Motion Picture Herald (Apr-Jun 1931)

MOTION PICTURE HERALD May 16, 193 Complete Campaign Was Engineered By Riester For Picture Fifty million stunts seemed to be what George J. Riester, manager of the Palace Theatre in Canton, Ohio, used to plug "Fifty Million French men" when it played the the — — — atre he manages. Here's Riester's campaign: A window tie-up on "latest French creations," secured from a leading shop; a "Special French Frappe" at the leading drug stores and soda fountains; window displays on imported French perfumes; 2,000 imprinted paper bags, furnished by local merchants, and carrying copy, "We Recommend You See (picture);" 2,000 Government postcards containing selling copy on the picture; displays of stills in leading jewelry and luggage shops; as a teaser plug, the staff wore banners, "Fifty Million Frenchmen Is Coming;" a special front display, the tone of which was blue, white and red, and covering the entire front of the theatre; an illuminated shadow box, a week in advance in the foyer, and painted in attractive colors and hand lettered copy; window cards were spotted in the town and in the surrounding countryside; street car card, radio announcement, thirty inserts in frames, placed in downtown stores, music plugs in large stores; special heralds on the film, as well as heralds on "Stolen Jools," the N.V.A. short; automobile hangers; and newspaper space. These completed the campaign. And did the entire thing go over? It did! Despite the fact that the opening day was Easter Sunday, a beautiful Spring afternoon, a day when nearly every auto was on the road, the house was packed. That shows what showmanship will do. Keep it up, George, and keep us posted on the rest of your work. About Uniforms! Full Page Ad Run Weekly By Hepp Is A Profitable Stunt Here's a gag that we believe will interest those showmen who boast newspapers in their towns. We refer to small towns such as Greeley, Neb., which has less than a thous^^^^^^^^■^^■^^ and population, but nevertheless has a fine little newspaper. The page that we are showing is the page ad that is weekly inserted in the local paper. You will notice that it is made up in newspaper style, too. Of the stunt, Jack R. Hepp, of the Idylhour Theatre, says : "Our first page ad appeared about thirty weeks ago and was devoted entirely to the THE TALKIE NEWS 'bj nark"t!;S7s |Long Avvaited Picture Brought lostreeni Starts Hcre Sunday exploitation of 'Dixiana.' The ad created so much comment that we decided to make it a regular feature. Naturally, as we make three changes each week, the future ads carried copy pertaining to all of the programs for the coming week. The success of the venture was apparent from the first. It appeals particularly to the 'fans' as it contains a great deal of material found in the fan magazines sold to the public. "It would first appear that the formation of such an ad each week would entail considerable work on the part of the exhibitor. Such is not the case. The press or campaign books suppHed by the exchanges furnish all of the material used. Scene and star cuts, also supplied by the exchanges, are used to spot the sheet. In preparing the copy general 'review' plug is cHpped from the press books for each of the programs offered. Of course, it will be necessary to rewrite the heads to meet the individual type requirements of the nevvspaper. Several small 'interest' stories of the stars or production are used for each program to fill the balance of the page. All of the clipped material is pasted on copy paper and submitted to the composing room foreman. After the type matter is set and the cuts cast and the page ready for makeup, we go to the composing room and personally superintend the layout. "In our case the ad always appears as page three of the newspaper. It has come to be a standard feature and is eagerly read. The ad has created considerable comment in this section of the country and several neighboring exhibitors have announced their intention of adopting the idea." Mr. Hepp invites anyone wishing further information of the subject to correspond with him at the Greeley Theatre and he'll be glad to furnish the desired data. We want to thank him for his offer, and we hope that we'll hear from him again. And accept our congratulations on the stunt, Jack. Here is a subject calling for more than passing attention. If you don't believe it, just keep your eyes open the next time you go theatre-visiting. Note, particularly how neat or untidy the ushers' and doorman's uniforms are kept. If you look ancient, sloppy, unpressed or dirty, you can bet your bottom dollar that that's the way the whole theatre is being run. If, on the contrary, you find them new-looking, clean, well pressed and neat, again we say, that's the way the rest of the theatre is being run. Whoever said that a man can be judged by the company he keeps could well afford to add that the manager can be judged by the way his employees look. And that's no fable, either. But don't overlook the fact that just because you spend a lot of dough for beautiful looking and well made uniforms, that the obligation ends there. Nix. Like an automobile, it's not the original cost, it's the upkeep. And ditto for those uniforms. If you don't keep them clean, well pressed and new-looking, they'll go to the dogs in less time than it takes to think it over. Some houses furnish the staff with uniforms and then make them keep those outfits in perfect condition all the time. We can't pass judgment on that scheme because we don't know