Motion Picture Herald (Jan-Feb 1948)

A New Selling Approach REVIEW OF CURRENT PRESSBOOKS LOVE FROM A STRANGER— Eagle Lion. Good title, has excellent teaser ad value, from a story by Agatha Christie, with a cast of exciting "whodunits", including John Hodiak, Sylvia Sidney, Ann Richards, all sinister and attractive. As usual, Eagle Lion have done a fine preselling job via magazines, newspapers and radio. There are two combination mats, both worth getting, (a)' a series of four punchy display ads in small space (84 lines each) and (b) a four-day contest, built squarely to keynote the ad campaign, all four layouts on one mat. Two trailers are available from National Screen and a special free radio platter on application to Eagle Lion, New York. Theme and title lend readily to radio tie-ins, especially radio forum question: "Would you marry a man you didn't know?" Largest newspaper mats are least desirable; best styles are threecolumn ad mat 304 and two-column ad mat 207. One-column ads are limited to billing; you can cut several of the tall ones down to size. Posters are good, with 24-sheet and 6-sheet leading. There's a dramatic herald featuring the two best newspaper themes. Production and publicity stories, illustrated in mat form, look like the sort of thing the newspaper feature pages would go for, accenting dangerous romance, dangerous "Stranger", the elements of suspenseful movie mystery melodrama. THE SWORDSMAN— Columbia. For men, women, boys and girls only. In Technicolor. Audiences may be looking for the return of Larry Parks, but remember that Al Jolson is not around the corner in the sound department. Nevertheless, Larry is an attractive young man in this swashbuckling adventure. Color makes scenes of Scotland and picturesque costumes sparkle. Newspaper advertising mats are limited to swordsman poses; best of the lot is three-column ad mat 301. Some will be difficult to combine with theatre masthead. One group of ads features the seat of the hero's pants. The herald has good display; front cover and center spread suggest the best theme for advertising. One and three-sheet posters are best; the 24-sheet and 6-sheet are devoted to that rear view. There is a long ad mat, No. 209, two columns wide and 17 inches deep, that has everything. It could be used to print a streamer herald, with a cooperating merchant using the other side for his own advertising. Sometimes a "circusy" looking herald suggests an exciting attraction. There is also a utility mat, combining many small bits and pieces. Cut the pressbook copy apart, but take the whole mat to your composing room foreman and let him show you how to use it. Pressbook suggests some reasonable merchandising tie-ins, and you may stir up local interest in fencing and archery. Day Dreamers Lured By "Mitty" Contest Manager Ben Domingo and publicity director Red King of the Memorial theatre, Boston, maneuvered effective advance promotion on "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty." Two weeks in advance of opening, disc jockey Fred Cole of radio station WHDH staged a contest in which listeners were asked to write their favorite day dream and choose a song title to describe it. There were prizes of $100 and each entrant received a copy of Danny Kaye's book "How to Dream the Mitty Way." Contest was limited to listeners of the daily disc stanza, and final tabulations revealed 2,000 entries. and with FILMACK'S SPECIAL TRAILERS „ Filmock • 1 327 S. Wabash • Chicago 5 "New and Old" for Civic Show Spencer Bregoff, manager of Fabian's Palace theatre, Port Richmond, Staten Island, New York, has just completed a campaign which became part of the Port Richmond Board of Trade's Silver Jubilee, celebrating 25 years of progress for Staten Island's main shopping center. The Board of Trade were sponsors for an "old photo" contest, local scenes of 25 years ago, which were displayed at the Palace theatre in an immense lobby frame. Pursuing this theme, Spencer booked a program of old films, including "Tillie's Punctured Romance" and news-reels of the early 1920's, with the entire show sold for comedy, using a comparison of the new and old to emphasize the progress made in a quarter of a century. The entire campaign continued over three weeks, with trailers, lobby display, heralds and cooperative newspaper advertising. A twenty-five-year-old Ford car was used for street ballyhoo, and the theatre staff dressed as Keystone Kops. E. F. JOHNSON "Johnnie" Manager's Hobby Winning Showmanship Awards Manager E. F. Johnson (Johnnie to his friends) of the Majestic Cinema, Leeds, England, describes himself roughly as fair, fat and nearly forty land tells us about his [life in show business land an interesting interlude in the service of his country. In 1940, after spending [five years with the IGaumont British [Picture Corporation, Ihe joined the R.A.F., land was wireless loperator of an advance mobile signals unit for two years. His proximity to the enemy made this an exciting job. In 1943 he was commissioned an officer of films and cinemas and this work took him to Iraq, Persia, Palestine, Egypt, Cyrenaica and Tripolitania, where he worked with equipment consisting of 35 static cinemas running 35 m/m film and 7 dual 16 m/m mobile units. His memories include splendid help given by the American Films Section of the U.S.A. Special Services Division. Demobilized in 1945, Mr. Johnson was given the management of St. George's Hall, York. After 18 months there, he became manager of his present theatre. "Johnnie" is an active contender for the Quigley Awards and a good correspondent, with news from Britain. pipii iliil LIQUID SEASONING costs you per bag of popcorn! —Because it's liquid . . . needs no pre-heating . . . pours readily . , . and measures accurately! l Simonin of Philadelphia SEASONING SPECIALISTS TO THE NATION MANAGERS' ROUND TABLE, JANUARY 10, 1948 45