Boxoffice (Oct-Dec 1963)

I • ADLINES & EXPLOITI PS • ALPHABETICAL INDEX • EXHIBITOR HAS HIS SAY • FEATURE RELEASE CHART || • FEATURE REVIEW DIGEST • SHORTS RELEASE CHART • SHORT SUBJECT REVIEWS • REVIEWS OF FEATURES • SHOWMANDISING IDEAS THE GUIDE TO BETTER BOOKING AND BUSINESS-BUILDING I Holiday Screen Ads Record . . . Exhibitor In Small Town Sells All 71 Merchants Clint Applewhite, versatile exhibitor at Carnegie, Okla. (population 1,501), may have set a record when he sold screen advertising to every place of business in his town. The score — 71 merchants, 71 screen ads sold. The ads are the National Screen Service holiday merchant ads which offer exhibitors the opportunity to make extra money during the holidays while conveying a good public service message for merchants in the town. In addition, the Carnegie merchants are sponsoring a matinee on December 23, 24 and will pass out free tickets to their customers. Pictures suitable for children have been booked for this occasion in order that the local citizenry may do their shopping while their youngsters attend the movie. Applewhite is furnishing the merchants with window cards and will advertise the event in the Carnegie newspaper. The holiday merchant project will start The 40x60 set up in a display arranged by Donald Mills, manager of the Port Theatre in Port Arthur, Tex., invited passersby to register for free tickets to "Lawrence of Arabia." The free tickets were distributed by means of a drawing. The display was set upon the mall in the Jefferson City Shopping Center there. Fred Minton, publicity director for Jefferson Amusement Co., reports many hundreds of persons registered. on the Liberty Theatre screen two weeks before Christmas and Applewhite states that it took him only three days to sell the ads which, after deducting all expense, will net him around $900, plus proceeds from concessions during the special matinees. A native Oklahoman, Applewhite was born in the same county, Caddo, where his Liberty Theatre is located. After attending Oklahoma State University, he managed a cotton gin for ten years. His next venture was in the auto and supply business which he left to buy into the theatre in Carnegie in 1950. Signs on Burros: 'See ALL of Mansfield' When Phoenix, Ariz., newspapers and radio stations censored advertising copy on “Promises! Promises!” Les Natali, manager of the Portofini Theatre in suburban Scottsdale, came up with a corker of a street promotion. The ballyhoo, coupled with action of the news media, resulted in 600 per cent business on the film. Natali and assistant Fred Sellers paraded around the city with a pair of donkeys (asses) bearing signs reading: “Everyone’s going to see ALL of Jayne Mansfield in PROMISES! PROMISES! at the PORTOFINO except ME — and you know what I am!” The showmen figured they might be lucky enough to be arrested (and get some added publicity), but no such luck. The policemen just laughed! But Natali was bucked off one of the jacks when he tried to ride it. Cripple on Streets! For a street ballyhoo for “Call Me Bwana,” J. R. Thompson of the Odeon Theatre in Lewisham, England, used a “cripple.” This was a young man with one foot in a simulated cast, his head bandaged and using crutches. Signs read, “I fell out of my seat laughing . . . Bob Hope, ‘Call me Bwana’ at the Odeon, etc.” Two Yule Shows by Stores Three Christmas kiddy shows have been rented to business groups by Jim Macris of the Ashland (Ohio) Theatre. Two are to ten local merchants on the Saturday afternoons of December 7 and 14. The other is to the Eagles Club for the 21st. Prizes to Showmen H. Robert Honahan, Long Island supervisor for Associated Independent Theatres, awarded prizes to the winners in the recent AIT Presidents drive, which extended from June 12 through October 8. Joe Donahoe, second from left, won the first prize of an expense-paid week’s vacation in an upstate New York resort, which he planned to use for his honeymoon. I. Rosen, far right, received an expense-paid weekend vacation, while Bill Belle, second from right, was given an evening on the town as third place winner. Each one received a week’s extra salary, in addition. The prizes were awarded at a promotion luncheon of the Long Island AIT managers. Present besides the above were Mike Aidala, Frank Mirando, Paul Ripps, Ted Allen, Angie DeLuca, Hank Quartermont, Dick Bishop, Inge Lewin, Jim Edwards, Bill Murphy, Chuck Stokes, Henry von Kroge, Dennis Heller and district manager Robert Poison. Widows Admitted Free At 'Courtship of Eddie' Bernie Bjerknes of the Royal Theatre at Gonvick, Minn., offered free admission to all widows at a Friday night showing of “The Courtship of Eddie’s Father.” Bjerknes undoubtedly felt the film would give them some tips on how to get a man, but the local Leader-Record in its Chips off the Block column thought differently, and pointed out that Bernie is a bachelor! Clint Applewhite BOXOFFICE Showmandiser :: Dec. 9, 1963 — 193 — 1