The Moving picture world (November 1926-December 1926)

Celling the Picture to the Public 1 OfUs Departmnt Was SstabLisfied September 23. 1911 bij Us Pitsent6dMor^ Spes lUinthrop Sargent Cold Weather Stunts to Help Business When the Thermometer Takes Big Drops Now that Winter really is here and the fans have been put in mothballs for a time, it's a good plan to check over some of the ideas that have proven useful in the past. Most of these are familiar to you, perhaps, but it helps now and then to refresh your memory. One of the standbys is something to get them in during especially inclement seasons. One of these is purely a city stunt; an arrangement with a local taxicab company to bring patrons to the theatre during periods of extremely bad weather. Most companies will make? a sufficient concession in price to make it fairly well worth while. You figure that people will not come unless there is some inducement. If the taxi company will haul your patrons within a mile radius for ten cents a head, you pay that much to sell a seat costing from 25 to 40 cents. You are paying ten cents to sell tickets, but there is a profit in that if you cannot get the people to come otherwise. Getting the Taxis The argument to use with the taxi company is that it will encourage the taxi habit at other times, when such an offer does not hold good. The best way to work it is to supply the drivers with a certain number of tickets. They account for these tickets in at ten cents less than face yaki.e. In the suburbs and small towns, where there are few taxicabs, it has been found profitable to run a bus line, often nothing more than the familiar "bob" with plenty of straw in the wagon box. This makes an advertised route. Often a school bus may be hired, or a regular bus company may be willing to make a concession after rush hour. One manager regularly cooperates with the local plumber in the distribution of cards reading: "If your furnace gets out of order, etc." During a blizzard one western exhibitor offered hot coffee to all patrons. With so many soda bars, you scarcely would suppose that a cup of coffee could sell theatre tickets, but it helped business materially. A large grocer supplied the coffee, urn and cups and the house furnished the heat. "Free coffee when it snows" can be made a regular ticket seller, possibly because patr . is figure that the hot drink will offset the effects of the walk to the theatre. In small towns a boy has been hired to brush the snow from the entering patrons' wraps. A small matter, but it created goodwill— and it saved the upholstery. More than one exhibitor has sold tickets on the argument that if you bring the family to the theatre you can bank the fire early in the evening and save money on both coal and either gas or electricity. There will be no real saving, but the argument seems to win. Watch the Heaters On the same line of a warm house a number of managers have arrangements witli local steamfitters to supply the names of clients. A telephone message from the theatre expresses regret at the accident and suggests that the theatre will supply a warm haven. It's another angle of the card referred to above, but is more direct. One theatre with an open fire in the rather spacious foyer uses a winter slogan of "Meet me at the fireplace," adapting the "Meet me at the fountain" used by a large department store. Much may be done by replacing the white globes on the marquise with warmer tints. This does not mean all red lights. Some yellow in the red will be far more cheery and inviting. One thing that should be done is to guard against cold draughts entering the house each time the door is opened. The best safeguard is the glass screen at the back of the last row of seats, but where this is too costly, much can be done with screens, if you can place them so the fire department will not object. Don't raise the fire hazard with heavy hangings and flimsy screens. Find some other way. If you have an open lobby, heat the box office and give the doorman a cork mat to stand on. Let him under dress well, but do not bundle him up so that he sug^'ests that he is suffering from the cold. It may be warm inside, but you lose some of the effect if the doorman's teeth chatter as he takes the tickets. And don't forget that an extra ton or so of coal may be a better investment than a super film during a cold snap. Boy Boxers Helped on Battling Butler For his advance work on Battling Butler, Charles H. Amos, of the Carolina theatre, Greenville, S. C, used a pair of clever youngsters for a perambulator. First he showed them the film, to let them get ideas for the comedy stunts, and then he put them on a truck on which a ring had been built. This truck perambulated the streets, stopping every little while to pull off a fast and funny round. The same boys were used for a novel prologue. Their gloves, faces, hats and shoes were treated with luminous paint and after they had been introduced the house was darkened and only the painted objects could be seen. A two-minute round ended in a knockout just as the main title came on the screen. EITHER END OF THE CIRCLE THEATRE DURING ITS TENTH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION The Circle is the Indianapolis First National house and used Men of Steel for its anniversary offerinsr. These two sections show either end of the lobby with the desiens planned by Ben F. Caldwell, art director, under the general direction of Manager Ace Berry. One end sells the coming attraction and the other the institution.