Motion Picture Herald (May-Jun 1946)

zAn international association of showmen meeting weekly in MOTION PICTURE HERALD for mutual aid and progress CHESTER FRIEDMAN, Editor Check-Up Laws governing hostelries and places of public assembly have again been coming under the scrutiny of public officials since the recent hotel fires in Chicago and Dubuque. Local inspectors are more critical during their visits these days. Fire Prevention Week is observed as an annual event throughout the country. To the theatre manager, fire prevention is one of the important routine functions on the daily agenda. Safety devices should be checked with meticulous regularity. Standpipe systems, hoses, extinguishers and other safety devices should be examined carefully. A piece of torn carpeting; rubbish or a ladder carelessly left in an alleyway; a burned out lamp in a dark corner or on a stairway; faulty panic locks on exit doors; defective or temporary wiring, an overloaded circuit or Insulation which has dried out with age; these or any slight defect carelessly overlooked is frequently the margin between a casual fire of slight consequence and dread catastrophe. AAA Who's Promoting Whom? Tieups are a necessary and important part of the theatreman's stock-in-trade. They are Important because they help to attract people to our theatres. They are frequently necessary because of limited budget allowances. They contribute to the general salesmanship and showmanship tactics which have played a large share in building theatre business to the stature it enjoys today. All tieups which are made by a theatreman denote his interest and devotion to his job. Most theatre tieups are good ones. Few are bad. And more often than not, the bad ones are the result of circumstances rather than lack of effort. During the past week, three photographs reached our desk from as many theatre managers. In substance, each manager effected the same tieup. Actually, only one of the photographs shows that the theatre may have received the full benefit of the tieup. Each photograph shows a theatre front. Each marquee shows a 24-sheet cutout of a popular movie star holding a popular soft drink bottle. One manager went to the trouble of ' sniping the figure with the name of the star's latest pic ture and the playdate. The other two managers assumed that the patrons would guess the information. To the casual observer and to the pedestrian passing across the street, the latter two managers were providing no more than an advertisement for the soda pop. We can appreciate that the theatreman, anxious to take advantage of the national tieup with his local distributor by way of advertising on trucks, windows and in newspapers, would want to cooperate in turn. The manager undoubtedly persuaded the soda distributor to carry the name of the theatre and playdate through the promotion. Is this information of no consequence, then, around the theatre? Some showmen are going to argue that the theatre marquee should never be given over to the display of advertising for products other than our own. Maybe they are right. Advertisers of tangibles have found that tying in with the glamour of Hollywood and the motion picture promotes the sale of their products. But so far no one has proved that patrons attend theatres because Max Makeshift, star of Wonder Pictures, takes Serutan or because actress Zilda Zoftick drinks Maxwell House Coffee. The 24-sheet cost the theatre nothing. But the loss of prestige may well indicate that it would have been more advantageous to spend a couple of dollars for a regular 24-sheet if the manager felt it would bring in extra business. As desirous as we may be to cash In with cooperative tieups, let's remember that we Invariably have more to offer than we usually hope to get. A few more soda pop signs on our marquee may be an open invitation to every merchant and advertiser In town to make a billboard out of our beautiful and costly fronts. And let us remember that even If we did develop exploitation, there are other Industries which are not far behind us In using the technique to promote their own wares. If there is any doubt, just tune In on any of the current radio programs where free prizes and gifts are offered to participants. For a watch, a set of luggage or a perfume set, It is possible to get a nation-wide plug for the manufacturer where a paid commercial would likely cost thousands of dollars. There is nothing wrong with tieups. The Round Table has for many years been instrumental In encouraging showmen in widespread use of the device to promote pictures and the theatre. Promotional advertising can serve a more useful purpose, however, if we do not promote ourselves Into a spot whero others can do the promoting on us. —CHESTER FRIEDMAN