Exhibitors Herald World (Oct-Dec 1930)

42 EXHIBITORS HERALD -WORLD December 6, 1930 SOUND PICTURES BRING DETROIT-IOWA CAME TO THE THEATERS • a t • • a n a II in 'spi' Tf > Tv V\ 'w 1\ TW \0Picy * :<&£Mhbh MM rwm , ^.rtfo/iiii^^M/ms ^mp0#f The Metropolitan Motion Picture studio in Detroit, through tieup with a newspaper, frequently gets page-wide spreads such as this in the paper. The studios produce a weekly short feature of local events for the Detroit Times which is called Detroit Times Topics. The above imitation of a strip of film is a scene from one of the local football games. Canine Matinee Organized by Ga llinow for ' 'Dogway Melody ■ ' The current trend toward stimulating of child attendance has produced many effective methods of drawing juveniles to the theatre. One of them is the stunt promoted by Eddie Gallinow, publicity man for the Wisconsin house in Milwaukee. the red leather luxury of the Fox Wisconsin theatre, where she lolled at ease at the first Milwaukee showing of a picture made entirely by dogs and given for an audience exclusively of dogs and their boy owners." In connection with the comedy "The "Dogway Melody," he booked a preview for children and their dogs. Newspaper representatives were invited to attend at the same time to see the reaction of the dog audience to their canine actors. The only credentials children needed for admittance was a dog. And there were many dogs. The free show was given on a Saturday morning. Brings Stack of Publicity Probably the briggest value of the program was the publicity it brought. The Sunday amusement section of one of the dailies contained a four-column spread 16 inches long. In it there was a long story on the dog matinee and a four-column cut showing dogs and their masters seated in the theatre. Before the performance, the youngsters and their canines paraded through the loop to the theatre. With so many canines present, one would think that there must have been many dog fights. But there were not. Dogs were so numerous that the uglytempered ones probably lacked the courage to "start anything." Paper Publishes Story One of the newspapers carried an interesting story of the preview. Here is a portion of it: "A lady of the pavements got a look at Hollywood's high society the other day and the pavement lady was not impressed. "She's not exactly naive, this Nellie. Her, mother was no better than she should be, and her father, though he may have been Airedale, was certainly no gentleman. She knows the city streets and alleys better than "BUILDING THEATRE PATRONAGE" Get this big money-making book for showmen written by John F. Barry and Epes W. Sargent. An essential in every theatre. (Only$ 5 .20 mailed to your door} CHALMERS PUBLISHING CO. 516 Fifth Avenue New York City Edison Gives House A Lift; He Starts Show by Telegraph Art Schmidt, manager of the Paramount, Detroit, exhibited a bit of the creative genius of Thomas A. Edison when he arranged a tieup in which Edison himself would purportedly press the button which would start the showing of "Billy the Kid" at the Paramount. The hookup was made through Western Union. By telegraph, Edison was to obtain the contact from West Orange, N. J., which would set the projection machines going. Detroit newspapers went for this stunt and items on it were carried on both Associated Press and United Press wires. Another idea in the campaign involved the employing of a girl dressed in Western Union uniform to ride a horse up the steps of the Detroit city hall where she presented passes to "Billy the Kid" to the mayor. Tieup with "Ace High," a locally published Western magazine, brought 25,000 heralds on the picture. These were inserted in copies of the publication distributed in the city. Six Louisville Houses Aid Merchants with Late Show Six exhibitors in Louisville ran shows at 10:30 o'clock in the evening recently in connection with a parade and carnival staged by the Retail Merchants Association. The exhibitors made this move after local businessmen had urged them to do it, for the event marked the opening of the winter shopping season there. Merchants cooperated in distributing theatre tickets, which were sold at 25 cents each, or half the usual admission price. Denver House Gets a Music Tieup s for i Laughter" Week Five tieups were negotiated by the Denver theatre in Denver for its showing of "Laughter." One of these hookups was with an auto dealer for use of a car. The machine was bannered with copy on the film and sent through the streets four days in advance of the engagement. Another tieup was made with a local wholesale food concern, which paid for and distributed 10,000 heralds in return for advertising on its food products by the Denver theatre. A music store cooperated by placing a new type of recording machine on the mezzanine floor. An operator explained its workings. This store paid for and distributed 20,000 heralds, which split space with the theatre. One of the other music stores tied up to boost "Laughter" in its newspaper ads. Exhibitors Stop Student Stampede with Diplomacy Sometimes diplomacy will succeed where all else fails. When Indiana University defeated Purdue in a football game a few weeks ago, the Indiana students attempted to crash the gate of almost every theatre in Bloomington that Saturday night. The stampede ended in a compromise. The theatre managers agreed to admit all students at special matinees the following Tuesday, and everything ended peacefully for all concerned. "Greatly Exaggerated"9 "Smoky Bill" La Rue, who set some kind of record by sitting 77 days on a flagpole above the Golden Gate theatre, San Francisco, has been considerably peeved by the circulated reports of his death. He thinks the reports got started because he stayed "up. in the air" too long. Neatness Pays! Keeping his theatre clean should be the aim of every manager. A dirty lobby, dusty light bulbs and blotchy billboards won't attract the theatregoer. And one dead light bulb will offset the effect of a dozen live ones.