The Film Daily (1930)

THE EXPLOITETTES A Clearing House for Tabloid Exploitation Ideas €) pade and Pick Beauties Put )ver "Gold Diggers" TWO good stunts were engineered by Bill Cornell, of the Theater Royal, Newcastle, Australia, a few days before "Gold Diggers of Broadway" was scheduled for showing. Cornell arranged to have five pretty girls, dressed to represent modern gold diggers, each carrying a spade and pick in one hand, and a hat box in the other, on which was fastened an 11x14 still of the picture, parade through the town. The second ingenious scheme was the pasting of a 24-sheet which he entrusted to another group of pretty girls wearing bright shorts and amusing little berets. The job took several hours to accomplish and attracted a great deal of attention from the pass ersbv. -Warners landwritten Postcards it Mailing List DLENTY of worthwhile radio announcements and a good mailing list were the two most important exploitation factors which played an important role in assuring success for "All Quiet on the Western Front" at the Fox McDonald in Eugene, Ore. Manager Russell F. Brown mailed out 3,000 handwritten postal cards with trick copy to every home in the town and surrounding territory. This stunt was unusually well received because Brown first mailed the cards to a friend living in Portland who, in turn, mailed them from Portland back to the homes in Eugene. —"Now" There are less shutdowns in Hollywood studios this summer than last year. ■%*a DAILY Along The Rialto with Phil M. Daly THE FIRST issue of Our Newsreel seems to have made some kind of an impression, judging by the raft of letters we have received we cull these at random: "Since you mentioned the 50 millionaire Indians in 'Cimarron,' they have all been summoned to court for undeclared incomes on their tax returns and Chief Kick-'Em-In-the-Face wants to know where he can reach you quick. Hy Daab." "Now that you told about me serving sparkling buttermilk at my Hollywood home, I have had to turn the bungalow into a creamery to supply the demand. — » Bert Wheeler" "You called attention to the fact that I was up here at Hollywood Gardens on the Pelham Road with Paul Whiteman, and now all my Broadway friends are rushing up here to applaud — Whiteman — Nils Granlund." which all goes to prove the tremendous influence of these newsreels, improperly handled so here is the next Newsreel issue, with even less news than the first T-JERE WE see Mack Sennett directing one of his ultra-modern short comedies Mack is dressed like a modest Wall Street capitalist, with spats, cane, high topper and cutaway coat everything about this production is very dignified slapstick is taboo here the business calls for Marjorie Beebe slapping her father, Andy Clyde, so she sez: "Have I your permission, father?" and then belts him a wallop alongside the jaw now you see Andy picking himself up and replying politely: "The permit has been issued, daughter" then he kisses her gently on the brow with the "mike" now they proceed witli the picture as a silent, having used up all the mikes of course they still throw custard pies, but this, as you will note, is also done along strictly modern lines the pie which Daphne Pollard has just thrown at Harry Gribbon is wrapped in wax paper labeled: "Untouched by human hands" Sennett's Sterilized Shorts are putting production on a higher plane UERE WE see a quaint custom in Australia 16 years ago, reenacted from an incident vouched for by F. Wynne-Jones. known as the Big Cigarette Lighter Man of Ufa it seems that at this time money was scarce in Australia, so the exhibitors are seen accepting bottles filled with home-made pickles from patrons in lieu of the admission fee these in turn are handed to the theater staff for salaries now the scene changes to the home of the head usher, where we observe a beautiful sight the whole family is getting pickled "jVTOW WE give you an exclusive view of studio executives deciding on the Next Big Feature each has a scenario he is touting they are all yelling at once and waving their manuscripts in the air one is an airplane story another Stark Realism another a musical revue the fourth the Underworld there are 11 scenarios, all different finally they compromise by calling in the head scenario writer and telling him to write a script from ALL of 'em that's fair enough with such co-operation, the scenarist dances out joyfully two weeks later we see him in this padded cell buried in manuscript pages he has written the first scene, to wit: The underworld hero is in an airplane stark naked singing numbers from a musical revue. * * * * piNALLY WE have a manager of a film exchange in his moments of relaxation it is none other than Harry Buxbaum of the Fox local exchange he is playing goif in his home town with the chief of police every time they whang the ball they hop on a motorcycle and chase it for the next shot Harry wins the game two down and then what happens? doggone if that chief of police doesn't arrest him for bicycling which just goes to prove that you can never trust a cop * * * * ^S CAREFREE " • " flagpole-sitter with Sf. Vitus dance. Timely I o/>/t\> A Dines i of Current Opinion €) The Art Of Scenario Writing TEXT books and formulae designed to teach the art of scenario writing are of less value to the student than constant and unremitting practice of writing. Observation and study of human nature and development of the instinct for dramatic values are important to the student, but above all they should persist in writing about anything and everything that appeals to them with any degree of interest. There is going to be no dearth of people to write for the screen judging by the increasing number of young folks who seek advice about the business. To me this is a healthful sign for the industry and everything should be done to encourage it. Very few of our successful authors ever sold their first manuscripts, and I fancy a great many of them could resurrect a host of rejected stories, and even a great many they have never even dared to submit. But it was in the preparation of these inferior compositions that they gained the technique and style that is a large factor in their success. People ambitios to write scenarios should study the construction of the better pictures and use these as their models. Then they should strive to emulate these by writing and rewriting until their waste basket is bulging over. A tendency to be discouraged because success does not come immediately is fatal to the young writer. — J. Grubb Alexander MANY HAPPY RETURNS Best wishes and congratulations are extended by THE FILM DAILY to the following members of the industry, who are celebrating their birthdays: July 15 Samuel Schneider Raymond Hackett Felix Feist Mona Rica