Motion Picture Herald (Jul-Aug 1940)

44 MOTION PICTURE HERALD July 13, I 940 EXPLOITATION BRIEFS FROM AFIELD One of the highlights of the "Edison, the Man" campaign put over by S. Hanauer, at the Rialto, in Beaver Falls, Pa., was a display planted in the public library consisting of books about Thomas A. Edison and his inventions. Exhibit is reported to have attracted a great deal of interest and incidentally a demand for volumes dealing with the inventor's life. V Stunt which is reported to have netted him considerable gratis display advertising space was the "chuckle contest" put over by Manager George D. Irwin at the Lyceum, in Duluth, Minn., for "Waterloo Bridge." Guest tickets went to those submitting funniest sentences constructed from various words taken from ads on classified page. V Atmospheric front was constructed by Boyd F. Scott for his date on "Torrid Zone" at the Strand Theatre, in Uvalde, Texas, with palms hanging from under -marquee and appropriate tiein copy. Cashier called telephone subscribers plugging, the picture's opening, and for a gag, 200 bananas were distributed on streets ahead with small card attached, copy reading "A souvenir from Cagney, Sheridan, O'Brien," followed by playdates, etc. V Effective were the two lobby displays arranged by Manager H. Crawford for his date on "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" at the Cathay Theatre, Shanghai, China, which consisted of giant cutouts of Jean Arthur and James Stewart which were surrounded by scene stills planted in trellis which surrounded setpiece. V Street stunt which proved an attractor for Arnold Gates at Loew's Park, in Cleveland, was that used for "Buck Benny Rides Again" consisting of lad dressed as cowboy who pulled a bannered donkey about the streets in downtown area. Tieup was also effected with well-known restaurant which featured a "steer sandwich" in honor of the picture. V A model airport was constructed in the lobby of the Warner Theatre, in Morgantown, W. Va., in advance of "Enemy Agent" with many entries in the local model airplane club on exhibit. Also displayed was letter from Lt. Commander Sisson of the Naval Air Station at Washington, D. C, stressing the importance of encouraging airminded youths. V Rigging up his stage with bales of hay and other atmospheric paraphernalia, E. L. Carter at the Playhouse, in Statesville, N. C, held a barn dance at his house in connection with his opening of "Village Barn Dance." Hillbilly band furnished the music for the square dance put on by eight local couples and prizes were donated from merchants for the best individual dancers selected by audience applause. Announcements were made through press and from stage that all who wished could stay after the last show and dance on the stage in the lobby or mezzanine. QUESTIONNAIRE FAVORS WAR NEWS EMPHASIS Further reports from members on the handling of war news finds two additional opinions in favor of featuring spot news, one opinion directly influenced by a questionnaire among patrons of the Granada, Norfolk, Nebraska. According to Manager Dick Phillips, of 600 filled-in cards returned to the theatre, over 70 per cent definitely wanted war news in the newsreel, and the hotter, the better. W-Clyde Smith believes it "absolutely essential" to plug war news "to cash in at the boxoffice." To do so, the Malco city manager in Hot Springs has a tieup with KWFC for a direct wire to all his theatres carrying spot announcements exactly as they are received at the station. Results are highly satisfactory as shown by the grosses, the Round Tabler emphasizes. Through cooperation of 12 merchants about town, George Patterson, of the Rivoli, in Rutherford, N. J., for "Shop Around the Corner" ran the photos of 12 salesgirls in local paper, offering guest tickets to those correctly identifying the girls and names of shops at which they were employed. V A "bridge contest," with readers of the local Globe & Mail asked to send in lists of films with the word "Bridge" in the title or in which bridges play important parts, was one of the highlights of the campaign on "Waterloo Bridge" put over by Stanley Gosnell, assistant manager of Loew's, Toronto, Canada, in advance of the film's showing there. Guest tickets were awarded to the winners. V As a teaser in advance of his double horror show "Black Friday" and "House of Seven Gables," Manager George Sutermaster at the Majestic Theatre, in Springfield, Ohio, dressed one of his ushers in a black skeleton suit with mask and had him cover busv districts with appropriate tiein copy. V Special screening of "Dr. Ehrlich" was held at the Orpheum, in Connellsville, Pa., by Round Tabler John G. Broumas for doctors, nurses, health officials, etc., with comment solicited and later used by the theatreman for his ad. Special trailer was also run ahead of screening thanking them for coming and requesting that they recommend the picture to their friends. V Reported as a first time used in his district was the special newspaper ad for "The Bluebird" used by J. R. MacEachron at the Paramount, in Jackson, Tenn. Streamer across top of page and ad itself was printed in blue and is said to have created plenty of comment. Copies of "Grapes of Wrath" were promoted from the publisher by Stan Andrews in advance of that picture's opening at the Capitol in Guelph, Ontario, pages torn from the book and overprinted in red with tiein copy and then distributed in a house-tohouse canvass. In addition to copy to the effect that the herald was an actual page from the book, theatre, playdates and cast were also included. V For his stage show "Revue Continental," Charlie Schiffhauer, at the Majestic, in Johnstown, Pa., distributed small cards to which were pasted slices of gum, copy reading: "It takes your breath away as you thrill to the talent in" etc. Directional arrows with tiein copy were planted on light poles adjacent to theatre, doorknob hangers used profusely and newspaper coverage was ample. V Tinted teaser cards with attractive art work on Dorothy Lamour were distributed by Manny Pearlstein in advance of the Cleveland opening of "Johnny Apollo" at Warners' Hippodrome. Reverse side carried title, cast, playdates and other tiein copy. Newspaper coverage included large cooperative ad from downtown department store tying Tyrone Power into their men's clothes. In addition, the classified department of the Cleveland News came through with a four-column ad. V Concentrating on newspaper publicity for "One Million B. C," Bill Burke, manager of Schine's State, Fostoria, Ohio, planted four-day limerick contest, caption writing contest and a classified ad contest in two of the city's dailies. Readers and art breaks were also landed by the theatreman. V Seven-foot lobby display sold Artie Cohn's date on "South of the Border" at the Roosevelt, in Philadelphia, highlight of which was photo of the manager receiving can of film from Gene Autry at the local airport. Automatic phonograph in lobby kept playing songs from the picture, special heralds were distributed and announcements of the opening made at kiddie show. V In what is said to be a "hard to crack" window, Manager Bill Harwell at the Ohio, in Canton, Ohio, planted an effective display for "It's a Date." Three models were dressed in Durbin styles, while center of window contained a blowup photo of the starlet, flanked by scene stills and appropriate tiein copy. V In addition to promoting a two-column cooperative ad on "Adventure in Diamonds" at the Victory, in Holyoke, Mass. Round Tabler George Laby also secured from the same merchant an entire window devoted to replicas of the biggest diamonds that have ever been mined, including replicas of the Crown Jewels of Russia and England. Dignified credit cards tied the display to picture at the Victory.