whether you are giving your boys enough to warrant their paying for pressing and cleaning, but whether they or the theatre foots the bills, those uniforms must be spic and span all the time. And as a closing word to those smaller houses who maintain boys on the floor without any uniforms, may we suggest to you that if the house is worth keeping open it's worth buying a few uniforms for. The cost can be gauged by what you can afford to spend. BABY POPULARITY CONTESTS! As a leader for box-office promotion the old reliable baby popularity contest has few equals in show business and to further prove that it is just as good now as it was some years ago when it was being taken from one town to the other. The Ritz Theatre in Newark, N. J., recently concluded a most profitable and interesting contest of this nature. Over twenty merchants were tied in to the contest and when we tell you that over three hundred entries were received in the first week, you may well understand how popular the gag was going over in Newark. In addition to the marvelous local angle which he engineered and put through, Mr. Stein also secured the backing of the Governor of New Jersey and one of the largest newspapers in Newark. With such a start off it was not surprising that he continued to build up interest until everyone in Newark was talking about this marvelous baby contest. If some of you showmen are looking for a box-office stimulant, and want to get the whole town talking besides giving you an opportunity of lining up an unlimited number of merchants then we heartily recommend that you take a crack at the Baby Popularity Contest and follow it through to a good finish. If you are successful remember many of your brother managers are interested in the details. Pass them along. Atmospheric Front On ''Rango" Clicks For LandersWelker The atmospheric front con ceived and executed by Jin Landers, managing director o the Aztec Theatre in San An! tonio, Texas, and the directo of publicity, "Bud" Welker was effective enough to star a lot of word-of-mouth com , ment circulating on "Rango" — the picture being plugged. The lobby, a week in advance, carried the display which con i sisted of a false ceiling and walls, constructed of lumber anci chicken wire. Laurel twigs and moss were hung on the wire I Tiger cut-outs from the poster paper were fastened to the wire giving the appearance of a tiger emerging from the foliage; ^ Panels of various sizes were hung on the foliage and wire, and carried copy on the picture. The box-office, located in the lobby was covered with green palm leaves, giving it a resemblance of a thatched house. On the playdates, the same decorative scheme was carried out front, with the exception that old tennis and volley ball nets — promoted from the City Recreation Department — were used to string the laurel and moss. About the entrance was placed the four-foot cut-out letters plugging the title. A line, unnoticeable in the photograph, was carried above the title, reading: "Stranger "Than Fiction." Another line, underneath the title stated, "And Ten Times As Thrilhng." Pedestrians could see the sign plainly. Shadow boxes were also placed on both undersides of the marquee. If you'll look closely alongside the letter "O" in "Rango" you'll be able to see one of them. Masks for these shadow boxes are made of used beaverboard. Cut-out letters, backed with vari-colored crepe paper are used. The masks are placed in the lobby as advance cards, and then moved out front during the run of the picture to serve as a shadow boxes. 'VVe are glad to note that Landers is still batting them out, as it has been some time since we have heard of his work. Let's hear from you more often, Jim, as we are sure that you'll have some interesting work to pass along. Gallagher Featured A Variety Of Stunts On "Illicit" Selling With such a variety of stunts as was used by Gerald Gallagher, manager of the Capitol Theatre in Sioux City, la., it was a pretty sure thing that one or the other would hit and =^=^^^^^^=== boost up business on "Illicit." In addition to the routine screen, billboard, lobby and newspaper advertising, Gallagher used 5,000 throwaway cards, each bearing one letter of the title, "ILLICIT." Anyone who collected a complete set of 7 cards, won a free admission to the theatre, but that was difficult, because Gallagher held out on the Cs. On the back side of the card, Gallagher used the following copy: Illicit" means illegal and unlicensed according to the dictionary, but 'Merely being modern' according to the heroine of 'ILLICIT,' the talkie that dares to tell the truth! Capitol, Starts Friday, March 13." A tie-up was made with the wholesaler of a nationally known brand of cigarettes in Sioux City, whereby Gallagher provided him with window streamers that were placed on 125 windows in the city. These streamers were printed on glued paper, and bore the illustration of the star with a cigarette between her fingers. The copy read: "They Both Satisfy! (Blank) Cigarettes and the outspoken talkie, 'ILLICIT.' It dares to tell the truth! Starts Friday, March 13— Capitol." The Classified Advertising Department of the Sioux City Journal sponsored a contest whereby readers were invited to reassemble a jumbled cut into the shape of a wedding ring. This contest was tricky enough so that there were not too many winners. But some of the hardy readers and those perennial devotees of contests made sure that they got their tickets. Which was oke with Gallagher, as it meant word-of-mouth publicity for him.