Year book of motion pictures (1935)

♦ TIE-UPS + Never before have there been so many national tie-ups presented to the exhibitor as this season. The major producers and distributors are concentrating on the ^ nation-wide hookups. You in turn can tie in with your local dealers, and cash in on the national publicity already created. VOCAL CONTEST This stunt fits in nicely on musical features. Three or four weeks before the showing, the music store advertises a contest for the best singing of any selected number from the songs listed. Eliminations are made by audition. The best dozen singers enter the finale, which can be in the store, the theater lobby or on the stage. BEST PUPILS A regular Monday stunt for a theater in large city. Each of the city's schools selects each week one pupil whose work the previous week has been outstanding. These, with their parents, are guests of the theater, with the winners called to the stage to be presented to the audience. Small gifts can be promoted with dealers to be given each prize pupil. SODA FOUNTAINS Here is a good stunt for small towns and neighborhoods, tied in with a popular soda fountain. It is a combination ticket sood for a certain number of sodas, fashioned after the style of a meal ticket with punch spaces for each nickel, to permit a choice in ordering. The ticket is sold at face value by the soda fountain. When all of the holes are punched, it is good for one admission to the theater. An ad for your theater is carried in the center of the ticket. COUNTY FAIR If you are in a rural community, stage a Progressive County Fair. Small cash prizes are offered by local merchants for the heaviest pumpkin, potato, best ear of corn and lareest apple. All exhibits are to be brought to the theater during a specified week to fit the various crops, starting on a Friday. The vvinners are selected from the first entries and placed on a table in the foyer, with the name of the entrant and the weight. If a larger entry turns up, the new entry is given the place of honor. There will be several substitutions during the week, which will keep up the excitement. The whole idea is to get the farmers into town from the back roads so that the merchants can bpnefit from their trad". Prizes are distributed from the stage the Saturday following the contest. FREE EATS If you have a nearby restaurant that is trying to push the idea of something to eat after your show, this one is made to order. Every night for a period of time the restaurant supplies the theater manager with five pairs of orders for limited eats. These are handed out to couples as they leave the lobby. Distribution is made quietly, as if the manager were favoring certain patrons with the gift. It carries the impression of a personal courtesy. BARN DANCE This fits into the scheme of the rural theater. It is a competitive barn dance for the octet doing the smoothest performance of the oldfashioned quadrille. Pit a local eight against an imported outfit from a nearby town. You'll pack 'em in with this one on a Saturday night. You can exhaust the neighboring territories with competing teams. The band can be promoted. And no reason why the prizes can't be promoted, too. Winning team is established by applause. Prizes go to the best two couples in that team. Worked up with an appeal to local feeling, this should be good for every-other-week all winter. PUZZLE SOLVERS When combined with a hook-up page for the co-op merchants, this makes a good gag to interest the puzzle solvers. The contestants are required to visit each store in the contest. In each store window is carried one of the letters from the last name of the star of the feature. To secure free tickets, it is necessary to solve the puzzle, and state which window each of the letters is placed. PERSONALITY HAIRDRESS A variation on the usual hairdressing contest. The competitors are not asked to imitate the star's hairdress, but are judged on the basis of the hair arrangement th^t best expressps their personality, as does that of the star in the picture. A natural for the beauty shops, who give it window display. The contest is judged on your stage, with the haidressers acting as judges. WAITRESS CONTEST This forms a neat ballyhoo for advance publicity on a feature that strikes a waitress angle. Every restaurant competes, selectino the prettiest girl. These entries appear on your stage between the two night shows. The applause of the audience decides the winner. 749