Motion Picture News (Jan-Feb 1922)

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February 4 , 1922 859 Branford Stages “Molly O” Prologue Newark Theatre Presentation Greenman Gets Much Publicity with Private Screening HENRY GREENMAN, manager of the Fox-Liberty theatre, St. Louis, gained much advance publicity for the showing of “ Theodora ” at that theatre by giving a private screening three days in advance of the showing. Invitations were issued to Italian literary societies, newspaper critics, clergymen and exhibitors of St. Louis and surrounding territory. Mr. Greenman obtained a story on the special screening in each of the St. Louis newspapers. “Emotional Machine” Interests Austin Fans in “ The Sheik ” Taking a spring scale and masking it as in “ emotional machine,” W. E. Paxchall secured a lobby display that attracted a lot of attention when “The Sheik” played at the Majestic theatre, Austin, Texas. The dial was covered with blank paper and draw symbolic designs of “love, hate, jealousy ’’ and other primary emotions were arranged around the path of the indicator. A large board which completely concealed the rest of the scale contained a key to the symbols. A card read : Emotion Register, Climb On This Machine. Registers Your Emotions. This Device Was Used By Rudolph Valentino in Properly Gauging His Emotions for the Big Scenes in “ The Sheik.” This gave the co-ed flapper of the University something to talk about. The lobby stunt was supplemented by a box of contributions from The Austin American Misspelled Word Contest. Persons finding all the misspelled words in “ The Sheik ” advertisements were admitted free. The box contained 500 answers. The Austin American took advantage of the hookup to spread this sign : Do They Read the Austin American. Adds Much AN elaborate prologue added to the presentation novelties for “ Molly O ” during the Branford theatre, Newark, engagement. The prologue was in two scenes, opening with “The Alley” and closing with “The Ball Room,” with a cast of twelve. The first scene represented an alley at dusk, with a faint glow in the windows of the houses. An amber spot picked up Miss Norma Leyland, soprano, who was dressed to resemble Miss Normand in the picture, sitting on a suitcase. After she had sung “You’ll Come Back to Me,” George Dale, tenor, came on, dressed as a laborer, and after a short exchange of words he sang “ Molly O.” As they made their exit the drop was taken up and the second scene represented a ball room with the Branford Mixed Quartette dressed as the guests in the ballroom scene in the film. Hyman Tries Out “Art Course” Exploitation AN art course for laymen via the screen has been quietly inaugurated by Managing Director Edward L. Hyman at the Brooklyn Mark Strand, not as an educational proposition, but as a semi-entertainment and educational effort. Mr. Hyman launched the innovation with a showing of “ The Beggar Maid.” Last week Mr. Hyman followed this up with a presentation of a motion picture adapted from the painting by Josef Isreals, known as “ The Bashful Suitor.” Not only were high school teachers notified of the course, but art students were given personal notification. It is the intention of Mr. Hyman to use this type of film as an auxiliary feature following the featured film. to the Show The opening song was “ Drink to me Only with Thine Eyes,” followed by the duet from “Tales of Hoffman.” Following the songs the dancing girls came on, giving a Grecian dance arranged with the music. At the close of this number, Miss Leyland dressed to resemble Miss Normand in an evening gown and wearing a mask, appeared. Stepping forward, the tenor declared : “ I know everyone here but this lady. Who are you? ” As she removed her mask the entire company exclaimed : “ Why it’s Molly 0.” Following a dance the entire ensemble sang “ Molly O ” and came down in front of the plush curtain While they were still singing the sheet was lowered and the film started, the song being timed to end as the first title was shown, giving the production a flying start. In the ballroom scene the dominating color was blue, thrown on by spots and strip lights, and the soloists were picked out with an amber spot from the booth. During the dancing a color wheel was used from the booth. The prologue was the talk of the town and all the newspapers carried special stories on the importance of the presentation of them to give any production the right atmosphere. Jackie Coogan Imitator Helps Regent with “Peck’s Bad Boy” In exploiting “Peck’s Bad Boy,” Harry Gilbert, manager of the Regent Theatre, Syracuse, N. Y., secured a covered truck and placed two large scarlet and white signs on the sides, with a slogan and the dates. In the back of the truck, framed in the doorway, was a boy imitator of Jackie, his dog beside him. This truck ran around the city all day, stopping a bit at each block in the residence district by choice and down-town because it was necessary, because many times the driver was called down by one of the policemen for blocking the traffic. Unemployment Idea Adapted for Use on “Fightin' Mad” THE unemployment situation, which is just now so vital a part of every city’s problem, was the most effective part pf the campaign of Manager George Schmidt, of the Strand theatre, Atlanta, to exploit “Fightin’ Mad.” The city council and various civic bodies in Atlanta have been agitating themselves for weeks over this situation which has been made more acute by the cold weather. Manager Schmidt engaged a big truck, and picked up off of the street ten men whose need for work was aggravated by the fact that they had families. These men were hired for the whole week, and were carried up and down the streets in the main part of the city, bearing on each side of the truck, a giant banner which read: “We were unemployed un til the Strand theatre engaged us to exploit ‘Fightin’ Mad.’ It’s a good show.” The fact that the men had families, and that Manager Schmidt had, for a little space, solved their problem of work for them, was taken up by the newspapers, and made much of it. The result was that Manager Schmidt enlisted the co-operation and interest of everybody that read the papers. This picture shows the “ emotional machine” lobby display for “ The Sheik,” which IT. E. Paschall, manager of the Majestic theatre, Austin, Texas, devised