The Exhibitor (1959)

EX158 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR September 23, 1959 ROOSEVELT JR A CEWA K Come by train, bus or car to America’s Dream Track. Luxury dining in the Cloud Casino and promenade Cafe! Diners' Club member. Res.: Pioneer 6-6000. Daily Double closes 8:15 P. M. do something different tonight! switch to something new for a change ! she deserves a night out and a night 3 1 1 T T to remember! go together tonight! “The South’s lifeline Mobile To Vicksburg had to be cut. Colonel Grierson’s Horse Raiders was picked to do the job.” Also, “Filmed in Mississippi”. We are near to the Mississippi State line. Also, I am sure I am safe in saying we were the first to use the line “Nothing like it since ‘Gone With The Wind’ on this picture. We feel this was one of our greater cam¬ paigns. Having to start with no production materials and improvising our own, with original ideas and promotion of free pub¬ licity, gave us, according to information re¬ ceived, the best grossing run in our territory. “F I § % Mmm mssm § /RA CEWA V" INSTITUTIONAL Come by train, bus or car to America's Dream Track. Luxury dining in the Cloud Casino and __ Promenade Cafe! Diners’ Club member. Res.: Pioneer 6-6000. Daily Double closes 8:15 P. M.. NUMBER 57 pnrmpvpi x \msJt Kasai w lam* I JR A (ZEWA K Come by train, bus or.,car to America's Dream Track. Luxury dining in the Cloud Casino and Promenade Cafe! Diners' Club member. Res.: Pioneer 6-6000. Daily Double closes 8:15 P. M. ironing bored ? do something different tonight! go together tonight! get away from the range for a ROOSEVELT fRA CZEWA v Come by train, bus or car to America’s Dream Track. Luxury dining in the Cloud Casino and Promenade Cafe! Diners' Club member. Res.; Pioneer 6-6000. Daily Double closes 8:15 P. M. This series of ads aimed to appeal to women are being used by the Roosevelt Raceway, Westbury, L.l. Appearing in general news pages as well as society pages in newspapers, the ad program is geared to attracting new faces to the track. Julius Joseph, Jr., vice president, Heineman, Kleinfeld, Shaw and Joseph, Inc., agency for the Raceway, said, "We know from experience that women motivate the men for an evening out, so rather than sell the horses in ads we are attempting to sell the women on going to the track." The idea has possibilities for adaptation for motion picture attendance use and may prove an effective and different type of theatre advertising. H LOBBY DISPLAYS NUMBER 21 “Big Circus” Front for Small Situation THEATRE: Texas, ADDRESS: Texas City, Texas MANAGER: Ken Finlay We created a striped tent effect for our front to sell Allied Artists’ “The Big Circus.” Evans Printing and Poster Company, Dal¬ las, make a red and white striped paper, which we used for the background. This background paper is inexpensive and easy to paste on. It comes in sheets 27 inches x 41 inches with the stripes running lengthwise. The cost is only 10 cents per sheet, minimum order is $2.00. This company also have a “Jungle” background sheet, the same size, which can be used for pictures of that type. Cutouts from 24 -sheets, superimposed, makes a very effective ballyhoo front. The “jungle” paper is a little more expensive . We have found that in these smaller situa¬ tions, such as ours, modern times demands smart looking fronts, and the day of the amateur manager-sign painter is past. The giant clown heads used superimposed on the striped circus paper are available at $3.60 per dozen or 60 cents each from the Southwestern Novelty Company, 380 S. Los Angeles Street, Los Angeles, Cal. These clown heads can also be used for “Toss Ball” game for kids. The theatre staff dressed up in circus char¬ acter costumes and ballyed the attraction outside the theatre and added to the proper atmosphere for the attraction. NUMBER 22 Three Cheers for the Confederacy THEATRE: Downtown, ADDRESS: Mobile, Ala. MANAGER: Joe D. Lyons Our opening day on UA’s “The Horse Soldiers” followed the world premiere by one day; and, as usual, no publicity ma¬ terials were available on such an early date. We made up a display board with cutouts from “She Wore A Yellow Ribbon” to cap¬ ture John Wayne in a Union uniform and “Escape From Fort Bravo” for the William Holden picture in blue of the Union Cavalry. We even used a scene mat from “She Wore A Yellow Ribbon” to tide us over. We ran a small four-line “want ad” asking for Civil War relics to help publicize the picture; and the results were terrific. This led to our arranging with the newspaper for a tie-in ad of considerable size quoting us on the great results received and utilizing a picture which they made of our general man¬ ager standing near a cannon on wheels bearing cut-out letters “Horse Soldiers”. This ad ran in two papers, The Press on Friday and the Register on Sunday. It would be difficult to describe the scope of the lobby display made up of the relics received. They ranged from cannon balls, pistols, money, flags, sabres, rifles, shot-guns, to powder horns. Of course the most atten¬ tion catcher was the cannon on wheels which was used in front of the theatre. Just as opening date arrived some produc¬ tion materials were received which helped us make up our front. We tied the story of the film in with our location. We know this created much local interest and many people came to see the picture due to the ad lines we used such as A Star Comes “Home” THEATRE: Lyric, ADDRESS: Wellingborough, England MANAGER: R. C. Crabb Learning that Bernard Bresslaw, star of the Columbia-Hammer British-made come¬ dy, “The Ugly Duckling” was evacuated to Wellingborough during the war I asked the ABC head office if he could make a personal appearance to coincide with my pre-release booking of the film. This was finally arranged only two days before playdate and I worked the whole thing as a miniature “This Is Your Life.” He visited the house to which he was evacu¬ ated with his parents and was welcomed by the present occupants; the Kilburn School of Dancing, which he attended; and the shoe factory where the special size 13 Italian cut shoes which he wears in the film were made. We also visited his old school; but the big moment came when he met the family with whom he was evacuated and had tea with them in their new home. At his re¬ quest, he also visited the fields where he used to play “cowboy and Indians”; and the local zoo. All these incidents made first class human news stories. After six hours of visiting and autograph signing, he made a personal appearance at the theatre, where he met the chairman of the Wellingborough Council and other dignitaries, the press and some childhood friends. An additional surprise for Bresslaw was discovered. I had located the parents of his leading lady in the film, Jean Muir, who live nearby; and I was able to introduce them. Next it was my turn to be surprised when Bresslaw revealed that his brother had worked at the theatre as a projectionist. So, in honor of the occasion, I persuaded him to project the first reel of his brother’s film. The entire front of the house was dressed with personal appearance posters, etc., and a 15 foot by two foot streamer welcoming Bresslaw back. Eight shop window displays and posters in prominent places rounded off the campaign which only cost $32 and was shared 50/50 with the distributor. Capacity business was enjoyed on opening night and above average business was recorded during the rest of the week. NUMBER 58 “Specialty of the House” THEATRE: Star Drive-In, ADDRESS: Ness City, Kansas MANAGER: Paul Ricketts I understand that every good eating place has a “specialty of the house”; and our theatres and drive-ins are no exception. For years we have ballyhooed Ricketts’ Famous Popcorn in whatever way we could. Our institutional ads in school annuals have fre¬ quently carried just “Ricketts’ Famous Pop¬ corn.” We also do a lot of verbal pushing, including suggesting that anybody who offers a $10 or $20 bill, at the boxoffice should take their change in popcorn. We sometimes get some sly glances suggesting that we may not have all of our marbles; but then a good showman is a little crazy, isn’t he? One (Continued on page EX160)