Motion Picture Herald (Jul-Aug 1943)

July 24, I 943 MANAGE RS-' ROUND TABLE 75 Texas Showmen Active In Copper Drives Ray Beall, in charge of publicity for the War Activities Committee in Texas, recently sent a manual into the field to stimulate the salvage of copper. The bulletin stressed the fact that salvage of important metals was a year-round proposition. Trailers and heralds were prepared for use in all Texas theatres and a variety of exploitation and ideas were outlined. The campaign received prompt response from Texas showmen. In Waco, Paul Hudgins, manager at the Palace, started off with a "Copper Matinee" built around the angle of "Chunk a chunk of copper at a Jap." Paul hung a picture of Hirohito outside the theatre and the kiddies chunked their copper at the face. 275 lbs. of copper were collected from the enthusiastic children. In San Antonio, the Uptown theatre which is managed by W. C. O'Hare, offered War Stamps and Bonds as prizes to children bringing in the greatest amount of scrap. The newspapers gave the campaign excellent publicity and local merchants paid for a full page ad. Eight Dallas showmen pooled their resources under the direction of O. O. Cherry, city manager, and ran simultaneous matinees. Local papers featured first page stories and more than 1,200 lbs. of the precious copper were collected. Many showmen arranged receptacles in the Powder Rooms in which women discarded their old cosmetic cases. St. Louis Patrons Buy Bomber Les Kaufman, advertising head for Fanchon & Marco theatres in St. Louis, engineered a three-way tie-up between the circuit's theatres, the Star Times and radio station KXOX to have local citizens buy a bomber to be called "The War Spirit of St. Louis." All theatres in the circuit participated and in addition to numerous radio plugs, a daily tally of each theatre's sales was recorded in the Star Times. In the first 21 days of the drive, more than $182,000.00 in bonds had been subscribed for, with ten days to go. ' If1?'' V: \ Ed Rowley, Jr., Lt. F. C. Altman and M. S. McCord, manager of the Robb & Rowley Pulaski theatre, in Little Rock, Ark., confer on plans for a War Bond premiere in conjunction with the showing of "Dixie". Servicemen's Burlesque Arranged by Dallas Reported as turning out highly successful was the servicemen's burlesque show arranged by David Dallas at the Wareham theatre, in Parsons, Kansas. The special show was sponsored by the local Junior Chamber of Commerce in connection with a State-wide War Bond Rally. Since many of the members of the cast were former professionals, their acts had sparkle. The makeup artist for the show was a former employe of Max Factor, and Factor donated not only the makeup that was used, but the wigs and costumes for the show. A note that was much appreciated by the audience was the fact that WAACS were used as ushers and program girls. The show was produced by the soldiers of the 46th General Hospital of Fort Riley. Items donated by local merchants were auctioned off to the highest bidders, and just prior to the performance of "All For Fun" and just after, the wives and sweethearts of the Junior Chamber of Commerce members sold bonds and stamps in the lobby. arranged a War Bond Premiere showing for "Dixie" at the Pulaski theatre. McCord arranged for a local boy, Lieutenant F. C. Altman, home on leave, to aid in the ticket sale promotion. Lieutenant Altman, a former newspaper man and owner of numerous decorations and citations, aided materially in helping publicize the drive and in the sale of tickets. All Little Rock and North Little Rock theatres participated in a huge co-op display ad advertising the drive. Harlan Rankin at the Centre, Chatham, Ont., had theatre's anniversary cake cut for I. O. D. E. Fund. Arkansas Theatres Plug War Bond Campaign Sam B. Kirby, publicity director for Malco Theatres, Inc., in Arkansas, also handles the publicity for the War Activities Commitee in that State. When it was decided by the committee to stage a "Buy a Bomber" campaign recently, Sam prepared a manual which was sent to all the theatres in the state. The manual listed numerous promotions which were carried out in various towns with excellent results. Paul Jones, city manager of the Malco theatres in Pine Bluff, staged a huge rally with prominent speakers addressing the audience. Paul promoted a full page ad in the local newspaper exploiting the campaign. In Little Rock, Manager M. S. McCord Coat Hanger Drive Gets Break for "Frisco" Lige Brien ran a Coat Hanger Salvage Campaign in conjunction with the showing of "Hello, Frisco, Hello" that got extra news and photo breaks for the picture at the Kenyon theatre, N. S. Pittsburgh. Lige set out to gather coat hangers for the boys at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and when the drive was concluded, more than 2,000 of these needed accessories had been collected. 450 members of the Pittsburgh Press' Rangers and Rangerettes organization paraded across town and through the downtown area to the theatre, carrying signs plugging the picture and the Coat Hanger Matinee. In addition to the swell publicity that resulted, the Press ran feature stories and a photo of the parade. In all stories and photos the picture and the theatre received prominent mention and the paper extended itself to aid the Campaign. The coat hangers were shipped to Fort Sill. DON'T GO ANY FURTHER We can supply you with every special trailer need and giue you some DRV SERUICE TRAILER CO. 1J27 S. WABASH AVE.