Motion Picture News (Jul-Aug 1923)

666 M o t i o n Picture News New "Heart Raider9 Lobby Ideas Marquee and Front Displays Feature Many Campaigns Used on This Picture LOBBY and marquee displays are the principal exploitation measure being used by many exhibitors in advertising " The Heart Raider," and several ideas actually used are presented below, grouped together for the convenience of the manager preparing his campaign, together with other ideas : Manager William R. Bedell, of the Rialto theatre, Atlanta, Ga., was one of the exhibitors featuring his display. The principal appeal was made in the lobby and on the marquee, where hundreds of hearts were aflutter. On each marquee a large red heart was mounted with a cut-out figure of Agnes Ayres perched on the top. Across the center of the heart was the title of the picture. The rectangular base upon which the heart rested carried the names of the two stars, Agnes Ayres and Mahlon Hamilton and " A Paramount Picture." Suspended underneath the marquee over the sidewalk was an array of small hearts. They were arranged on wires in a criss-cross fashion from opposite corners and around each side just under the eave. These hearts were about 12 inches in diameter and carried " Agnes Ayres " on one side and " The Heart Raider " on the other. The same idea was carried out in the lobby, where several lines of the hearts were suspended at a height about even with the top of box office. mounted. To the left of the cut-out appeared the name of the star, to the right, " A Paramount Picture," and at the bottom the title. Two smaller hearts were suspended just above the larger one, one of them reading, " Agnes Ayres in " . . . the other, " The Heart Raider." Attractive Lobby Disf>l<i\ Another attractive and inexpensive display was prepared by Hugo Plath, manager of the Palace theatre, Fort Smith, Ark., who built up a large shadow box with a heart-shaped front. A large keyhole in the heart, which was placed in the center of the lobby, served as a peephole. Inside the heart was a shadow box with various colored lights, a one-sheet which shows Miss Ayres in a bathing suit was used for the background, behind this were green lights, behind the water, a yellow light behind the moon and a white light behind the boat, in front of this one sheet were purple lights which made a very attractive shadow display. Hearts and Cut-Out Used Manager H. B. Clarke, of the Casino theatre, Greenville, S. C, took a similar angle. The " heart " idea was carried out in the lobby by means of a large beaverboard heart set up in the center, upon an easel. In the center of this large heart the figure of Agnes Ayres in a bathing suit, cut from a six-sheet, was Ex-Service Men Invited to Showing of "Skin Deep" Manager Ollie Brow nice, of the Palace theatre, Muskogee, Okla., invited .16 ex-doughboys, patients at the Soldiers' Memorial Hospital, to be the guests of the theatre on the opening date of " Skin Deep." A local automobile agency furnished cars for the soldiers to drive them to the theatre, and each car carried a large banner about the picture and the special matinee. In the lobby of the theatre was a :.ir<rc hand-painted question mark about 12 feet high on which was painted a picture of a woman looking into a mirror. Across the top of the lobby spelled out in cut-out letters was the title of the picture and the star's name. Strong use of poster cutout in lobby on " J Jumps Ahead " at the Rialto, Augusta, Ga., by F. J. Milller, manager. Encloses Entire Front for "Woman With 4 Faces" When " The Woman with Four Faces " played the Palace theatre, Muskogee, Okla., Manager Ollie Brow nice enclosed the entire front with beaverboard from the box office out to the three-sheet frames which were parallel with the sidewalk. Each side was scrolled at the top with a similar piece on top of the box office to match the rest. The doorway as was cut in each side lor an entrance and exit and on the walls of these beaverboard panels were painted lour pictures of Betty Compson, representing the four different parts she played in the picture. Across the top of these frames spelled out the title of the picture and the stars, name-. Showing of "Shadows" Tied Up with London Buses The rapidity with which American exploitation methods are being adopted in England is shown by the way Walturdaw, which handles Preferred Pictures in England, exploited u Shadows " during the London premier of that picture. One hundred and fifty of the new type motor buses carried a back-banner on "Shadows" through the principal streets of London during the showing, and attracted an extraordinary amount of attention. According to David L. Blumcnfeld, of Walturdaw's publicity department, exploitation and publicity will soon be as much of the routine of the showing of a picture in England as in America. Street Cars Tied Up 100% on " Souls for Sale 99 Attractive bookstore window display tying up with the run of "Main Street" at the Roosevelt theatre, Chicago HUTCHINSON, Kans. — Hutchinson's street car system was enrolled 100' ' in exploiting "Souls for Sale " at the De Luxe theatre. Each car on the system carried a four-foot banner on the front fender. At a cost of $1.75 an hour an old street car was chartered and each side covered with a 24-sheet poster. The car was run through the city between the hours of 11 a. m. to 2 p. m., and from 5 p. m. to 8 p. m. the day before the opening and each day of the run. Cut-outs from the one-sheet were placed in ten conspicuous windows; a shadow-box, twenty-five feet long, with lettering patterned after that on the sixsheet, was placed in front of the theatre; a register was placed in the lobby in which girls who wished to receive a letter from Eleanor Boardman wrote their names.