Exhibitor's Trade Review (Mar-May 1925)

Page 52 Exhibitors Trade Review OU Can Use This Exhibitor Aids p ress Stunt Ad in Newspapers Got the Town Guessing An "If I Owned This Newspaper" campaign brought Phil Cohn's East St. Louis (111.) Lyric Theatre exceptionally heavy business when "The Signal Tower" played there. A melodrama of railroad life, "The Signal Tower" was "made to order" for East St. Louis, one of the best railroad towns in the United States. Cohn started a teaser campaign in the East St. Louis Journal. The first ads worked around the questions, "What's This Talk About Phil Cohn and The Journal?" and "Is There Anything To This Talk About Phil Colin and the Journal?" As Cohn has many other business interests in addition 'to the $750,000 worth of theatres he controls, and as he is known as a "shooter" who will enter any field of business, East St. Louis began to believe its leading showman might be using this means to announce that he had taken over the town's leading newspaper. Further teaser ads fanned interest into flame. "There Must Be Something In This Talk About Phil Cohn and The Journal" and "Phil Cohn Will Have Something to Say About This Talk Linking His Name With the Journal — See Tomorrow's Journal" — ads such as those materially increased interest in the steam-up. "Tomorrow's paper" contained a striking two-column ad, signed by Cohn, stating that he believed he owed it to his friends to clear up this talk in which the Journal and he were linked. The use of striking posters such as were put out for Ben Schulberg's "White Man" arouses the interest of potential patrons and helps solve the empty seat problem. In a three-quarters page ad on Sunday, Cohn explained. "If I Owned the Journal, I'd Use Every Line Of Its Space Today To Tell East St. Louis That It Will See One of the Best Shows It Has Ever Seen," ran Cohn's ad. "For ten years, I've been identified with the show business. Now I'm urging you to see the best show I've offered East St. Louis in that time. It's 'The Signal Tower', etc." In addition to this striking newspaper campaign, Cohn used 8,000 original heralds in a house-to-house and direct mail campaign. He also billed East St. Louis heavily, using more than his ordinarily generous amount of "outside paper." Book That Means Something Put Out by Vitagraph Barran Lewis, Director of Advertising and Publicity for Vitagraph, sent out a campaign book which is unique literature for motion picture exhibitors. It's the press book on "School for Wives". Artistically, the book is a gem. The cover is of Chinese gold leaf, hand made, and the photographic reproductions and art designs, the work of Morgan Bryan, Art Director of Vitagraph, are printed from direct plates on Japanese shadow paper. The paper throughout is of rough linen finish, the production of artistic effects on this material being made possible by use of the offset process in printing. Besides its uncommonly attractive appearance, the book is designed primaril}' for utility, and, to an unusual degree, text is subordinated to illustration. There is a generous showing of production stills and the book carries also portraits of stars and featured players in forthcoming Vitagraph specials. * * * A Friendly Enemy S. J. Stebbins, managing director of the Liberty Theatre, Kansas City, Mo., is not letting the radio cause him sleepless nights. He makes arrangement with the local broadcasting station to give a little talk about his coming productions to listeners-in. Every time he has an exceptional production booked Mr. Stebbins goes down to the WHB broadcasting station and gives the announcer a few hundred words of real live copj The Piccadilly Theatre, New York, didn't overlook a single bet in its wide and varied exploitation campaign for Universal'^ "Oh Doctor." Here is a cut-out and a panel that pulled. Manager Richmond, Jefferson Theatre, Springfield, 111., made a mystery out of "He Who Gets Slapped" when he showed the exceptional Metro photoplay. A clown bally was also used.