The Exhibitor (1966)

November 16, 1966 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR EX-601 EXPLOITATION November 16, 1966 SECTION THREE Vot. 76, No. 14 ACTUAL PROMOTIONS from the fertile minds of exhibition and dis¬ tribution that can be applied with profit to the theatre situations. This special section Is published every -second-week as a separately bound, saveable service to alt theatre executive subscribers to MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR Each «veabl« current submissions by theatremen and promotion plans from distributors that have originality ana ticket selling force. Exhibitors are invited to submit campaigns onspeeific Pictures i or instttumniM ideas. Add EXPLOITATION to your permanent theatre library. Address all submissions to the Editors of MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR, 317 N. Broad St., Philadelphia, Penna. —19107. Canadians Also Go For "Wrong Box Thanks To Victor Nowes Campaign Cowboys And Indians Frolic For "Texas Across The River" The big feature of the campaign on Uni¬ versal’s “Texas Across the River” at the Cen¬ tury theatres in downtown Buffalo was the hullabaloo, Carl Schaner, managing director, put on for the premiere in that United Artists circuit house recently. On the opening day, there was an exciting parade on the main stem, consisting of cow¬ boys and cowgirls, stagecoaches and swinging Indians. Buffalo city officials, radio and TV personalities and theatre executives rode in the stagecoaches. A herd of cattle led the parade. The city officials gave permission to stage the parade and all its surprises. There was square dancing in front of the theatre and in the lobby, where Indians also put on their tribal steps. !i The premiere was an invitational affair, with bids going to the big shots on the newspapers, in the city regime, on TV and radio. Schaner, in sending out the invitations de¬ clared that attendance of the receivers was conditional on he or she showing up in a west¬ ern outfit of some kind and that there would be prizes for the most striking get ups. Schaner also put on a contest for the paying patrons. He also offered prizes for customers ; who attended dressed as cowboys, cowgirls or Indians. He asked city hall if they would object to attending the premiere in western outfits with the answer being “they loved the idea.” Schaner arranged with a Buffalo brewery to convert the entire Main street lobby into a western saloon, with bar, tables, chairs, piano players, saw dust, swinging doors, dancing girls and all of western wall fixtures. Opening night was covered by newspapers, radio and television and there were interviews in the lobby of local personalities by radio and TV folks. The eight big Cavage record shops used eye-catching window displays in all their establishments. There was a very acceptable tie-up with the local Steak-n-Burger restaurant through which that western decorated food emporium served steer-burgers to everyone attending the premiere. In return for this, their theatre gave the eatery a poster in the lobby. A lot of the action in front of the theatre on opening night, by the way, was furnished by cowboys on horses shooting guns. The bullets were blanks, of course. Schaner arranged with several radio sta¬ tions to play some type of western music and plug the picture in advance of opening-fol¬ lowing each record on their various programs. The stations co-operating on this were those with all-record formats. Schaner made a number of tie-ups with Dean Martin, star of “Texas Across the River” in the form of men’s wear, television, record albums, guns, boots, etc. Horse, carriage, driver, and model pose for a pic¬ ture at the front of the Odeon-Carlton, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, as bally for Columbia's "The Wrong Box." Embassy Has Paperbacks Paperback movie tie-ins are in full swing at Embassy Pictures with two novelizations cur¬ rently on the stands and two additional set for concurrent motion picture release. Now available at book stores are “A Man Called Adam,” starring Sammy Davis, Jr., published by New American Library, and “Picture Mommy Dead,” offered by Lancer Books. Pocketbooks, Inc. will publish the soft-cover version of “The Caper of the Golden Bulls,” while Dell Books has scheduled “The Spy With a Cold Nose.” Model carrying Columbia's "The Wrong Box" is seen coming up the subway stairs on Main Younge Street as a stunt for the Odeon-Carlton, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Victor Nowe, manager, Odeon-Carlton, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, recently put on a bang-up ballyhoo campaign for Columbia s “The Wrong Box.” In his own words, Nowe says: “An unusual and unique street ballyhoo was conducted to attract special attention dur¬ ing the opening week of our engagement. A real British style 18th century carriage was secured for this stunt, complete with a uni¬ formed coachman and a beautiful model by the name of Pat Stewart, who rode around the city in the carriage. She played the part to perfection, and in a most elegant manner Miss Stewart waved and smiled to everyone, as the carriage passed through all the busy downtown streets of Toronto. Miss Stewart was attired in a beautiful Victorian gown of the 18th century with all the lovely shades and colors of that era. She created admirable attention in this carriage promotion. On top of the carriage a 6x3 foot box carried the copy “The Wrong Box” now playing at the Odeon-Carlton starring John Mills, Ralph Richardson, etc. A display card was also used on the back of the carriage. Attractive selling colors were used, making the box in red and deep orange with the letters done in yellow and white. The carriage followed a planned route which was set up in advance, and this included all the main streets in the downtown and midtown area. This very tasteful street stunt captured an extraordinary amount of traffic plus comments from pedestrians and street admirers. To attract extra attention we had the horse and carriage appear at the theatre front at certain times of the day, and this all added to the special promotion of the film. On the opening day we had Bill Cross of C.K.E.Y. radio station on hand to conduct street interviews, and to add extra laughs to the occasion, Cross often placed his micro¬ phone to the horses mouth in a pretended interview. This rented horse and carriage, driver and pretty girl which covered the downtown Toronto area publicizing the film was a real attention getter for the engagement of “The Wrong Box.” The fact that we seldom see a horse and carriage nowadays in Toronto, was in itself the novelty angle which created so much interest. “Another street stunt which we used was a pretty girl carrying a box bearing full credit to the film. Clad in very skimpy attire and travelling by foot in the downtown areas, as well as entering and coming up from the sub¬ way stations, this girl attracted much atten ( Continued on page EX804)