Motion Picture Herald (Oct-Dec 1932)

November 19, 1932 ROUND TABLE CLUB 47 WEIL AND JOHNSTON PUT OVER A NOVEL STUNT ON "AIR MAIL" For over two years the idea of shipping human freight via air mail from Hollywood to New York, or vice versa, has smouldered in the showman-like brain of Joe Weil, director of exploitation for Universal Pictures Corporation. Recently, when his company released "Air Mail" his chance came, and with the 100 per cent cooperation of John Leroy John ston, publicity director at the Universal City studios, the plot was hatched to cover Gloria Stuart, Universal player, with stamps and ship her to Broadway, New York City, for personal appearance during run of the picture at the Mayfair Theatre. Suffice then to state that Joe Weil's dream came true ; that Miss Stuart was duly loaded, shipped and unloaded at the Newark, N. J., airport, and at this writing is doing her bit at the theatre for good old U. It cost 24,500 onecent stamps to transport the young lady. One of the photos on this page shows Miss Stuart, after she had gone to her hotel for a change of clothing, shaking hands with Manager Cruize of the Mayfair just before making her personal appearance there. The other photo shows a gathering of the famous "Quiet Birdmen" at the Mayfair front to witness a showing of the picture. Included in the group are : Clarence Chamberlain, Bernt Balchen and James Waugh. Hammel to Frankfort Alvin Hammel, winner of the $1,000 award offered by U. A. for best results on a company picture last season, after spending several weeks on the Coast with Sid Grauman, will resume his position as manager of the Capitol Theatre, Frankfort, Ky. "Th. Sh owman s Calendar" NOVEMBER 25th British Evacuated New York — 1783 Margaret Livingston's Birthday 26th Frances Dee's Birthday 28th Rubenstein (Composer) Born —1829 29th Genevieve Tobin's Birthday Rod La Roque's Birthday 30th Mark Twain Born— 1835 JOE KINSKY ON JOB WHEN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE VISITED Just to show Club members that Joseph Kinsky, manager of the Capitol Theatre, Sioux City, Iowa, was on the job when 40,000 politically-minded citizens gathered at the local ball park to hear presidentialnominee Franklin D. Roosevelt expound upon alleged shortcomings of the Republican administration, we're accompanying this little yarn with a photo showing a portion of the vast crowd, the speakers' platform, and, most important of all, the huge banner which advertised "Blondie of Follies' " appearance at the Capitol. The banner measured 30 feet long by 9 feet high, was the only ad in evidence and in full view of everyone in the park. Permission to erect it was obtained from the Chamber of Commerce in return for the DECEMBER 2nd Monroe Doctrine — 1823 3rd Illinois Admitted to Union — 1818 General McClellan Born — 1826 6th Elissa Landi's Birthday Virginia Lee Corbin's Birthday 7th Decoration Day (Cuba) 8th Immaculate Conception (Que bec) Eli Whitney (Inventor of Cotton Gin) Born — 1765 9th John Milton Born — 1608 Eddie Dowling's Birthday Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.'s Birthday 1 0th Peace with Spain Signed at Paris— 1898 Una Merkel's Birthday Victor McLaglen's Birthday llth Alfred Nobel's Birthday— 1833 (Founder Nobel Prize) Sally Eiler's Birthday Gilbert Roland's Birthday 12th First Marconi Wireless Across Atlantic— 1901 13th Heinrich Heine (German Poet) Born 1797 Norman Foster's Birthday 1 4th Alabama Admitted to Union — 1819 16th Boston Tea Party— 1773 John Bole's Birthday 18th Mary Nolan's Birthday good will established by inviting visiting 4-H club members to the theatre the week prior to Roosevelt's address. In addition to the banner, 5,000 heralds were distributed to automobiles parked around the grounds. Forty-thousand circulation is pretty nice coverage, to our way of thinking, and Kinsky deserves a lot of praise for putting over his stunt. An interesting angle lies in the fact that it was accomplished as the result of good-will work. "FIRST" ANGLE WAS STRESSED BY SMITH DURING A CAMPAIGN In exploiting "The Dark Horse" when it played the Palace Theatre, Huntington, W. Va., manager LeRoy Smith stressed the "firsts" idea in his advertising and the political idea in his novelties. Under the heading "Our Platform Is Hits," ad copy read to the effect that the Palace was the first theatre in the district to play the first sound picture, the first big musical hit, the first big gang picture, the first big air picture, the first newspaper picture and "Hollywood's First Political Expose," "The Dark Horse" captioned "The comedy carnival of the presidential year." The ad of "firsts" served the purpose of giving the Palace a great institutional buildup and strongly calling attention to the picture of the week. To stress the political angle, Smith made an exact reproduction of the type of campaign card handed out bv politicians, applying the idea to "The Dark Horse." It advised recipients to "Vote the Straight Laugh Ticket," featured a cut of Guy Kibbee, gave theatre and playdate and wound up with the statement that "The Dark Horse" would "put America back on the Laugfh Standard."