Building theatre patronage : management and merchandising (1927)

Record Details:

Something wrong or inaccurate about this page? Let us Know!

Thanks for helping us continually improve the quality of the Lantern search engine for all of our users! We have millions of scanned pages, so user reports are incredibly helpful for us to identify places where we can improve and update the metadata.

Please describe the issue below, and click "Submit" to send your comments to our team! If you'd prefer, you can also send us an email to mhdl@commarts.wisc.edu with your comments.




We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.

Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.

Selling Within the Theatre 157 4. Bathing-Beauty Contest. — Be sure that parental consent i« secured for entrants. Suits can be donated by local department stores, the management of beaches, sport-goods stores, etc. The contest has more appeal when beach novelties are emphasized, such as parasols, lounging robes, etc. If local conditions permit, entrants can represent different clubs, different neighborhoods, different stores, different beaches, etc. Where other organizations co-operate for such a contest, the opportunity for co-operative advertising is exceptional, because window displays, announcement cards, co-operative advertising in newspapers and other forms of program merchandising are possible. The applause of the audience or the decision of the judges can determine the winner. Stage this contest in advance of the bathing-beauty photoplay. Then you get double return — in patronage to see the contest, and word-of-mouth comment for the coming attraction. 5. One-Act Play Contest. — Where there are dramatic societies or college dramatic clubs in the community, the manager can arrange a contest so that each group appears in a one-act play built around some situation in a coming attraction. If three clubs are entered, the one-act play of each will be continued through a week. Sufficient time should be given for preparation. Attendance will be built from the followers of each club. The photoplay will have three weeks' advance advertising because of word-of-mouth comment. 6. Prologue Contest. — Dramatic schools and dramatic societies can enter a contest with prizes for the best prologue idea suggested for a coming attraction. When the idea is selected, the members of the club or society arrange the details so that their own members appear in the prologue. This prologue is used during the run of the production. Another phase of the same contest is to offer a prize for the best prologue idea submitted by any patron, with the understanding that it will be staged by the local club. Thus the appeal of the contest is broadened, and patrons are forced to study the coming attraction to understand the type of prologue required. Dramatic clubs, instead of offering competition, are used to build your theatre attendance. Besides, their good-will is developed.