MGM Studio News (December 3, 1938)

'e*v£ fynotitiao Carol 0 I T A T I O N "A Christmas Carol'' is a picture which should by all means be previewed. Here's why: It gives you an approach to the thousands PREVIEW who are not regular movie patrons but will IMPORTANT want to see this one picture. It is a show which will build tremendously through word-of-mouth—which requires time to be effective. A preview always causes talk. Timeliness limits your holdover possibilities. To cash in for GET THEM the you need capacity crowds on the opening day. Those you have to turn away OUT EARLY on the final day won't mean a dollar to you. Invite clergymen, school officials, newspapermen, civic lead- ers—and any others you can count on to talk it up. You are not giving away tickets when you ask them THESE RATE to be your guests at a preview or first show- INVITATIONS ing. Nine out of ten will be back to see it again. Clerics are particularly important. They'll bring you cus- tomers you've never seen in your theatre before. The courtesy of preview invitations will get you mention in sermons with a picture of this type. And the same goes with school officials. Perhaps you can persuade some pastor to cancel one of his regular week-night services to give his flock an opportunity to see "A Christmas Carol." Get him to okay CALL OFF a statement to the press, declaring his belief A SERVICE the picture is a sermon greater than any he could hope to preach. Tell him how the publicity will increase attendance on following nights. The book "A Christmas Carol" is too well known and already CHRISTMAS BOOKS public libraries. in too many hemes to be worth much as an exploitation aid. It should be easy, however, to plant stills with Christmas book displays in book and department Stores and in all Check with book stores and libraries to find the oldest copies of "A Christmas Carol," (first published in 1844), OLD in the city. Place them on display and plant stories EDITIONS wi *h the papers. Other old copies will show up to keep the story running. Offer guest tickets to the ten who produce the oldest editions. "A Christmas Carol" is the ninth story by Dickens to be filmed. Arrange with a book store or library for a display of all nine with stills from "A Christmas Carol" and NINE DICKENS from any of the others you are able to dig BOOKS FILMED U P <rom your * des - The other eight are: "A Tale of Two Cities," "David Copper- field," "Oliver Twist," "Cricket On the Hearth," "Great Expecta- tions," "Old Curiosity Shop," 'Dombey and Son," and "Our Mutual Friend." A blowup of a page from the book, with stills which illustrate the text, will get attention in the lobby or foyer. BLOW UP Set it up at least a week in advance. Select BOOK PAGE a PCt9S which is interesli ng and familiar—the arrival of Marley's ghost for example. Get one of the newspaper boys to dig out Frank Church's famous N. Y. Sun editorial-—"Is There a Santa Claus?" Blow it up for a lobby frame. IS THERE A Immediately after getting your play- SANTA CLAUS?" dates set, plant a card on an easel in the lobby with this copy: "Only 34 days til Christmas Carol'." Change the number daily until opening. There is, of course, no necessity to discuss lobby decorations. Just do the obvious. Trying to sensationalize or trick up Christmas is effort wasted. Use the standard holiday props—but pour it on twice as heavily as you would ordinarily at Christmas. Put a man behind the ticket window in a Santa Claus uniform. Dress doormen and other attendants outside SANTA CLAUS the theatre in the same manner. IN BOX OFFICE Hang mistletoe over one of the doors to the foyer. Placard it with a warning to the girls that they use the door at their own risk. No picture has ever been made more perfect for the young- sters than "A Christmas Carol." Make it a FIRST PICTURE for all school children who have never seen THEIR FIRST a movie. It will be an easy task to get PICTURE SHOW some school official or welfare worker to sponsor such a showing, basing the stunt cn their declaration that the picture is an example of motion pictures at their best. Set a matinee aside for these children, reducing admission for all who bring a note from a parent declaring they have never seen a movie before. Along the same line, try to locate some adult who has never seen a picture. Announce in a newspaper story that you consider this to be a picture everyone must see EVEN IF THEY NEVER SEE ANOTHER ONE. D