Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1962)

FIRST^ACT MOTION PICTURE EVER PRESENTED Ik Si ACT 3 "THE JOB" STARRING RQMY SCHNEIDER !fii \ LUCHINO V1SCONTI H 3 ACT MOTION PICTURE EVER PRESENTED i I "THE * RAFFLE" >4M SOPHIA LOR EN jjv OIHICTEO SY IpRIO DE SICA CAR 10 POKTI JOSEPH f UVWf 'occaccio Mm m HO 3} fl W SCREEN III W Of THE VEAft Joe Levine Lights Up Broadway Joseph E. (for Energy and Enthusiasm) Levine ,olled up his sleeves and did a real selling job n the most showmanship-conscious street of hem all — Broadway. Having promoted, adverised, exploited, publicized, hustled and hawked is film wares from Boston to Los Angeles, rom London to Rome and hundreds of points ast and west all over the world, the president if Embassy Pictures finally hit the Great White Vay with an unprecedented bang. . Beauteous star Sophia Loren at his side, the howman extraordinaire did the impossible. He nade Broadway go dark, and when the lights ivent on again, the most spectacular of the gal'ixy was a three-story-high, animated display I ign for his upcoming "Boccaccio '70." Never one to do things on a small scale, -evine had all of Broadway's first-run theatres working for him, too. At the moment the "Bocaccio" sign was lighted, they all saluted the ;vent by blinking their marquee lights in unison, is one grand announcement that the showiest ihowman in cinemaland had brought his carnival to Broadway. With all due respect to Sophia, one of the hottest marquee names in the industry, the star of the show was the sign, largest triangular display on the famed show business street. Vital statistics on the electrical extravaganza cooked up by Levine and his skilled staff are startling, a promotional story in itself. First of its kind ever to be employed on behalf of a motion picture, the "Boccaccio" display was created by "The Sign King of Broadway," Douglas Leigh, head of the firm responsible for most of the gigantic signs on Broadway — movie or otherwise. It features revolving 21-foot-high murals of scenes from the film, graphically illustrated on the sides of a triangular panel. Each mural, presenting representations of the pic ture's three stars — Miss Loren, Anita Ekberg and Romy Schneider (illustration top of page) — rotates into viewing position at 20-second intervals. Complementing the revolving murals is a stationary rectangular panel fashioned out of black metal and set at the base of Levine's latest "spectacular." It is brightened by multicolored neon showing the title of the film and its principal players. Total, eye-opening size: 54 feet high, 20 feet wide. Located at the north-east corner of Broadway and 46th Street, the sign is in full view of the estimated 1,000,000 persons passing through Times Square each day. Illuminated at least 2V2 months in advance of the "Boccaccio" opening (the first three-act motion picture now is Star Sophia Loren pulls switch illuminating "Boccaccio 70" sign, as husband Carlo Ponti, center, Embassy president loseph E. Lewine watch. in the editing stage), the display will remain atop Broadway for six months. Between Miss Loren and the sign, there was little else for the huge Broadway crowd to talk about, and talk — not to mention, push and shout and clamor — they did, as the glamorous star and Levine emerged from their limousine on the Broadway side of Duffy Square, surrounded by a special police detail that formed a protective blue ring around them. Also joining in the ceremonies were Miss Loren's husband, producer Carlo Ponti; Mrs. Joseph Levine, and Embassy vice president Leonard Lightstone. With spectators lining both the Broadway and Seventh Ave. sides opposite the Square, the pulsating climate resembled that of an important film premiere. And, just as as all big bows, a full complement of radio announcers and TV and newsreel cameramen were on hand to record the festivities for a far-flung public. An NBC crew which had been working with Sophia for the last month on "The World of Sophia Loren" (to be telecast Feb. 27), was busy shooting the proceedings. Photographers representing all the New York newspapers and wire services, who had been with her all day, coveting her arrival from Paris and her acceptance of a Best Actress award ("Two Women"), called for the Italian beauty to turn this way and that. To be sure, Joe Levine did not invent the art of showmanship. The lavishly appointed dinners he threw for the press at Hollywood poolside and exotic New York restaurant were not the first of their kind. The gigantic press conferences he staged to introduce his various pictures had their prototype. And, certainly, the "Boccaccio '70" sign is not the only one on the street. It is, however, one of the most exciting, most imaginative signs seen on Broadway in quite some time. And it's a good bet it will keep millions of eyes staring upward over the next six months. Film BULLETIN February 5. 1962 Page 17