The Film Daily (1929)

'SHOW BOAT' PLUGS BY REAL LIVE SHOWMEN When you've got a show picture, step on the gas and do something a little bit different to get 'em talking. That certainly seemed to have been the recent idea of several real exhibitors in different parts of the country. Read these, and judge for yourself: Len Brown, managing director of the Capitol at Madison, Wis., broadcast "Show Boat" so effectively over WIBA that his method deserves passing along. He secured a Capitol theater program for three successive evenings at 6:30 — the dinner hours— begining the day before the opening. Announcement of the picture's run at the Capitol, its popular elements and Ziegfeld hits, was followed by the opening chorus from the film, "Here Comes That Show Boat." The record, which may be had in Victor, Columbia and Brunswick, was used. Further description of the high spots of the picture was followed by "CM' Man River." "Bill," "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man," "Why Do I Love You" and "Look Down That Lonesome Road" were all broadcast as they were adroitly woven into descriptive matter about cast, setting, the love story, etc. A street ballyhoo that carried across the idea that "Show Boat" is too good to be missed took place in Charlotte, N. C, while the picture playing at the Imperial. James M. Wiest, exploiteer, had a couple of boys go through the main streets; one of them wheeled a wheelbarrow in which was placed a portable victrola playing, "Here Comes That Show Boat," and the other lad carried a banner which read: "It Doesn't Make Any Difference How You Get There, But You Must See 'Show Boat.' " Max Tshauder, manager of the Rivoli, Beatrice, Neb., pulled a new stunt to draw rural patrons to "Show Boat" when he sent out postcards offering a free dinner to the patrons coming the longest distance to see the picture. Each patron had to leave the postcard bearing his name and address at the box-office so that the winner could be determined. This stunt brought patrons from far-flung rural districts, and carried word of mouth publicity over a radius of 25 miles. A free matinee at the Rivoli, for about 700 boys and girls resulted in soliciting the whole town for "Show Boat." Tschauder announced to the children that a valuable prize would be given to the youngster under 14 bringing in the longest list of names of people who intended to see the film during its run. The children were supplied with signature sheets and they went out with a vengeance, ringing door bells and calling on every housewife in town. This canvass built up interest and effectively told the story of "Show Boat" to hundreds of people. There is so much music in "Show Boat" that Lee Newsom, manager of DAILY Tuesday, July 16, 192! Newspaper Opinions "On With the Show" Warners Winter Garden, New York AMERICAN — * * * It is not a very great stretch of the imagination to conceive that "On With the Show" is the greatest motion picture ever created * * * Beside a motion picture, the Warners also present a new era — another age — to the universe. * * * DAILY NEWS—* * * Color is the most gorgeous this reviewer has ever witnessed on the screen. It is perfectly blended, softly, harmoniously shaded and set to delightful scenic background and charming costumes which are elaborate and costly. Dances are as well staged as any terpsichorean numbers in a high-class Broadway stage production. # * * EVENING JOURNAL—* * * with this production, the Warner Brothers have again gone another step ahead in changing the future of the film industry, just as they were the first to synchronize music and sound to film, to stimulate singing pictures through the success of Jolson's "The Jazz Singer," to present the first all-talking picture, and the first to picturize an operetta. The color photography used in the production is gorgeous. * • • EVENING WORLD—* * * is probably the most beautiful picture ever screened. And, just so there wouldn't be any mistake about its eminence, the Warners have made it one of the most tuneful and peppy offerings seen hereabouts in many a moon. This newcomer is the first 100 per cent natural-color talkie. It is all color, all talking and all dancing. And boy, what a treat it is. * * * GRAPHIC—* * * Alan Crosland the director, has cleverly interwoven into a consistently entertaining stage revue, which has been printed in gorgeous color effects and recorded unusually well on the Vitaphone, a back-stage plot that "holds interest until the last close-up of Betty Compson. * * * HERALD-TRIBUNE—* * * Neither the music nor the comedy in "On With the Show" is more than second rate, which is a realistic touch that probably won't be generally appreciated. Since it happens, however, that the average musical comedy suffers from the same lacks, their absence from the picture can hardly be set down as a handicap to credibility. Anyway, the new Warner Brothers effort is the best thing the films have done in the way of transferring Broadway music shows to the screen and, even if the story is bad and the entire picture considerably in need of cutting it is an admirable and frequently handsome bit of cinema exploring. * * * POST — * * * Perhaps it would be clearer to say that this film gives you a very excellent idea of a musical comedy — but a rather routine and commonplace one. The screen is perhaps a little larger than usual — anyway the dancing numbers and comedy bits are much more like the real thing than they have ever been. Without doubt, a good deal of this is due to the superior color work. * * * There are, as we said, a pretty weary old story and some outrageously stilted and inexpert lines. * * * TELEGRAM—* * * is sensationally different. The fuzziness which formerly gave Technicolor exhibits the impression of being out of focus, has completely vanished. Outlines are as sharp and clear as they are in black and white, and the colors are no the Victory, Tampa, Fla., made it the basis of a "Show Boat Prize Waltz Night" at the Coliseum Ball Room. Nothing but "Show Boat" music was played and "OT Man River" was set to waltz time for the dance contest. The winning couple was given a three months' pass to the Victory, while the runners-up received passes for two and one month respectively. The contest was announced at the theater and ballroom two weeks in advance, and every time "Show Boat" music was played