Motion Picture Herald (Mar-Apr 1945)

Heroes' Phone Fund Swelled By Patrons of Miller Theatre This display was planted in the lobby of the L. & J. Miller theatre, Augusta, Ga., to spur contributions to P. E. McCoy's "Heroes Phone Fund". Since we are all aware of the fact that many wounded boys are returning each day to Government Hospitals over the country and folks living in these vicinities are anxious to contribute to any cause that will make these boys have a happy recuperation, P. E. McCoy, manager of the L. & J. Miller theatre, Augusta, Ga., effected a tieup through the combined efforts of the theatre, patrons, Augusta Herald and a local bank. This tieup took the form of a drive for funds to enable wounded veterans returning from overseas duty in his vicinity to communicate with their loved ones, wherever they may be, via the "Heroes Phone Fund". An attractive display in the lobby of the Miller theatre calls patrons' attention to the "Heroes Phone Fund". The display shows a wounded war veteran at the Oliver General Hospital placing a call to "Mother" anywhere in the United States. Patrons' contri butions are dropped into a locked barrel, which is the connecting link between the patient and the home. As coins or bills are dropped into the slot, a trigger breaks contact, causing an effect of a ringing telephone. A four-column photo of this lobby setpiece, along with a story, was carried by the local paper as an opening announcement for funds for returning veterans. A special trailer, showing the patient talking with "Mother" somewhere in the U. S. A., describing the needs for continuous contributions, etc., is run at each performance. A front page story, carrying the amount and names of donors, appears daily in the newspaper. Miller reports that, through the generosity of the people in and around Augusta, many boys have enjoyed a happy reunion with their" loved ones. The drive is to be continued indefinitely. Window Tieups Highlight Sweeney's "St. Louis" Date As part of his advance publicity on "Meet Me in St. Louis," Wayne Sweeney at the LaPorte theatre, LaPorte, Ind., arranged nine window displays, all of which were in locations where a regular card could not be placed. Leading department stores featured Margaret O'Brien dresses in window displays. Since one of the local high schools has a record player in the lunchroom, Sweeney arranged for hit tunes from the picture to be played for the youngsters. The "Name the Star" contest was run five days in advance of the opening and a tieup made with the public library, which resulted in a card naming Sally Benson's books and the fact that they were available. The theatre's large mailing list was circularized with heralds, which were also distributed house-to-house. Newspaper coverage included 100 inches in the local paper, 35 inches in the shopping weekly and teasers were used on the opening day, feature arrows which pointed to the amusement page. Gets "First-Time" Editorial When "Fighting Lady" played the Oneonta theatre, Oneonta, N. Y., Harold de Graw got through with a big "first". He got an editorial in his local paper on this attraction, the first time an editorial on a motion picture has ever appeared in that paper. If Trebilcock Lands < Radio, Publicity Tieups on 'Song 9 1 A diversified campaign that resulted in abuni dant publicity was put on by Fred Trebilcock, manager of Shea's theatre, Toronto, for the engagement of "A Song to Remember". The national aspect of the campaign was highlighted by the Max Factor tie-up, which Trebilcock arranged to have set in 79 outlets throughout the Dominion. In addition Dominion Stores, a corporation equivalent to the American A & P, spread 3,000 shoppers' lists (Things to Remember) in their stores, and featured the restaurant scene from the productior in their advertising. The ads appeared in all of the leading Canadian dailies with full picture credit. Trebilcock saturated the city with window tie-ups. Eaton's and Simpson's, the two largest department stores in the city, devoted a total of seven windows to the production, featuringsuch merchandise as Max Factor cosmetics, Victor records, etc. In all windows stills and art work from the production served! as the principal theme of the display. This was^ in addition to countless attractive displays ar-; ranged in the store proper. Heintzmann's, the town's largest music store, devoted both windows to displays calling attention to "A Song to Remember". Fred also arranged to have a "hat to remember" display planted in all Eaton Stores throughout the country. Each hat had a smal tag attached to it, giving full credit to Columbia's production; the department selling it arranged an attractive layout for the counters with stills and blow-ups from the picture; anc the hats, with full credit again to the picture were advertised in all leading Canadian paper; by Eaton's. Other newspaper ads which called attentior to "A Song to Remember" were placed b) Heintzmann, Simpson and Max Factor. Trebilcock sold Simpson's on two radio programs, both sponsored by the store. One o: the biggest radio breaks was a radio interview conducted over telephone and broadcast coast to-coast, between Claire Wallace, noted radic personality, and Merle Oberon, star of the pro duction. More than 500 music teachers from the Prov| ince of Ontario were holding their annual con vention at the time Trebilcock started his cam-; paign. He arranged to have the Spaeth record; played for them, and met with enthusiastic response. HI Coffey Ties WAC to "Winged Victory" As part of his advance campaign on th< engagement of "Winged Victory" at the Caro lina theatre, Hickory, N. C, Arnold J. Coffey had a display on the picture with theatre! credits and playdates in front of the . WAG Recruiting Station in the windows of the) station. Arnold also as he puts it "sneaked in' a free plug for the picture on War Bond anc WAC announcements over the radio. Teasers were run a week in advance of play dates, also display ads before and during th< run in addition to a full page of cooperative ads with large free "Winged Victory" spreac the day before the opening. The town anc vicinity was covered with plenty of ones threes and six sheets, window cards, heralds etc., and cards were spotted on city busses anc several cabs. 54 MOTION PICTURE HERALD, APRIL 21, 194!