Boxoffice (Oct-Dec 1961)

Small Fry Frolics Click First Season at Top Run Several reports of successful summer kiddy matinee series have reached Showmandiser in the last few weeks. The latest is from A1 Allin, manager of the Odeon Theatre in Sarnia, Out., a city of approximately 35,000 situated along the St. Clair river at the southern tip of Lake Huron. His theatre is the Odeon circuit’s first run there. The eight-week series, called the Small Fry Frolics, wound up August 23 with a big grand finale program. In summing up the summer program. Allin reports: “Tremendous promotion; tremendous response; topflight entertainment.” He predicts it will be better next year. The average weekly attendance was 800 children, with an average weekly take at the candy bar of $75. There were, in Allin’s words, “a lot of happy children, and a lot HEY KIDS ! DON'T MISS . . . OK Rx\DIO--ODEOX SMALL FRY FROLICS EVERY WED. .MORNING. FREE ADMISSION ! • • I>oors Open 9.M Show Starts 10 a.m. PRIZES GALORE EVERY WEEK • • ON STAGE IN PERSON CHOK RADIO’S FAVORITE UNCLE ’HANK' • • t Hours of Fun, Movies, Cartoons, Comedies. Laffs, Surprises. • • SPONSORED BY THE FOUOWINC MERCHANTS: " Bodair Disrount Ltd.. Modem Cleaners, The Douglas Paisley studio. Dairy Qaeeo. A 4 W Drive-In. Rosen’s Furniture. Guthrie Hardware, Douglas Keddy Shoes, Walker-Nield Motorcade Stores. that payment by CHOK to the Odeon Theatre would be made in relation to payments received from the participating merchants, to be determined monthly on and after July 31. The package deal also called for the theatre to show a special screen trailer advertising the Small Fry Frolics one week in advance and at every performance, from July 5 to August 23, the trailer to mention the names and business of the participants. Other specifications : Theatre to prepare a special display mentioning the names of the participating merchants for display prior to and during the eight weeks. THE THEATRE’S PART Theatre to provide a suitable film program of approximately 90 minutes each Wednesday morning, and bear all costs for trailers, theatre advertising display, staff and film. CHOK and the participating merchants received a quantity of tickets each week good for free admission, the quantity to be determined on the basis of seating capacity and number of participating merchants. Right from the start. Allin reports 100 per cent success — nine calls were made on nine merchants, each in a different type of business, and nine contracts were signed. There were a Dairy Queen, photo studio, hardware store, dry cleaners, shore store, A&W root beer drive-in, automotive stoi'e, furniture store and a discount house. Everyone concerned got behind the Small Fry Frolics 100 per cent. Allin reports. GET YOUR FREE TICKETS NOW FRO.M ABOVE .MERCHANTS’ DETAILS ON CHOK A three-column ad gives the basic outline of the Small Fry Frolics, which ran up an average attendance of 800 children its first season ot the first-run Odeon Theatre in Sarnia, Ont. of happy sponsors. All in all, it couldn’t have been much better for a first season ! The series was initiated in June when Allin outlined his idea to Joe Tarran, adverti-sing salesman for radio station CHOK. This led to a second meeting in the station manager’s office at which Karl Monk, station manager; Art O’Hagan, sales manager; G. Ludgate, Tarran and Allin were present. Under the agreement completed and signed at that time, CHOK assumed joint sponsorship of the series with the Odeon Theatre, the radio station agreeing to pay to the theatre $900 for its share. Nine merchants were to be sold participation at so much each (exact amount not stated). All billing and invoices were to be handled by the station. The contract also specified UNCLE HANK ON STAGE CHOK aired 10 to 25 announcements prior to each week’s show; the Odeon Theatre made 10 to 25 plugs on the screen trailer, and each store put up streamers. The radio station also had Uncle Hank, its top personality, on the Odeon stage each week to emcee a 20-minute live show at which various contests were held and prizes awarded. The prizes were great in number so that everyone had a good chance of getting one or more. Prizes each week consisted of: Free records — 500 were given away in eight weeks. Free A&W root beer tickets — 4,000 given away during the period. Free Dairy Queen 10 -cent cones— 1,000 given away. Free Silverwood ice cream bars — 500 total given away. Free Pepsi-Cola — 300 awarded in eight weeks. Plus popcorn. A grand total of 6,300 prizes thus was passed out during the Frolics. Special tickets were printed for each show. They bore the heading, “OK Radio I i HU Tir^ REAlHOf COiar ir.K-i lUuJUir lOTHiSMHMAHtA*Aout^iranrosff %fe'INVASIOH(WRtET i-u ■! .1 ’TTbULW. LOEWS STILLMAN Puzzle Always Clicks A puzzle game on a display board out front always proves to be a trafficstopper for Arnold Gates, manager of Loew’s Stillman Theatre at Cleveland. He varies the figures from time to time, but basically it remains the same. Pictured above, it is a promotion for “Invasion Quartet.” And again it was a great success. Gates reports office managers in the area call and ask him for the solution so his staff can get back to work. And on the above puzzle, a call came from the local Internal Revenue office, in which instance Gates gave the taxpayers a “stay of harassment” by not revealing the solution immediately. In case all the copy in this picture is not legible, it is, on one side of the numbers: “Add six of the shown numbers together to total 231, using no one set of numbers more than three times. On the other side is, “If you can solve it and be among the first 50 to do so, you will receive a guest ticket to see ‘Invasion Quartet,’ or some future Loew’s Stillman attraction.” Odeon Theatre Small Fry Frolics,” plus the date and names of the participating merchants. Then Allin decided to make his final Wednesday show the best. He and station manager Karl Monk invited the merchant sponsors to a breakfast at the Colonial Hotel, then took them to the theatre to see the Small Fry Frolics in action. For the occasion the sponsors came through with special prizes, consisting of running shoes, a baby doll, a Kodak camera, an $11 album, a flashlight and batteries, T-shirts, a toy truck and gift certificates. Awards Diamond Ring For “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” Ralph Tully, manager of the State in Portland, Me., tied up with Day’s jewelry store for a contest in which a diamond ring was awarded. Stresses Regular Prices When “Exodus” opened a regular showing at the Plaza Theatre in Oklahoma City Paris Shanbour reworked the ads and other material to emphasize, “First Time in the World at Regular Prices.” This appeared in ads, displays, and in radio and T'V spots. “Throughout the first week, we had lines one block long for the first show,” Shanbour reports. 2 — 202 — BOXOFTICE Showmcmdiser : : Dec. 18, 1961