Motion Picture Herald (Nov-Dec 1948)

SHOWMEN IN ACTION Harry Wiener's Contest Selects "Miss Gloveteen" Harry Wiener, manager of Smalley's theatre, Johnstown, N. Y., has submitted his entry in the "Youth Month" competition, just ended. His big event didn't take place until November 8th which is an indication of how late some ''Youth Month" activities have been, in relation to the original Sept. 1st to 30th period, as planned. The local contest selecting "Miss Gloveteen" in the GloversvilleJohnstown area, a matter of civic pride in the dual-community, places this entry far out in front for the special Quigley Award. The campaign was developed with the cooperation of Alix Blake, disc-jockey at station WENT, Gloversville. Five teen-agers were picked in advance, and fifteen announcements recorded which were used 250 times in building up the contest. The voices of local young folks gave the idea a tremendous boost, and twenty-five glove manufacturers in the area became sponsors for the contest. An application blank was mimeographed and distributed at the High School, without cost to the theatre, and the winner was promised a two-day trip to New York, with her mother, including dinner with Jane Powell, then making a personal appearance at the Capitol theatre on Broadway. "Miss Gloveteen" was a happy choice as a name for the most popular teen-age girl in the Glove Cities. Metro's "Luxury Liner" was the feature attraction at the theatre, when "Miss Gloveteen" was crowned as "Teen Queen," and the picture had full-page cooperative advertising in the Gloversville and Johnstown Morning Herald. Excellent window tieups were obtained through a series of prizes offered to merchants for the most attractive displays. A local Nash dealer drove the prize winner and her party into New York for the celebration. Roy E. Williams, manager of the Rialto theatre, Orlando, Florida, soys he hod fun with a "Sadie Hawkins" Midnite Show, with cash prizes for the best dressed coupfes "Dog Patch Style". Here you see fhe girls of his staff posing with the lobby sign. G. H. Rathman, manager of the Marion theatre, Marion, Iowa, getting those unusual full-page ads, hand drawn and mimeographed by students, in the Marion Higli School newspaper. T Ernie Warren, manager of the dual Elgin theatres (two under one roof), Ottawa, copped second prize for Canada in an Eagle Lion "T-Man" contest, just losing to Ivan Ackery, of Vancouver, by a whisker. T Horace Spencer, manager of the Illini theatre, Moline, 111., had the privilege of showing Capt. Volney Phifer s exhiDit oi Eskimo huskies on tour as exploitation for "The Secret Land." T Norman Levinson, assistant to Lou Cohen, manager of Loew's Poli, Hartford, promoted two co-op ads, besides window and counter tieups with W. T. Grant store for "Three Musketeers." T Louis E. Mayer, publicity head for RKO Chicago theatres, doing the honors with Capt. Phifer's visiting huskies to advertise "Secret Land" at the RKO Grand theatre. T George Kemp, manager of Fabian's Paramount theatre, Staten Island, tied up a local sporting goods store to foot the bill for exploitation of "The Babe Ruth Story." T Boyd Sparrow had plenty of front-page publicity in Indianapolis papers for the personal appearance of Terry Moore, teen-age star of "The Return of October" at Loew's theatre. V Fredk. J. Studd, English manager who has migrated to these shores, now located as manager of Odeon's Palace theatre, St. Catherines, Ontario. His first attraction, a road company of Gilbert & Sullivan. ▼ George P. Long, manager of the Strand theatre, Altoona, Pa., advertising "See Yourself in the Movies" with the showing of "Our Town" — a 40-minute featurette of daily life in Altoona, a home-town film sponsored by local merchants. T Chan Keong, manager of the Queen's theatre, Hong Kong, China, executed an impressive display for "Bathing Beauty" that caught the eye of every patron. T Rudy Koutnik dressed his lobby display figures of Red Skelton in bright red underwear to advertise "A Southern Yankee" at the Palace theatre, in Milwaukee. ▼ Guy Havis, manager of Walter Reade theatres in Asbury Park, N. J., has arranged for the Monmouth County "Welcome Wagon" which greets all new residents, to present gift tickets with their initial call on newcomers to the community. Buford Cranch, acting manager of Loew's Palace theatre, Memphis, had a caricaturist in the lobby, doing cartoons of posing patrons, as a plug for "No Minor Vices." T Peter Manzione, manager of Century's Triangle theatre, in Brooklyn, had the full cooperation of the United States Marines, who landed in his lobby, to advertise "Guadalcanal Diary." V Milton Kaufman, manager of Loew's theatre in Norfolk, Va., had cowboys riding real white-eyed western Pinto ponies to advertise "Red River." T Universal-International had drum majorettes giving away Topp's Gum along Broadway, as an exploitation plug for "You Gotta Stay Happy" at Radio City Music Hall. T Ed Pyne photographs a happy Boy Scout troop, posing in his lobby, with their flags and banners, during the celebration of "Youth Month" at Keith's 105th Street theatre, Cleveland. T Julius Lamon put together a profitable kiddie show with "Under the Big Top" as a feature attraction for his "Circus Day" at Warner's Uptown theatre, Cleveland. T J. V. Caudill, manager of the Parkway theatre, Sparta, N. C, played "Belle Starr's Daughter" for one of the first showings in the state, and did it without exploitation help from the pressbook. ▼ Merle R. Blair, who hasn't been heard from in too long, reports from the Cedar Amusement's Regent theatre, Cedar Falls, Iowa. He's running a "Junior Talent Show" each Saturday. T John Longbottom, manager of the Odeon theatre, Middlesborough, had front-page publicity in the Daily Mirror, which is quite a feat in England, for his baby-minding idea, to exploit "Sitting Pretty." T C. F. Booth, manager of the Odeon theatre, Plymouth, used a group of professional Welsh Bell Ringers as a stage attraction to exploit "Miracle of the Bells." T Frank Boyle, publicist of RKO Keith's theatre in Lowell, Mass., got a special herald for "Walk a Crooked Mile" which he designed for big parking lot areas. T Hal Martz, manager of Walter Reade's theatres in Plainfield, N. J., advertising Christmas Gift Books of tickets as "Your Passport to Fun." T Ansel Winston, manager of the RKO Coliseum theatre, on upper Broadway, made a tieup with the Cigar Institute of America for display material on "Babe Ruth Story." MANAGERS' ROUND TABLE, DECEMBER II, 1948 43