The Exhibitor (1959)

August 12, 1959 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR EX149 SECTION THREE AUGUST 12, 1959 voi. 62 no. m CIVIC-CLUBS NUMBER 29 Ties Hospital Pic in With Hospital Aid THEATRE: Gaumont, ADDRESS: Falkirk, Scotland MANAGER: Anthony W. F. Wall Since British Lion’s “Behind The Mask” is set in a hospital I worked on this angle and also contacted the local blood tranfusion unit with a request to cooperate. This they gladly did. With their posters and material borrowed from a hospital, I constructed a real eye¬ catching foyer display. All the equipment was authentic and a brother manager loaned me a dummy which I needed for added effect. I had special sheets with spaces for 25 names printed so that patrons might take up the invitation to become blood donors. I also called upon the matron of the Fal¬ kirk and District Royal Infirmary to seek her cooperation; and in return arranged for the leaflets for her nurse recruiting campaign to be distributed at the theatre. I sent 25 personal letters to doctors and peo¬ ple connected with the medical profession and to homes and hospitals in the area. These resulted in five block bookings. The campaign was rounded off with win¬ dow displays and two competitions in the local press for which I promoted prizes from the Rank Theatres head office. B KIDS' MATINEES NUMBER 40 Newspaper Carriers-“Hercules” Tieup THEATRE: RKO Keith’s, ADDRESS: Syracuse, N. Y. MANAGER: S. L. Sorkin For the Warners release “Hercules” we effected a tieup with the Post Standard news¬ paper circulation department. The paper printed up at their own cost 5,000 heralds which were distributed by their carrier boys to every potential subscriber. One ticket to see the film was offered as a bonus for each new 13 -week daily or Sunday sub¬ scription. The Post Standard sent four carrier boys and a photographer over to the theatre. A picture was taken of our immense “Hercules” lobby display cut-out with these boys. This photo broke on the Sunday before the pic¬ ture opened in one of the best possible spots in the paper. In addition, both papers gave us extra space beyond what we normally receive, measuring at least 2,300 free lines. In a tieup with Dell Publishing Company, they distributed “Hercules” comic books to their dealers and we made up cards and placed them around the displays in drug stores and newspaper stands. We also re¬ ceived the use of their delivery trucks and posted a one sheet on both sides of them, EXPLOITATION ACTUAL PROMOTIONS, accomplished by Experienced Theatremen, that can be applied with profit to many other Theatre Situations . This special section is published every -secondweek as a separately bound saveable service to all theatre executive subscribers to MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR. Each such cumulatively numbered saveable section represents current submissions that have been judged by the Editorial Board as having the originality and ticket selling force to warrant placement in the 1958 SHOWMEN OF THE YEAR CONTEST (explanation elsewhere). It is recommended that theatremen save complete annual consecutively numbered files ef these EXPLOITATION sections, and on the last page of each issue will be found a complete cumulative index for the preceding 12 months. Address all communications and submissions to the Editors of MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR, 246-48 N. Clarion St., Philadelphia 7, Pa. Individual ACHIEVEMENT CITATIONS have been issued tor each of these: Theatre-TV tieup on MGM's "The Mysterians," staged by Edward F. Meade, Shea's Buffalo and WGR-TV, resulted in this chartered bus load of teenagers attending a showing of the film at the theatre and a telecast of the stunt on the station's news round-up. We set up stills and 22x28’s in the windows and inside the stores of seven big music stores in town. They displayed their RCA Victor recording of the “Hercules” theme song. Disc jockeys were supplied with this record and they gave us the widest possi¬ ble number of record plays. Displays were made up for the main public library and six branches. Each had a counter display where the books were checked in and a display at the bulletin boards which are in the entrance-ways to the public libraries. At the theatre, a special display was set up at the curb in front. This was an eight foot “Hercules” mounted on a still board and was put out daily and brought in at the close of the show every night to prevent it from disappearing. Four foot three dimensional block letters of “Hercules” were hung from the marquee at the curb. We posted paper on this show in excellent spots for good coverage using three sheets, six sheets and 24-sheets. What better way to exploit Allied Artists' "The Big Circus" than with this clown contest for small fry staged recently by Frank Boyle, Fitchburg, Fitchburg, Mass. NUMBER 41 A TV Tiein Gets Teen Agers THEATRE: Shea’s Buffalo, ADDRESS: Buffalo, N. Y. MANAGER: Edward F. Meade We staged a highly successful theatre-TV promotion for MGM’s “The Mysterians.” Station WGR-TV, local NBC outlet, has a very popular Saturday afternoon show called Pat Fagan’s Dance Party, ala Dick Clark. It has been on the air for the past two years and has a waiting list of youngsters anxious to get on the show. We arranged with Fagan to plug “The Mysterians” several times during his show. Hammond’s Guide to the Exploration of Space, with complete information chart of the solar system in full color, was bought by the theatre and distributed to erstwhile scientists in attendance. The colorful map was opened and shown in detail. A local transit company bus was chartered and the kids invited to be guests of Fagan to see the movie immediately following the telecast. The station went for the stunt hook, line and sinker, assigning a newsreel cameraman to cover the event, showing the bannered bus reading: “WRG-TV Channel Two TV Dance Party With Pat Fagan Is Going To See “The Mysterians” at Shea’s Buffalo.” Films of the party were shown the same night on the station’s 11 o’clock news round¬ up. NUMBER 42 Midsummer Hallowe’en THEATRE: Fitchburg, ADDRESS: Fitchburg, Mass. MANAGER: Frank Boyle Here’s little stunt that cost us practically nothing, was very little work, but it landed us on page one of The Fitchburg Sentinal with a four column picture; and was a ter¬ rific street ballyhoo. It livened up the front on opening day and caused a lot of talk around town. We really couldn’t have done much more with a $1,000 budget. We invited all kids in clown costumes to see the first show of Allied Artists’ “The Big Circus” as our guests and promised prizes for the best costumes. About 100 showed up in all, many arriving long before the show started. We lighted up during the first show and had all the clowns come to the stage where we picked the winners by applause. Prizes were tickets to see “Darby O’Gill and The Little People,” an upcoming show which, of course, netted an extra plug. We posted the circus-y six-sheets out front and bedecked the marquee with pen¬ nants for ‘big top’ atmosphere. The news¬ paper plugs started five days in advance in conjunction with television plugs timed with the Boston opening to let ’em know they could see “The Big Circus” right in the old home town. The kids had a lot of fun and so did we and we sold quite a few extra tickets. SAVE THESE EXPLOITATION SECTIONS FOR A PERMANENT RECORD!