Year book of motion pictures (1936)

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. Bam 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 old-fashioned quadrille. Put a local eight against an imported outfit from a nearby town. Youll pack them 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. Hairdressing Contest • 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 that best expresses 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 hairdressers acting as judges. Prettiest Waitress • THIS forms a neat ballyhoo for advance publicity on a feature that strikes a waitress angle. Every restaurant competes, selecting the prettiest girl. These entries appear on your stage between the two night shows. The applause of the audience decides the winner. By making it an advance stunt, it gives the girls plenty of opportunity to talk about it to their customers and friends. 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. < • Newspaper Aid • THIS is good in a small town where your theater is some distance 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 should appreciate the courtesy, and will be generous with mention of your theater. High School • ON THE occasion of the local high school playing an out-of-town game, you can sponsor a fund raised by the merchants to hire busses to take the players and the rooters to the game. Divided up among several stores, the cost is nominal, and the high school students will appreciate it. The stunt is best worked during the football season, when local enthusiasm runs high. The busses start from your theater, and you might finish with a football party at your house after the game. City Day • HAVE the city officials and merchants association join together in a special day named for your town to boost prosperity. Every merchant in town joins by offering attractive reasons why the citizens should loosen up and buy. Trolleys and buses give free rides to shopping districts during certain hours. Leading garages and parking spaces give free parking to anyone presenting a sales slip from any store. The telephone company phones housewives to remind them of bargain day. Taxi companies cut a flat 25 cents from anywhere in city limits to center. Leading restaurants cut the price on their luncheon menus. The theater can get in on this one to advantage in many ways, especially if you take a lead in promoting the gala day. Night Stunt • ONE OF THE best marquee flashes that has ever been used — the Winking Star. It is used with an attractive head of a popular femme star. Use a twinkle light in back of one eye of a cutout head of the star from the 24-sheet. Here is one of the finest of night stunts, that costs little and gets you plenty of comment. Sidewalk Artist • THIS one calls for a local artist to work a short while in the evening. He sits near the front of lobby, and draws the figure of the star in your coming attraction. If he is clever, he will engage observers in conversation occasionally, and go into a short talk about the feature and its star. An inexpensive stunt that is sure to attract crowds to your front. Suit Case Gag • ONE OF your ushers is dressed up in comedy attire, or else with tuxedo and cane. He carries a trick suitcase, and at busy intersections downtown presses a spring, which opens the suitcase, disclosing some snappy copy on your feature. If the youth has good comedy sense, he can put this simple stunt over impressively.