Showmen's Trade Review (Oct-Dec 1939)

Page 14 SHOWMEN'S TRADE R E V I E W October 14, 1939 TO PUT over the fact that "Eternally Yours" is a comedy seems to us to be the principal thing to remember in selling it. While many of the stunts we rnay suggest to you may not stress this, it is advisable to plug the fact in all your advertising and in every stunt that you pull. The title suggests a number of interesting ideas. First of all, why not copy the national contest put on by Walter Wanger to find the oldest married couple in the country. It seems that they come from Des Moines and were married 78 years. But you can pull the same stunt locally — that is, find the oldest married couple in your town and give them a real party. You introduce them as the "Eternally Yours" couple. Arrange for newspaper and radio interviews with them, what they think of the picture, and so on. Have this couple attend your show on the opening night as guests of honor. The runners up in the contest can be honored on succeeding nights should you want to prolong this feature. A group of merchants might be persuaded to chip in on a publicitjr stunt to present gifts to the winning couple or couples. Dealers in permanent or enduring articles can easily tie up with the line "Eternally Yours." This promotion can be a big thing — in fact, it can be the biggest thing in your campaign if you do it right. Run a Handwriting Contest The script at the top of this page was used purposely so that you would remember to have a handwriting contest in the lobby. This should be done in advance of 3'our showing, of course, and each entrant should write the words "Eternally Yours." OfTer small prizes for the most interesting, for the one most closely resembling that on this page and use the results for special promotions. Little gags that will put over the comedy in the picture would be especially effective. For example, buy a collar, advertise extensively that you will post it in your lobby but that you want the most perfect lips in town to plant a kiss on it first. Or you can run a contest for the lips most nearly matching those of Loretta Young. The title also suggests merchandising tieups with photographers, florists, perfumers, etc. The idea is that every man in town should tell his wife that "I Am 'Eternally Yours' " during the week the picture is playing. You might have cards printed up with the signature such as shown on this page and each husband is to sign his name with the gift he sends to his wife. This tieup can be made with any store selling merchandise which can be used for gifts. The comed)' angle can be plugged through a contest for the best love-letter using the words "Eternally Yours." This contest can be screamingly funny if some suggested letters are put in the paper during the first days as bait. Throughout the picture Loretta Young, one of the most beautiful girls in Hollywood wears some gorgeous gowns of which there are numerous stills. These can be used in local stores for fashion shows and tieups. The Modern Merchandising Bureau in New Y'ork handles them. Sell the Magician Angle III the picture, David Niven is a magician and exposes lots of the tricks of the trade. Among the stunts he does is to jump from an airplane with his hands handcuffed behind him. You can run a stunt in your lobb}' in which you either have people try to do this or use a pair of trick handcuffs on a stooge who does it easily. Copy alongside can explain the connection. The magician angle also suggests a contest for the best amateur magician in town. The best one or more can be given an opportunity to do stunts on your stage during the run of the picture. You can also have a professional magician in the lobby to do tricks. Among tlie stunts is one in which David Niven pours the various ingredients which jnake up a woman into a large glass vessel from which eventually steps Loretta Y^oung, ostensibly manufactured bv this means. Y'ou might get the chemical contents of a woman from a book of anatomy or a doctor and list them. Offer a prize for whoever brings the greatest number of them to the theatre. This stunt is also well ^^^^^^ JF^ winiipiP UlBETTIiYOeiiB This still blown up and placed in your lobby should put over the comedy angle of the romance in the picture. Blow it up to life-size. There are others as good as this, too. This one is used in some of the ads, too, and can be used in cooperative ads. The 24-sheet, illustrated above, puts over the comedy angle. It is readily adaptable for cut out purposes too. Use it on the lobby floor, if you want to. It sells the show, its comedy, romance and entertainment. portrayed in a si.x-column pictorial newspaper feature which if planted in your newspaper would excite interest in the idea. Postcards sent to the feminine names on your mailing list and signed either "David Niven" or "The Great Arturo," his name in the picture, would excite interest in the picture. Have them written in" a strong masculine hand from which you can have a cut made. Of course, over the signature must appear the words, "Eternally Yours." The parachute jumping stunts suggest that it might be a good idea to get some local man who has done parachute jumping to speak over a local radio station O': Niven's stunt in the picture. A New Kind of Romance The romance in the picture is of a new and different kind. LInited Artists has made available a series of stills showing the old types. First was the chest thumping type such as in "Quo Vadis." Then came the heavy passion of the 1920's with Rudolph Valentino. And following that is the "screwball" type as in "It Happened One Night." Stills from these old pictures can be mounted on a board with appropriate copy and stills showing the romance in "Eternally Yours" mounted underneath. Cooperative ads should be easy to get on this picture. Dealers in most any kind of durable merchandise such as radios,_ refrigerators, wedding rings and other jewelry, banks, victrola records, etc., can use the title in their advertising. Original screenplay by Gene Towne and Graham Baker. Directed by Tay Garnett. Produced by Walter Wanger.