The Exhibitor (1956)

18 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR as many people in the theatre as possible by any means. So was born the idea of having our local downtown 309-member Rotary Club meet in our theatre. It was arranged so that the Club requested that we allow them to meet in the theatre, and to furnish them a box lunch, which we pre¬ pared in our drive-in confectionary de¬ partment. In addition, they had their choice of cold drink. This was billed to the Club at 95 cents per box. As the members usually pay $1.50 for their meals at the hotel, it was arranged so that the difference of 55 cents would go to the Club project committee, which greatly increased the good will we received. The theatre realized, even at the 95 cent price, our usual profit on the sale of the lunches, which, incidentally, amounted to more than 20 per cent of that entire day’s gross at the box office. In addition, we ran a football short and a Robert Benchley short for the Rotarians, for which they paid us a nice fee. Our theatre regularly opens at 11.00 a.m., so there were a few of our matinee customers in the house at the time of the meeting. However, they were disturbed only to the extent of a three-minute stage announcement by the Rotary president. All in all, it was a most successful stunt — the theatre made a nice profit; and we gained a tremendous amount cf good will among some of the leading men of our community, as well as having some of them in the theatre who had not even attended once since the advent of wide screens. In addition, we received some very fa¬ vorable publicity in the newspapers and in the Rotary Club bulletin in connection with cur having the Club meet in the theatre. What the Club thought of the idea can be gathered from the following quotation from their letter of thanks to the theatre: “. . . The football film and the Benchley short very very good and a happy choice, and the chicken box lunches excellent. I know that the details of putting on such extras in connection with your regular features caused a great deal of work, and we appreciate the thought and effort that you gave to this meeting. It was a most enjoyable hour . . .” RUNNER-UP NUMBER 3 1 "PEPSI-COLA MATINEE' Submitted by J. M. Mahon Orpheum, Prince Albert, Sask., Canada 760 seats • 50 cents top admission Rural and urban patronage. This tieup with the Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company worked fine for us; and, doubt MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR — AWARDS — $100°° Per Week TO THE WINNER OF SHOWMANSHIP SWEEPSTAKES YOU, TOO, CAN COLLECT! SEND YOUR ENTRY IN NOW! less, can be duplicated by other ex¬ hibitors. We used an old Roy Rogers feature and three cartoons for the special show which started at 10 a.m. and with admission six bottle caps from Pepsi-Cola. The first advertising started about three weeks before the show, when it was an¬ nounced in the theatre, and on our regu¬ lar radio advertising. This was continued until playdate. Pepsi-Cola had special coop signs made. These were placed in every drinking fountain in and around the city. The the¬ atre placed these cards on the best loca¬ tions downtown, while Pepsi-Cola covered the outlying districts. The cards men¬ tioned the six bottle caps admission and the special Roy Rogers show. One week prior to the special show, Pepsi-Cola put in a most attractive dis¬ play in our lobby. Prizes, awarded to holders of lucky numbers at the show, were a boy’s and a girl’s wrist watch donated by the theatre; two beautiful dolls donated by Pepsi-Cola; and 26 car¬ tons of Pepsi-Cola also donated by the soft drink company. It was necessary for us to run two complete shows, with the prizes being drawn for after each showing of the western feature. We were full at 9.45 a.m. for the first show. We had to turn away about 200 kids who could not get in for the second show. In all there were around 1,600 kids in the theatre for the two shows. The kids liked Roy Rogers so much, that we decided to replace some of cur regular matinees with Roy Rogers fea¬ tures and just recently played the first one to a capacity house. RUNNER-UP NUMBER 4 DISC JOCKEY SHOW Submitted by Otto Settele Seemore, Seymour, Wise. 460 seats * 60 cents top admission Small town and rural patronage. With the realization that rock ’n’ roll is the most contagious entertainment trend of the current era we recently jumped on the band wagon. In this campaign we gave nothing away except downright good entertainment, with a special appeal to the teenagers. In promoting a disc jockey to appear on our stage to simulate a radio broad¬ cast, we made the selection with the teenager in mind; and out of necessity we were required to approach one from a neighboring city as our town is too small for a station. Convincing the disc jockey that we would be enlarging his listening audience from our drawing area, he obliged us for a very small fee. Daily radio plugs were received for the theatre playdate gratis for three weeks prior to actual appearance and they were gradually stepped up as the date ap¬ proached. The D.J. made appeals for written requests of favorite recordings, which he, in turn, would play back from the theatre stage on the night of the personal appearance. Fans of the disc jockey were recruited to canvass the grade and high schools for new fans with amazing results. The local newspaper was primed with releases and stories regarding the first of its kind of entertainment in this small Holiday-Pac Plans Package Giveaway New York — Holiday-Pac, a subsidiary of Sales Creators, Inc., has developed a sample package plan for distribution of manufacturers’ product samples in theatres. Initial plans call for tests in New York area theatres. Each female patron en¬ tering participating theatres will receive a free plastic package containing 15 sample size products during a particular time period, four times annually. The package will contain non-competitive items that can be used by all members of a family. Theatres will publicize the Holiday-Pac contents by running a 90-second trailer showing products contained in the pack¬ age fer one week prior to the give-away and during the period the packages are given away. In addition, theatres will display the actual products in their lob¬ bies and use a 40 by 60 inch poster calling attention to the promotion. Contracts are being concluded with several theatre chains comprising 100 the¬ atres in the New York area. The first promotion in planned for January-February. The Holiday-Pac promotion is ex¬ pected to be expanded nationally in the near future. "Chasing Sun" Contest Set New York — A nationwide exploitation contest for theatre managers in the United States and Canada whose theatres will play Warners’ “Chasing The Sun,” a WarnerColor Featurette, has been set with the cooperation of the many Florida state at¬ tractions which highlight the motion pic¬ ture, and many of the Miami Beach Hotels, it was announced by Warners. Contest, which runs from Dec. 1, 1956, through June 15, 1957, will send 15 winning theatre managers and their wives on a two week all-expense paid trip to Florida. Picture was accorded a gala world pre¬ miere in three houses in the Miami area. community; and as a result front page space was allotted the feature. Still other stories announcing the playdate; and a lobby get-together with the disc jockey and fans for autograph signing proved to be a most popular phase of the program. The youngsters almost mobbed the disc jockey. Another highlight of the disc jockey’s program was the distribution of the recordings played to members of the the¬ atre audience, those first requesting the numbers in writing. The feature film attraction for the eve¬ ning was aimed at teenage favor and leceived normal promotion with programs, window cards, etc. with the ad budget not raised at all. All radio plus school contacts, newspaper stories, and fan club activity were free with the satisfying results of a three year house attendance record being rang up on the engagement and use of the balcony required for the first time in three years. The disc jockey was Bob Bandy radio station WAPL. It’s altogether possible that other ex¬ hibitors are overlooking a sure draw by not rounding up a local d.j. for a p.a. in their houses. December 12, 1956