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

January 5, 1924 Page 37 TRIED AND PROVED PICTURES splendid advertisement and you should place them wherever possible. You can often interest people through flattery so you might try this sort of mail campaign. Get a list of residents in your vicinity and solicit them by a seemingly personal invitation to come to a special performance of "Rich Men's Wives," which you are staging for their benefit since you realize that they are the people who will be most interested. You might also try a street bally of this type. Get six or eight pretty young girls and have them dress in rather extreme fashion so that they will make people stop and look at them. Get a large open touring car and have them drive through the streets stopping and getting out every few blocks. On the car should be a sign reading : "This earful of 'Rich Men's Wives' are on their way to the Theatre. They will be there all week. We advise you to go their and see how they act." If you use prologues at all you would have splendid material in the text of the picture for a fashion show which you could arrange for with the local department store or women's specialty shop. The announcement of the fact that the models were supplied by such and such a company, would more than compensate the advertiser for any expense involved in producing the prologue. You might also try posting notices in public places to the effect that someone is wanted to adopt the little son whose mother, one of the "Rich Men's Wives" has run away and left him unprovided for. Applicants should apply to the Theatre any time between the hours of one to eleven. 'Burning Sands' Sheik Story Released by Paramount BRIEF : A kindly old sheik is being deceived by his villainous son who seeks to destroy his father by uniting with the enemy tribe. But the plan is foiled by a young English philosopher who lives lives alone m the oasis. In the ensuing battle the villain is killed, leaving the way clear for the happy marriage of the philosopher and the girl he loves. WTHILE the public is still intensely interested in sheik pictures, is the logical time to show them. They need not be new, experience is proving that the old one can still draw tremendous audiences. That means that there is still plenty of business to be had on these older bookings of which you would be foolish to take advantage. In this film the action is rapid and intense especially the great battle in the open desert. You should play this scene up especially big_ in your lobby cards and the literature which you send out. It will do much to stimulate interest. Also inculcate into your lobby the desert atmosphere. This can best be done by rigging up a tent in one corner, decorating the walls in bright colors and dressing your attendants in sheik costumes. Have plenty of incense burning in oriental looking burners. This will also help attract attention. If you have a capable carpenter you might have built a large papier mache time glass using isinglass instead of real glass. This should stand three or four feet high and should be partially filled with sand. The idea is to have patrons guess how long it will take for all of the sand to pass from the upper compartment to the lower. Offer prizes of admission tickets for the correct answers. You will be delighted at the interest you will awaken in the picture through this stunt. Also make use of the picturesqueness of the story to arrange a street bally that would attract notice. Dress a man in the latest approved sheik style and have him ride a spirited horse through the streets. People will surely stop to look, and will notice the advertisements which should be conspicuously displayed either on the man or the horse. To make the stunt even more interest arousing, you might have a girl on the horse with a man, which will give the impression that she is being kidnapped. It might be a good idea to have boys or men handing out throwaways to the people who have stopped to look at the "sheik." 'Pawned' Gambler's Story Released by Sehnick 'The Critical Age' Love Drama Released bv Hodkinson BRIEF: The town's good-for-nothing proves he is not deserving of the name when he outwits his city rival for the hand of the girl he loves, saves her life when she is plunged into the rapids by the disappointed lover, and succeeds in bringing happiness to the father of the girl and the entire community. YOU might solicit your patrons with a letter which purports to give advice on the selection of the type of entertainment which they should encourage in their children who having arrived at the "The Critical Age" need more guidance in this matter than at any other time. Then you can suggest that the pictures shown at your theatre are selected with this in mind. You might also arrange for a merchant tie-up with a store handling clothes for juniors. In their ads and displays they should stress the fact that they have made a study of clothes for children between the ages of twelve and eighteen, "The Critical Age," and they are prepared to outfit them from shoes to hats with clothes specially designed to overcome the difficulties of finding the proper clothes for these "Critical Age" children. Someone might even be interested in adopting as a trade name for this type of clothes, "Critical Age Clothes." The lobby might attract attention by a decoration of toy bears and dogs attractively arranged. This would also be pertinent since both a dog and a bear play important parts in the story. You might even be able to arrange to get a paper hat in a bear or dog form and distribute them widely among the children. The ads on these hats would surely receive attention in that way. 'A Woman of No Importance' Flouted Conventions Released by Selsivick BRIEF: A young society girl is betrayed by a worthless philanderer. Later when her son grows up and^ becomes a lawy.er he secures a position with his father, none of the three knowing of their relationship. When the fact become known the father offers to marry the boy's mother but she refuses to accept his offer. SINCE this is a story of Oscar Wilde's one of the most popular of English playwrights, you should arrange for as many bookstore tie-ups as possible, using not only this play, but all his other works as well. You might even arrange for a display of these works on a table in your lobby and allow the public the privilege of looking through them. A sign near the books should announce to the public that these books can be purchased at the following stores. You might also make some arrangement with the book store whereby a free admission ticket will be issued with each copy of an Oscar Wilde book that is sold. The understanding should be that the shopkeeper will pay half the price of the ticket. You might also use a mail campaign addressing your letter to more or less prominent men in the vicinity. This letter should read in this fashion. "If you think your wife is 'A Woman of No Importance,' come to the Theatre any day this week and you'll find out." It might also be possible to interest the newspaper in running "A Woman of No Importance" in serial form, perhaps at the same time featuring a discussion as to whether or not the conventions have changed radically since Oscar Wilde wrote his famous play, and whether English conventions are more rigid than American or visa versa. BRIEF: A young man who is working as the tool of a prominent gambler, is injured by some gangsters while trying to protect a girl who is being abused by them. He is taken by the girl to the hotne of her father who is a pawn broker. He comes in time to love the girl and circumstances right themselves so that their marriage is at last possible. pAPIER MACHE pawn shop symbols hung in profusion all about the lobby will certainly serve to attract attention and arouse curiosity. But in addition to these you might also distribute small paper pawn symbols to patrons in the vicinity. This are sure to get wide distribution and reach people who might not chance to pass the theatre. They got the Money They 11 GET the Money "Reported Missing" "One Week of Love" "Love is an Awful Thing" "Pawned" and The Talmadge Revivals Book any or all of them at prices that assure you a real profit.