Boxoffice (Oct-Dec 1963)

Stewart, Sandra Here 35 000 View Parade; World Premiere Brings Sandra Dee Thrill, Glamor to Abilene Bands Named premiere tickets available For Premiere Parade Here Premiere Crowd Joms Downtow Movie Pleasing To First-Nighters WORLD PREMIERE HERE Big Welcome Awaiting Hollywood Film Stars 'JAKC High School Bands lo lead Premiere Paiade Nor. 5 Texans Long Interested In New Stewart Movie Haskell Sheriffs Posse lo Parade For Film Premiere This Afternoon STARS IN PERSON ^51HER, SHe,. Comejv^ ... Just Playing Himself. UF to Honor Dyess Building up to the world-premiere where hundreds of headlines in the Abilene newspapers, of which a few are reproduced above. Such newspaper promotion, duplicated on television and radio, and repeated on a smaller degree all over the state, is the best public relations possible for the motion picture industry. Small City Moment (Continued from preceding page) buffet. A chartered plane took the party of more than 40 to Abilene that afternoon for the two-day premiere festival. Included in the premiere entourage, in addition to Stewart, Mrs. Stewart, Miss Dee and Rosenfield, were John Q. Adams, executive vice-president of InterstateTexas Consolidated Theatres; William E. Mitchell, vice-president and general manager of Texas Consolidated Theatres; Bill This pickup truck ballyhoo from Peterborough, England, includes a display frame made of peg board, making it easily adaptable to each new attraction. Terry Mellor, manager of the Gaumont Theatre, may be noted peeking over the shoulder of the cutout copper, the role Norrr.an Wisdom plays in "On the Beat." The comely staffer, Joan Watson, doesn't hurt a bit, either. Mellor is a Star Showman of the Rank Organization in England. He recently received the award from the hands of chief constable F. G. Markin in a well-photoed ceremony. of Glory in Premiere Williams, division manager of 20th-Fox; James Gillespie, 20th-Fox southwest publicist; Francis Barr, advertising-publicity director of Interstate-Texas Consolidated Theatres; Conrad Brady of Interstate; Pat Hudgins, Mitchell’s assistant; Milt Overman of Barr’s staff and George Sorenson of Mitchell’s staff. Accompanying Stewart and Miss Dee on the personal appearance tour to Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio and Houston were Raymond Willie, vice-president and general manager of Interstate Circuit, Inc., and Brady. Hudgins, Overman and Sorenson, who are based in the theatre circuit’s headquarters in Dallas, worked three weeks in Abilene on premiere arrangements with Frank Sheffield, Interstate’s Abilene city manager, and his staff. Premiere coverage in the Abilene Reporter-News and on KPAR-TV, KRBC-TV, KWKC, KRBC and KNIT was tremendous. The Reporter-News publicity breaks included nine front pages and nine front pages of the second section with stories and photos. There were more than 40 publicity breaks in the newspaper. Free time, including news coverage and interviews, blanketed the Abilene area via television and radio, beginning October 10. A Ladies Special Roy Hensley offered a “Ladies Special” at the Colonial Theatre in Canton, N.C. He inserted the following want ads: WANTED: Ladies with escort and 25c to see Rock Hudson in “Come September" at the Colonial Theatre tonight. FOR SALE: Tickets 25c to ladies with escorts to see "Come September" with Rock Hudson at the Colonial Theotre tonight. Lamb Fur Coat Is Prize The Advertiser in Ayr, Ayrshire, England, promoted the distributor film poster contest for “Sodom and Gomorrah” by offering a black lamb fur coat as first prize. R. G. Honeyman, manager of the Odeon there, planted the contest. Natural Dexterity Can Save Dollars Forty odd window cards, of different sizes, were made up by Charles Stokes, manager of the Plaza Theatre at Patchogue, on Long Island, N.Y., at no cost, is a First he clipped out all suitable mat scenes 1 ov from the pressbooks, which he pasted on cardboards cut from candy cartons. With a marker he printed, “NOW PLAYING . . . PLAZA THEATRE,” and placed cards in the front windows of stores all around the neighborhood. SMALL BUT THEY WORK Most of the cards were small, ranging from about 5x6 inches, and weren’t too flashy, but they got the word of the film, “I Could Go On Singing,” around very well considering that they cost nothing! Another do-it-yourself project comes from Stokes — he made his own “Snickers” money leaflets for “Wrong Side of the Law.” First he bought a packet of play money, cost 10 cents. Then he cut a couple of star head shots of Peter Sellers, title sig, etc., from the pressbook and pasted them on a play money bill in the proper places. This he took to a momeo (or offset) shop and had 5,000 “Snickers” bills run off — “Bank of Howls . . . Good for 500 laughs” on one side with film and theatre copy on the other side. For this film Stokes had a steel strong box placed in the lobby with a poster reading, “Guess the Combination . . . Keep Prizes . . . See Peter Sellers in “Wrong Side of the Law.” The odds against anyone guessing the combination of the lock were enormous, but believe it or not, Stokes re ports, three people did. The prizes were gift vouchers and theatre passes. HAND-PRINTS SIGNS Stokes doesn’t pretend to be a sign artist, or anywhere near one, but he has full confidence in the natural dexterity of his hands. A number of large Italian speaking groups live in the area of the Plaza Theatre. For “Divorce — Italian Style,” he not only made his own window cards as described previously, but hand-lettered in brilliant colors ten sheets, approximately 24x18 or more, to fit ten stores selected because they dealt in something Italian, such as: “YES! We have Italian Music. SEE! ‘Divorce— Italian Style’ Plaza Theatre, etc.” — Instead of “music,” other sheets read, “Italian style clothes,” “Italian style bread and rolls” and so on. These sheets were placed in the front windows of the ten stores two weeks before playdate. Screening Puts Over Serial Con Docherty of the Queen’s Hall Theatre, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, England, got the serialization of “Lawrence of Arabia” published in the Sunday Sun, but not until after the editor had seen the superb film at a screening did he consent. Docherty arranged a “bomb” opening with all the notables in the area as distinguished guests. National 'New Kind' Tieups National tieups were set up by Paramount with the makers of My Sin perfume and Kisiav gloves for displays in behalf of “A New Kind of Love.” 2 190 — BOXOFFICE Shown andiser :: Dec. 2, 1963