Exhibitors Herald (Dec 1925-Mar 1926)

86 EXHIBITORS HERALD February 20, 1926 Clem Pope is the editor of this T & D Newsette printed under the auspices of the West Coast Theatres. Watch Your Oil Gasoline Record Dale Gals. Gas Oil Cts. See REGINALD DENNY in California Straight Ahead PASTIME . MASON, Jan. 17 18 Quite an unusual display resulted from the method in which publicity for the first National picture “Clothes Make the Pirate,” was used in the Loew’s State Newsette. Nothing pleases theatregoers more in Winter than a warm theatre. Nor displeases one more than a cold one. Don’t save coal. Roy W. Adams, Mason, Mich., complains that his exploitation is not bringing results. One of the clever ideas used by the Pastime theatre manager was this gasoline card for the picture “California Straight Ahead,” Universal. Mayor Helps Fox Put “Thank You” Over Big When Fred Dolle played “Thank You” at his Alamo theatre in Louisville, he had the assistance of almost every prominent person in town, including the mayor and the Retail Merchants’ Asso MEMBER AMERICAN THANK YOU LEAGUE Do Your Bit and See “Thank You"--AIAMO uVmS ciation. Dolle so strongly sold Mayor Arthur A. Will on the idea that he issued a proclamation announcing the Week starting January 28 as “Thank You” Week. Do Your Bit and See “Thank You” — Alamo, Week Starting Jan. 24, were pasted on the windows of almost every store in the city. This task was made very simple by letters of endorsement signed by Mayor Will and by the manager of the Retail Merchants’ Association. Stickers were also pasted on all delivery wagons, including those of the American Express Company and Ward’s Bakery. Toledo Charleston Aids Mix Picture When the Temple Theatre, Toledo, played Tom Mix in “The Best Bad Man,” Manager Billy Exton took advantage of the Charleston craze to post notices in local dance halls which resulted in his receiving so many contest entries that he had sufficient to tide him over the week. The applicants naturally brought their friends to boost for them, and each friend paid admission. In order to give the local amateurs a mark to shoot at, he engaged a colored page boy from the Secor Hotel. This boy is the champion Charleston dancer of Toledo. The picture opens with a banquet scene in which a Charleston dancer “struts her stuff.” Come On Small Towns! How Do You Tell What You’ve Got? “The Theatre,” Exhibitors Herald. When is some beneficent genius going to tell the small town guy how to sell his pictures to the public ? I recently tried a little special exploitation on Denny’s “ California Straight Ahead,” under the direction of two of Universal’s high-priced publicity experts. On the front we had a banner and two cut-outs of Denny, and a flock of old auto casings with teaser cards inserted inside them: Two stills of Denny in a drug store window, with a tie-up on tooth paste and shaving cream, gasoline record cards, with an ad of the picture on the back of each, distributed by the filling stations: — these were the stunts that were guaranteed to knock the rubes for a goal. In addition I put out my posters and photos on the streets, usual newspaper spread, and heralds in all the stores and homes. Result: — smallest business Denny has done in a year, after an advertising campaign that cost more than the picture. Understand, I’m not throwing any bricks at the exploiteers — they were doing the best they could, and a flashy front is nine-tenths of the battle in a big town, but it’s an economic blunder to spend much money on it here for this reason: — My people aren’t parading the streets these zero days and nights, they’re at home shaking down the furnace or fussing with the radio. When they leave home of an evening it’s with the definite purpose of going to lodge, or prayer-meting, or dance, or basketball game. If I want them I’ve got to reach right into that home, pry them loose from the fireside and head them toward the Pastime theatre. That’s why I place my chief dependence on newspaper advertising and heralds placed in every home. The drug store tie-up was good; the gas record cards should have been, but they didn’t seem to click this time. I have a stunt that I prefer to this, but I don’t use it too often because I don’t want it to get stale. About two weeks ahead of some special attraction I borrow 500 or so paper bags, of the sizes most frequently used, of the local grocers, and print a good teaser ad on the picture, on each bag, then take them back to the stores. These ads go into every home in the community and usually stand around a day or two where every one can see them. That works fine once in a while, but you’ve got to hit the “show me” guys in a new spot every now and then if you wish to intrigue their interest. One sure thing: a small town theatre man, competing for the attention of the public with forty or fifty fraternal, social and religious organizations and activities, can’t wait until his people get out on the street to grab them off. He must stimulate their interest in the evening’s entertainment to such a pitch that they’ll jump up from the supper table and make a mad dash for the theatre, and he must give them their money’s worth of entertainment after he gets them there. Speak up, you small town fellows; how do you tell folks what you’ve got? Roy W. Adams, Pastime Theatre, Mason, Mich.