The Exhibitor (1965)

February 3, 1965 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR EX-651 THE EXHIBITOR'S EXPLOITATION EFFORTS Charlie Murdock, local disc jockey, was given a “Goodbye Charlie” party at the Miami International A import when he set out for California to pick up the clothing worn by the stars in 20th CenturyFox’s “Goodbye Charlie.” When he got back, the clothing was auctioned for the benefit of Variety Children’s Hospital. Shown at the breakfast are Frank Maury, manager, Miracle; and Gordon Spradley, manager, Miami, along with young fans of Murdock. SYDNEY LINDEN, general manager; Jack Berwick, Columbia exploiteer; and E. D. Harris, promotion manager, Herbert Rosener Southern California Theatres, recently staged a most successful merchandising campaign on Columbia’s “World Without Sun” at the Beverly Canon Theatre, Beverly Hills, Cal. All dailies and weeklies carried advance ads, art and publicity stories. (In exchange for movie tickets, sports commentators gave us plugs on TV, radio and FM stations.) U. S. Divers Company, distributors of the AquaLung and other equipment used in the film, sponsored an invitational premiere screen¬ ing at the theatre on a Monday night, ten days before official opening. The guests in¬ cluded the editors and critics from news¬ papers, TV and radio; equipment dealers, leading "skin' divers, naval executives, college instructors, leading photo stores and sports stores, etc. This permitted the word of mouth campaign to get rolling in advance. Young movie, TV and stage performers and female skin divers modeled the aqua-lung tanks, for some leg art, on stage during an inter¬ mission. They also were photographed for the trade papers and the local papers while mingling with the guests in the lobby. Tom Thompson, public relations director of U. S. Divers Company, and skin diving instructor at local colleges, made personal appearances on many sport and deep sea adventure TV shows, showing a short strip out of the film, for discussion with the commentator. He also appeared on the Tom Frandsen KNBC TV show. Frandsen happens to be a top skin diver also, who really gave the film a thorough plug. Bill Burrud also pre-sold the film on his travel and adventure KCPO TV show. The Herald & Examiner ran a special Sun¬ day two-page layout on undersea explora¬ tions, devoting the upper second page to “World Without Sun.” This stirred up plenty of interest in film. This appeared on the Sunday before opening, in the popular Man’s World section, a perfect tie-in with the film’s title. One of the most popular local feature writers, Art Seidenbaum, after seeing the film, ran a special feature exclusive on the front page of Family Section, read by a majority of women as well as men. This was respon¬ sible for the large family trade that patronized the theatre. U. S. Divers Company built a special display at Marineland, one of the most popular tourists attractions in Southern California, showing off their aqua-lung, along with three sheets and play date of film. Young female movie aspirants modeled the aqua¬ lung and passed out literature on film. Book stores displayed books by Jacques Yves Cousteau, film producer and noted scientist, with surrounding stills and theatre play date. U. S. Divers Company printed 20 -thousand $1.00 discount tickets, taking one side for their own ad and dealer imprint. These tickets were supplied to their dealer-retail outlets, sport and camera stores, Navy bases. Tickets good any performance except the week-end. Helped to stimulate mid-week trade. Many student groups from high school, colleges, art centers, etc.; attended, taking advantage of our special group sale prices. All teachers and high school and college students, with proper identification’ were admitted for one dollar at any performance accept week-end nights. This helped our word of mouth cam¬ paign, and brought large crowds of adults who paid regular admission prices. The dis¬ count ticket, once in the hands of people, was practically a “walking billboard.” It carried a lot of selling copy about film, making it a conversation piece. FRANCIS DE ZENGREMAL, Schine’s Hol¬ land, Bellefontaine, Ohio, recently lined up his local Chrysler dealer for his showing of Universal’s “The Lively Set.” The dealer agreed to buy a block of tickets and offer them to the customers who came in to test drive a new 1965 Chrysler, Plymouth, etc. Before his opening, two sports model cars from this dealer were bannered and parked in front of the theatre. “Lively Set” posters made snappy displays for the car dealer’s showroom windows. For a different “Lively Set” tie-in, De Zengremal contacted his local men’s clothier and arranged a nifty mutual promotion. The clothing store agreed to give away a guest ticket with each sweater pur¬ chased; and signs were set up in the store window reading: “As you well know, we out¬ fit ‘The Lively Set.’ Be our guests to see ‘The Lively Set’ at the Schine Holland Theatre . . . etc.” The clothier furnished some sweat¬ ers, shirts, etc., for a lobby display which labeled the store as “outfitters of ‘The Lively Set.’ ” BENE STEIN, Golf Mill, suburban Chicago, Ill., received 486 replies recently to a contest wherein passes were awarded to those naming from a published list the five most popular pictures to play the theatre during the past year. His local Pickwick Newspapers co¬ operated. The five top pictures, listed in the order of their popularity were “How The West Was Won,” “It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World,” “Tom Jones,” “Move Over Darling” and “A Shot In The Dark.” No contestant named correctly the entire five; but winners did name four correctly. Publicity accrued spread over three weeks, and helped inaugu¬ rate the showing of 20th-Fox’s “Goodbye Charlie” at the Golf Mill in the suburbs simultaneously with downtown Chicago. LOU LISS, manager, Town and Country Theatres’ Concord, Miami, Fla., did “great” business with the Saturday and Sunday mat¬ inee attraction, “Little Red Riding Hood,” which was boosted considerably by the visit 'Lord Jim' On Faxfinder Striking color transparencies depicting scenes from “Lord Jim,” a film by Richard Brooks, and information about the American premiere of the Columbia Pictures release make their appearance this week in 26 major New York hotels and terminals through the facilities of the Cue Faxfinder System. Cue Faxfinders are gigantic machines de¬ signed to provide printed information to tourists and travelers on where to go in New York City and how to get there. More than 100 different questions are provided on a broad console and tourists select the information they require by pushing the ap¬ propriate button and receiving a printed card. Located prominently in lobbies, waiting rooms and key meeting points in hotels and terminals, the Cue Faxfinders are engineered to attract the attention of tourists planning their itineraries. The commanding color trans¬ parencies from “Lord Jim” are expected to offer superb continuing exposure through the American premiere of “Lord Jim” at the Loew’s State Theatre on February 25. of Milt Robbins, in the costume of the “Wolf,” to St. Brendan’s Elementary School. This event was duly covered by Raymond Lang, staff reporter of The Guide, whose humorous write-up, accompanied by three photos, garnered seven inches by five columns of space. According to the article, Lang as the “Big Bad Wolf” was almost mobbed by the children and escaped “by the skin of his teeth.” GEORGE KILPATRICK, manager, Schlanger Theatres’ Cinema I, Springfield, Pa., re¬ cently garnered a nice photograph in his local newspaper, The News of Delaware County, of his revival of an old stunt used on Para¬ mount’s “The Disorderly Orderly” and Amer¬ ican International’s “Pajama Party” that of having several employees trying to make a purchase in the new S. Klein store in Marple Township with a $500 bill. Their transporta¬ tion to the store was by a bannered promoted Dodge convertible, which attracted plenty of attention on busy Baltimore Pike on a Satur¬ day afternoon. The car was parked in front of I. Klein’s for one hour and was seen by thousands of people.