at the Coliseum the date at the Victory was stressed. more artificial than those that beguile and beckon behind Broadway footlights. * * * Both the acting and the direction sound a keynote of high good humor that is unusual in this type of production, and the recording is first class throughout. So is the backstage atmosphere. * * * SUN — * * * its principal merits being the rosy hues of Technicolor, the recording, the speed and pace and the general pageantry of an expensive spectacle that occasionally resembles a Ziegreld show with backgrounds by Maxfield Parrish. * * * Here, too, we have a story, a somewhat complicated and unwieldly one, but it serves to hold the attention while the camera records, in color, dialogue and sound, the most heavily decorated, expensive and generally eye-and-ear-filling chorus numbers that the audible films have as yet attempted. * * * TIMES—* * * is to be felicitated on the beauty of its pastel shades, which were obtained by the Technicolor process, but little praise can be accorded its story or to the raucous voices. The dialogue, so jarring on one's nerves, sometimes comes from cherrylips on faces in which the lily and the rose seem to be struggling for supremacy. * * * From the prismatic angle, however, it is immensely interesting and the producers have resourcefully presented scenes in colors which have never before decorated the screen. * » * WORLD—* * * proved to be a work of brilliant pictorial design, magnificent in its shading and tinting and perfectly horrid in its dramatic composition. Its book indeed was just about as imaginative and coherent a thing as the musical comedies down through the ages have brought us, but this, alas, is not enough in the films. "Why Be Good?" First National Cameo, New York AMERICAN — To make a long story short, you've seen "Why Be Good?" several times. It has probably been called something else and starred different people. But it is, nevertheless, the same old cinematic lingo. Miss Moore's performance is as familiar as the story itself. DAILY NEWS—* * * the old, old Cinderella story dressed up with titles which might have been snappy ten years ago, or even six years ago. * * * EVENING JOURNAL— The film starts off well, but repetitious preaching weakens the story which tapers off into only fair entertainment EVENING WORLD—* * * will provide entertainment for Colleen Moore fans, but it won't mean much to fans whose hearts are in other camps. For it doesn't mean anything, one way or another. GRAPHIC—* * * if you are a victim of Colleen's flapperisms, you will enjoy this film immensely. It is silent. HERALD-TRIBUNE—* * * left this spectator unmoved, but doubtless will prove diverting to the star's followers. She is in one of her old flaming youth roles, and while she gives a competent performance, so trite is the story, so familiar Miss Moore's heroine, that, sitting through the picture becomes rather a feat of endurance. MORNING TELEGRAPH— The story is the old hokum about the cute little marathondaneing jazz cutie who is, after all, an honest "woikin' goil" * * * POST — If cheap vulgarity and genuine bad taste are what the makers of Miss Moore's pictures are seeking, they succeed nearly every time — one hundred per cent * * * SUN — At any rate, it is very well acted and nicely directed and the blackheaded tomgirl, Miss Moore, plays the heroine so that you believe that she is a forlorn and appealing little comic who is a success at the last. TELEGRAM — * * * doesn't go very far in the entertainment line. TIMES — That screen hoyden, Colleen Moore, cavorts through an antedated problem play, the problem of being of such proportions that it easily could be lost on a pinhead. WORLD — * * * one of the least vital and n ost inconsequential of any which this young woman has offered, which is not a necessarily happy condition of affairs. NOVELTY IDEAS HELP TO SELL "CLOSE HARMONY' How four different showmen exer cised the old bean and turned out tw< novelty ballyhoos, a newspaper stun and a lobby flash that all pulled foi them strong in showing "Close Harmony:" Manager A. M. Roy used the classified columns to insert a few ads that were not only read but brought many replies. "Close Harmony" wasl the feature attraction at the Publix1 Tampa, Tampa, Fla. A sample of the' ads appearing in the newspapers — I "Wanted, room in locality, three miles from town where roomer can practice his drum, traps and saxaphone till 2 A. M. without arousing! the community. Close Harmony c-o Tampa, Broad & Main." In keeping with the atmosphere of the picture, Manager Marsline K. Moore of the Publix Worth, Fort Worth, Tex., used a jazzy ballyhoo. j The ballyhoo consisted of a truck] properly bannered with signs carrying copy about picture, as well as mentioning that the picture was a big jazz revue. An orchestra on the truck was continually playing snappy jazz numbers while on attractive-looking girl passed out heralds as the truck slowly wended its way through the principal streets in both the residential and business sections. Where crowds were of large proportions, the truck would often stop to allow the musicians to entertain the on-lookers. Although parades are taboo in St. Petersburg, Manager Richmond Dorman led one that whooped things up for "Close Harmony" playing at the Florida, St. Petersburg, Fla. The paraders consisted of two prominent merchants and about five newspapermen. Although no one could play the musical instrument provided, the paraders at least made plenty of noise and got plenty of attention. Signs carried by boys followed the paraders; the signs carrying forceful sales copy about the attraction. Manager L. E. Davidson borrowed a large bass drum and a snare drum from a music shop and put them on display in the lobby in advance to exploit "Close Harmony" playing at the Capitol, Sioux City, la. In addition to the drums in the lobby was a six-sheet cut-out of Buddy Rogers playing the drums and Nancy Carroll sitting on top of the bass drum. A flasher was put inside of the drum with cut-out letters pasted on the head — copy reading, "Buddy Rogers and Nancy Carroll in their first alltalkie." Handling Movie-Phone in South Atlanta — Sales and installations of Movie Phone in the states of Georgia, Florida, Alabama and Tennessee were taken over this week by The Music Shop, according to announcement by President H. J. Jenkins.