Boxoffice (Jan-Mar 1945)

EXPLOITIPS \ Suggestions for Selling the Picture ; Adlines for Newspaper and Programs SELLING ANGLES: "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" This picture is based on the best-selling novel by Betty Smith, which enjoyed a nationwide popularity. As a result, exhibitors will find that they have a vast, pre-sold audience. Tieins with bookstores and local publishers are obligatory, and blowups of reviews of the book should be made for lobby displays. The film is essentially a woman's picture, and the exhibitor's campaign should be principally directed to women's clubs and organizations in the locality, with suitable tieins effected. CATCHLINES: A Memorable Experience Awaits You in “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” ... As Poignant and Moving a Film as Has Ever Been Brought to the Screen . . . You Will Share the Hopes, Fears and Aspirations of This Simple Family as Though They Were Your Ownl Papa Had the Soul of a Poet and the Understanding of a Philosopher . . . Sissie Loved Life With a Grand and Robust Passion . . . "If I Feel Good About What I Do, It's Right,” she said, "And If I Feel Bad, It's Wrong!” SELLING ANGLES: "Objective, Burmal" Tie up with local merchants for window displays — various scenes of paratroopers backgrounded by battle equipment, with caption: "We're on the Job Till It’s Finished— Are You?" Designate a special night for war workers. Plug it in newspapers and with throwaways: "See 'Objective, Burma!' and Go Back on the Job With a Vengeance!” For lobby, spot huge map of India with Burma circled in red. Tie in your exploitation with recruitment drive for Wacs, WAVES and nurses. CATCHLINES: Half a Hundred Paratroopers . . . With a One Way Ticket . . . Objective, Burmal . . . Destination — Death! Vanguard of the Ground Forces . . . They Sweated Through Torturous Terrain . . . Faced With Horrors of Jap-Jungle Trails . . . On a Mission They Swore to Complete. Parachuted Down to the Hell of Enemy-Encircled Earth . . . They Ferreted Out a Secret That Saved an Army . . . Fiftyfive Fighters Completed a Mission . . . But Only Eleven Came Back! SELLING ANGLES: "A Song to Remember" This is the story of Chopin, and a natural for exploitation aimed at music lovers. For your lobby, display pictures of famous composers — Tschaikowsky, Beethoven, Liszt, etc., spotting large portrait of Wilde as Chopin with caption: "He Lives for Music — His Music Lives for You.” Tie up for display cards in all music stores and music schools and have the latter stage a contest to select their finest pianist to perform on your stage opening night. Tie up with radio station for contest — WHAT IS YOUR "SONG TO REMEMBER”? CATCHLINES: Under the Touch of His Fingertips . . . Magic Melodies Came to Life . . . Under the Spell of a Willful Woman . . . He Poured Forth Music That Held a World Breathless. She Was a Firebrand Who Demanded All . . . Seething With Ruthless Ambition . . . She Drove Him On ... To the Heights of Stormy Success ... To the Depths of Despair . . . The Genius of Chopin in "A Song to Remember." SELLING ANGLES: "Tonight and Every Night" This picture can be sold to the public from the standpoint of beauty, entertainment, and dramatic action. The star value of Rita Hayworth has been sufficiently established by her "You Were Never Lovelier" and "Cover Girl" to make the public want to see her latest picture. While this is a story laid during the war it is not primarily of the war. It is more of the courage displayed even by entertainers determined to keep the show going than of the horrors of war itself. Plenty of music and dancing keep the tragic elements in the background. CATCHLINES: The Show Went on in Spite of the Blitz . . . He Was Off the Beam at First but She Put Him Right . . . Proposal by Proxy and His Service Bible . . . From Air Raid Shelters Back to