The Exhibitor (1962)

EX-422 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR June 27, 1962 Herbert I. Brown, manager, Eckel, Syracuse, N. Y., in an arrange recently. Live stock and food exhibits, the appearance of Mar ment with the New York State Fair Committee, held a miniature garet Bruening, of Rochester, State Fair Queen; and the use of State Fair to bally his engagement of 20th-Fox's "State Fair" State Fair trams helped bally the show. _ puppies. This was covered by TV and went out in two programs. Four full window displays were obtained in the most important fashion store in the county who for the first time ran a compe¬ tition with us and presented Pongo Punchos as prizes. On the opening night we staged the pre¬ sentation of prizes to the Floral Queen on the stage by the Lord and Lady Mayoress. This enabled us to have a guard of honor of Sea Cadets outside the theatre. In return for this cooperation we were given space at the Floral Fete which was attended by 32,000 people and would normally have cost us $280. Three Dalmatian puppies were on display in the foyer every night of play week. A receptionist wore a Dalmatian costume, trav¬ eled the city by bus, visited the fete and was on hand to add color at all suitable occasions. THE NEW 1962 “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 a Board of Judges for their individual study and their personal choice of the BEST THREE. A minimum of $30000 IN PRIZES will be awarded to the three “SHOWMEN OF-THE-YEAR” so selected. Alert showmen, interested in the international distinction 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, 317 N. Broad Street, Philadelphia 7, Penna NUMBER G23 A State Fair For “State Fair” THEATRE: Eckel, ADDRESS: Syracuse, N. Y. MANAGER: Herbert I. Brown For our engagement of 20th-Fox’s “State Fair” we went “all out” and tried to do some¬ thing just a little different to create some excitement in downtown Syracuse and garner as much publicity as possible. We obtained permission from the city, after arrangements were made with the owner of the building across from the theatre, to hang a four feet x 25 ft. banner across E. Fay¬ ette Street, one of the main downtown thoroughfares. Of course, the banner carried “State Fair” copy, starting date, etc. Advance newspaper publicity and photo coverage was great and we arranged a tele¬ phone interview between Pamela Tiffin and the Her aidJournal drama critic and a word for word reprise of it was published in that paper along with a picture of Pamela Tiffin. We contacted the New York State Fair Committee, which has its headquarters in this city, and arranged for a personal appearance of the current State Fair Queen, Miss Mar¬ garet Bruening, of Rochester, for our opening day activities. She appeared, bedecked in her beautiful white “Queen Gown” and was as charming a hostess as one could ask for. We also arranged with the State Fair Com¬ mittee to use one of their so-called “trams” in advance of opening date, as well as opening day. The tram may best be described as a small trolley car; and was drawn all through the business section and various shopping areas by a tractor. Of course, it was appropri¬ ately bannered, and on opening day the copy was changed inviting people for free rides to the theatre to see “State Fair” etc. Addition¬ ally, on opening day the State Fair Queen rode the tram on two or three of its runs. Perhaps, the most interesting and produc¬ tive phase of the campaign from the stand¬ point of publicity, was a “miniature State Fair” which was held on the sidewalks in the area surrounding the theatre itself. This con¬ sisted of exhibits and displays put on by such organizations as the 4-H Clubs, the Grange, Boy Scouts, etc. International Harvester Com¬ pany furnished a tractor which commanded considerable attention, and the highlight of the displays was a two week old calf, which attracted considerable attention, especially that of the youngsters. Incidentally, a picture of the State Fair Queen feeding the calf earned us a three-column cut in the HeraldJournal. The local Bond Bread Company has a modi¬ fied portable merry-go-round which was also set up in the theatre area for free rides for the children. This too, as you might guess, was a favorite with the children. Arrangements were made with a suburban amusement park to give away 500 tickets which could be used for free rides at any time. A tie-up was made with a florist who set up plants along the curb line which added considerable color to the whole over-all image of the fair. Music from the “State Fair” album was played over a public address system and all in all the effort drew many people to the street and especially to the immediate area of the theatre and evoked wonderful com¬ ments from everyone. A great deal of publicity was obtained in the preparation of the Fair in that the various organizations sent letters to their respective SAVE ... these EXPLOITATION sections! Specially Numbered, Classified, Indexed and Punched for Filing, they will prove to be an encyclopedia of useable exploitation stunts. A standard 10 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 Include* (hipping coats. Cash with order, or C.O.D.) MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR BOOK SHOP 317 N. Broad Street Philadelphia 7, Penna.