Boxoffice (Jan-Mar 1962)

Pearl Harbor' Makes Big Splash When It Gets Timely Booking, Big Promotion It was the right time for the right film when “I Bombed Pearl Harbor” came to the screen of the Wisconsin Theatre in Milwaukee, and since the campaign also was right, business was excellent. Manager H. G. Boesel opened “Pearl Harbor” on Wednesday, December 6, the day before the 20th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor at Honolulu, which brought the U.S. into World War II. The timing couldn’t have been better! As for the promotion, there was the tremendous assist from the Wisconsin Sentinel, which published a reproduction of its actual front page from Dec. 8, 1941, as a “second” front page in its Thursday, Dec. 7, 1961 issue. This was the opening day of “I Bombed Pearl Harbor” at the Wisconsin. Prior to this, Boesel had launched a “Were You at Pearl Harbor?” hunt, two weeks in advance, which reached a climax on the Wisconsin stage at a Saturday night sneak preview prior to the opening when some 40 men and women were presented Anniversary Citations. Appearing on impressive parchments was this copy: December 7, 1961 Wisconsin Theatre Presents to ANN IVERSARY CITATION In Memory of the 20th Anniversary of The Bombing of Pearl Harbor Be It Hereby Known That He Was Present at Pearl Harbor on That Most Infamous Day in United States History and Participated in Defense of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The citations bore gold notary public seals with red, white and blue ribbons. Invitations to the special sneak were made by postcards. The newspapers liberally covered the event, interviewing many of the honorees about what they did on the Sunday of the Pearl Harbor attack. Some 5,000 card folders, “Where Were You on Dec. 7, 1941,” were distributed to Christmas shoppers, in parked cars and in restaurants. Boesel went on radio with a barrage of 30-second spots on three stations for three days, including opening day. One radio station offered 12 USS Constitution kits and 25 pairs of guests tickets in a “What were you doing when Pearl Harbor was bombed?” contest. Listeners were invited to send in their stories on postcards. This was gratis. Television spots also were used between the news and weather telecasts. WISN-TV featured a number of the Anniversary Citation winners on a half hour telecast on December 7. The station director was specially pleased with Manager Boesel’s cooperation in arranging this feature. 200 Tickets to Radio Go To 200 Secretaries Since his Plaza Theatre in Oklahoma City was going to be closed for the invitational screening of “One-Eyed Jacks,” manager and part-owner Farris Shanbour figured it would be a good idea to fill the house completely. He estimated invited newspaper, radio and television people would take all but about 200 seats, so he went to radio station WKY and gave them 200 tickets for distribution to the first 200 secretaries sending in requests. Station WKY broadcast the ticket giveaway through a whole week in advance of the Monday night screening, giving the film a lot of publicity. Shanbour continued his heavy radio Debut of First Roadshow Is News in Scotland Early information on booking is a big help to the industrious manager. Antony W. F. Wall, manager of the Gaumont Theatre in Falkirk, Stirling County, Scotland, started writing the music publisher, book publisher, magazine distributor, magnetic tape company, National Screen Services and others for banners, display paper, etc., available for tieups in behalf of “The Guns of Navarone” about two months in advance of play date. As a result, Wall had a very excellent distribution of signs and banners, both inside and outside, well before the opening on November 12. Wall started sending out his letters late in September. A thousand bookmarks and another thousand circulars were obtained from National Screen Services. Wall had a crossword puzzle contest in one of the papers. A gr p of local celebrities were invited to the Gaumont for cocktails and the Sunday premiere of the picture. Manager Wall sent out letters to officials of labor unions; social, sports, fishing groups; bridge, debating, bicycling clubs, etc., 50 in all, notifying them of the playdate and suggesting advance purchase of tickets. The “short season” engagement was described as “a roadshow of an outstanding attraction,” the first at Falkirk. The Gaumont also installed a new screen for the occasion. The editors of the three local newspapers (Falkirk has a population of around 40,000) were informed about the new screen and the first roadshow booking, and although they are on the true Scotch side in giving out free space, they printed news stories on the reserved-seat “roadshow” showing of “Navarone.” Later, one paper, the Grangemouth Advertiser, ran a fivepart serial with scenes from the film. This added up to 340 inches of space. Early in October Manager Wall called on the editor of the Falkirk Mail about a co-op page for two days before opening. Wall was told okay, but he would have to arrange the page and sell the ads himself, which meant “a tremendous amount of work.” The page included four full columns of ads and four full columns of pictures and printed material about “Navarone.” coverage, buying 290 spots Tuesday through Sunday. These were cut locally from copy prepared by Shanbour himself, and he scheduled them at traffic times during the day when people were going to and returning from work. And he made certain that the spots were broadcast as scheduled by hiring a girl to listen to each spot and check it against the master sheet. Ten ten-second spots also were purchased on KOCO-TV, the ABC network station, on the top rated TV programs. lim Other promotions included a deal with the new 89er motel in which the motel gave a ticket to “Jacks” with each steak dinner. For each ticket used, the theatre was reimbursed by the motel. A beautiful motel display told of the tieup. Deejay Feud Keeps Air Hot but All Ends Well Carl Hoffman, manager of the Omaha Theatre in Omaha, Neb., double-billed “Hey, Let’s Twist!” and “Too Late Blues” recently, and advertised them under the AS ns barker line, “Here It Is! The Coolest . . . Craziest Combo in Town!” Then he cooked up an opening night gimmick with two dee jays on the city’s top music and news station, KOIL, in which jockey Don Steele proclaimed that he would give away on the Omaha stage his rival Joe Light to some “unlucky” patron. Patrons willing to take a chance on Joe Light were asked to write in 25 words or less why they would like to win Joe Light. About 60 spots were broadcast over a tenday period plugging the Joe Light giveaway and the film combo. The Joe Light given away, it turned out, was not the KOIL disc jockey, but a cuddly toy poodle dog named Joe Light for the occasion. He came complete with a lettered jacket. The winner and runnerap are shown in the accompanying photo. Steele is at left, Light is the man at right. The girl in the striking white bathing suit was there “for decoration,” Manager Hoffman reports. 'Advise and Consent' Ads Eight leading players in “Advise and at Consent” are being featured in large ads for >London Fog rainwear appearing in several of England’s leading magazines, Sunday supplements and newspapers. Tieups are also being made with department stores. 4 — 44 — BOXOFFICE Showmandiser :: Mar. 12, 1962