Exhibitor's Trade Review (Dec 1923 - Feb 1924)

Page 34 Exhibitors Trade Review Novel Lobby Displays Rowland & Clarke have been concentrating their exploitation to quite an extent, on lobby displays for their various attractions of late. Their main displays are made above the ticket booth, just over the entrance into the auditorium. For the showing of Goldwyn's Jesse D. Hampton picture, "The Spoilers," the central portion of this display space was devoted to a map of Alaska with a cut-out picture of Milton Sills superimposed on the map. Sills' name was printed across the map in large white type. On each side of the cutout of the player were painted cut-out playing cards with scenes from the picture painted on them. Underneath this display was the title of the picture on beaver board. The black dots outlining the title were holes bored through the beaver board and illuminated from behind with a steady light;. Wee Carnival Draws Kiddies As advance exploitation on his showing of "Merry-Go-Round," the big Universal Jewel that is doing well all over the country, A. J. Meininger, manager of Ascher's Capitol Theatre at Manitowoc, Wis., arranged a miniature carnival. The alert showman secured an empty lot on the main street large enough to stage a little circus, had a merry-go-round big enough to rid about six kiddies, and a couple of other little rides. Twenty-four, six, three and one sheets formed the background and lent the desired atmosphere of the circus. Mr. Meininger also had a small organ on the job. All together he attracted considerable comment and the kiddies came in droves. Indorses Film to Schools Manager Willard Patterson of the Metropolitan Theatre, Atlanta, Ga., knows his pic'tures and his film committees. When he saw First National's "Ashes of Vengeance" he knew what the committee would feel and invited them to see the picture. Over the endorsment of Mrs. E. H. Goodhart, chairman of reviews, the picture was recommended to all school children. Special stress was laid upon its historical accuracy and the fidelity with which it reflected the customs and settings of that period. The entertainment value was also featured in the endorsement, which was a wonderful business builder for the picture's subsequent run at the Metropolitan. Pearls to Most Popular There was a string of Lichtenstein's Norma pearls that had to be given to some one when First National's "Ashes of Vengeance" played the Regent Theatre, Grand Rapids, Mich., and Manager Sid Lawrence found himself facing the problem of how to dispose of the pearls IN FAR OFF AUSTRALIA Exploitation methods are no different from ours. The manager of The Princess Theatre of the City of Bendigo staged a Jackie Coogan contest at his house with highly profitable results. with the greatest benefit to the theatre. A popularity competition provided the answer. So great was the response, 'nowever, that the house finally bought two smaller strings of pearls as "consolation" awards. The tie-up was made with the Friedman-Spring department store and helped advertise the pearls, of which they had bought 1,000 strings. Strong Publisher Co-operation Doubleday, Page and Company, publishers of "Sea-Tracks of the Speejacks 'Round the World," by Dale Collins, one of the co-voyagers of Commodore A. Y. Gowen on his round-the-world motor boat cruise, have written all their dealers advising them to co-operate with all exhibitors showing the Paramount picture, "Around the World in the Speejacks," in joint exploitation of the book and film. The letter says : "The film has made an excellent impression and has created a lot of interest everywhere it has been shown. It will be shown in your city in the very near future and it is probable your local exhibitor will approach you with a scheme to tie-up the advertising of the book and the picture." The matter of the joint exploitation of book and picture has been taken up with all the Paramount exchanges by C. E. McCarthy, Paramount's publicity manager, and exhibitors are being advised on booking of the advantages of the tie-up. Lobby Display That Drew A lobby display that put Metro's "Three Ages" over the top for the Hamilton Theatre at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was arranged on the following lines by Mr. and Mrs. George M. Kraupa, manager of the Hamilton. A very simple frame of beaver board painted was divided into three sections, and each section hung with a backdrop of black material. Into each of the sections was put a cut-out, an accessory which is carried in the "Three Ages" press book — descriptive of one of the Ages which Keaton burlesques with such great fun through his first feature length Metro comedy. Thus the First Age shows Keaton as the cave-man dragging his woman to his cave ; the second shows Keaton in the Roman Age dressing the wound of a lion who is supposed to make short work of him; and the third age he is shown at the wheel of a Ford which is lying in parts about him. Free Kiddie Shdw^ More than 1,000 boys and girls flocked 'to the Dyckman Theatre in West 207th Street, the Inwood section of New York City, as the guests of the Inwood News, recently, to what was termed "Free Kiddie Show." They saw Harold Lloyd in "Grandma's Boy." While the movie event was under the auspices of the Inwood News and David Guiran, the new manager of the Dyckman Theatre, donated the theatre. Associated Exhibitors via its general manager John S. Woody made it possible for the Inwood children to see the Lloyd picture. Not a single penny was charged. The Mother's Club of Inwood acted as chaperons, the Inwood Boy Scout troop, Harry Bickart, scoutmaster, was there in uniform and special music was furnished under the supervision of Mrs. Robert S. Levy. Unique Posters for Mystery The posters for Truart's "The Unknown Purple" have been designed so as to bring out forcibly the wierd, mystifying element of the story, the strange purple ray which predominates the entire theme. This ray, which has the power of making a human being invisible appears in each piece of paper throwing into the background one portion of the poster by means of the haze it puts over the subject, and contrasting it with the figures which appear in the foreground. The posters, which were executed by Hal Phyfe, are made so as to adapt themselves to cut-out purposes and present possibilities for various combinations taken from the different pieces, for use at theatre front or as marquee decoration. New Publicity Director Miles Goldberg, director of Advertising and Publicity for C. C. Burr, recently published his first press and campaign sheet for that firm. "Three O'clock in the Morning,"_ featuring Constance Binney, served to introduce Mr. Goldberg to the motion picture industry in this part of the country. For several years Mr. Goldberg was connected with newspapers in the middle west and for Iv/clve years he was motion picture editor of the Buffalo Commercial. At present press and campaign sheets on "Restless Wives," featuring Doris Kenyon, and "The New School Teacher" featuring Charles "Chic" Sale, are being compiled at the C. C. Burr office. These sheets will be released in the immediate future. Striking Educational Posters A decidedly unusual step in the exploitation o£_twQ. reel comedies is provided in the twenty-four sheet posters issued by Education Film Exchanges on their Mermaid and Hamilton Comedies. These stands make a good "flash" as they are printed in full color, and, while carrying the comedy idea, are decidedly artistic. Educational Exchanges are furnishing these posters free to exhibitors. They are already on display in prominent locations in many of the big cities of the country.