Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1963)

MERCHANDISING & EXPLOITATION DEPARTMENT W UA Outflanks N.Y. News Strike 8y All-Media Campaign on 'Story' I How do you beat a newspaper strike? Jnited Artists' campaign to trumpet "West Side Story" into its popular priced saturation run in the New York area started Feb. 6 reads like a textbok on the subject. For every answer there has to be a problem. The problem here is, how to :ake an established picture which has rereived wide acclaim and let people know vhere they can see it. Plugging the picture s secondary, advertising the names of the S2 theatres showing the film and the dates Is the important thing. I Following a meeting held with paricipating theatremen by vice presidents lames R. Velde, Eugene Picker and Fred joldberg, UA's showmen put every availible promotion medium to work for the oopular-price engagements of "West Side kory". Radio spot announcements of theitre names and times and dates of showngs are being relied upon heavily. These ire backed up by the music from the film )n special and regular programs. TV .pots, as with radio announcements, are ;lotted adjacent to top-rated programs to each the largest number of listeners. New York's hosts of commuters come n for their share of attention, too. Posters ire up on all subway platforms in the :ity, and window cards ride all cars of the subway and the Long Island Railroad, Drominently featuring theatre names. A leavy campaign has gone into all newsoapers not affected by the strike, in maglzines, and college newspapers. Exhibitor aids include the regular railer, two special trailers, one cross-plug»ing the playdates and theatres, the other soliciting word-of-mouth mention. Herdds for shopping center and supermarket distribution are being offered to the paricipating exhibitors. The theatres involved in the saturation jlay-off blanket the Greater New York 7CMIALS1NS JWKMlr lift fOtOKf Of FUNNY AMiNttFIOtlflH nmm wuilSfti' WRSUTTOM THEATRESJ&Vi "ITS LUSTY. LIVELY. AND WILD" This huge float is touring New York streets to ping Embassy Pictures' "7 Capital Sins". Charge it all to "The Alan From the Diners' Club". Columbia shotted off the Danny Kaye starrer and the promotion campaign on same to theatremen on the east and west coasts. Above: Columbia vice presidents Jonas Rosenfield, Jr., Samuel Briskin and Sol Schwartz show their pleasure after a session in L.A. with western exhibitors. Center: worldwide promotion chief Robert S. Ferguson and v. p. Rube Jackter display one of the key ads in N.Y. for eastern and Canadian theatremen. Below: Jackter, third from left, chats with exhibitors Sam Seletsky, John Stembler and David E. Mil gram. area. Meanwhile, "Story" will be continuing its two-year engagement at the Rivoli. Also present at the showmanship meeting int he UA offices were Gabe Sumner, national promotion director, Mort Hock, Meyer M. Hutner and Al Fisher. Embassy Calls Press to See Love Made in Five Languages The Universal Language of love, as spoken in five different countries, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Poland, gets a polyglot sendoff this week before a group of journalists from American-published papers of the five languages and New York correspondents of their countries. "Love at Twenty", Joseph E. Levine's multilingual quintet of stories of young love, which is having its American premiere at New York's Murray Hill Theatre, will be seen by the international group of newsmen prior to its opening. The multilingual Embassy Pictures release, filmed in France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Poland, tells a love story in each country's language. Each sequence was filmed by a leading young director of that nation. To reach the college crowd, for whom love at twenty is an immediate reality, Embassy is sponsoring a contest for campus film critcs. Two prizes, each a $25 Manson, McSorley, Rafshoon Named to new posts: Arthur Manson, director of promotion for the new Dino De Laurentiis Corp. of America . . . Lars McSorley, New York press representative for Samuel Bronston Productions . . . Gerald W. Rafshoon, assistant to 20thFox advertising director Abe Goodman, savings bond, will be awarded. In New York. "The Raven" stars host theatre circuit executives at lunch. L. to r.: Matthew Polou, v.p. of R.K.O. Theatres; Lorre; Harry Mandel, RKO president: Karloff; Milton Moritz. Alt' promotion director, who took the stars on lour. American International look two of the stars of its current terrorific hit, "The Raven", out on the road for a series of personal appearances. Peter Lorre and Boris Karloff drew huge crowds, and frightened no one, on their swing of eastern cities. AIP and exhibitors playing "The Raven" discovered that two grand old bogeymen are much more attractive than fearsome. In New York and Boston, the turnouts were enormous, in spite of frigid temperatures. ( Film BULLETIN February 4, 1963 Page 21