Motion Picture Herald (Oct-Dec 1956)

New Member Is a LadyContender Mrs. Christine Sutton, who is a new member of the Round Table, submits her first entry for the Quigley Awards, and we are sure it will get the attention of our judges in the fourth quarter, because it has the merit of good showmanship. She is the manager of the Metro theatre, Abilene, Texas, and her campaign is on “Trapeze” — which she ran for four days in the 526-seat neighborhood house, operated by her and her sister. The picture, when she got her playdates, was thirdrun in Abilene, but her handling of it is first-rate. She had the cooperation of the City Recreation Department, and borrowed Mike Sutton’s Nissen Super-Circus “Trampoline”— and if you don’t know what that is, it’s a device acrobats use to bounce themselves in and out of the net, or up in the air. Anyway, it worked — and over 800 kids had the time of their lives with it, installed on the sidewalk in front of the theatre. We have lots of snapshots in her campaign book to show the delight of the youngsters in this real circus equipment. It created atmosphere for the picture— and Abilene has its own group of real circus people, who contributed to this ballyhoo. Business was the best on record, as a result of “the most successful campaign we ever put on.” Some of the young folks who appeared from the City Recreation group had offers to join the Royal American Shows, from their talent scout in winter quarters. Many theatres had a trapeze to advertise “Trapeze” — but Mrs. Sutton had a trampoline, to jump on, and it created so much excitement the Abilene Reporter sent a news photographer to get a picture which we will use without tearing her campaign book apart to get it. Our advice to those who will be playing “Trapeze” in the future is to find themselves a trampoline, and apply the same showmanship skill that’s found in Abilene, Texas, neighborhoods. Mrs. Sutton says, “the cost was slight for the large return we got” — and she gave the Recreation Department a $25 donation. Birk Binnard sends in his list of Stanley Warner top prize winners in the Philadelphia zone, and as we suspected, Dominick Lucente is named “best in zone” with Lew Black, at the Warner, Wilmington, second in group “A” — Ray Powell & Vince Olandin, Warner, West Chester, second in group “B” and “Tiny” Goldsmith, at the Terminal, Philadelphia, second in group “C” — all the “seconds” had equal prizes, with additional runners-up following. Take the Drama Page To Win Free Tickets PORTLAND, ORE.: Several weeks ago, Evergreen’s Oregon District Manager and ace showmandiser Oscar Nyberg, came up with a tremendous promotion gimmick. He made a deal with Journal Drama Editor Arnold Marks to give two passes away daily to people selected at random from their readers. The box as shown on the page appears in Marks’ column and the person has only to take the drama page to the Orpheum Theatre doorman for free admittance. A card is given the patron for his remarks about the movie and mailed postage free to Marks, who prints the comment. Other house managers have tried to get on the bandwagon since this started, but Nyberg got the exclusive for his Orpheum before the thing started. Results . . . wow! The standing box reads “Be My Guest Tonight” and contains a name and address. You’ve heard of a “guest columnist” but this is a “column guest.” Navy Cooperation Gives Us Too Long a Picture Bill Trambukis, manager of Loew’s State, Providence, had the longest model aircraft carrier ever to land in the around the town exploitation of “Sharkfighters” — and we can’t do anything with the photograph for our picture page because it is so 1-o-n-g, thataway and so low thisaway, that the proportions won’t even fit our logarithmic scale, if you know what we mean. Julian Katz Shows Style In Brooklyn Julian S. Katz, manager of the Randforce Meserole theatre, in Brooklyn, shows his showmanship style in two campaigns entered in the fourth quarter for the Quigley Awards. The first, on “Ambassador’s Daughter” has been referred to. in Showmen in Action, and the new arrival, on “High Society” is even better. “Ambasador’s Daughter” lent itself to a lot of stunts of various kinds, since it was that kind of a picture, so nothing was overlooked that would create interest, with displays arranged both at and away from the theatre. No 24-sheets were available, so he built his own 15-foot lobby display using the 6-sheet combined with 11x14 photos. In addition, a standee was constructed in the same way. Rather than use a special herald, they provided a special front page for the weekly program, using a pressbook mat of the national travel contest, provided by Trans-World Airlines and United Artists. For “High Society” he says he had something distinctive to advertise, and started with the 24-sheet for lobby display, plus music and window tieups, with contests to accent the star value. The idea was to make the potential audience know he had something special to offer, and to give it special handling all the way. This also is a news picture of exploitation early in the morning — a photograph made at 6:30 a.m. in the lobby of the Radio City theatre, Minneapolis, for the breakfast matinee of “The Opposite Sex" — with coffee and doughnuts on the house. Disc jockeys reported the event from the spot, and both theatre staff and MGM field men participated in the promotion. 40 MOTION PICTURE HERALD, NOVEMBER 24, 1956