Motion Picture News (Dec 1920-Feb 1921)

Motion Picture Net View of the Clcmmer theatre (Seattle, Wash.) lobby showing the umbr£ ll-as furnished by the management during the run of " The Mark of Zorr as told in the story appearing beUm-. The insert shows a picture of Resident Manager Claude H. Odom Umbrellas, Not Rain Checks, Handed Out When the Clemmer and Wintergarden theatres of Seattle, Wash., played "The Mark of Zorro " day and date, so unusual a thing that a great deal of stress was laid on the fact, special attention was paid to the house decorations, interior and exterior, doing everything in Spanish colors and giving the theatres a distinctly Spanish atmosphere. The usherettes were garbed in Spanish costumes, with short dresses, while the doormen and outside attaches were dressed in the black bandit garb, similar to that which " Doug " uses in the picture. It rains the best part of five months in Seattle, and the management utilized their exploitation ideas to make their patrons comfortable while standing in line in the rain, by supplying them with large umbrellas on the top of which was printed " Going to see Douglas Fairbanks in ' The ]\Iark of Zorro.' " Besides the comfort the umbrellas gave, they were extremely attractive to the thousands of people who passed in the trolley cars and in autos. The managers of both theatres have decided to use umbrellas for the comfort of their patrons all during the rainv seasons now. Portland, Ore., Stages Elaborate Prologue Nineteen persons are used in the prologue being put on at the Liberty theatre last week in connection with " Love, Honor and Behave." Paul E. Noble, manager of the Liberty, planned the entire act, all lines, settings and costumes having originated with him. The prologue is called an " atmospheric setting " for the comedy which follows and reproduces an imaginary scene from a sultan's harem. "Silk Hosiery" Title Cleverly Used When it came to planning the exploitation for the run of " Silk Hoisery," Palace theatre, Wichita, the usual newspaper and outdoor advertising campaign was supplemented by a small teaser booklet. The front page was a brief outline of Silk Hosiery " defined as a " Hand-Embroidered Paramount picture,"' while the back page advertised the Palace theatre and advertised the picture as a " beauty picture, fine as silk." The display came in the intervening pages, the entire back length of the booklet, which could be unfolded until it stretched in a single sheet, being a study of various kinds of displays. There were shoes, stockings (feminine), sometimes garters and a border. The stockings were, in every instance, tenanted. It was a complete display of feminine silk hosiery and peculiarly appropriate to the picture, even though it failed to show any stars, or, in fact, a single face in the display. Original Angle for Ex ploiting "In Search of a Sinner" Clififord A. Carroll, manager of the Ca roll theatre, Rome, New York, put ovt a neat exploitation stunt recently when 1 called upon all the young men of his cit to evidence their ambitions to become d<: tectives. Mr. Carroll utilizes this origin;' idea for the showing of " In Search of Sinner.'" About a week previous to the run c " In Search of a Sinner," Mr. Carro caused the following ad to be inserted i the local daily newspaper in the Mai Help Wanted "' column : " WANTED— Alert, Abie-Bodied Ma to act as Private Detective in search of sinner. Phone 808 between 7 and 9 p.m. According to Mr. Carroll, " the pape hadn't been out on the streets for an hou before the telephone began ringing. I ha< to leave the front of the house; wasn' able to watch the projection and, in fact couldn't do anything but attend to tha phone." The admissions to a special tin can shozi 'u-hich the Hippodrome theatre Wolfe Cif\ obtained for the first episode of " Daredevil Jack." According to F. M. Ferguson, manager of the Hippodrome, the stunt gave the serial a big send off