The Exhibitor (Nov 1941-May 1942)

BETTER MANAGEMENT BM-15 Harrisburg, Pa. (Population, 83,000) — Two days before opening, the Harrisburg Telegraph ran a full page of co-op ads arranged by manager Bob Sidman, Senate. Pictures of the different stars appeared in most of the ads. A 1904 Maxwell drove around city streets in advance of the opening as street bally. A special “gifts-apoppin’ ” program was promoted by manager Sidman in co-operation with Billy Earle, WKBO announcer. Assorted gifts were given to selected patrons in the audience on opening night. Presents were delivered to Earle on the stage by a messenger on a motor scooter, who drove it up the aisles. Fifty special window cards in the form of large red firecrackers were distributed, many of which were placed in sections of the State Farm Show building during the exposition. Special theatre front featured three firecrackers 12 feet high and stills. Because of the conflict with the stage version of “Hellzapoppin’ ” at Hershey Community, advertisements inserted in newspapers by the Senate stressed that this was a motion picture with the orig¬ inal stars and playing at regular prices. "The Vanishing Virginian" Olean, N. Y. (Population, 21,397)— Ben C. Bordonaro, Palace, with an assist from Metro exploiteer Jack Gilmore, got on the M-G-M Honor Roll with their bangup campaign. All stories and advertising copy carried the caption: “Western New York Premiere.” The Olean Times-Herald ran 120 inches advertising space over the regular house budget. Teaser ads were used on society page, local news page, and general news page, generous underline copy was used under current ad attrac¬ tion. Olean News, a weekly, carried 20 inches over the regular house budget. St. Bonaventure College paper ran a six-inch ad and story with scene mat. Olean News ran reader and four-column mat “Today’s Story In Pictures.” Stories and mats were sent to 12 country papers. The Olean Times-Herald ran three-day jigsaw V puzzle contest. Guest tickets were given as prizes to winners for best layout, neat¬ ness, etc. Spot announcements were made over WHDL, and a radio limerick contest on the Allegheny Hour over the same sta¬ tion was arranged with guest tickets to winners. The Superintendent of Schools and school principals were contacted. An¬ nouncements were made in English classes and cards were placed on school bulletin boards with scene stills used to illustrate. Book was discussed in English classes. An¬ nouncements were made at St. Bonaven¬ ture College, and card with stills placed on bulletin board. Announcements were made at Rotary and Kiwanis luncheons, and from the theatre stage, at a special show for the March of Dimes. Public library displayed a 40x60 and several scene stills, and distributed 1,000 book marks. Heralds with lucky numbers were distributed. Window displays were landed in nine stores including book tie-ins, fashion stills tie-in, music tie-ins, etc. A man dressed as a southern colonel was used as street bally. Four girls dis¬ tributed 3,000 exchange heralds in down¬ town section. Reading, Pa. (Population, 110,704) • — George Peters, Loew’s Colonial, assisted by Metro exploiteer James Ashcraft, arranged to have the Reading Motion Pic¬ ture Forum sponsor a screening at which the Mayor, civic leaders, educational authorities and other leading citizens were present. In a major tieup with a local meat company, 25,000 heralds carrying a recipe for a special Virginia pot roast were distributed in the company’s 200 stores in Reading and vicinity, in addition to ban¬ ners on its 10 delivery trucks. Bookmarks were distributed through libraries, book shops, etc. The Photoplay Appreciation Club in Junior and Senior High Schools ran an essay contest, and a 1916 Ford toured the city with a dignified Southern Colonel seated at the wheel as a street bally. Cumberland, Md. (Population, 40,127) — Grace M. Fisher drew attention to the coming of this show to the Maryland by Western Union distribution of 4,000 invi¬ tations reading: “Mrs. Grace M. Fisher wishes you to meet and know the Yancey Family, who will become Cumberland’s latest residents (date). Captain Bob Yancey (Frank Morgan), Rebecca Yancey (Kath¬ ryn Grayson) , and the entire family will be at the Maryland Theatre starting (date) in MGM’s ‘Vanishing Virginian’.” As an advance newspaper ad stunt, she ran cuts of a boy and girl making a date by tele¬ phone to see the picture. Tupper Lake, N. Y. (Population, 5,271) — Clayton S. Cornell, manager, Schine’s State, decided to sell the double-feature combination of Metro’s “Vanishing Vir¬ ginian” and “Nazi Agent” as “The picture of the month” for the former; and “the picture of the hour” for the latter. He further combined his sales talk for these two pics by tieing in the “V” campaign to I know all about it . . . even if I did learn too late. You think theatregoers don't know the difference in low and high intensity projection? That's what I thought. So why am I closing the place? Because my thinker wasn't clicking. I thought that I'd save the cost of new high intensities, even though they didn't cost much. So what? It cost me more than I thought I'd save. Business kept getting worse. People wouldn't come even on ihe better pictures. And what about this thing of showing Technicolor pictures with low intensity lamps. Well, just this. It's the beauty of colored pictures that sells the extra tick¬ ets, and people can't see much beauty in billious pictures of green skies, yellow snow, and orange colored Santa Claus. Col¬ ors, yes, but not the kind that people want to see. But they're what you have with the muddy yellow light of the low intensity lamp. And don't think you can keep blaming the exchanges for those “dark'' prints. All prints are dense today and unless you double your screen light with one-kilowatt lamps, your projected pic¬ tures will always be dim. So you'd better light up your screen or lock up your doors as I'm doing. Your Independent Theatre Supply Dealer will give you even more reasons why you should install Strong Utility High Intensity Projection Arc Lamps now. See him or write The Strong Electric Corporation, 2501 Lagrange Street, Tol¬ edo, Ohio. Export Office: 90 Gold St., New York City. March 18, 1942 THE EXHIBITOR