Boxoffice (Oct-Dec 1962)

By AL STEEN NE year and seven months before "Barabbas" was scheduled for release, the campaign to arouse public interest was in work; in fact, the campaign started before a foot of film had been shot. This long range project has paid off through intense penetration of the public by the promotion departments of Columbia Pictures, which is releasing the picture, and of Dino De Laurentiis, its producer. The campaign was designed to accomplish three purposes; namely, (1) establish the identity of the man Barabbas and an awareness of the fact that the picture was a fictionalized account of his life; (2) precondition people in all mass media, opinion-makers and religious leaders to the fact that "Barabbas" was a film of exceptionally high quality, and (3) create a climate for the film in advance of its presentation which made it a subject of debate and discussion. The producer cashed in on a phenomenon in March, 1961, when the sun was due for a total eclipse. In order to take advantage of it, the production starting date was pushed ahead so that scenes of the Crucifixion could be filmed against the darkening sky, thus illustrating the passage in Luke 23:24 — "And there came a darkness over the whole land; the sun was in eclipse." De Laurentiis gambled $80,000 on weather conditions and his camera crew's ability to capture the eclipse, with the Crucifixion in the foreground. Everything went according to plans and the press of the world reported it. No sooner had that aspect of the production been completed when the drive to create an awareness on the part of opinion-makers was launched. A paperback edition of the book, printed on a finer grade of stock, was sent to editors, critics, churchmen and editors of religious publications. This sparked a flow of interest that had an immediate effect. The books were acknowledged by some of the most important persons in all media. A major step in the preplanning of the campaign was the commissioning of six distinguished American artists to paint their interpretations of the character Barabbas. The resulting art exhibition fulfilled two of the major aims of the campaign; to excite interest in the identity of Barabbas and to surround the film with an aura of high artistic achievement. The touring art exhibition of the six paintings, along with other important works of the artists, was handled by the Midtown Galleries of New York. Among the cities in which the exhibition has been presented are Philadelphia, Chicago, St. Louis, Atlanta, Houston, San Francisco, as well as New York. In order to attract the interest of all types of persons. Alan D. Gruskin, head of New York's Midtown Galleries, (left), with Robert Vickrey (center), with his painting of Barabbas, and Jonas Rosenfield jr., vicepresident of Columbia Pictures. Columbia has sought to avoid the improper labeling of the film as a Bible story or another spectacular, although the link with church groups is an important one. The director, Richard Fleischer, has described "Barabbas" as an intimate spectacular" and the phrase has been quoted in many reviews. Therefore, it has become possible to describe the campaign in the same terms, "intimate" and "spectacular." "Intimate" characterizes the manner in which Columbia and De Laurentiis have brought the subject matter to the personal attention of religious leaders and persons in all media. "Spectacular" refers to the big, splashy sell to the public with emphasis on those elements in the film that are spectacular. The worth of the campaign and the interest it created has been proven by the nationwide attention it has been accorded in the public press. Important newspapers throughout the country have devoted columns and full pages to the picture and its production background. In New York, Columbia has capitalized on the eclipse angle by erecting a huge, full-color sign in Times Square which offers a man-made eclipse of the sun every five minutes. Through a series of precision-planned electric time devices, the artificial sun is slowly eclipsed as the real sun was eclipsed at Golgotha. In foreign countries where the picture already has opened, the business being done bears out the wisdom and strategy of the campaign. In order to attract all types of readers of newspapers, Columbia has prepared a wealth of publicity material designed for different sections. For the church pages, there are stories on the filming of the eclipse and a BarabbasPeter dialog from the picture. There is considerable material on the Barabbas paintings for the art pages. For the women's pages, a group of recipes has been prepared, describing the favorities of the stars appearing in the film. For the sports pages, Columbia has suggested such angles as "No Encores for These Entertainers," with features about the gladiatorial games. Music editors are expected to be interested in Nacimbene's score and attention may be directed to Colpix's soundtrack album. Two ticket-selling subjects have been prepared for television promotion. One is a four-and-a-half minute documentary titled "A Look Behind the Scenes" which dramatizes the effort that goes into the making of a major production and uses as its subject the filming of "Barabbas." Another is a one-and-a-half minute silent clip of the London opening, showing celebrities attending the premiere, including Anthony Quinn and producer De Laurentiis, among others. No angle has been overlooked to focus attention on the picture. Under the supervision of Jonas Rosenfield jr., vice-president in charge of advertising and publicity, and Robert S. Ferguson, national director of advertising, publicity and exploitation, the entire Columbia organization, both here and abroad, has been closely involved with every aspect of the campaign. Most directly responsible for the manifold activities and planning of the promotional effort were Arthur Manson, campaign director for "Barabbas," and Lon Jones, director of publicity for De Laurentiis in Rome. ''Barabbas" stars Anthony Quinn in the title role, with Silvana Mangano, Arthur Kennedy, Katy Jurado, Harry Andrews, Vittorio Gassman, Jack Palance and Ernest Borgnine as costars. It was based on the novel by Nobel Prize winner Par Lagerkvist, with a screenplay by Christopher Fry and is in Technicolor and Technirama. BOXOFFICE October 8, 1962