Exhibitors Herald (Oct-Dec 1920)

170 EXHIBITORS HERALD December 25, 1920 Sales Girl Beauty Contest Shows "Longest Way Around Is Short Cut to Box Office" M By JOHN W. McKAY General Manager, Mayflower Photoplay Corp. ANY who read what follows will say, "Hokum, MORE hokum" Because It sounds as if we were trying to build an aircastle on a dollar sign, or Expected to make p-r-o-p-a-g-a-n-d-a spell p-r-o-f-i-t, or Intended to hang dollar signs on the Public's doorknob, or Believed we could prove that the longest way round is a short-cut to the box-office. Which is exactly what we do believe. And having unburdened this strange preamble, we will proceed to tell how and why. At Mayflower's executive conference last spring, it was decided that something should be done to sell the name of the Mayflower Photoplay Corporation to the public and at the same time promote patron-pulling interest in productions yet to be made. Of course this was putting the reverse-English on the entire marketing situation, for usually the procedure is to make the picture first and worn about promoting it afterward. So because of its radical nature, we decided to give this scheme a novel propaganda treatment and see what the bloodtest registered afterward. If the experiment succeeded, the plan was then to be adopted as a policy to be applied to all Mayflower-presented pictures. T3 A. WALSH'S third indepen^* dent production, which at that time had not even been thought of, was decided upon as the most suitable subject for this unique experiment. Having reached this conclusion, the matter was turned over to Mark Larkin, in charge of the Mayflower publicity department, who devised the National Salesgirl Beauty Contest as the best medium through which to inject this propaganda into the solar plexus of the public. Now it so happens that there has probably never been a period in the history of the industry so conspicuous for promotional activities bearing on the box-office as the year just drawing to a close. For the most part, however, publicity and exploitation of 1920 have been confined to current releases. Concentrated campaigns waged by alert exhibitors featuring the most fantastic sort of bally-hoo tactics have piled admissions into the ticket-windows and have unquestionably established the value of spectacular showmanship methods. But when the idea was sprung on the exhibitors of creating an audience for a picture that not even the producers knew the title of or when it would be started or what it would be about, they naturally all stood on the side-lines and said, "How do vou get that way?" * * * CO NOW that the Mayflower^ Walsh experiment has progressed to a point where satisfactory observations can be made, we're going to tell 'em. In conjunction with the News paper Enterprise Association, the biggest matting-syndicate in the world, Mayflower launched the beauty contest through three hundred newspapers, some of them the largest daily publications in the country. The purpose of the contest was to find the most beautiful salesgirl in the United States and then to give her a part in the Walsh production that was being subjected to the propaganda treatment. Each of the participating papers staged a local contest to find the most beautiful salesgirl in that particular city. Because this stunt was an unusual news-feature with a definite circulation and prestige-building value it was played on the front page of each paper during the six weeks that entries were being made and in fact up until the selection of the local winner. Mayflower was conspicuously mentioned in each story as was R. A. Walsh and his forthcoming production and also Miriam Cooper, who agreed to make the salesgirl beauty and potential star her protege during the time she played in the Walsh picture. * * * AFTER local winners had been " selected by all the papers, their photographs were sent to New York and a National winner chosen by a committee of famous beauty connoisseurs including Neysa McMein, artist; Alfred Cheney Johnston, photographer ; Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr., theatrical producer ; James Quirk, magazine editor; R. A. Walsh, director. This contest appealed particularly to women readers, and since women JOHN W. McKAY General manager of the Mayflower Film Corporation. constitute the majority of picture audiences the campaign was 100 per cent effective from an exhibitor's standpoint. To Mayflower it was particularly valuable because it brought to the attention of millions of picture patrons the trade name of the company. To theatres that book this Walsh picture it means that the heavy work in connection with their advertising has been done in advance— their audience is ready-made. All that remains for them to do now is to effect a tie-up with the paper that ran the contest when the picture comes to town. But the greatest benefit of all will accrue to R. A. Walsh and Miriam Cooper because the names of these two will be fixed indelibly in the minds of not only the 20,000 shop girls who entered the contest but their several hundred thousand relatives and friends, with the result that these people will always be interested in Walsh productions featuring Miss Cooper. * * * rF HE winner of the Salesgirl Beauty Contest was Miss Edith May, of Monroe, Wis., a salesgirl in a waffle-shop in that town. She was given a six weeks' engagement in the Ziegfeld Follies as part of her reward, and is yet entitled to a six weeks' engagement in Walsh's third independent production. Interest in this production will be (Concluded on Page 104)