The Exhibitor (1960)

THE PICTURE-It lias plenty of laughs starting with the first frame of the sereen credits right through “THE END. The chuckles yon enjoy during the picture will develop into real laughs when von discuss the niixups after the movie. The east is excellent and the women will love it! Don’t let someone tell von it is too English. All the principal actors are American stars and the little English brogue they use is per¬ fectly in keeping with the setting of the picture. (Give me a gangster picture set in Chicago with actors using cockney English and I will object, too. But not on this one! ) It is sophisticated, cute, AND STRICTLY ADULT! Don’t en¬ courage the kiddies. Although the dialogue is above their heads, the plot is infidelitv . . . and to adults who are watch¬ ing, the actors make no bones about it! BASIC SELLING— LTse all media you can— newspapers, radio, TV, and 24’s, according to what you can afford— and with what the press book has to offer. We will definitely have three or four good scene mats in the newspapers, a TV spot just after “WALT DISNEY PRESENTS” on NBC the Sunday before the picture, and time clocks on the theatre piige outside our regular ads. All these little extras add to the interest and service of vour prospective customers. Proportionately, we spend a lot of money on radio— using two stations— with two day saturation campaigns on the first two days of the picture ( Wednesday-Thursday )— to build up in advance for the lucrative weekends. We use minute spots— starting wdth 30 seconds from the press book records, and then 30 seconds plugging our free parking, the theatre showing the picture, and a quick cross plug for our other top house in towm. Our free parking developed because the local lot owners couldn’t afford to keep them open at nights. But they are walling to rent them to us for a nominal monthlv fee. Maybe your towai has the same problem. One of our lots ( w'e rent two ) accomodates 100 cars and we allow free park-it-yourself serv¬ ice (wath no attendant) every evening after 7 P.M. On busy nights, w^e have an usher who checks the cars to be sure the occupants are movie customers . . . but on slack nights w^e "THE GRASS IS GREENER" TREASURE TREE Did you ever hear of A. FOUR-SIDED TRIANGLE? The trouble with house parties Is...^ou never can tell which parties will end up playing . house ABOVE, one of the amusing pressbook ads on the film taking full advantage of the star power and adult comedy highlights. LEFT, an exciting, action packed lobby display in which lucky members of the audience can win prizes from the treasure tree. BACK of miniature die-cut treasure tree with full pic¬ ture credits, individually numbered; space provid¬ ed for theatre imprint. FRONT of miniature die-cut treasure tree, available FREE in limited quantities. NOTEl Front of treasure tree serves as suggested home¬ made, giant sized replica of lobby display. M.tub yout t rcjisurf Tf« fiumln-T with tht numhsff un the Treasure T'rvc at and win a valuable print Yiuir luckr Numlx’r is C 728X52 don’t care w'ho parks there as there is room for everyone. We feel that the hundreds of cars which use the lot are getting a good dose of “basic advertising”-through the added service we give them. SPECIAL PROMOTIONS BOUNCING MOTH BALLS-This is a fishbowl display which can be used in vour lobbv or in a store wandow' in advance. A teaspoon of citric acid crystals and an ecjual amount of baking soda w'ill make moth balls go up and come down in clear or green (food coloring) waiter for a couple of hours. When the balls stop moving, add more of the same ingredients, and they wall start to “bounce” slowly again. HULA HULA GIRLS-If your local stores don’t carry them, you can get them eight inches high from HULA GIRL— Dept. 221—7471 Melrose, Los Angeles 46, Calif.— price $1.98 each. The idea is to use the girls as advance teasers so the public can waitch the grass grow in their hula skirts . . . before “THE GRASS IS GREENER” at your theatre. BABY PHOTO CONTEST— The opening screen credits are a scream— wath babies in diapers romping all over the place. This introduction lends itself to a contest wath appropriate prizes for baby pictures looking most like the four stars in the picture (when they were babies?). You can award a prize for the best individual star likenesses, or for all four together (in one entry, or both.) How^ever, emphasize this is an ADULT PICTURE. 12 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR December 21, I960