Motion Picture Herald (Apr-Jun 1931)

60 MOTION PICTURE HERALD June 6 . 19 3 1 Goodwin Paves Way To Double Truck By Preview Performance Fortune finally smiled on Manager J. Goodwin, of the Ritz Theatre. He got a break with a newspaper. No, it isn't the first break he has had with a newspaper, but it was the first with the Scrantop Republican. The advertising staff of the Republican, together with advertising heads of various mercantile firms, were invited to a special preview screening of "It Pays to Advertise." The result of the preview screening resulted in the newspaper selling a double-page truck to the merchants on "It Pays to Advertise."' This double broke on morning of opening day of picture, and as this was the first double truck in over a year in the town of Scranton, it was only natural that Goodwin should feel highly elated. The double truck was mounted on a special 33 inch by 60 inch art panel with the top line reading: "THESE SCRANTON MERCHANTS SAY." And at the bottom appeared: "READ THE ABOVE ADVERTISEMENTS CAREFULLY— GREAT VALUES AWAIT YOU." This was displayed in a prominent position in the lobby during the week's engagement of picture. Magazzu Uses Full Page Co-Operative Plug On 'Big Money' Pete Magazzu of the Grbnd Theatre, Hazleton, Pa., got an excellent full-page layout of cooperative ads that greatly helped to publicize "Big Aloney." As staged in one of the ads, ==^=;i^i;;=^^^^.^^^= "Big Money doesn't necessarily mean that you need big money to share in the wonderful values that these merchants are now offering. No, indeed, you don't need big money, and what's more, your dollar will do double duty in many instances. Read these ads carefully." Practically every ad tied up with the title of the picture in one form or another and also carried stills from the picture. The main theatre ad occupied the center of the page and every merchant who advertised offered some special inducement whereby a savings would be made on the purchase of some particular merchandise. CLUB PIN!!! Use This Blank: Managers' Round Table Club 1790 Broadway, New York Kindly send me, postpaid, Club pins, for which I enclose payment at $1.00 per pin. Name of Member Theatre Address City State Kandy Kisses Prove A Very Sweet Morsel For Wally Caldwell Catering to the sweet-toothed citizens in his town was the means used by Wally Caldwell, manager of Loew's Valentine Theatre, Toledo, Ohio, when exploiting "Strangers May ;=^^:^i;=^^i;=i^;^^i=^^^= Kiss." With the aid of his capable usher staff, Wally literally flooded the city with candy kisses and he tells the Club that the men and boys — and girls, too — went for these kisses in a great big way. Each smacker was dennison tagged as follows : "Here's a genuine kiss from Norma Shearer. Don't miss her Greatest Picture, 'Strangers May Kiss.' Robert Montgomery and Star Cast. Loew's Valentine— Now Showing." The girls were stationed at principal street intersections or any place where circulation of foot or vehicle traffic was thickest. As Caldwell tells the Club, the stunt proved an excellent means of creating a live interest in the picture, with an additional value of publicity for the theatre, and he heartily recommends use of it to his brother showmen. Well, Wally, the Club opines that candy kisses will meet with lots of approval in practically every town so it's a tip to some of you other fellows to equip your ushers as per the reproduced cut and cash in the same way Wally did. Thanks for sending the photos, Wally, and be sure to let us hear from you again in the near future. Remember us to all Club members in your town. Old Round Tabler Whyte Active Again Down On Long Island Way back in the days when the Round Table was about as big as a dime, and the membership proportionately as large, one of the good old stand-bys was W. A. Whyte, then located in a suburban theatre at Hartford, Conn. Today, we find Whyte show-selling on all 12 cylinders at the Capitol Theatre, Riverhead, L. I., and not many miles away from another good old Connecticut showman, Charlie Maxfield. Whyte, we should explain at this time, has not been active on the Club pages for a while, chiefly due to his getting accustomed to new surroundings and supervising the renovation of the theatre. But with that job completed, he took a well-earned vacation and trotted back to Connecticut to see whether everything was going along all right there. Getting back on the job found him chock-full of pep and the very first thing he engineered was a big dollar day campaign whereby every merchant in the town was solidly behind the theatre and the gag. In addition to an elaborate street parade which included a calliope and two clowns for the event, he sponsored the decoration of the entire town and Main Street to make the entire affair a gala occasion. This street parade was particularly good, consisting of floats representing practically all of the merchants, and Whyte took advantage of the fact that he was playing "Fighting Caravans" that day, and gave as his entry a covered wagon that carried copy on the banners which plugged the theatre and the show. For an usual ballyhoo in front of the theatre he erected a cage with black window-shades to plug the "Bat Whispers" and the copy on the shade when they were drawn to the bottom of the cage advised the passersby to "Sh-h-h-h— The Bat Whispers." The idea was when a sufficient number of people gathered around to peek in a chap on the inside dressed in black hood would let the shades fly up with a bang and jump on the bars screaming. Undoubtedly this attracted plenty of attention and gave Riverhead something to talk about theatrically. Let's hear some more of your interesting activities, Whyte, and be sure to remember us to Maxfield and the rest of the boys out Long Island way. With the advent of summer we know that the east end of the Island will soon be humming with a flock of summer residents and therefore are aware that you are going to be real busy. But take off enough time to keep the Club informed.