Boxoffice (Apr-Jun 1962)

'Five Day Lover' Gels The Light Touch! Promoting art pictures is a challenge to a manager used to exploiting regular product — he has to keep his promotion subdued and still try to make it appealing to his regular moviegoers. This observation comes from Charles Stokes, manager of the Bar Harbour Theatre, an Associated Independent circuit house in the Bar Harbour' shopping center of Massapequa Park on Long Island, N.Y., by way of introduction to a report on his campaign for “Five Day Lover.” This French film was playing at the beginning of spring, so Stokes, mindful of his regular movie fans, decided on a flower promotion. First he typed out a doggerel on spring: Tra-la-la, spring has sprung . . . Thoughts turn to love . . . Songs are sung . . . Flowers are blooming . . . Give this bloom to your only one. Then both of you come and see and laugh at the daffy dilly comedy, “FIVE DAY LOVER” . . . Now at your BAR HARBOUR THEATRE. These lines were then mimeographed on slips of paper, attached to daffodils, and handed out to patrons leaving the theatre the weekend before “Five Day Lover” was opened. In addition fresh bunches of daffodils wei'e given each day to a number of stores and shops for distribution, one daffodil with a slip to a customer. Included was a gasoline station, restaurant, beauty shop and cleaning place. Theatre staffers also distributed the flowers in the shopping center. Special heralds, printed in book form, recounted the story of “Five Day Lover.” A French town scene was arranged by an artist at the theatre. Stokes reports his run was very successful. Two Schools, One Public, See a Religious Picture Joseph Herman of the Starr Theatre Oin Knickerbocker avenue in Brooklyn played “The Song of Sister Marie” on a Wednesday and Thursday before Easter and did very well by concentrating his effort on the schools, public and parochial. The neighborhood is predominately Catholic, hence the Catholic picture. School cooperation was exceptional. Two principals came through 100 per cent and got their schools to attend the morning matinee. One was a public school, which Herman believes is the first one to extend such cooperation for a motion pictui'e. The other was a Catholic school. Six thousand coloring sheets, distributed at the schools, proved very effective. They went out a week before the showing. Herman got the principals of each pubhc and parochial school to announce the dates of “The Song of Sister Marie.” Ricksha Race for 'Road' United Artists publicist Wally Heim and assistant Bill Schaefer arranged a ricksha race on State street, Chicago, for the. opening of “Road to Hong Kong” at the Chicago Theatre. It's a Lucky Showman Who Paints Own Signs All sign work at the Penn Theatre m Washington, Pa., is done by Bill Wilson, the manager, and his only cost is for the material. As he remarks, you can’t get it cheaper than that! Here are four examples of Wilson’s display work. At top left, bed was used inside one week in advance and outside during the run of “Satan Never Sleeps.” The devil’s mask was hung on the bedpost! Top left, is a standee display made by Wilson in which he changes the title of “X-15” to the “Joe Walker Story” because Washington’s own Joe Walker, test pilot, helped make the picture. At bottom right is a display featuring some stills dug out of the Penn Theatre files and put out as a comeon for a Downtown Bargain Days promotion. Captioned, “How many do you remember?” the pictures of film stars of former days attracted much attention. At bottom right, two boys who were majoring in French at a nearby college were hired to put on a ballyhoo for “Fanny.” They played cards, as seen, and walked around town, answering all questions in French! Manager Wilson had a big time with “Exodus.” He painted over 43 feet of banner displays for this one. Wilson’s skill is a real budget saver. Promotion Coup on Opposition House Stage Showman P. Milner of the Mayfair Theatre in southeast London scored a promotional coup when the star of the Mayfair’s next attraction got in some strong plugs for the showing from the stage of the opposition theatre. It came about when Adam Faith, star of “What a Whopper,” was making a onenight stand at the competing house a week before the Mayfair opening. Milner already had bookstores and publishers going with a tieup on Faith’s autobigraphy, “Poor Me.” The publishers were sponsoring a reception for the actor-author at the opposition house, so it was no trouble for Milner to get an invitation. At the reception, Milner got Faith, who knew about the Mayfair booking, to give nim some autograph stills and copies of his book, with a goodwill message to pa trons, for use as prizes in a contest. But the big payoff came when Faith announced to his audiences at both shows in the opposition theatre that his film would be playing at the Mayfair the following week. “This produced a substantial effect at the boxoffice,” Milner repeats. The autographed books were given to the 1,000th, 2,000th and 3,000th ticket buyer at the Mayfair. In Two Magazines “Sweet Bh'd of Youth” was featured in the magazine section of the New York Sunday Times newspaper. Geraldine Page was the subject of a Spotlight profile of Life. Reproductions of the two features are contained in the MGM pressbook. BOXOFFICE Showmandiser : June 4, 1962 — 91 — 3