The Exhibitor (1955)

18 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR 1955-56 SERIES Finalists In Contest No. 18 Nothing Strange About "Stranger" As Varied Bally Efforts Win $100 Philadelphia — First prize in SHOW¬ MANSHIP SWEEPSTAKES Contest this week goes to Ted Davidson, manager, Majestic, Perth Amboy, N. J., for his allembracing campaign on “Not As A Stranger.” The entries this week were in the eyes of the judges well above average, with one judge stating, “All five excellent; hard to pick the best one out of these; nice variety of stunts.” WINNING INTRY NOT AS A STRANGER Submitted by Ted Davidson, manager Majestic, Perth Amboy, N. J. 2,000 seats * 75 cents top admission General patronage. On our campaign tor this film we were fortunate in being able to tiein all the merchants of Perth Amboy on the theme of “You’re Treated As A Friend ‘NOT AS A STRANGER’ When You Shop The Perth Amboy Merchants.” The city gave me permission to pest signs on 200 light poles throughout the downtown area; all salesgirls wore tags made up by the theatre reading: “Wel¬ come to our town ‘NOT AS A STRAN¬ GER.’ Greetings from the great movie at the Majestic Theatre.” A full page co-op ad was run utilizing the catch-line “Treated As A Friend ‘NOT AS A STRANGER’.” The First Bank and Trust Company also ran an ad empha¬ sizing “Fi’iendliness and ‘NOT AS A STRANGER’.” With the cooperation of the local hos¬ pital, caps, gowns and masks were bor¬ rowed for a street bally. Two aides patroled the downtown area with a sign on front of the boy and on the back of the girl giving theati'e, playdate and other credits. The Youth Fashion Shop made a free offer of waterproof panties with the baby’s name imprinted to be given to every child born during the run of the film. In addi¬ tion to a newspaper ad, window signs were used to advertise the fact that gifts would be given to every new baby born. A tiein with the Cotton Shop, exclusive local dealer of the Bob Evans nurses uni¬ forms, a postal card was mailed to every nurse in the area, including Metuchen, South Amboy, Woodbridge and Perth Am¬ boy, advertising the film and also offering a drawing for a complete nurses uniform. Nurses from the Perth Amboy General Hospital and the South Amboy Hospital, about 350 of them, were invited to see the film free of charge the first two days of its engagement. A letter was given to each nurse with a short run-down on the fea¬ ture. Most of the nurses brought a paid admission with them. A complete false front was built, using paper from 24-sheets and six-sheets and from the opening of the boxoffice until closing Frank Sinatra’s recording, “Not As A Stranger” was played continuously. Many other window displays were ob¬ tained, most using an eight foot long by four foot deep strip reading “Welcome •NOT AS A STRANGER’.” Window cards, six-sheets and 24-sheets were distributed in a 10 mile radius of Perth Amboy. RUNNIR-yP NUMBiR 1 CONSISTENT PLUGGING PAYS OFF Submitted by David G. McCoy Beacon, Hopevtrell, Va. 950 seats * 65 cents top admission Small industrial city population. Here’s a promotion minded manager of the only conventional house in a city of 16,000 population, who believes in consistly plugging his product is the only way to reach a pay-off. No matter how small the promotions, he rightly says the important thing is to keep his attractions and his theatre in front of the people as much as possible. Recent stunts involved Walt Disney’s “Lady And The Tramp,” for which he ar¬ ranged with the local recreation depart¬ ment to stage a pet show on opening day. There were over 50 entries. This resulted in several front page newspaper stories and a four-column photo of the winners and judges on the front page of the local paper. We arranged with our local radio station to announce gratis the contest each morning over their program called “Children’s Hour.” The Chief of Police and manager of the Chamber of Com¬ merce acted as judges. We furnished the prizes, a replica of “Lady” and one of “The Tramp.” Passes were also awarded as consolation prizes. The only extra cost tor this promotion was $9.75 for the two dog replicas. For “You’re Never Too Young” a search was conducted for the oldest living per¬ son in the city. Eight prizes were secured from various merchants to be presented to the winner. Considerable gratis news¬ paper space was garnered on this includ¬ ing three front page stories and a front page photograph of the winner. Arrange¬ ments were made with the local paper to photograph and interview the winner for a human interest story, which also ap¬ peared in the newspaper. The only cost to the theatre was a life long pass to the winner. This contest created quite a bit of interest and we had over 20 entries. On the short subject on traffic safety, “Devil Take Us,” we obtained the cooper¬ ation and assistance of our local Police Chief. He was most anxious to help us publicize this subject and went all out in offering his assistance. A private screening was arranged for the School Safety Patrol Emergency Crew and civic clubs. Plenty of gratis newspaper space was garnered and a two column x 10 inch cooperative ad with local insurance firms was ob¬ tained. The Mayor proclaimed a Traffic Safety Week and secured eight gratis plugs over the local radio station. We also had a window display in the shopping center which consisted of a one-sheet and 10 stills. RUNNER-UP NUMBER 2 SELLING IT WITH SNAKES Submitted by Paul Turnbull Downtown, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada 853 seats * 60 cents top admission General patronage. To promote “Cult Of The Cobra” and “Revenge Of The Creature” recently we secured the loan of a real live boa con¬ strictor, a baby four feet long, and put it on show in the theatre auditorium en¬ closed in a lighted cage with front glass panel. This, in itself, caused a commotion, especially on a Monday holiday afternoon, when we needed a special sentry to hold back the lines of youngsters and adults, all of whom were asking questions. However, this was only the beginning. We arranged for a pretty model to be in attendance each evening at the start of November 2, 1955