Exhibitors Herald World (Jan-Mar 1929)

ebruary 9, 1929 EXHIBITORS HERALD-WORLD . 63 w THE THEATRE Eight-Foot Cutout Stolen from Theatre Nancy Carroll certainly has an enthusiastic admirer in Detroit. For the engagement of "Abie's Irish Rose" at the Madison theatre, the management placed an eight-foot beaverboard cutout of Miss Carroll in front o. the theatre. During the night someone stole it. Oscar Doob, publicity director for the Kunsky organization, pointed out that whoever took the cutout must have used a truck, as it was much too large to be carried away in any other manner. Doob is wondering now whether the electric signs over the marquise will be carried away some night. It s Thumbs Down On Cold Wave When House Serves Hot Coffee The next time a cold wave comes sweeping down upon your town, just consider the plan put into service by Lester M. Flagg and L. H. Weskil, co-managers of the Panada theatre at Sandpoint, Idaho. When we are old and tottering, and the young folks twist and shiver in the cold — or what they consider cold — we'll just open up and tell them about the Big Winter of 1928-29 in the Middlewest and the young uns just naturally will warm up on the spot. Blizzard Can't Stop 'Em Idaho was no exception in January, and when a blizzard cut through Sandpoint — and through its citizens, too — no one at the Panada theatre expected any folk to come out for the show, but they did. Of course we've heard of refreshments served at little theatres, and such, but this was different, and did it pay? Well, let the comanagers tell us about it. "This afternoon the weather conditions were totally against us," they write, "and we knew that the size of our matinee crowd would be very small. There was a regular blizzard sweeping the town. Piping Hot Coffee! "We think that we have originated an idea that might be carried out to good advantage in other theatres. We served coffee (piping hot) with wafers to the fewpatrons that had nerve enough to weather the storm in order to see our show. The No Welcome Carved On This Theatre Mat A living example of a man who falls readily into a new job and gives it all he has is Jesse Day, new manager at the Capitol theatre, Des Moines. Day recently returned to Iowa from Oshkosh where he had charge of a Midwesco house. Day dashed down to his office bright and early on the £rst morning after his arrival. The janitor, however, not expecting any such burst of enthusiasm, had rolled two rubber mats up against the inside of the front doors of the theatre. All unsuspecting, Day blithely opened the door, caught his right foot in one rug and his left in the other and did a duckling dive into the cold and unyielding terrazzo. No casual cost was small in comparison to the loss that we were suffering in running the show, but the papers got hold of the news and gave us advertising that could not be bought. "We have no intentions of keeping up the idea of coffee on every matinee when the weather happens to be against us, but it sounded mighty good to hear the personal thanks of the few patrons attending the matinee, and it looked good in the papers afterward. This was a total surprise to the audience, as we did not advertise it." A community service, folks. Novelty Ads Help ' 'Dancing Da ugh ters 9 9 In Walla Walla House Novelty advertising and many unique exploitation ideas were utilized by Manager Frank Hill of the Liberty theatre at Walla Walla, Wash., in putting over M G M's "Our Dancing Daughters." He was assisted by Hal Elias, M G M exploiter. Prior to playdate the regular theatre ads carried underlines extracted from "Diana's Diary" which described some of the highlights of "Our Dancing Daughters." The IValla Walla Union used four feature stories, each of which was headed, "A Glimpse of the Studio Stars with Joan Crawford," and supposedly written by the latter. The Walla Walla Bulletin gave space to a slogan contest which netted four stories and one-column cuts of principals. Contestants were asked to name the stars and submit one or more slogans for the Bulletin want ad columns. Tickets were offered as awards. Cooperative pages featuring "Christmas Gifts for Our Dancing Daughters" were put over for both the Union and Bulletin. A mezzanine display featured "The Jazz Dictionary," and patrons were advised to turn its pages. Closer inspection revealed that "A stood for 'Anita,' one of the reveling flappers of 'Our Dancing Daughters,' that jazzmade jubilee." Other letters of the alphabet were used similarly. tefansson Visit To Boston Ties in With Polar Picture There isn't a more effective way to put er a picture than to tie up with some na■nally known individual whose activities rallel the action of the production. Take for instance the happy experience of anager "Tod" Browning of the B. F. Keith emorial theatre at Boston, in connection th a pre-view of Fox's "The Great White jrth," a version of the H. A. and Sidney io\v Arctic Expedition, with its photoaphic evidence of the fate of the missing anbers of the Stetansson expedition of 13. Vilhjalmur Stetansson was in Boston on it date, and Manager Browning invited him witness the showing of the film, and also give his own story of the original expeion which led to the taking of the picture. Stefansson never before had seen the film lich reveals the fate of his lost companions, d the drama of the event brought a large dience. The explorer's comments on the n proved highly instructive. Lucky Boy99 Tieup With Lucky Strike Climax on Radio 'Lucky Boy" and "Lucky Strike" is a telling mbination in a tieup effected by Al Selig, ector of advertising and publicity of Tifny-Stahl, for George Jessel's first singing d talking picture. In addition to the newspaper and magazine vertising, George Jessel's endorsement of ; Lucky Strike cigaret is being broadcast er WEAF'S nationwide network on the icky Strike Hour on Saturday nights, a ek preceding the opening of "Lucky Boy" 'oughout the country and for several weeks :reafter. tfes were reported except a crop of black and blue spots quite comprehensively distributed (if you will insist), over certain strategic areas! If passersby saw the descent, and surely Fate wouldn't waste such acrobatics on an empty lobby, they must have thought he was trying out a spectacular interpretation of, "I Faw Down and Go Boom." Day says that there isn't the slightest doubt about the "boom." Call for Novel Form in Puzzle Replies Goes Over The newspaper cooperative ad and the keyed word puzzle brought some interesting results at the State theatre in Altoona, Pa., for Universal's "The Man Who Laughs." The instructions called for presenting the keyed sentence at the theatre in a novel form. One reply was a rebus in a walnut shell: another was a blueprint in an apple.