Year book of motion pictures (1932)

— Newspaper Plug This is good in a small town where your theater is some distance away from the newspaper office. Make a deal with the editor to send a man around to your theater every evening and pick up the news. Have a standing screen notice that persons desiring to contribute personal items for the paper may hand them in at the box-office instead of going downtown to the newspaper office. Late items, if important, are phoned in. The editor appreciates the courtesy and will be generous with mention of your house. □ — Mezzanine Fair To be used in a large city. Tie up with a newspaper to offer an Indoor Fair on ycur mezzanine, to run for about four days. The town's biggest merchants can be induced to take booths on the mezzanine and furnish free souvenirs to patrons. This can be made an annual event, and built up big. □ — Sales Coupons A good merchant stunt for small towns. Merchants in on the tie-up present coupons indicating the value of the sale with each purchase. These are deposited In a "bank" located off the theater lobby. Each "depositor" is credited with the sum total of all coupons he or she turns in. At the end of a specified period the top depositors are awarded cash prizes. □ — Penguin Sundae Where your theater has a cooling system that you want to exploit in the summer, tie up a Penguin Sundae with the soda fountains. You adopt the penguin as your symbol of coolness, using it in all your advertising. The penguin idea serves both theater and soda fountains as a symbol of coolness, and the store gets back as much as it gives. □ —Dollar Day Several theaters report good results from the old dollar-day idea, and not all of them are in the small towns. Here and there it has done almost as well as a nabe house. Merchants are sold the idea of offering dollar bargains, either in new goods at attractive prices or old stickers marked down to get them out of the way. That used to be the entire idea of the dollar day — the getting rid of old stocks; but with wholesale prices being cut, it is possible to offer many bargains now. Theater does the promoting and the merchants pay for the advertising, sent out into the country with the idea of bringing in the family on an off-trade day. Stores decorate and sometimes the local band can be promoted for a concert. Always there is the suggestion that the family saves enough on the bargains to be able to afford a show, which is where the theater connects. — School Funds When the schools organize, there are usually certain demands for funds. The high schools want money to equip the eleven, basketball teams must be financed and other school activities outside of direct school work looked after. In some schools this is met by a levy of a small sum on each pupil, seldom exceeding a dollar; usually half of that or even less. Before the drive starts, make your contact with the school heads and suggest financing by ticket selling. Frame up cards, similar to the meal tickets, and carrying a small discount; perhaps $3.25 for $3. Let the pupils sell these tickets and allow the school funds a quarter on each sale. It means selling $3.50 for $2.75, but that is better than a 2-for-1 proposition. Many of these tickets will be sold to those who might not otherwise come. Some people will spend $3.25 in a card more quickly than they will if they have to dig out the money each time. You have to overcome sales resistance only once instead of on each show, and the kids are doing that, instead of you. Put a time limit on the cards; perhaps three months, and make the cost proportionate to admission charges. □ — Doll Dressing Contests Here is a popular number that will meet with parental approval. The Doll Dressing Class is held in the summer after school closes. The sessions are in the morning, either on the mezzanine or on the stage. All girls under 16 are invited to bring their dolls and materials. A woman from some department store or dressmaking shop shows them how to plan the costumes. Prizes are given for the best made dresses. Idea can be extended to cover dresses for personal wear in the case of the older girls when the store cooperating counts on making a profit on the materials sold. □ — Tie Tie-Up Display a big bow tie in a haberdashery window, with an offer of tickets to those who accurately count the dots. The tie is supposed to be similar to one worn by some comedy star. □ — Coffee and Cigs Following the lead of the art houses in New York in serving coffee and cigarettes to patrons in the foyer lends an intimate touch. It is not hard to tie in with a coffee' concern, also a cigarette manufacturer, if due credit is given in cards, or screen notice. □ — Half Price Sodas If you have a Mickey Mouse Club, or similar juvenile organization for Saturday morning shows, arrange with a soda fountain nearby to allow the kids to use their special matinee stubs for a half-price drink. The ticket with a nickel is good for any 10-cent drink. 693