Motion Picture Daily (July–Sept 1938)

-■I day, August 26, 1938 MOTION PICTURE DAILY Whole Country Rallies to Support Drive 3 'way Theatre Managers Get ehind Drive First of Industry National Campaign Ads Completed (.Continued from page 1) Broadway theatre managers and pub.city men joined yesterday to prepare le first cooperative promotional campaign for the Times Square area ou?es which will be staged with the tart of the Motion Pictures' Greatest ear campaign next week. Meeting in the office of Howard )ietz, Loew's director of advertising ] nd publicity and chairman of the ampaign advertising committee, publicity men of the Broadway houses i.greed on basic plans for their own community" drive. Their promotion.1 activities will include a special ampaign "dress" for Times Square iheatres and the area itself, with )lenty of banners, displays and bally100 stunts. Detailed plans will be 'leveloped at a meeting to be held at he Capitol on Monday, which will ^e attended by the Broadway house ;nanagers, in addition to the publicity nen. Ben Serkowitz to Lead Ben Serkowitz of the Capitol was lesignated chairman of the Times (Square committee. Others at yesterlav's meeting were Hazel Flvnn and NTeil Folwell of the Music Hall; Homer H. Harmon, Roxy ; Jack Mc[nerney, Paramount ; James Dunne, Rivoli; Irving W'indisch, Strand; ;!Phil Laufer, Criterion ; Oscar Doob, Loew's and Buck Harris, RKO. In iddition to these the following managers are expected at Monday's meet . ng: Ray Connor, Palace; Al Rosen, Loew's State; Robert Weitman, Paramount; John Wright, Rivoli; Arthur Mayer, Rialto ; Jack Finenian, May:air ; Herman Landwehr, Capitol ; j Irving Lesser, Roxy, and Fred Cruise, Music Hall. Orders at 13,200,000 Orders for "Movie Ouiz" booklets :or participants in the $250,000 prize fcontest mounted to a total of 13,200,000 ,-esterday. The advance sale of the 4x)oklets amounted to 6,800,000 copies. Orders for 6,400,000 more were revived at campaign headquarters yesterday and have been marked for delivery Monday. Charles E. McCarthy and Robert Gillham are members. The committee, assuming one of the most exacting and important assignments of the entire $1,000,000 campaign, worked against tremendous odds in time limitation and mechanical restrictions to complete the most vital part of its work ahead of schedule. The result is a tribute to the industry, an outstanding accomplishment that will be reflected wherever films are shown. The basis of the entire campaign, which will represent the largest expenditure of the drive, was mapped out by the committee during the few weeks following the announcement of the industry drive in* late July. The committee members worked actively with the Donahue & Coe agency in the carrying out of the basic plan and, in addition, supplied ideas for individual ads, contributed to the preparation of copy and assisted with art work and typography. The first group of ads, while essentially of a conservative foundation, is characterized by informality and broad reader appeal. Many are illustrated and all are prepared in varying forms calculated to win reader attention. The cop)' is uniformly human in tenor and, while it holds to general appeal and common understandability, it is addressed as well to varying age groups within the mass audience. Selection of Sizes The initial ads are of varying size. All include a prominently placed box calling attention to the $250,000 "Movie Quiz" contest and directing theatre patrons to their local theatre for entry blanks. Also prominently displayed at the bottom of every ad is a list of new season pictures of the participating producing companies, with the names of those starred in each picture. This section of every ad is preceded by the line, "Watch for these new season pictures at your favorite theatre." Prominently displayed at the base of every ad is the campaign slogan for the public, "Motion Pictures Are Your Best Entertainment." The first of the ads will appear in daily newspapers of Aug. 31, and regularly thereafter in 1,983 daily papers in the United States and almost 100 daily newspapers in Canada. The leading foreign language papers of both this country and Canada are included in the schedule. The ads will appear from Monday to Friday, inclusive, after the start of the campaign, but no space will be used in Saturday, Sunday or holiday issues. Both morning and evening papers will be used. It is estimated that between $600,000 and $800,000 will be spent on the advertising campaign. Advertisements Captioned The following are the captions from each of the 11 completed ads, with the size of each ad as it will appear in daily newspapers. Captions indicate the subject of the ad copy. Ad No. 2 — "The Average