The film daily year book of motion pictures (1929)

the title of picture Besides the newspaper, this can be handled on post cards to be hanaed patrom as they enter theater a week previous to yout opening. These slogans to be used as lobbj ballyhoo and ad material. STAGE LINGO Run contest with newspaper on "What Do You Know About Stage Lingo?" From day to day, various stage words are listed, such as fly, drop, prompter, juvenile, etc. These are to be denned very briefly. A half column story is run every day building up interest, and tieing in with the picture. The stunt can also be tied in with drug store for a window display of theatrical cosmetics, the latter being used as prizes in the contest. LOBBIES CHINESE ATMOSPHERE Where feature carries a Chinese setting. The letters in the litle are cut from compo'ioard in a Chinese effect. lOn either side of the lobby entrance place white columns on which are painted Chinese characters. The box office is decorated in Chinese drapes. The lobby is festooned with lanterns and parasols. SOUTH SEA ISLE ATMOSPHERE This caption covers pictures laid on an island or those in which there is a sequence of a shipwrecked person or persons landing on an island. Get a quantity of inexpensive palm leaves and place four or five behind or above each of your wall frames. If you have no wall frames, make up two long strings of green twine, winding the strings around the stems of the palm leaves, and stretch the strings from one coiner of the lobby to the diagonally opposite one, thus having both strings cross in the centre of the lobby. The leaves can be intermingled with cut-out leaves on cardboard painted green, with copy in white letters, pertaining to the picture, star and play dates. BOX-OFFICE DECORATIONS Converting the box-office to carry over the theme of the picture is always an eye-arrester, and can be accomplished at a small expense. It gets over the story of the feature with a punch. In most cases it requires nothing more than a few boards properly constructed and painted, and a few props to carry out the atmosphere. Among the many effective box-office disguises are a log cabin, sheriff's office, trading post, mining hut. hunting lodge, pilot house, railroad or steamship ticket office, Russian kiosk. South Sea Island hut, circus side-show, country store. The ticket seller should be dressed to carry out the idea of the particular setting. A man stationed alongside the box-office, also in appropriate costume, can ballyhoo the attraction A HANDKERCHIEF STUNT Theaters presenting features with plenty of pathos can get a biff kick out of the following idea : Place large clothes basket in front of box office with sign telling patron* that after seeing picture, if they will deposit their handkerchiefs in basket with slip containing their names attached, manager will have them laundered and delivered to their homes. ANIMATED SHADOW BOX A very effective display with action can be secured at nominal cost with the following idea : Secure compoboard box closed in on front side with glass. Top and bottom are made of wire screen. Box is about 4 feet high, 3 feet wide and 1 foot deep. Mount box on legs about 18 inches long. Underneath box place a 12-inch oscillating fan. lOn the inside against the back place small cutouts on the feature. Place in box two small packs of confetti and finally chopped cigarette paper. Air from the fan comes up through thf. screen at bottom of box, blowing the confetti violently through the open space in the box. The air exhausts itself through the screen at the top of the box and carries with it a part of the confetti which lodges against the screen. As the fan oscillates, the wind pressure is relieved, and the confetti again drops to the bottom of the box. Again the fan oscillates and the confetti goes through the same process. Here is a perfect attention getter that will stop them in their tracks. DESERT ATMOSPHERE For exploiting a desert or sheik picture, use a small tent, with spears, carpets, incense burner, etc. This can be ballyhooed with a man or girl dressed in appropriate costume. THE SILVER SHEET An attractive and catchy way to advertise every feature in advance. On silver-coated paper have artist letter in under the caption "The Silver Sheet" an appropriate announcement of the coming attraction on the theater's "silver sheet." Have poster about two by three feet, mounted in a neat frame. This can be made a standard lobby feature for advertising all coming attractions. A LOCOMOTIVE CUT-OUT For railroad story. Use large beaverboard cutout painted to repesent a locomotive at full speed. The bumper of the engine instead of being painted is made out of strips and extended out from the cutout. On each side of engine place signal electric lights, green and red. Place a headlight in front with a strong light, which shines out on street. Here is a splendid night stunt with all lights out in lobby except the three lights on display. ORIENTAL ATMOSPHERE For a picture with Oriental setting. Decorate lobby and marquee with Japanese lanterns hung from all light fixtures. Also hang Japanese art panels and parasols. Place an incense burner in the foyer, which will do more than anything else to create the desired effect. NEW POSTER ANGLE Place on floor of outer or inner lobby, face up. a mounted six sheet. Rope off display to keep people from walking on it. Have spot light from the ceiling pointing directly down on poster. This is a unique manner of presenting lithos and will cause them to stop and look. AN ELECTRIC ANVIL Use on film with industrial setting. Put a blacksmith to work in the lobby. The smithy, attired in work clothes, pounds an electrically charged anvil which gives off huge sparks. A posterboard with stills showing the industrial angle of feature stands alongside. GIANT TELEGRAM When the theater manager decides to extend run of picture have wire sent from the territorial branch manager of the producing company requesting copy about the sacrifice made in order to allow the local theater owner to retain print for an additional run. This telegram to be enlarged by local sign shop to measurements of ten to fourteen feet. Display to be placed over theater front or over marquee. THEATER FRONTS A TEMPORARY MARQUEE Theaters that do not have marquees can put over an exceptionally strong flash by erecting a temporary marquee. This structure resembles the regular marquee of the theater, only that it has two up-rights extending from curb holding up the frame-work made from laths and light stock in trellis design. This to be painted white or light green with title of picture in cut-out letters of red attached to trellis work. A little foliage entwined in criss-cross effect of laths, makes an attractive display. AN ICE CAKE STUNT Get the local ice company to make up a special cake of ice from distilled water. In this is frozen a bouquet of flowers ,with a tin sign which carries the title of the picture. This can he varied by a tie-up with a local dealer, who displays the ice cake in his window, with one of his merchandise articles frozen in the cake. SYMBOLIC CUT-OUTS Symbolic cut-outs are very effective. By that is meant the following : (a) When playing a picture with an Irish theme or an Irish-Jewish theme, large shamrocks from 20" to 24" in diameter, painted green on both sides can be used. On one side can be 788