Song and Dance Routines. He Had Only a Short Tirnh Out to Love . . . Romance on the Run and Between His Missions and Her Shows . . . The Story of a Theatre That Defied the Heinies. SELLING ANGLES: "Thunderhead — Son of Flicka" Sell as follow-up to ”Mv Friend Flicka." Dominate lobby display with life-size cut-out of Thunderhead. Tie up local travel agencies, bus and railway offices for windows stressing scenic beauties of Oregon, California and Utah, picture's shooting locale. Have youth in ranch garb, leading by halter or riding bareback, a horse whose blanket is captioned: "I'm Giving the Gas Shortage a Horse Laugh. There's No Entertainment Shortage at the Theatre." CATCHLINES: A Half-Tamed Cayuse Races Against Blue-Blooded Thoroughbreds — and Loses. Later He Enters a Bloodier Combat ... A Battle-to-the-Death Against a Four-Footed Robber-Baron of the Range — and Wins an Empirel Through His Veins Coursed the Wild Blood of a Hunted Outlaw . . . The Two Met . . . And Fought . . . And the Experienced Oldster Won . . . Later, They Met Again . . . In a Savage Death Struggle . . . The Battle of the Stallions! SELLING ANGLES: "Here Come the Co-Eds" Promote a student body rally parade to your theatre— set aside special section for them and conduct a cheerleader's contest on your stage. Decorate boxoffice with local school colors and from marquee hang pennants spelling out picture title. Insert ads in college and high school publications and display publicity at after-school meeting places. Print herald to resemble diploma — tag it "Dippy-Loma" and use it as guest ticket award when presented at boxoffice day film opens. CATCHLINES: There's Muttering 'Round the Old Alma Mater . . . Those Boys Are Here Again . . . Putting the Roars in the Three R's . . . Readin' — Riotin' — Rhythmaticl Abbott and Costello at the Seat of Learning . . . Cutting Capers on the Campus . . . With a Corps of Curvacious Co-Eds . . . Two Giggle-Getters on a Scholastic Spree . . . Laugh-Bound . . . Fun-Bound ... In a Class by Themselvesl SELLING ANGLES: ’The Man Who Walked Alone" Story concerns a returning war veteran. Tie up with local daily to have merchants state, in ad-form, what plans they have for returning service men. Conduct a letter-writing contest for army wives; label it, "When HE Comes Home.” Find out which men in your town were recently discharged and invite them to your theatre as guests. Have employe tour busy sections, wearing a sandwich sign: "The Man Who Walks Alone — Didn't Buy a War Bondi" CATCHLINES: The Town Had a Hero . . . And Didn't Know It . . . BeRibboned . . . Battle-Bred . . . But Unsung . . . He Walked Alone . . . Hiding His Heroism in Civilian Clothes . . . Until a High Handed Heiress Barged Into His Life . . . And He Found the Tender Passion Could Be Tougher Than the Enemy. Battlefields Hadn't Hardened Him Enough . . . For This Bout With Cupid ... It Took a Slip of a Girl to Show Him , . . That a Foxhole Could Be a Haven of Peace! SELLING ANGLES: "Roughly Speaking" Film has special appeal to women — stage a mother and daughter night and present a corsage to the youngest looking mother of grown family. Story opens in 1902. Tie up with ladies' apparel shop for display of dresses worn in that period. Tag it — "Rosalind Will Bring You Up to Date in 'Roughly Speaking.' " Tie your advertising into the "Zip Your Lip" idea; for instance, "Careless Speaking May Sink a Ship, But ‘Roughly Speaking' at the Theatre Will Sink Your Blues." CATCHLINES: She Planned Her Life in a Neat Little Pattern . . . Only to Learn That Living Can't Be Blue-Printed . . . Love Won't Be Pigeon-Holed . . . And Fate Always Has the Last Laugh. Competent, Calm . . . She Took Life in Her Stride . . . Running the Gamut of All It Had to Offer . . . And Came Up Smiling at Her Smashed Dreams . . . Wisely Knowing That in Losing . . . She Had Lived to the Full!