MovieGoer Speaks His Mind." Ad size, 14J4 inches x 260 lines. Ad No. 8— "Four Walls That Hold a World." Ad size, 12 3/16 inches x 222 lines. Ad No. 9— "200 Million People Can't Be Wrong." Ad Size, 12 3/16 inches x 208 lines. Ad No. 11— "What Is Your 'Stake' in Motion Pictures?" Ad Size, 5 columns x 235 lines. Ad No. 12— "It Could Only Happen in the Movies." Ad Size, 5 columns x 200 lines. Ad No. 13 — "Joe Doakes and His Girl Want the Earth — and They Get It." Ad size, 12 3/16 inches x 266 lines. Ad No. 14 — "One Tornado and Three Hopi Indians . . . Please!" Ad size, 6 columns x 236 lines. Ad No. 15— "276" (Reference to the number of arts, crafts and professions which unite in making motion pictures.) Ad size, 6 columns x 215 lines. Ad No. 16 — "A Message to You from All Those Who Make Motion Pictures." Ad size, 6 columns x 214 lines. Ad No. 17 — "You Are Your Own Best Movie Critic." Ad size, 5 columns x 228 lines. Ad No. 18— "The Unseen Hand." (Reference to audience tastes in guiding production schedules). Ad size, 6 columns x 232 lines. Poli Cakes Sent Out Tying in the Motion Pictures' Greatest Year drive with its own Greater Show Season, Loew Poli New England Theatres are distributing cakes with engraved cards reading "Cut yourself a piece of Loew Poli Greater Show Season cake and join us in celebrating Motion Pictures' Greatest Year. Compliments of Loew Poli New England Theatres." Neighborhood Houses Prepare Local Drive Plans for neighborhood drives in conjunction with the industry's promotion campaign were set yesterday at a series of meetings, which will be concluded today. Local committees were organized, with a chairman and secretary for each. In each neighborhood, parades, merchant cooperation, civic celebrations and other exploitation is being arranged. The Downtown Brooklyn group, headed by Ben Simon of Loew's Metropolitan, chairman, and Solly Schwartz of the RKO Albee, secretary, will start its campaign with a midnight supper at the Towers Hotel next Wednesday. A big celebration !s planned, with Borough President Ingersoll heading the list of notables cooperating. Pledge $2,400 in Omaha Omaha, Aug. 25. — A preliminary check shows that 80 exhibitors in the Omaha territory have pledged $2,400 to the Motion Pictures' Greatest Year drive, exclusive of 45 circuit houses. The list includes Nebraska, South Dakota and Iowa exhibitors and indications point to favorable support from many others yet to sign. Exhibitors are being contacted by C. E. Williams and D. V. McLucas. N. E. Showmen Attend Talk By Franklin Boston, Aug. 25. — Harold B. Franklin, business manager of the Motion Pictures' Greatest Year drive, today told 60 New England exhibitors at the Hotel Statler that if the drive is successful, it may become a permanent industry setup, an idea indicated by George J. Schaefer, head of the drive, some time ago. Mr. Franklin also declared that a similar contest may be a part of next year's "Fiftieth Anniversary of the Motion Picture." Levenson Chairman M. L. Levenson, circuit owner and divisional drive chairman, presided, and strongly favored the drive. He is first vice-president of Independent Exhibitors, Inc., Allied affiliate, which still declines to back the drive as a unit. The first contributor today was Herman Rifkin, a member of the Allied organization and owner of the New England franchise for Republic, whose product is not included in the "Movie Quiz" plan. Charles Koerner, RKO division manager, had a suggestion to do away with the sale of answer sheets and their possible harm in keeping contestants from films. He suggested entries be accompanied by 30 ticket stubs. "I wish we'd thought of that before," Mr. Franklin said. "It's too late to use now. We'll certainly consider it for next time." Bird, Brunk Take Lead Oklahoma City, Aug. 25. — Jim Bird, salesman for Loew's and Sam Brunk, booker for the Paramount exchange, are reported to be in the lead for the $200 cash prize offered by L. C. Griffith, president of the Griffith Amusement Co., to the three salesmen obtaining the most subscriptions from Oklahoma independent exhibitors to the national $1,000,000 ad campaign. Ray Higdon, National Screen Service, is in charge of the drive for Oklahoma with Morris Loewenstein, president of the Oklahoma Theatre Owners, Inc., serving as treasurer. Posthumous A letter from Capt. Frank Hawks, flyer who was killed last Tuesday in a flight, was received the following day by the headquarters of the industry's promotion drive. In the letter Capt. Hawks praised the industry's efforts to present "good clean entertainment" and urged that somethins: be done to eliminate double bills and giveaways. The letter was postmarked at Buffalo at the hour of his death. ;