Motion Picture Herald (Jun-Sep 1934)

July 2 8, 19 3 4 ROUND TABLE CLUB 77 Post Endorsements on "Little Man" Preview Charlie Wuertz, manager and Hal Neides, publicity manager, of the Orpheum in San Francisco, opened their campaign for "Little Man, What Now ?" with an advance preview to which they invited dramatic critics, newspaper men, book editors, officers of literary clubs and important citizens, many of whom responded with letters of endorsement. Some of the outstanding letters were rigged up on a panel with production stills and displayed in the lobby. Another smart panel was prepared by using the numerous publicity breaks received by Margaret SuUavan in national fan magazines. Large compo-board books with blow ups of Sullavan and Montgomery were made for both sides of the marquee (see photo). Wuertz and Neides also cashed in on the fashion, book and shirt tie-ups netting extra windows and free newspaper ad space. Work For a Quiglcy Award! Camera's Sister Takes Bow for Fred Naify Hooking into some fast exploitation on the Baer-Carnera pictures, Fred Naify, at the Senator Theatre in Chico, Cal., rigged up a street bally on which two boys were engaged in a mock fight (see photo). Truck toured congested sections, causing much merriment and word-of-mouth comment. Taking advantage of the fact that Carnera's sister was in the audience, Fred called on her to come up to the stage and say a few words to which she agreed, much to the enjoyment of the patrons. Camera's mother and sister live a short distance from Naify's theatre. Work For a Qiiigley Aivard! Lewis Works Co-op Ad George C. Lewis, Wildey Theatre, Edwardsville. 111., lined up the merchants of his town for a full page ad to plug his showing of the Baer-Carnera championship bout, each merchant stressing his "knockout" prices. Center of page bore copy and house plug. Work For a Quigley Award! Patrons Sign "Hotel" Register for Mailing List Constructing a replica of a hotel lobby was part of Spyros Cardas' campaign for "Merry Wives of Reno," at the Fox Belmont, Los Angeles, Cal. An attractive young lady who was in charge of the "office" (see photo) invited patrons to sign a regular hotel book and as they did so, she gave them a sales talk and handed out heralds. Incidentally, this was a smart way to increase Cardas' mailing list. On "Viva Villa," Spyros promoted a Mexican orchestra from a nearby cafe, the outfit playing in the lobby a week prior to opening, and a special Spanish night was sponsored by the local Mexican-Spanish Society. As atmosphere for his trailer, Cardas arranged a complete blackout of house lights during which gun shots were fired in front of the screen, followed by the teaser trailer and the lights slowly coming up on the dimmers. For his Kiddie Klub, Spyros made a swimming pool tie-up whereby free tickets were given with each paid Saturday theatre admission. Another hook-in with a local Wuertz-Neides Book Blowup Naify's Fight Truck Bally Eichenberg's "Vanities" Lobby Cardas' Hotel Office Replica dairy resulted in free ice cream to each child attending the first Saturday show of each month. On their birthdays the company sent a quart of cream, together with a pass from the theatre entitling members to bring parents to the show any time during the week. Cardas says that has proved to be a great box-office stimulant. Miskell Digs Up Shivers On Terror "Cat" Campaign Billy says it was a great stunt, offering a reward to some brave local who would view a screening of "The Black Cat" at the Orpheum, Omaha, alone at midnight in the unlighted auditorium, seated in a casket. It seems that someone did go for it, but fell down at the last moment, after being examined by a physician, etc., etc. The gag was put on the night before opening, and on entering the house, Miskell had the "subject" walk under a ladder, break a mirror, hold a horse shoe over his head, etc. Then the brave bucko was seated in the casket and wheeled down the aisle — but that's as far as he got. Work For a Quigley Award! Gross Gets Ace Breaks On Sally Rand Date Complete coverage was secured by Manager Mickey Gross, in Sioux City, Iowa, for the date on Sally Rand at the Orpheum, with a strong line-up of breaks in advance and effective exploitation that continued during the engagement. In addition to the stories planted ahead, all papers interviewed the dancer on her arrival and ran action photos of the star. Leading stores took co-op display ads, one going for half page to tie in personal appearance of Rand. Mickey also used radio extensively, having star interviewed over leading stations. Gross also tied in with local railroads on excursion idea, heralds on the date being distributed at all stations within a radius of 200 miles. Another effective idea was promoting Sally as the mascot of a local ball team with attendant publicity, and as a topper to his campaign, Mickey staged a parade the night before opening, marchers carrying large cutout figures of the star. Work For a Quigley Award! First Local Co-op Page Landed by Eichenberg Colorado Springs is noted for being a very tough newspaper town and thus Manager A. H. Eichenberg's success in landing a co-op page on "Murder at the Vanities" at the Rialto, brought more than average attention to the date. The page consisted of 26 twocolumn ads of equal size and a four-column theatre display atop the page headed by a streamer. Each ad contained only the merchants' phone number and slogan, and guest tickets were given to readers sending in the correct list of merchants' names which were to be brought or mailed to the theatre. As a further aid, the daily ran extra stories and art on the picture. Additional advertising and window cooperation was secured from stores tying in stockings to the famous Carroll girls, the hookin also being plugged with booklets printed and distributed by stores. News flashes were placed in prominent windows and hotel key boxes were stuffed. Music stores were tied in on the song hits which were also broadcast as was the radio transcription. Eichenberg's lobby (see photo), he reports helped to bring extra attention to the date, and as a result of the campaign, said to be one of the biggest staged locally, the picture was held over for three days.