Boxoffice (Apr-Jun 1937)

P R A C T I C A L IDEAS BY PRACTICAL SHOWMEN 'Romansing' Publicizes M-G-M's "Maytime" Richmond, Va. — There's more than one way to get a neivspaper break for a picture, and it’s the manager who uses his thinking cap and a little ingenuity off the beaten track who gets further along with his city desk contacts. George Jones, manager of Loew's in Richmond, falls in this category. He coined the word “Romansing” to describe “Maytime,” the idea combining the suggestion of romance and music. The Richmond News-Leader gave him a special story and box on it. "MAID OF SALEM" LIMERICK CONTEST Toledo, O. — The Toledo Motion Picture Council is going to bat for local exhibitors with a limerick contest to exploit what it conceives to be a noteworthy film — in this instance Paramount’s “Maid of Salem.” Prizes of $10. $5 and theatre tickets are offered for the best last lines to a series of gay limericks. For the benefit of showmen who might want to use them in newspaper tieups, programs or otherwise, here they are: Though no one today is afraid To say “a bewitching young maid,’* When Salem was young That phrase on your tongue. A young <-avalier, Fred MacMurray Came to Salem one day in hurry; From Virginia he fled With a price on his head In Old Salem Town it was thought A sin to perform the gavotte But Fred and Claudette Were inclined to forget Young maidens of Old Salem Town Were wont to dress only in brown; And when they wore laces In church, all the faces "Shall We Dance" Rouses Providence Providence — Manager William Brown of the RKO-Albee was plenty busy the past week getting a heavy campaign under way for “Shall We Dance,” the Astaire-Rogers film which opened at his house May 6. Windows around town were covered liberally with one-sheets, music stores were contacted for tieups and Brown landed special window displays in Lerner’s Dress Shop, The Outlet Co., Liggetts and a novelty window with the R. I. Cycle Shop, which dumped hundreds of pairs of roller skates in a pile in its main display window, placarded for passersby to guess the number of pairs displayed, with prizes offered the winning guessers. Another “first” which is chalked up to Manager Brown on this campaign is a tieup with the R. I. Dancing Teachers’ Club, first ever, with each dance instructor giving photos and one-sheet displays in their dance studios and otherwise plugging the booking at the Albee. Angling by Radio Los Angeles — The lure of free tickets to Metro’s “Captains Courageous,” which premiered at the Carthay Circle Theatre here this week, was the bait offered in an exploitation tieup with radio station KMTR. Local fishermen were invited to submit their best fish stories to the station, with tellers of the tallest tales receiving passes for their efforts. "Hit Parade" Stunt Bridgeport, Conn. — Morris Rosenthal, manager of the Majestic, gave Republic’s “Hit Parade” more prestige with a special screening for radio and film critics Sunday morning, followed by a press luncheon. The staff wore high silk hats and sash banners a week in advance. NUGGETS gOB RUSSELL’S street ballyhoo for UA’s “Star Is Born” in New Haven created plenty of attention. One of the staff of the Poli was costumed as an astronomer and offered his telescope to passersby for a look at the stars. A novel contest on WELI also took. Cards were distributed in the theatre, inviting patrons to try out for parts in the radio script of the picture, and applicants read parts without rehearsal from the studio the following day. The next day the electrical transcription of the script acted by the real stars was put on. Guest tickets were prizes. A special Janet Gaynor window was also arranged in Kresge’s. • As the trailer on 20th-Fox's “Wake Up and Live” was shown at Loew’s Poli in Worcester, Mass., alarm clocks planted in ten different places around the theatre went off almost simultaneously. They were allowed to run two or three minutes and caused plenty of comment. • A plane towing a banner advertising UA’s “Top of the Town” to Buffalo’s upturned faces was hired by Manager George McKenna and Dick Walsh, publicity manager, of Charles Hayman’s New Lafayette Theatre. Also, taking advantage of the full-page ad on the picture in the Saturday Evening Post, they had all trucks of a magazine distributing company bannered with colorful announcements of the ad. • In connection with M-G-M’s “Romeo mid Juliet,” Jack Simons, Loew manager in Hartford, Conn., persuaded the Hartfort Times to sponsor a breakfast and screening of the picture on a Monday morning. The newspaper invited various advertising department heads to the screening and paid all expenses of the catering, etc. Renting a three-room vacant downtoivn building, Bruce Royal, manager of the Fair Theatre, Plainview, Tex., set up appropriate window scenes to exploit Paramount’s Hopalong Cassidy production, “Borderland.” Miniature rugged hills, trees and waterfalls were done on muslin, and sand and numerous western novelties were artistically strewn about the windows. A cutout of Jimmy Ellison, star of the film, on his horse also was displayed. Most of the novelties were promoted by Royal from novelties shops and his expense in connection with the attraction was negligible. 26 BOXOFFICE :: May 15, 1937.