unusual numbers for a comedy. A First National Release MAKING AN EXTRA BALLYHOO OUT OF THE USUAL PARADE ON JACKIE COOGAN At the National Theatre, Greensboro, N. C, a newsboys' parade was led by a special section of kids who carried banners with letters forming the words "Jackie Coogan in Circus Days." Training the boys to get proper formation at the sound of a whistle gave an extra half hour of ballyhoo with no greater cost than extra passes to the banner bearing boys. Try this out.