Motion Picture Herald (Nov-Dec 1936)

106 MOTION PICTURE HERALD November 28, 1936 MORE YULETIDE IDEAS (.Continued from page 104) Crabill Reports Jamestown Warner District Activities At this writing, plans are about set in Jamestown for a new car giveaway at the Palace and Winter Garden on Christmas Eve and the same idea is to be carried out for the three Warner houses in Elmira, reports zone chief Ralph Crabill. Merchants Units are sold to pay for the automobile. In the smaller towns of the district where the new car cannot be handled, good used car will be offered. Merchants' Pay Off Club, now in its fortieth week at the Babcock, Wellsville, is being developed for the Elmira houses. Washing machine, radio jewelry, bicycle, turkey and similar giveaways are set in other of the district houses. County Corn Husking contest is arranged for at all theatres tying in with the newspaper and newsreel publicity on the national contest recently held in Iowa. Christmas co-op pages, tap ads and heralds are being promoted in all situations. Clothing and canned goods matinees are also in line and several of the houses are planning Christmas stage parties and revues, one-act plays presented by local drama clubs, etc. Participating in these activities are the following managers and towns in the Crabill district: Walter League, Palace and Winter Garden, Jamestown; Doc Westfall, Haven and State, Olean; Dalton Burgett, Capitol, Dunkirk; Henry Phillips, Family and Lafayette, Batavia; Lew Carroll, Majestic, Hornell; Ralph Booth, Babcock and Temple, Wellsville; Alexis Beckerich, Keeney, Elmira; William Leggiero, Regent, Elmira; Wallace Folkine, Strand, Elmira, and Allen B. Newhall, Diana, Medina. Sobler Ties Department Store To Theatre Toy Style Show Set for the morning of Dec. 5th is a toy style show at the Spreckles Theatre, arranged by Al Sobler, managing director, and top department store. Elaborate display of toys will be shown in the lobby and on the mezzanine floor with Santa on hand to do the honors. Special screen show of "Robinson Crusoe," in three reels and cartoon shorts will be offered and store will sell tickets at five cents to children and 15 cents to adults accompanying the youngsters. The theatre will receive the regular price of 10 cents to the children and 25 cents for adults, store making up the difference and plugging the event heavily in all house and newspaper advertising. Special shows have been arranged for every morning of the week with Employees Clubs of large industrial companies and various Navy units, these organizations buying the house for a flat rate in exchange for showing of suitable feature and shorts. Last year the big money-getter for Sobler was a giveaway of a new car and this year the stunt is to be repeated on the evening of Dec. 22nd. Car is promoted from local cleaners' and dyers' stores with tickets for the drawing distributed by them with each purchase. Full page spreads are to be taken by the sponsors and each cooperating shop will display identification cards. Paper Announces Santa Arrival On Theatre Roof via Plane Tiein last year with local paper by Frank Newman, in Oakland, Cal., had Santa arriving via plane on the roof of the Grand Lake Theatre, top stunt being three-column reproduction of wire from the Old Gent to the paper announcing his landing. Paper followed with story that Santa was to tour the town via auto, parade of cooperating cars meeting in front of the theatre. Stunt was part of the local merchant-newspaper plan to stimulate holiday business. Among other Fox West Coast activities reported by Dean Hyskell was a stocking stunt by Dave Fred wherein youngsters were asked to bring stockings with their names imprinted to be filled with gifts. In Phoenix, Ariz., Will Osborne tied in with Sears to put on a Toyland Circus, store furnishing trailer and supplying all the gifts. Will also put on a Santa coloring contest, the store printing the head in weekly house magazine and awarding the prizes. At Loew's State, Los Angeles, Spyros Cardas inaugurated a new checking service with a strong plug via trailer and ads. Theatre furnished large bags and when patrons arrived with more than one article to check, they were all placed in the larger container. On each package was placed colored Christmas sticker with greetings copy and theatre cut. The new service was highly appreciated, says Cardas, with the theatre checking more parcels than ever before, which meant a lot of extra admissions from the Christmas shopping crowds. Ohio Warnerites Busy With Pre-Christmas Plans Managers in Dick Wright's Warner Ohio zone are already breaking publicity for their seasonal tieups and promotions. Frank Harpster, Ohio Theatre, Mansfield, planted stories as early as Nov. 19th for his Christmas Charity Show given a month later. His theatre, the American Legion, and the Mansfield News Journal call themselves the "Three Muster Cheers." Annually they put on a campaign to raise funds for baskets to be distributed to the needy. Groundwork has been set for a program that will provide Christmas baskets for some 600 families. Climax of the campaign is special midnight show given on Dec. 19th. Daily front page stories tie in the theatre. Bill Dworski, Madison Theatre and Wayne Williams at the Majestic, also in Mansfield, have completed arrangements for annual "Food Matinees" tying in with the "Muster Cheers" program. Dworski is concentrating on benefit ticket sales during the month in order to stimulate his grosses. Harvey Cocks, at the Strand, Akron, has booked a Christmas eve preview of "Gold Diggers of 1937." Taking advantage of the tremendous amount of publicity given to the Gold Diggers Plane on its visit to Cleveland, Harvey arranged with the Akron Chamber of Commerce for a bannered plane, carrying ten passengers, to fly from Akron to the Cleveland airport to welcome the Gold Diggers. Aboard the plane were newspaper representatives, airport officials, and Hizzonner the Mayor. IVarner Effects Delivery Tiein For "ZiegfeU" (Continued from preceding page) sprinkled with diamond dust. Various other effective combinations were used for the rest of the decorations with a color wheel placed in center of marquee to enhance the effect together with 1,400 watt cluster lights on both ends. Highly colorful, too, was a float constructed on a cotton seed trailer entirely enclosed, the display built in three steps topped by giant star cutouts with title and star copy. Treatment similar to the front was given the lettering and bases covered with corrugated board salvaged ' from old mattress covers and painted red. Corrugated board pasted with shippers' glue to form a three-inch thickness was cutout for the lettering, painted black with white faces and sprinkled with diamond dust. Promotion of farm light plant allowed Warner to build shadow box on bannered truck that drew trailer. Spots were placed on rear of truck to light up float and effect of the unusual lighting was very favorable. Shadow boxes on both sides of stage and title shadow box measuring 22 feet long across floor of stage were also effective to the extent, says Warner, that patrons applauded when they were lighted between shows. Lands Smash Ads Top newspaper tiein was hookup with special truck express service operated by Oklahoma City paper to deliver copies of the daily in the territory and also used by merchants. Warner arranged for the shipment of empty can of film from Dallas by air to Oklahoma City, where it was met by one of the newspaper trucks and brought to Shawnee in record time. Idea was worked out to publicize efficiency of the truck service, further emphasized by smash ads taken by the truck operators in the Shawnee papers and illustrated by photo of the can being delivered from the plane to the auto express. Truck was met at city limits by float and private cars and escorted to theatre with spot from marquee trained on parade as it came down the main street. "Have You Contributed Lately?" Warner Front Created by House Staff