Motion Picture Herald (Aug-Oct 1947)

ELMIRA RATES AS A LIVELY TOWN McCoy Promotes Air Tieups for Special Show A series of radio tieups topped a variety of exploitation angles used in the selling of Ernest Tubb and his stage unit appearing in person with the showing of their screen attraction, "Hollywood Barn Dance," at the Modjeska theatre, Augusta, Ga. The campaign was set by manager P. E. McCoy. Commencing a week in advance, radio stations WRDW, WGAC, WTNT and WBBQ cooperated with the management of the theatre by featuring Tubb recordings. All hillbilly shows featured on the stations gave courtesy plugs to the Tubb show in advance and currently. Opening day of the personal appearance, each station featured a quarter-hour guest interview program. Through a special permit granted by the mayor, double window cards were mounted on 100 lights posts on Broad Street. An eye-arresting front was constructed from compo board, giving a pine-panel effect augmented with large cutout letters. A caricature barn and hayloft was used on a setpiece in the lobby in advance and moved onto the street during playdate. Tubb and his unit gave a special benefit performance for Army veterans confined at the Oliver General Hospital. The show was broadcast throughout the hospital over the public address system. A special motorcycle police escort was used to and from the hospital by courtesy of the chief of police. Sets Coloring Contest for "Bachelor" in Hartford A coloring contest was arranged by manager Lou Cohen and assistant manager Sam Horwitz to exploit the playdate of "The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer" at the Pbli theatre, Hartford, Conn. The contest was conducted through the "Parade of Youth" section of the Hartford Courant. In addition a fashion window was promoted with Sage Allen & Company, and a contest was set on a disc jockey program over WTHT. In the case of the latter contest, guest tickets were awarded to the first 20 persons naming the most pictures in which Shirley Temple has appeared "since growing up." Plan Football Rallies at State in Boston Again Manager James E. Tibbets has announced plans to hold pre-game football rallies again this year at Loew's State theatre, Boston. The rallies, which are scheduled for Thursday and Friday evenings on alternate weeks, again will consist of songs and cheers with gift awards to the most popular co-ed cheer leaders among suburban high schools. The rallies, which were started last year, proved popular with both film and football fans and brought letters of praise from schools and parents. Stopping over in Elmira, N. Y., recently, waiting for the afternoon plane :? New York, we went down to visit with Ralph Crabhill, district manager for Warner Brothers theatres, at his office in the Strand theatre building. Working out of Albany, his office covers the operations of Warner houses in Jamestown, Hornell, Batavia, Medina, Dunkirk, Olean, Wellsville ar.d elsewhere, including the Keeney, Regent and Strand theatres in Elmira, where Warners have three out of five downtown houses. Elmira is a town of about 50,000 population, and has always been a lively place. (When we were young, Elmira's Railroad Avenue was on the same route with Sodom and Gomorrah.) The Lyceum, long since torn down, was one of the country's finest legitimate theatres. People live well in Elmira, there are nice homes and many advantages. Awhile back, folks were driving thirty miles or so into the city, for work or play; now they drive as far out of Elmira to find a place to live. It hurts business in the theatre to have suburban traffic flow the other way. Business is off, now, from the best previous high. Talks Frankly About Showmen Ralph Crabhill supervises operations for about thirty managers and he expresses himself frankly and forcibly, about showmen and showmanship. He says managers who are worth their salt in this business move up rapidly; those who drift are swept into a backwash. He keeps his men on their toes, and his houses up to a standard for operations. He tells of a visit he made to one of his towns with a man from New York, and they encountered the local manager, greeting people on the street with genial hellos. The visitor was impressed, said this manager must be a community asset. But Ralph knew his man and the town. He knew the greeters were poolroom acquaintances, and he introduced the manager to his successor the following week. On his desk are a row of substantial volumes, labeled through the years with his operations in the district. He said, pointing to one of the early volumes, "We'll go back to 1932 and do over again what we had to do then, to get business in the midst of depression, when business was hard to get." The showmanship of 1932 is coming back in style, he thinks; it is going to be necessary to work harder to keep 1948 up to the recent past. High Advertising Standards Elmira has labor troubles; some tedious strikes have troubled the town. There are two newspapers, both owned by the Frank Gannett chain, who also control Elmira's radio station. The Warner houses have competition from two others, downtown ; their newspaper and radio advertising is up to big-city standards. Things, generally, in Elmira, have a metropolitan air, and local stores reflect a keen knowledge of what's what. The Mark Twain is one of the best small hotels, and a nice reminder that Samuel Clemens lived in Elmira and wrote his best-known works there. We're going to look forward, in Round Table, to more exhibits from Warners' upstate theatres, because we know that country, and it's good to see the evidence of showmanship and to appreciate the tactics that are necessary in this terrain. — W. B. Gets Racial Aid For "Crossfire" A two-way campaign was employed by RKO publicist Helen Wabbe to exploit "Crossfire" at the Golden Gate theatre, San Francisco, Cal. Sensationalism and sock entertainment were stressed in the regular newspaper and radio campaign while on the other hand the full cooperation of racial groups and their sources of publicity were being secured. A special preview was held for Jewish newspaper editors and a sneak preview was arranged for the theatre's regular audience. A special showing of the picture was attended by educational groups from Universities of Stanford and California, women's club heads and religious groups of all faiths. Through the cooperation of Gene Block, editor-publisher of the Emanuel, access to the private' mailing list of the B'nai Brith was obtained. 3,000 letters, over the signature of the organization's executive director, were sent to members, not only lauding the picture, but asking for full cooperation in seeing it and recommending it to everyone they could contact. Rounds Up Old-Timers in Tights for "Mother Wore" A wealth of newspaper publicity was garnered for the engagement of "Mother Wore Tights" at the Chicago theatre, Chicago. The newspaper attention came about when a group of old-time show girls, whose careers paralleled that of the key figure in the picture, were rounded up, appropriately garbed in tights and presented on stage. On hand were their daughters and granddaughters to add contrast to the promotion. Pictures broke in the Chicago Sun, Times, Daily News, Tribune and HeraldAmerican with the United Press sending out a 7,500 word by-line story to their nationwide outlets. The promotion was thought up by Ed Sequin of the Chicago theatre with the help of 20th Century-Fox exploiteers' Ed Solomon and Virginia Sequin. MANAGERS' ROUND TABLE, OCTOBER II, 1947 13