Exhibitors Herald and Moving Picture World (Jan-Mar 1928)

February 11, 1928 EXHIBITORS HERALD an d MOVING PICTURE WORLD 17 When the Aztec theatre, San Antonio, played First NationaVs special, "The Patent Leather Kid," starring Richard Barthelmess, a number of good window displays like this one in the A. G. Spalding and Bros.' store stopped hundreds of passers-by. And here is the result of the window displays and other promotions at the box office of the Aztec. The photo was taken before the theatre opened. Crowds were turned away all day. The tank and marquise sign stopped people passing the theatre. Billboards Must Put Over Their Ideas In a Flash If They Pay (This is the fourth of a series of articles on advertising which originally appeared in ** Showmanship N eu s" i house organ of Finkelstein and Ruben. The fifth appears next week.) Number Four BILLBOARD advertising becomes more and more important in showmanship as population-drawing territory increases. And so posters are a big factor in our Twin City campaigns. Relatively speaking thev are just as important in the smaller key cities. In deciding poster values we study the paper itself, whether it be a 24-sheet or an insert card. The first question we ask on looking at a poster is, "does it get our idea over in a flash?" No matter how beautiful a poster is we throw it out if it doesn't get over our message at a glance. We are selling entertainment, not beauty cream. Poster paper must get attention or we spend our money on something else. When the proper kind of paper comes along we spread ourselves in placing it before the people. Most of our posters are 24-sheets. To properly display them we use both snipe and rented stands. Our rented stands are especially selected locations on street car streets, mostly near intersections. They are changed weekly. These locations give us an outdoor calendar on our attractions. They stare people in the face for 52 weeks out of the year in exactly the same location. Some of our snipe 24-sheet locations are very satisfactory. We snipe to gain distribution at a comparatively low cost. The smaller forms of paper like ones, twos, threes, sixes, eights, and banners, are used to supplement the larger forms of billboard advertising on special campaigns. We find one-sheets most adaptable for lithographing windows. Lithographing allows us to get valuable space in important windows in the loop district. Recent examples of special outdoor billing in the Twin Cities were campaigns on "Ben Hur," "The Cat and Canary," "Chang," Clara Bow in "Hula," "Beau Geste" and "What Price Glory." Especially good paper was provided by the producer on these pictures. Consequently we made effective use of 24-sheets. Back when we played "The Lost World" and Rose's "Midgets" we found the billboards of greatest advantage. You can readily see that those mastadonic animals in "The Lost World" I were pictures much more alluringly in colors on the billboards than in the ordinary newspa Idea Used for Last Eight Years Makes Hoxey Farley M. B. I. No. 5 Any idea that has produced results for the last eight years should entitle the originator to become an M. B. I., and for that reason Hoxey C. Farley hereby becomes M. B. I. Number 5. Give him a hand, boys. He hails from Montgomery, Alabama, and is city manager for Publix at the Empire, Strand and Plaza theatres. Read Farley's "My Best Idea," and then send in your own. M. B. I. Number 6 has already been chosen, and he's well known to readers of "The Theatre." His "My Best Idea" appears next week. "]\ty BGSt IdCfl" INo 5 3' ^°lV ^ cn'^rens P'ctures selected? By Hoxey C. Farley T N READING over the issue of your maga*• zine for January 7, I note your article on the beginning of the M. B. I. club and am going to give you "My Best Idea." About eight years ago I employed 13 young ladies to go from house to house with a questionnaire, of which I am enclosing a copy. These girls would spend from 10 to 15 minutes in each house asking information on different stars that were liked best, etc., and later asking the birthdays of all the family. After they had canvassed the city, all the names they were able to get were made out in order and a birthday card was sent them which was good for two tickets at the Empire theatre. This is still being kept up by us and quite a few other theatres have put this into use at their theatres. This, I think, is a very good idea and creates a lot of goodwill among the patrons of the theatre. 4. Who are your three favorite stars? 5. What kind of feature pictures do you like best? (Melodrama, drama, society drama, comedy drama, comedy, western.) Do you like serials? Do you especially like news — comedy — scenic? Do you prefer small orchestra to organ? 6. 8 9. 10. Is there anything about the theatre you do not like? Birthday of each member of the family? 11. Do you read the theatre announcements in the newspapers? Would you like for us to mail you program announcements? At what hour do you prefer going to the theatre? 12 13. Farley s Questionnaire 1. Number in family? 2. How often does each member attend the theatre? per black and white. By the same token Rose's "Midgets" made fine poster copy. Examples of sheer forcefulness of poster copywere our campaigns on "The Unknown Soldier." Artistic design, spectacular layout and uouderful coloring made these pieces of paper outstanding. The box-office success of these two pictures was attributed largely to the excellence of the poster paper and the fine locations obtained from the outdoor advertising company. Pictures with short titles have given us a distinct advantage in the Twin Cities, Colleen Moore in "Sally," "Chans:," "Ben Hur," Norma Talmadge in "Kiki," Sally O'Neil in "Mike," Clara Bow in "It" are examples. The titles made great street car cards. Members of "The Theatre' V! M. B. I. Club A. D. Baker, Baker theatre, Lockhart, Texas. Louis E. Ramm. Wintergarden theatre, Jamestown, New York. John T. O'Rourke, director of advertising and publicity. East Coast Theatres, Philadelphia. Harry F. Storin, Leroy theatre, Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hoxey C. Farley, city manager of Publix, Montgomery, Alabama.