Boxoffice (Apr-Jun 1963)

University Rag Week Ideal for Jazz Film College and university groups occasionally celebrate Hobo days, Hell weeks and a variety of other events. It pays theatremen in these higher education school towns to get in on these celebrations. Such a profitable tiein comes from Bristol, the port city in Gloucester, England, where J. Stuart Smeeden manages the Gaumont Theatre. With Bristol University’s annual Rag Week, a charity event sponsored by the Student Union, taking place three weeks prior to the playdates for “All Night Long,” Smeeden figured this was an ideal opportunity to get his campaign going with a bang. The Rag Week featured a nightly Festival of Jazz, in which ten bands vied for the favor of students at the Student Union building. The film, which puts Shakespeare’s “Othello” plot into a modem setting of jazz stars such as Dave Brubeck, Tubby Hayes, Betsy Blair and other jazz stars of U.S. and England, was perfect for the tieup. However, it took a lot of leg work making contacts with the Rag Week organizers and putting up film paper in the right spots. E. A. Barton, assistant, worked enthusiastically with Smeeden to put over a campaign that reached the younger element throughout the city. The Rag Week climax is a parade, for which thousands in the entire Bristol area turn out. This meant a theatre float, and Smeeden and Barton came through with one of the best — featuring a local jazz combo and a couple of ushers dressed as beatniks, all on a truck flanked by two tenfoot banners carrying credits in a punchy layout. “We got mass coverage on this campaign,” Smeeden relates, “although it meant four weeks of sustained work, but we think it was worth it, what with the fine contact we made with the university students.” Big Book Aid for 'West' Bantam Books paperback edition of “How the West Was Won” is being distributed to more than 100,000 outlets with a record initial printing of 500,000 and additional printings being scheduled during the picture’s anticipated long run. Specially prepared accessories have been prepared for thousands of display windows and other point of sale displays in department, book and music stores. Shrine Band for 'Arabia' Members of the El Zariba Shrine Oriental band provided some “authentic” Arabian music as a curtain-raiser for a weekday performance of “Lawrence of Arabia” in its fifth week at the Palms Theatre in Phoenix, Ariz. The performance took place under the marquee. Attendance was definitely up for the showing. The Palms manager is Bill Eyles. New Frankie Avalon Record Tieup Chancellor Records will coordinate the release of Frankie Avalon’s new record “The River Love,” with national openings of “Drums of Africa” this spring. The song, with music and lyrics by Russell Faith and Robert Marcucci, is sung by Avalon in the picture. Film News Brighter, and There's More Of It in Multiple Newspaper Towns Newspapers seem to be more interesting, better edited with more beautiful type and illustrations in areas where there are a number of publications competing for circulation and readership. And motion pictures seem to be given more expert treatment, along with the other entertainment arts, in these multiple newspaper towns. The writeups are more interesting, more competent; illustrations are cleaner and larger, and the headlines and body type are more varied. This seems true in the U.S., Canada and England. This observation is based on hundreds of tearsheets received by Boxoffice Showmandiser from showmen in all three countries. We suppose that journalism, as other businesses, must give the customers what they want, except where there’s no competition when tradition and formulas become more important than people. An example of exciting, lively treatment of entertainment news comes from Nottingham, the English city made famous by the Robin Hood legends. A campaign report from E. J. Fountaine, who manages the Odeon Theatre there, reveals there are two daily evening papers, the Evening News and the Evening Post; also the Weekly Guardian, which circulates throughout the city and county; the Advertiser, South Notts Echo, the Beeston Gazette & Echo, West Bridgeford Standard, and Clifton Standard, all suburban weeklies, and the Observer, local glossy magazine. There may be others, but Fountaine mentions the above as carrying writeups and “blocks” (mat layouts) on “Flower Drum Song.” Fountaine’s aim was to obtain maximum newspaper coverage for this film. With the superb Nancy Kwan art to work with, he succeeded admirably well. The newspaper coverage was impressive. The English papers aren’t a bit afraid of large headline type and huge illustrations — three, four and five columns wide. The Weekly Guardian published the “Flower Drum Song” international quiz feature sponsored by Jabley, Ltd., perfumes. Loads of Small Gifts and Helping Hand By Teachers Jam Kiddy Holiday Party How to fill the theatre with cash-paying youngsters on a school holiday is answered by C. V. Mitchell, manager of the State Theatre in Fostoria, Ohio. “After contacting all the schools to make sure they all had Friday, February 22, off (George Washington’s birthday), I went to several merchants and promoted a lot of ‘birthday’ gifts, small items, as many as I could get,” Mitchell relates. “Then I pro Frank Wood, president of the Dallas chapter of the American Pigeon Union, releases the first of 60 birds relayed to Shreveport, La., as part of the transcontinental pigeon race carrying a microfilm message from Alfred Hitchcock to the Palace Theatre in New York for the world premiere of his latest thriller, "The Birds." Also on hand is Pat Sparks, assistant manager of the Majestic Theatre at Dallas, where "The Birds" will open April 4. moted cherry tarts from a baker to give out with the gifts. “The merchants who went along on the special promotion put lines in their ads mentioning the George Washington Birthday party. I also mentioned their names in my special ad. “Signs were made for all my front door windows, giving complete information about the show, such as time, admission, name and a very important item — SAVE YOUR TICKET STUBS FOR THE MANY ‘BIRTHDAY’ GIFTS. “Then I went to all my local schools and told the teachers what I had planned for the children on their free day, and all of the teachers mentioned to their classes that the State was presenting a George Washington Birthday Party. In addition, I had the cashier wind up her conversations when answering patron calls on the phone with, ‘Don’t forget about our big George Washington birthday party Friday afternoon.’ “For a couple of weeks in advance I made personal announcements from the stage during intermissions. “When the big day came, I discovered the local roller skating rink was putting on an all-day special for ten cents, but I still did landslide boxoffice. “During the drawing of the ticket stubs for distribution of the birthday gifts and the cherry tarts, the photographer of the local newspaper took pictures and did a story, bringing public attention to the theatre. “I called the police department to get soneone to direct traffic when the show was over and 400 youngsters swarmed out of the theatre at the late afternoon change of shifts.” BOXOFFICE Showmandiser :: April 1, 1963 — 51 — 3