The Exhibitor (1959)

February 11, 1959 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR EX99 DO IT YOURSELF! This is a runner-up entry in last year’s MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR’S SHOW¬ MANSHIP SWEEPSTAKES in which the publication paid out $5,000 in awards. These entries were judged as outstanding by a panel of experienced theatremen. They can be readily adapted on a “do it yourself” basis by you for your theatre. If you didn’t save them originally — do so now! Paul Hampton, right, one of the stars of Columbia's "Senior Prom," is seen being interviewed recently in the lobby of the Pilgrim, Boston, as part of the promotion campaign. The two girls and the oversize record served in a street ballyhoo. and United Artists’ “The Vikings.” We ac¬ centuated the new, convenient appointments brought about by our remodeling. Congratu¬ latory ads sold the reopening, the new ap¬ pointments as well as the movie, and at the same time the sponsor of the ad received more benefit than usual out of this type ad. We had an unusual radio promotion “The 300 Block Merchants Salute The State Re¬ opening” in cooperation with radio station KELO — paid for by 17 merchants. We used a variety of mediums and covered our town, the rural area and the surrounding small communities. A portion of the campaign was beamed to the Scandinavian population as well as the younger element. In brief, old fashioned showmanship was used to sell the new fashioned State; and at very little cost. Our reopening was set on a holiday, so the town’s parking meters were posted with cards reading: “Park Free. Today’s a holi¬ day. It’s the grand opening of the new fash THE NEW 1959 “Showman-of-the-Year” CONTEST Each individual achievement, selected by the Editorial Board and published in this every-second-week EXPLOITATION Sec¬ tion of MOTION PICTURE EXHIBI¬ TOR, will receive an Achievement Cita¬ tion. Five by the same showman published in any one year will receive a SILVER Achievement Citation. And, should any showman ever accomplish ten in the same year, a GOLD Achievement Citation will be awarded. No weekly or monthly prizes will accompany such citations. At each year’s end, all such published achievements will be submitted to the “COMMITTEE OF 100” theatre circuit executives for their individual study and their personal choice of the BEST FIVE. A minimum of $100000 IN PRIZES will be awarded to the five “SHOWMENOF-THE-YEAR so selected. Alert show¬ men, interested in the international dis¬ tinction to be gained from such awards, will recognize that an advantage lies in winning repeated individual published achievements. Address all submissions and photographs to: GEORGE F. NONAMAKER, Feature Editor, MOTION PIC¬ TURE EXHIBITOR, 246-48 N. Clarion Street, Philadelphia 7, Penna. BANK DAYS Submitted by W. E. Danelz Border, Elmore, Minn. 280 seats • 50 cents top admission Small town and rural patronage. Out here in this little town of 1,200 popula¬ tion theatreman W. E. Danelz came up with an idea worked with the local merchants to stimulate business in the theatre on Saturday nights and bring people into the town to trade. The theatre, in conjunction with 40 mer¬ chants, run a deal on Saturday nights very similar to the old theatre “Bank Night.” People go to any of the town merchants or the theatre and register ONCE on cards printed up for the purpose. The number they receive and all the other numbers are placed in a barrel and the name corresponding to the number is placed in 41 sealed envelopes. These envelopes are distributed to each of the participating business places right after supper Saturday night. At nine o’clock Satur¬ day night the fire siren blows and each merchant announces the name in his business place. If the person whose name is announced is in any one of these 41 business places he, or she, wins the weekly prize. The stores all display a paper poster in their windows reading: “This store is a mem¬ ber of Elmore Bank Days 9 p.m. $50.00. Register Now at any of the participating business places. Registrants must be 16 years of age or over to be eligible. One registration is good for the entire drawing. To win, you must be present in any one of the participat¬ ing business places displaying this poster, at 9.00 p.m. every Saturday. Winners will be announced in all the member business places.” These window sheets measure 8V2 inches x 11 inches and are printed black on yellow paper. Space for the write-in of the amount in crayon is left blank. ioned State Theatre. Now Showing. “The Vik¬ ings.” A Scandinavian attired miss delivered a king sized invitation to the Mayor in his office at City Hall. Danelz says “We started out with a $35 jackpot, and $10 was added each week until somebody won. “Instead of using real money for the prize, we use “Elmore Lucky Bucks,” which can be traded out dollar for dollar in any of the participating business places. With all types of businesses represented in Elmore, the win¬ ner can buy anything from movie tickets to dental work. There is a time limit set on the validity of this bogus money, usually two months ahead, so the winner has at least a couple of months in which to spend his win¬ nings. In this way, the money is spent at home and not in some other town. “I have made a deal with the banker so that when this money comes back to the merchants, they just deposit it in the bank along with their regular deposit, and when the bank gets a hundred bucks or so, it goes to the paymaster of the Bank Night committee and gets a check for the amount of Lucky Bucks he has taken in. This makes it easy for the merchants, when the money comes into him it is just like regular cash. “Each of the merchants pays $6.00 per month to be in on this gimmick, and we pay a lady in town $10 per month to file the registration slips, distribute the sealed en¬ velopes and posters each week. “Since we started this last fall, we in the theatre have had three winners and it has increased our Saturday night business about 20 per cent. People seem to feel that the theatre is a good place to be at nine o’clock to wait for the announcing of the winner. “We started this deal to be run three months before Christmas to urge holiday shoppers to trade in Elmore and to help the theatre during the slack holiday season, and all the merchants were so enthusiastic about it we kept it going after the first of the year. To date it looks like it will run on indefi¬ nitely.” The day before opening we arranged with radio station KSOO to insert a special tag line regarding our opening in their mid-day news bulletin, which is distributed on every (Continued on page EX100 ) SAVE... these EXPLOITATION sections! Specially Numbered, Classified, Indexed and Punched for Filing, they will prove +0 be an encyclopedia of useable exploitation stunts. © A standard 10y2" x 123A" Ring Binder can be purchased locally, or the sturdy 3-ring Service-Kit Binder capable of holding two full years of data is available to Subscribers for $ 1.50 each. (Price includes shipping costs. Cash with order, or C.O.D.) MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR BOOK SHOP 246-48 N. Clarion Street Philadelphia 7, Penna.