Motion Picture Herald (Jan-Feb 1945)

Exploiting the New Films I'LL BE SEEINC YOU A direct tiein with Minneapolis' "Parade of Pennies," by which funds are raised to provide movies for the city's servicemen overseas, paved the way for numerous pubHcity breaks in conjunction with the opening of "I'll Be Seeing You," at the Radio City theatre in Minneapolis. The promotion was engineered by Charles Winchell, publicity director, and Chick Evans of the United Artists exploitation staff. The city mayor issued a proclamation urging the citizens of Minneapolis to support the opening after a special "Parade for Pennies Premier" had been arranged. Cedric Adams, well known columnist for the Star Journal and one of the foremost radio commentators in the area gave the premiere strong support. Lands Full Newspaper Coverage The Shopping Guide, with a circulation of 175,000, published the mayor's proclamation in a special box and the sports editor carried a story in his column. The Star Journal and the Minnesota Times both assigned photographers to cover the benefit show and used special art and story features on the film. School and college publications likewise devoted space to the event. Mr. Adams used five separate broadcasts over station WCCO to plug the premiere ; John Ford of WTCN, Paul Wann of WCCO, Sam Levitan over KSTP and Sally Delaney over WDGY, all carried announcements on their respective broadcasts to help the premiere. In addition to using the mayor's letter as a news story, several hundred copies were imprinted and mailed to organizations, women's clubs, civic groups and merchants with a request that they extend cooperation by purchasing tickets for the premiere. The theatre used advance announcements on ■luf:; WORLD PREMIERE. Col Robert L Scott's I, iGODISMYCOPIU Publicist Kathleen Lamb Wbalen, of the Lucas & Jenkins theatres, Macon, Ga., has this eye-arresting board heralding world premiere of "God Is My Co-Pilot" planted on city's main thoroughfare. Number of days until film opens is changed daily. How the recent pictures are being sold < the first run and pre-release date showin/ In New York, public libraries demonstrate an interest in "A Song To Remember" by displa ing this attractive exhibit loaned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Scene stills and proj.^ credits are in evidence for film's opening at the Radio City Music Hall. I picture for 12 days on its "Hollywood" chatlj program. Free photographs of the film's s\ were offered to listeners who wrote in requej ing them. Time and the photos were proviq free by the radio station. In Oakland, Lundberg's department stcj utilized five main street windows for displal and purchased co-op newspaper ads. \ San Francisco's public library branches d) tributed 30,000 mookmarks and the school s| tem music director distributed material on % song hits of the film to the entire music st| of teachers for discussion and dissemination I music students. I The city's most exclusive department stoi The City of Paris, devoted five windows to d] plays of early 19th century furniture, music instruments, etc., borrowed from the ] : Young Museum, tied in with characteris apparel. The displays were embellished wi scene stills from the picture and full theai credits plus playdates. the screen and in the lobby well in advance. Display cards measuring 11 by 14 inches were printed and distributed as follows : 200 in window locations, 100 posted on bulletin boards of factories and defense plants, 175 were placed on the front of taxi-cabs and about 25 were placed in hotel lobbies. Tieups were made with music shops and orchestra bands which featured the theme song of the production and 100 soldiers from Ft. Snelling were invited to attend the premiere, as guests of the star, Shirley Temple. This also rated newspaper breaks. A SONG TO REMEMBER Extensive exploitation campaigns launched the opening of "A Song to Remember" at the Roxie theatre in Oakland, Cal., and the Orpheum, San Francisco. Hal Neides and T. Thompson handled the campaign in the latter city assisted by Columbia exploiteer Mike Newman. In Oakland, Charles Carroll and Doris Caylor worked with exploiteer Sammy Siegel on the advance advertising and exploitation. Radio played an important role in publicizing the attraction. A 15-minute transcription received 11 gratis broadcasts from local stations, and numerous spot plugs were also garnered free. Tied in With National Talent Search A nationally sponsored "George Sand Memorial Talent Search" was conducted in conjunction with KQW. Auditions were held daily six times a week. Winners received orchids contributed by a florist, and $300 in War Bond prizes. Another feature of the radio campaign was a tieup with KLX in Oakland, which plugged the Window, Music Tieups Promoted Thirteen full window displays were maji through music tieups featuring the Vicll Record Album and the stores displayed lif graphed one-sheets and streamers plugging film. The "Cinema Shop" of the Emporium, a other of San Francisco's highly patroniz , stores, obtained the loan of two authen : gowns worn by Merle Oberon during the fil ing of the production. Mannequins wore tht costumes and paraded about the store at int(t vals. This phase of the promotion was stalf ed in advance of the engagement at the Orpl^j um and continued throughout the first weelj booking. The store backed up the promoti with terrific displays and newspaper ads in ij local papers. 50 MOTION PICTURE HERALD, FEBRUARY 3, I