Showmen's Trade Review (Oct-Dec 1949)

20 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW, November 12, 1949 Selling the Picture News and Ideas Concerning Profitable Advertising, Publicity and Exploitation Premieire Series On ^Battleground^ Start This Week With Dore Schary, MGM vice-president in charge of production, on hand for the special activities, accompanied by George Murphy, John Hodiak and Denise Darcel, who appear in the picture, "Battleground" got ofif to an impressive start Wednesday evening when a preview-premiere was held at Loew's Capitol in Washington, D. C. The special activities included a salute by the 3rd Infantry Regiment, one of the oldest in the Army, having served continuously since 1784. The color guard wore uniforms of the 1776 era. The Army Ground Force band of 100 played in front of the theatre as the distinguished guests arrived. A'lore than 100 Army and Navy officers accepted invitations to the special performance. Prior to the showing, Schary and the three members of the "Battleground" cast were scheduled to make a personal appearance on the stage with Major General Anthony C. McAuliffe, famous for his "Nuts!" rebuttal to a German General at Bastogne. Schary arrived in Washington on Tuesday where he spoke before the Women's National Press Club at the Statler Hotel and then met with newspaper him critics. In the afternoon he spoke on the "Time for Defense" program at Lisner Auditorium, when General McAulil¥e presented him with the Army Certificate of Merit for his outstanding contribution in producing "Battleground." Early Wednesday morning the MGM executive conferred with Secretary of Labor Maurice Tobin at the latter's office, after which he was presented with a special plaque by the 101st Airborne Division. For luncheon he was guest of Eric Johnston at the Motion Picture Association of America's headquarters. In the early afternoon he met with film critics from Baltimore, Harrisburg, (Conthiucd on Page 22) S'WINGING CUTOUT of Judy Garland and Van Johnson in MGM's "In the Good Old Summertime" provided an arresting lobby display at the Gillioz Theatre in Springfield, Mo. Jim Millspaugh is manager. Note the romantic young couple eyeing the display, which is suspended like a real swing. SPECTACULAR is this display on RKO Radio's "Mighty Joe Young" at the Gaumont Marble Arch Pavilion in London's West End. And spectacular, too, is the business the picture did, as you can tell from the lineup at bottom of picture. Film also played concurrently at the Haymarket. Butler Homecoming Spurs 'Seabiscuit' in S.F. Homecoming of San Francisco's native son. Director David Butler, highlighted the opening of Warners' "The Story of Seabiscuit" at the Paramount Theatre in that city this week. Buildup for the film, which began when Butler met more than 75 Bay Area sports writers, columifists, radio commentators and editors on his arrival last week, was featured by the director's appearance on eight radio shows and a long distance mass interview between local sports writers and Charles S. Howard, owner of Seabiscuit. Howard was in Hawaii. On Friday of last week Butler unveiled a plaque in memory of Seabiscuit at the 50th anniversary meeting of the Tanforan Race Track, while Mrs. Butler presented flowers to the winning jockey in the "Seabiscuit Stakes." sixtli race on the day's card Cleveland Bow Set for 'Molly X' Marking a "homecoming" for Dorothy Hart, one of the film's stars, Universal-International's "The Story of Molly X" will have it world premiere Nov. 17 at the Palace Theatre, Cleveland. Miss Hart, a native of Cleveland, will arrive several days in advance to participate in a round of civic events and promotional and personal appearances. John Russell, another star of the picture, is scheduled to accompany her. On the day of the premiere Nancy Craig will originate her ABC network program, "Woman of Tomorrow," from Cleveland. 'Hidden Book' Contest Raymond MacNamara, manager, Allyn, Hartford, Conn., used a "Hidden Book" contest, planted through local libraries as advance promotion on "The Black Book." New Paramount Co-op Plan Based On Rent and Run A new system of cost sharing on cooperative advertising, based upon the percentage the distributor receives for rental, was announced this week by Paramount. The plan, as conceived by Exploitation Manager Sid (Mr. Rabbit) Mesibov, and outlined by National Advertising, Publicity and Exploitation Director Max Youngstein would apparently not confine cooperative ads to top houses in key cities and would ; 1) Throw the support of Paramount behind the picture's first run in any location, regardless of its size, in order to get "the picture off to a good star," as Youngstein explains it. 2) Change the method of estimating the distributor's share of the costs. Hitherto, it was customary for Paramount to pay half of every dollar expended on a co-op campaign which went beyond tne tneatres' normal budget. Under the (Continued on Page 22) Rivoli Offers Bonds For Christmas Jingles Through a tieup with the Barker Greeting Card Co. of Cincinnati, the New York Rivoli ' is off^ering U. S. Savings Bonds and other prizes for the best Christmas card jingles submitted by patrons. The contest will extend through the engagement of the current attraction, "Pinky.'' Saw Church Leaders Bill Daugherty of the Webb Playhouse, Wethersfield, Conn., contacted all town church leaders on "Come to the Stable," with the result that pulpit announcements were made on the booking. — HFD. HELPS SELL TICKETS. This layout shows how a book promotion can help sell tickets. The displays appeared in book shops all over the New York metropolitan area during the engagement of Paramount's "The Heiress" at Radio City Music Hall. You can see how easy it is to create such a display simply by using blowups or posters, along with the books.