Exhibitors Herald World (Oct-Dec 1930)

40 EXHIBITORS HERALD -WORLD December 27. 1930 Did the California theatre, Sacramento, Cal., get a crowd at this children's matinee? No, it got a whole standing army. The illustration shows only a small part of the vast throng, lureniles jammed the sidewalk for a block on either side of the theatre, waiting to be admitted. Il was necessary to hold two shows. (Story below.) Children Who Stay Out of Mischief Get Free Show at Glackin 's House More than one exhibitor has scratched his head, and maybe torn his hair, over the problem of getting and holding child patronage. The question has puzzled W. M. (Bill) Glackin. manager of the California theatre, Sacramento, Cal., but it •loesn't any longer. At his children's matinees, Glackin distributes miniature photographs of film stars. The youngsters save them and when they have collected 25 they are admitted to a show free. This is only one of the methods he uses to draw child attendance. One of the most valuable stunts in a community way, we believe, which a theatre could use was the one employed by Glackin for his Hallowe'en program. Bill can tell it best himself. We reproduce his letter in full: Children on Good Behavior 'Well, here we are again with our annual Hallowe'en matinee for children who are good on this particular night. If you remember, we started this stunt three years ago and have continued it ever since. The first year I sent your good office all the information as regards this stunt and you very kindly gave it some fine publicity with the result that other cities have taken up the idea. That was my purpose in sending it in, in the first place, for I felt of all the stunts that are pulled this is one in which SO MUCH GOOD can be accomplished for 'he entire city. In other words, the theatre .mplishes some really constructive work — something that is appreciated way down deep by the merchants. "A word about how children eret into this annual matinee. Other years they had to clip a pledge out of a local newspaper, fill ut and bring it to the theatre. This year I changed that. I made all children a note from their parents or guardian, stating that they had done no harm on Hal ites were comical, but all tern, the kiddies were placed on good behavior, so to speak. We admitted only those who had written evidence from their parents to show they had done nothing wrong on Hallowe'en night. Employes Read the Notes "We got a tremendous kick out of reading these notes. It was great. You can imagine what it was like, with all of us taking time, as the children arrived, to read their credentials from their parents and then to comment on them, etc. I never got such a kick out of anything in my life. "Requiring the youngsters to get a note from their parents or guardian brings the stunt into the family more. The older members of the family become interested, too. It is an extremely serious matter with the children, thus the idea of being good on Hallowe'en gets over bigger. "As I was reading some of these notes, it struck me that it would be a good idea to have some of the merchants come over and go along the line and read some of these notes and let the children see that the merchants were paying some attention to their good acts. It went over big with the businessmen and the children got a thrill out of it, too. No Rough Hallowe'en in This City "Through this plan, 'ruff stuff' on Hallowe'en has practically been eliminated in the city and we have many letters of appreciation from merchants. One was particularly enthusiastic; it was from the secretary-manager of the Sacramento Chamber of Commerce. "And did we get a crowd? Well, there were children lined up for a block on each A brilliantly-lighted front and marquee for First National's Sunny" at the Iowa theatre, Waterloo, Iowa. The photograph fails to show a huge cutout head of Marilyn Miller above the marquev W . A. Kraus Sends 4-page Christmas Greeting to His Patrons; Ads Pay for It W. A. Kraus, manager of the Dunlop theatre, Clarksville, Ark., has mailed us a copy of a Christmas folder, which to say the least, is extremely handsome. On the outside cover of the four-pagt pamphlet is a sketch of three cherubs singing Christmas carols, with a wreath bordering the page. The remaining three pages contain ads from merchants and announcements of coming pictures. Nine thousand of the folders were put in Sunday editions of a local paper, while the remainder were sent out to the theatre's mailing list and to all postmasters in the county for distribution The advertising practically paid for the heralds. Plays Host to 1,200 Newsies Millard Blaettner, manager of the R K O Strand, Dayton, was host to 1,200 local newsboys at a Saturday morning showing of "The Land of Missing Men." The parade of the newsboys from the newspaper office to the theatre, attracted a lot of favorable attention and comment. side of the theatre, and we had to give two shows to accommodate them all. "I want to especially call your attention to the Moo-Vee-Star photo idea, which was originated by Morgan Walsh, branch manager of Warner Brothers in San Francisco It has gone a long way toward bringing the children back to the theatre. Every child is given one of the miniature photograph? each time he comes to our house. This was our third annual Hallowe'en matinee for children. "So, as I say, we have another year on this Hallowe'en idea, and if you can see your way clear to give it some of your valuable space, I know that a lot of good can be accomplished and a deed well done by you. Please accept my compliments of the season." Thanks to you, Bill, for an interesting story of a really progressive exploitation idea.