Showmen's Trade Review (Apr-Jun 1939)

Iiiih 17, 1'>S9 s 1 1 () \v M 1-: N ' s T R A D R i<: V 1 w Page 27 Young Tarzan Selected In N. Y. Publicity Stunt As an advance publicity stunt on the slunvinsi of "Tarzan Finds A Son" at the Capitol Theatre, N. Y., Johnny VVeissnuiller, star of the tihii. asked Sixth Deputy PoHce Commissioner John H. Morris who heads the 100,000 youngsters in the Police Athletic League, to help him find New York's boy Tarzan. Alorris agreed to cooperate. The League's best boy swimmers under fourteen years of age were selected. Fifty of them met at Billy Rose's Aquacade at the N. Y. World's Fair, where Weissmuller selected the winner. The lucky lad competing in the Aquacade was awarded an appropriately engraved cup, while the others received medals from Tarzan Weissmuller. All saw the Fair and Aquacade siiow. Other New York youngsters in the league who are not swimmers, but who have other talents, were not overlooked. Weissmuller and Eleanor Holm, his co-star at the Aquacade, arranged with Major Bowes for 300 boys and girls of the Police Athletic League to attend a special morning matinee of "Tarzan Finds a Son" at the Capitol. Weissmuller was on hand to greet the 300 children, who were selected from the various groups in the five boroughs. Contest Winners Home Winners in MGM's "Marie Antoinette" contest, whose prize was a trip to Paris, returned recently on the Champlain of the French Line. Ted Kirkmeyer of the Marlow Theatre, Helena, Mont., and Ray Bell of Loew's Theatre, Washington, D. C., are the exhibitors among the six winners, including also four patrons. They sailed early in May, receiving all-expense round trips to France, their entire trip under the personal supervision of the French Government, with whose cooperation the contest was conducted. Missouri Meerschaum For the engagement of "Pm From Missouri" at Warners' Paramount Theatre, Chicago, Manager Eli Arkin purchased 500 corncob pipes and distributed them to offices in the downtown district. Attached to each was a tag with a head of Burns and copy which read, "Bob Burns wants you to enjoy his Missouri Meerschaum and to remind you to see his latest comedy, 'Pm From Mi ssouri' — It's got more kick than a mule." Ties In With Store Opening In advance and until after the opening, two operators xvorking 8 hours a day sat in the window of the itezv Kresce store telling all Detroit "it's a wonderful world to shop in when yoti visit the Kresge store and it's a wonderfid zvorld when you see Jimmy Stewart and Claudette Colbert in MGM's "It's a Wonderful World." Manager Frank Perry of the United Artists promoted the stunt, zvith Warren Slec, MGM exploit eer, assisting. "Chips" Screened On Lawn of Donat Home Having heard that Ernest Donat, father of Robert Donat, ivas ill at his home in Bethany, Conn., Manager Harry Shaw of Loew's Poli Theatre, New Haven, Conn., and Matt Saunders arranged a screening of MGM's ''Goodbye Mr. Chips" on the lawn of the Donat home. A press dinner was also held for the various newspaper editors of the division, ivho are shown above at the screening. That the elder Donat, and the newspapermen, received a thrill from the previeiv goes zvithont saying. It in'as an unusual stunt, and zvas accorded ntuch publicity. Secretaries, Cashiers, Others, Should Have Qualities for a Pleasing Phone Personality In an article in Contact, house organ of Wometco Theatres, Walter Klements asks the reader if he has ever wondered what the person at the other end of the telephone line looks like. Then he cites an example wherein he had conversation with an operator at a film exchange, and records the fine qualities the young lady displayed over the phone. Here they are: Telephone Etiquette "First — To open the conversation as she would the door to her home to a friend, and to see that it was closed just as carefully. She made it a point to keep a soft back book on her board so that dropping her receiver would not resound in her caller's ear. "Second — She never rung the party who was being called and then started reading or doing some other work until that party had given their attention to her signal. If they were not at their desk, she got the caller's number, because she realized the shortage of trunk lines might hold up many other calls. "Third — If a caller was insulting or rude she never let it interfere with a pleasant salutation to the next caller. If she ever really got her feelings hurt no one knew it because, like a real champion, at the sound of the next bell she came back with renewed vigor to do her job well. Positive But Polite "Fourth — She was as positive as she was polite, and if she said the boss was not in — that just about settled the conversation and left no doubt in the caller's mind as to her veracity. A veritable information bureau that made her the equal of any information or donation seekers that might infest the average business man's ofifice." There's much food for thought in this little treatise on telephone personality, and it applies to your cashier and secretary if you are a theatreman, and to your secretary and the switchboard operator if you happen to be an executive. Be sure those around your institution who contact others by telephone or are contacted in that manner, and this includes you, read this article. It may help them and yourself to develop a pleasing telephone personality if it hasn't already been developed. Playing Card-Type Aces Dropped From Air As Stunt on "Hardys" An ace of a stunt was promoted by Wally Caldwell, manager of Loew's Valentine, Toledo, O., for his engagement of "The Hardys Ride High." Several thousand round-cornered cards (the exact size of playing cards) were made up with an ace and a heart in the upper left-hand and the lower right-hand corners. The leadoff copy read, "Ace High Screen Entertainment." Following the film's title, playdate, etc., there was further copy to the effect that if the holder brought the card to Loew's lobby and saw the number posted there that was on the bottom of the card he would receive a guest ticket to see the film. The cards were thrown from an airplane which flew over important sections of the city. Girls Aim at Hope's Face Placing a target in the lobby with Bob Hope's face as the bull's eye, feminine patrons of the Cosmo Theatre, Chicago, were invited to shoot darts at it. Those hitting the bull's eye (Hope) were given tickets. It was all a stunt staged by Manager John Maloney to plug "Never Say Die." Improve Your "Love Affair" When "Love Affair" played the Capitol Theatre, Chicago, Manager Richard Barry distributed small envelopes containing powder and this message to feminine patrons: "Girls — Improve Y'our 'Love Affair'."