Motion Picture News (Oct-Dec 1930)

72 Motion Picture News N ov ember 15 , 1930 MANAGER!' POUND TADLE CLUB A Timely Adi One thing that doesn't belong in a showman's curriculum is the cry "It won't fit the picture." The yodel is the wail emitted when a stunt is good, but is supposed not to fit some other picture. That's a lotta hooey ! Pretty near every stunt will fit all types of pictures. Get an eyeful of the ad we are reproducing. This ad was run, around Election Day, in one of the Cincinnati papers. The man responsible for it is Bill Danziger, peppy director of advertising and publicity for the R.K.O. houses in the Ohio city. Read his copy. It's the McKoy. You will notice that all of the circuit houses are represented in the ad. We don't know whether Danziger favors group advertising in all of his regular ads, but we are sure that he must think a lot of this type of advertising. We are not informed on the advertising situation in this town so we can't present any other slants on the ad for your consideration. We think that if you will look this thing over that it will be productive of a brand new bunch of ideas with which you can add a little more life and pep to the ads you turn out in conjunction with national holidays or any event of especial import on your theatrical calendar. Before signing off on this story, we'd like to once more call your attention to a close scrutiny of the copy. You will note that the Western ads carry western language. The comedy "Oh! Sailor Behave" carries copy that sets it off well. Likewise the other films be THE STRAIGHT B.KO TICK.E-T/ I RONALDCOLMAN ♦RAFFLE/* a KAY FRA.NCIS RKO CAPITOL Note You CAN Gel a Seal! Tho Ruth It Orer ... Bui tht Laughs Linger On! AMCS^N'ANDY CHECK AND DOUBLE CHECK" V, I'i I f RKO STRAND X OLSEN ^JOHNSON 'OH sailor' be-havf America's Funnlcjt Clowns Cnsh th* Talkies' Grins ADoyl Tilt I— 25c ___ RKO FAMILY <lke UTAH KID RE-X LE-AfE DOROTHY StBASTlAN J That's the way it should What are your views on the subject? Series Tickets Were Handed Out In St. Louis By McManus The ability to fashion all of his stunts so that they will be winners has given John McManus, manager of the State Theatre in St. Louis, Mo., a rep around the town as that of a showman with a string of consistent successes and record breakers. He landed a good publicity break, in one of the local papers, recently, through using the showman dope he is so often bringing into play. In the classified section of the local paper, he inserted an ad requesting that any person in St. Louis possess ing tin hats, used either by the Americans or Germans, bring them to the stage door of the theatre, where they would be paid for the use of them. He was amazed to find that 743 applicants answered the ad. Knowing that the newspaper would be more than pleased to learn the pulling power of their columns, he dispatched a letter to the advertising department telling them of his success. The paper picked up the letter and worked a three-column ad around it, in which the theatre was given mention. That's only one of McManus' stunts. Here's another. With the World Series being played in his town, he was going to do something about it. What he did has the natives laughing yet. A bunch of heralds, in the form of baseball tickets, were made up. They were printed in black on yellow stock. On one side of the tickets was printed the season pass gag which is known to nearly all of the Club members. The other side contained the baseball ticket imprint with the copy reading: "This ticket entitles the holder to GRAND STAND on or near the curbstone of Grand Blvd., Dodier St., Sullivan Ave., Spring Ave., or any other street that is your size (fat people bring a long yardstick) where, if you are tall enough, you may view the World Series Game between the St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Athletics." (Date.) On the stub was imprinted: "RAIN CHECK. In case of rain this stub will serve as an excellent rain check over the hole in your umbrella or slicker." The stunt was a riot. People were passing the dummy tickets along, getting plenty of laughs wherever they went. The house came in for some fine publicity, with the result that business increased during the series. This is Mr. McManus' first contribution to our pages as he has just joined the Club. We are sure that, with such activity as he displays, he is going to be a very active member. Let's have some dope on yourself, John, and include your photo with it. Some showmen are so loElVing's Heralds cated in towns that they find For Out Of Town L^^romrdTnfterrirory Trade Effective in order to help boost the :^^^^^^^——^^^^^^^^—- box-office up above normal. Such is the case of J. C. Ewing, manager of the Colonial Theatre in Watertown, S. D. Feeling that he had to get them coming in from the sticks. Ewing made up a herald, printed in black on white coated stock and sent it out to the residents of the R. F. D. routes. The heralds, containing four pages, carried plugs on the inner pages relative to the films coming to the theatre. The front page of the herald carried photos of various stars all around the borders with their names identifying them. Twenty-five hundred heralds were sent out, and in order to stimulate interest, Ewing imprinted two hundred and fifty of them with a special coupon club. The coupon entitled the bearer to a free admission to the theatre on a certain date. The heralds were then mixed up with the rest and sent out through the mails. We might also explain that Ewing's motives in dating the free coupon and placing them in different piles was in order to diminish the possibility of large groups of persons coming in to the theatre on the same day. No heralds were mailed to persons living in the town. The gag met with plenty of success, as the person who had received the coupon was certain to bring somebody else along. The angle proved to be valuable, and if you think that it's something that will help your business along, also, go ahead and use it. Perhaps you can add one or two slants to it; and if so, let's have your ideas too, so that we can pass them along to vour fellow Club members. We want to thank Ewing for his'thoughtfulness and we hope he is going to keep us posted on his future work also. ALWAYS WEAR YOUR CLUB PIN