Motion Picture Herald (Nov-Dec 1948)

Your Selling Approach REVIEW OF CURRENT PRESSBOOKS THE GIRL FROM MANHATTAN — United Artists. It is a pleasure to date Dorothy Lamour as America's most famous cover girl, with the maddest, crew south of Bing and Bob. Dottie is on the Road to Laughter again. Three guys go completely L'Amour. Striking tendency is to capitalize on all the Dorothy Lamour Crosby Hope "Road" pictures in this advertising, and that may be to the credit of everybody concerned. You cannot go wrong promising your folks something that could be as good as the others. Posters are L'Amour and will make good cutouts for lobby or marquee. There is a new stunt, making the three-sheet poster so nearly the size of a 40 x 60 that you can put the poster in a lobby frame. There is no reason why there should ever be a small difference in these sizes, nor why, if this small difference is eliminated, the materials would not be interchangeable. There is much credit to United Artists for pointing the way in this direction. We always believe in buying more new posters and using them for the first time. Herald has similar good display of Dorothy, and folds to permit a sponsoring merchant to use the back page for cooperative advertising. Newspaper ads are quite large, but No. 301 is as good as they come, and smaller sizes will be okay where you do not have room for an illustration. Still, Art-3 gives you the same picture of Lamour with personal statistics that can be used to measure local girls. A big picture of Lamour, cut from 24-sheet, placed on your marquee, will surely be seen and understood even from a distance. The pressbook contains good suggestions for street and local stunts. Study the whole collection and choose your favorite. SEALED VERDICT— Paramount. Shocking Inside on Overseas G.l.s and the Women They Love. Paramount offers Sensational, Provocative Thriller Revealing the "HushHush" Side of Fraternization. Rips the Lid Off a Sizzling Subject. This is the first picture about our G.l.s' part in the dramatic war crimes trials — the most powerful picture since the war — strong subject with necessarily strong advertising punch. Posters are stoppers, from 24-sheet and 6-sheet down through lobby display, window card and herald. Same dramatic theme and illustrations are used throughout the series. Newspaper advertising is less compelling because it attempts too much; the space is crowded with too many angles and approaches in type and art work. Look for the more simple forms that follow the superior poster style. There should be a teaser ad series, but it is not in the pressbook; perhaps you can make one out of mat No. 306 with the help of your composing room foreman. One large ad, fortunately too large for any widespread use, tries to make an advertising slogan out of "Caution — Inflammable Film". There are too many big ads in this pressbook — not enough in small sizes appropriate for most subsequent runs. If you can use one smash ad, pick mats Nos. 301, 302 or 303. Pressbook lists a group of catchlines, some of which are listed above. Teaser trailer and also regular trailer are available. Fraternization idea will get editorial treatment from newspapers and radio commentators; so a special showing of the picture is in order. You can also ask leaders of veterans' groups to see the picture in advance and express their ideas over the air or in published interviews. Double Click for A. & C. Bill Brown, manager of Loew's Poli Bijou theatre, New Haven, reports that what started out to be a routine double comedy bill turned into a local sensation when he teamed up Abbott and Costello's "Pardon My Sarong" and "In the Navy." The double bill, with Bud and Lou on both ends, struck pay-dirt from the first day. Good use of pressbook materials, combined in dual newspaper ads, had A. & C. all over the place, and response was terrific. 'Now Specializing* in Refreshment SERVICE for DRIVE-IN THEATRES) SPORTSERVICi I HURST BLDG. Inc. JACOBS BR0Sr; BUFFALO, N. Y. Three Times Capacity for "Back to School" Show Gene Kistner, manager of the State theatre, Elkhart, Indiana, really covered his town with window cards, posters and pressbook materials on "Youth Month," which was handled in Elkhart with the cooperation of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Bumper strips for cars, windshield stickers and tape advertising was used to plant the "Youth Month" campaign. A parade was planned, but had to be cancelled because school had not convened and high school bands were not yet available. Fifteen hundred youngsters showed up for the "Back To School" party and since the State seats only 500, this meant three capacity audiences. Program was so generally successful that Veterans are now interested in sponsoring another at Christmas time. Sonny Shepherd Fathers A New Publicity Idea Sonny Shepherd is the proud father of a publicity idea, at the swanky Miami theatre, in Florida, that has Editor & Publisher, the newspaper man's trade paper, saying that "Miamians won't let the Miami Daily News stop one of its feature promotions." The newspaper now has a "Wish Editor" and it all came from Sonny's primary urge to exploit "Apartment for Peggy." He thought the "Wish Editor" could promote a "wish" for an apartment for a GI, and it turned out to be the best exploitation idea of the season. Even the Paramount theatre, across the street, complimented Sonny on the terrific success of his promotion. It landed on all the front pages, and now readers want the 'Wish Editor" continued as a daily feature. "Apartment for Peggy" shows a World War II veteran and his family who try desperately for a place to live. A Miami builder had an apartment, the newspaper tied the two things together and then announced a contest, conducted with the Miami theatre, offering free rent for a year to the prize-winning GI whose particular circumstances were described in the best letter from a contestant. Over 3,000 letters were received, and the winner was a young veteran with twin babies and another on the way, really desperate for a home. Within a few days local merchants had offered the furniture, and in addition, a year's supply of milk for the twins and the new arrival and free laundry — among dozens of things donated by cooperating sponsors. Sonny placed a billboard ad, offering "Apartment for Peggy" high above the Miami marquee and handed out thousands of cards, telling of this "apartment" soon to be available at the Miami theatre. The tiein with a terrific newspaper contest was perfect. Front page stories of the contest and the prize-winning veteran and his little family, literally took Miami by storm. Fox Movietone News covered the assignment, and all local radio stations gave it special programing. The prize-winning home itself won such enormous publicity that the builder was well repaid for his generous offer. It's a pleasure to enter such a campaign, in the fourth quarter, for the Quigley Awards. THMt COMKimv m ^Wmt HANTS Filmack hmm GIVES YOU TNE BESI VALUE IN SPECIAL] TRAILERS 8I» NEXT ORDER US YOUR R/ MANAGERS' ROUND TABLE, NOVEMBER 27, 1948 45