Motion Picture Herald (Apr-Jun 1931)

June 2 7, 1931 MOTION PICTURE HERALD 69 Live Baby Gag Goes Over For Russ Rose On "Lottery Bride'' His mind eased with the receipt of the print on "Lottery Bride" just in time for the show ( Oh, no ! managers do not have any worries), Russell Rose, manager of the Strand Theatre, Reading, Pa., relaxes for a few moments to let us know how he sold this picture in his town. Russell opined that the title was a natural for a live baby giveaway and immediately got under way with the idea. Here's the letter he sent out, 10,000 of them: Dear Madam : An outstanding event in theatrical history will take place on the stage of the Strand Theatre, Tuesday evening, April 21, 1931, at 9 P. M. This is such an extraordinary event that we feel the urge to talk to talk about it. A cute little baby will be given away to some person, a baby that is homeless, motherless and in dire need of a home. Attend the Strand Theatre Tuesday evening and see Joe E. Brown in "The Lottery Bride" and you may be the lucky person to take home this real live baby. Very truly vours, RUSS ROSE, Manager. Believe it or not. Russ states, it had black hair. The rest of the campaign, after mailing out the letters, consisted of stage announcements, use of a trailer, the placing of 100 window cards and a corking write-up in the "Loud Speaker" (the local tab). Both newspapers gave hearty co-operation and Russ tells us the town was so het up that he just couldn't miss out on this one. Pigs is pigs, Russ, and the gag is a corking interest-getter in any locality where they're not wise to the stunt. The Club is glad to know that you cashed in so nicely with it. Keep up the good work and let us know what else you are doing to sell shows in Reading. Rather than to advertise any one picture. Manager Edgar Hands of the Publix-Paramount Theatre, Texarkana, Tex., derived a lot of free space on a Screen Personality Contest. =;^^^^=^;^=^^^^=^=;;^^=^^^^ For an entire week, a different screen star appeared daily in a three or four-column ad. The contest was to get the picture patrons to write about their favorite stars. In detail it stated, "The manager of the Paramount Theatre wants to know the kind of picture you like to see that the following stars appear in, or your reactions as to the type of material that you think ought to be utilized for the following stars. Do not generalize, but rather take each star and suggest the type of material that, in your opinion, ought to be about in connection with each star." The names of 17 screen personalities were listed including Jack Oakie, Maurice Chevalier, Ruth Chatterton, Clara Bow, Fredric March, Charles Rogers, Four Marx Bros., Gary Cooper, Claudette Colbert, Phillips Holmes, Mitzi Green, Jackie Coogan, Paul Lukas, Marlene Dietrich, Nancy Carroll, Emil Jannings and Clive Brook — all of whom are listed under the Paramount banner. For suggestions or as an example on one of the stars, contestants were referred to the Classified section of the paper where they could find scattered among the ads some pertinent facts that would help them in writing their stories. A SMASHING "FRONT PAGE" DISPLAY Best Story On Star Ad Proves Business Getter For Ed Hands The above striking marquee sign and theatre front was arranged by H. A. Kaufman, manager of the Regent Theatre, Rochester, N. Y., to exploint "Front Page." Note the gigantic electric letters and the general attractiveness of the theatre front. The theatre could be seen many blocks away. Patrons Like Name Guessing Stunt, Says Hamilton of Norwich They like the gentle pastime of guessing names of movie stars over in his town, writes R. B. Hamilton, manager of the Palace Theatre, Norwich, Conn. And that's not all, fellows. Rob ert tells us that he also acquired a fine mailing list as the result of his efforts. Maybe it's the way you put these affairs on, R. B.. that makes 'em so interesting. So we will pass your method along to your brother Club members. In the accompanying photo readers will note that Hamilton mounted photos of 23 Warner and First National stars in a lobby display frame. A similar frame was mounted in like manner for a local radio dealer with whom the tie-up was effected. The radio dealer placed the frame in his store window. Blanks were passed out to patrons of both theatre and store for the filling in of the stars' names. In the Palace News, a four-page tab-size paper published by the house, interest was built up on the radio, and the back page also carried mat reproductions of the photos on display in lobby and store. Many hundreds of these, R. B. tells us, were returned with names filled in under photo. Ail 1 i.<!l II B : ^ tf ^§iirfiii:iillii|p Bill Levey Making Business Hum Down In Port Washington On account of the large number of ties resulting from the effort, a mid-week announcement and award was made from the stage, practically all of the contestants being present. Much interest was manifest, R. B. tells us. A publicity move of this sort generally always gets the attention of movie patrons, and cost to the theatre is practically nothing, the storekeeper donating the awards for value received in advertising. Thanks for keeping the Club informed as to your doings, R. B., and keep up the good work. Any time Bill Levey's name is missing from the Club pages for any length of time, you will know that the dynamic showseller of Port Washington, L. I., is up to his ears in work and • that the silence portends some fine contribution as soon as the stress of other important matters eases up for a little bit. We have used that expression about Bill before, but we do not hesitate about repeating it because it is the gospel truth. Just recently in the spirit of the times with all of this depression and other talk going about, Bill suggested a mighty fine editorial for the Port JVashington News, the leading paper of his town, and to prove that they are great believers in Bill's judgment, they planned the editorial as suggested. This does not take in all of Levey's activities by any means and we are ticked to death to say that his newspaper advertising has improved 100 per cent in the past few months. We often wondered why it did not carry a bigger punch than it did, but apparenty he is straightening that end of it out now and the Beacon Theatre's ad in the Port Washington paper is now one of the outstanding pieces of display in the entire newspaper. And incidentally, we might add that as usual he is engineeringsome more of his smart merchandising ideas, the latest being a tie-up with Father's Son and the Boy Scouts of Port Washington whereby the Boy Scouts were guests of the theatre and brought many an extra sheckel to the box office through their word of mouth advertising and the good-will which was routed in the minds of all of the parents because of Bill's generous actions. You can always count on something interesting from Port Washington as long as Bill Levey is on the job, and we hope that from now on his name will again become a prominent part of our Club pages. What say, Bill ? Do we predict too much or are you with us ?