The Exhibitor (1955)

20 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR space alone resulted from this campaign. The stunt stopped traffic, had would-be “safe-crackers” lined up for five days, and was good for a human-interest story in the hard-to-crack, circulation-heavy Pittsburgh Press, as well as an advance in the equally potent Sun-Telegraph. A special screening was held for police, including trainees, detectives, uniformed men and officials — plus, of course, news¬ paper reporters. The picture was stopped just before the disclosure of the identity of the “thief” and Pittsburgh’s “finest” were invited to guess “who-dun-it.” Re¬ sult? Most unusual and gratifying. A story in each of the three dailies. In addition, there was an advance story in the SunTelegraph’s theatrical column, all adding up to important coverage. For street bally, a costumed French “gendarme” covered the downtown sec¬ tion with a sign on his back plugging the picture. He also gave out “lucky num¬ ber” heralds. Winning numbers were posted at the boxoffice and were good for 24 jewelry prizes, with a total value of $100, and including lighters and com¬ pacts promoted from the same firm that tied -in for the safe jackpot. Passes were also awarded. This brought shoppers to the boxoffice in droves. An effective use of the old gag “No one seated during the last five minutes” etc. caused considerable comment. These exploitation items were in addi¬ tion to a comprehensive regular adver¬ tising and publicity campaign; and all combined resulted in the picture being held over for a second week. The stunts are obviously for any picture of similar nature and for this purpose should be filed away for future use by SHOWMAN¬ SHIP SWEEPSTAKES readers. mnum^up NOMiiR 3 NORTH BAY BEAUTY CONTEST Submitted by R. Harvey Capitol, North Bay, Ontario, Canada 1400 seats * 85 cents top admission Rural patronage. This was the first beauty contest ever held in North Bay. The theatre tried for several weeks to get it going but as man¬ ager R. Harvey states, “I couldn’t get any one or any club interested, so I just had to go out on my own, and, boy, it was really tough going until I got a hold of the Mayor. He really gave me a terrific cooperation and helped in getting it moving by going to our local paper and giving them a story he wanted published and we were then able to get the big city paper, Toronto Daily Star, which is 230 miles south of us, to carry a front page spread on the second section. I never thought it could be done.” Once things got moving newspaper publicity was plentiful; we sold tieup ads to the local jeweler, beauty parlor, a restaurant, a souvenir shop, and a furni¬ ture store. A lobby display was made up of pic¬ tures of contestants and gifts to be given to the winners. Radio Station CFCH had the two win¬ ners and myself on the air with an inter¬ view for 15 minutes after the contest was over and all stores donating gifts gave mention of the contest on their radio time. An example of publicity received in the local paper and a big help in rounding up contestants was the following which appeared 10 days in advance of the con¬ test: “Are North Bay girls tco bashful? And are they going to let Mayor M. E. Dickerson down? The Mayor has claimed on several occasions that North Bay has more beautiful girls per capita than any other city in Canada. Here is a chance to prove that we have at least one beautiful girl, and so far, not one girl has come forth. A Miss Northern Ontraio pageant is being held at Timmins at the end of this month and not one girl has volunteered to uphold the honor of the city. Girls from across Northern Ontario will com¬ pete, but North Bay, the city of beautiful women, won’t have an entry, unless, of course, one or more girls enter the con¬ test now. They can do so by contacting Bob Harvey, manager, Capitol. If more than one North Bay entry is received, a panel of selected judges will choose the contestant at the Capitol, North Bay. The girls will wear evening gowns for the contest. The winner will go to Timmins to compete in the Northern Ontario Beauty Pageant, and the winner of the pageant will be awarded $1,500 cash and other merchandise prizes.” NUMBEi 4 BACK TO SCHOOL FASHION SHOW Submitted by Bill Burke Capitol, Brantford, Ont., Canada 1618 seats * 85 cents top adult admission Small city patronage. This promotion was made with the local radio station, CKPC, which sold the idea to five merchants, boys and girls clothing, shoes, hair styles, and a florist for stage decorating. The fashion show was held on the third day of the engagement of “Love Me Or Leave Me,” at both matinee and evening Continued on paqe 21 While $100.00-per-week will be awarded each andt> every week throughout the year by the SHOWMAh^l SHIP SWEEPSTAKES editors, certain film distrilbutctfS ’> from time to time will post additional OISTRIBIIfQ^ CASH PRIZES of $250.00 to $1,000.00, in order ! locus attention on o particular picture. Such DISTRIBUTOR CASH PRIZES must be.pVsted a perioa of 26 weekly issues, and if not won Witt:: be withdrawn. To qoolify for a DISTRIBUTOR CASH ^ PRIZE, a promotional stunt or campaign, iii .:^wllb&'>' the particular picture U the center of interest,: mutt' ^ win o MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR $1«),00 WeoMy DISTRIBUTOR CASH PRIZ! il EFFECT as paramount (This Prize Offer expire 'IIBUO I^TUI^ COrI. iHE las^-:cc»^ Prize Offi^" MO 5500®^ The Treasi his Prize Off November 16, 1955