The film daily year book of motion pictures (1928)

FIRST AID Use on feature comedy. Place a stretcher at front of lobby, bearing a sign: "This stretcher at service of our patrons who laugh themselves sick." This can be varied with a dummy figure on stretcher bearing sign: "This man split his sides laughing at (name of picture)." THEATER FRONTS WINKING CUTOUT Use a cutout head of the star from a 24-sheet. Place a twinkle light in back of one eye, which gives the effect of winking. Placed on top of marquee, this can be seen a long distance. It makes a good night flash, and is inexpensive. BROADCAST LAUGHS On big comedy feature, use radio amplifying apparatus for broadcasting the laughter from the house into the street in front of the theater. Use a special loud speaker for this purpose. The laughter can be picked up by means of a regular radio microphone. "LAUGH-O-METER" For use on comedy feature. In place of a regular clock face, the round cardboard disk has written on it the words "Laughs," "Guffaws," "Screams," "Howls," etc., taking the place of the hours. This "Laugh-O-Meter" is supposed to indicate the volume of laughs in the feature. A hand revolves continually. This is accomplished by means of a small electric motor placed in the "clock." Special gears are necessary to reduce the speed of the motor so that the clock hand will not revolve too fast. BALLYHOOS •CROSS-COUNTRY AUTO Use old, battered flivver covered with painted signs of a humorous nature, playing up any interesting local news. Have one sign read : "Direct from Alaska to see (name of picture and theater)." Use whitewash to print the names of cities and states through which it is supposed to have traveled to see the show. AMBULANCE STUNT This never fails when used on a big comedy feature. On opening night, an ambulance with clanging bell dashes up to thetheater. Two men come out of the theater carrying a stretcher. Upon it is a laughing, raving maniac, waving his arms wildly and emitting yells. Just as the stretcher is raised to be placed in the ambulance, banners roll down from each side with the announcement : "He's gone crazy from laughing at (name of picture, or star)." BALKY DONKEY A good street stunt is the employment of a balky donkey led by a man in comedy rig. When the donkey balks, he remonstrates with it loudly for the benefit of onlookers, telling the animal he will be late for the picture at the ■ theater. Signs on the donkey's back tell of the attraction. PAINTED BARRELS Advertising comedy feature. Place barrels, painted white with red lettering : "A Barrel of Fun," on prominent street corners. Inside barrels place comedy cutouts from the picture. ANTIQUE AUTO PARADE Arrange with all auto dealers to aid in lining up antiquated cars, the idea being to make this a freak parade emphasizing the comedy angle. In contrast to the "before-the-war" specimens, dealers show their new models with suitable advertising. One car can be used as a ballyhoo for the picture at theater. PRINTED MATTER LAUGH POWDERS Use this on comedy feature. Envelopes are printed bearing the following: "Save these. You'll need 'cm. Laugh powders to ease your aching sides when you have seen (picture)." Inside the envelopes place two capsules containing flour. LAUGHTER CARD For comedies a Laughter Card can be circulated. It purports to be a membership in the Brotherhood of Laughtermotive Engineers, and is gotten up to resemble a union card. SPECIAL STUNTS FLIVVER PRIZE Secure an old flivver, decorate it with a lot of "wise cracks," such as, "Lincoln's Poor Relation," "Why Girls Walk Home," etc., and offer it as a prize to the person who submits the cleverest name for it. This is a good stunt in a college town. To the runners-up prizes of collegiate pipes or tarns can be presented. COUNTING THE LAUGHS When presenting real comedy picture, place large announcement board in front of box-office with picture of man with large beaming smile, accompanied by copy reading: "The person who sends in to theater manager, the number of real laughs in the picture, will receive a pass, good for one month, to see the shows at this theater." Naturally, people will be obligated to see the picture in order to count the laughs. Laughs to be guided by funny situations in the picture, and the number of laughs checked up against the contestants. HAROLD LLOYD STUNT Rig up a novel lobby shadow box, on the front of which is the head of Harold Lloyd. Through his famous eyeglasses the public can view stills from the picture. SPECIAL SHOWINGS KID IMPERSONATORS On comedies featuring children, hold a special performance at which the youngsters give impersonations of the juvenile characters in the him. Appoint a committee of three as judges, consisting of school board officials or prominent people. The mothers and school teachers will readily cooperate in helping the kids with their costumes. Here is a real neighborhood event. "LAUGH MONTH" The National Laugh Month Committee suggest the following ideas : Dress ushers in clown costumes. Have your sign painter make "HA" and "HO" compo board cutout signs in various sizes, from a foot high to six feet high, in assorted colors. Hang these about the theater, or stand them in lobby or out front. Run Laugh Month trailer. Use "Laughing" records placed in a phonograph with repeat attachment set up behind a cut-out poster of a laughing face. Stage a Laughing Contest with an award to those who can sit through your show without laughing. Conduct a Laughing Contest on the stage to discover the person having the most natural laugh. Another stunt is to "plant" one of those high-pitched, shrieking laughers in your audience. Try a Clown Carnival, with the neighborhood kids dressed in funny costumes parading to the theater. The comedy "Amateur Night" is a good bet. Allow anyone three minutes on the stage in an effort to make the audience laugh. If you get a good announcer to put this over, it is sure-fire audience stuff. Juvenile (or Juvenile Stunts) NEWSPAPERS TREASURE HUNT The latest development in treasure hunts is newspaper co-operation in which the newspaper provides daily clues in cross-word puzzle form. Another version of this buries the clues among the individual ads in a double truck co-operative ad page. This latter idea has the advantage of getting revenue for the newspaper through the sale of the co-operative page. Exploitation Hints Every Day in The Film Daily 707