Motion Picture News (Oct-Dec 1930)

50 Motion P i c t u re Sews November 2 9 , 19 30 MANAGE!?!' POUND TADLt CLUB A Holiday Show Slant! At this most opportune time, E. F. A. submitted the following information on how he is arranging to help the poor and needy in his community this Christmas. He is running a series of Saturday morning shows in December and finishes up with a grand mid-night preview of a new picture on the Saturday preceding Christmas. These shows are all being run in co-operation with the local Chamber of Commerce, the newspaper and the Salvation Army. Through the Chamber of Commerce, all merchant members are dressing windows and incorporating copy into their advertising, etc. They are also offering various articles of food and merchandise and accepting donations of same from those wishing to help along this most worthy cause. At the Saturday morning shows, which will be patronized chiefly by children, the admission charge is confined to discarded clothes, canned goods and toys. For the mid-night premiere a special price scale up to 75 cents top has been worked out and the entire receipts will be turned over to the Salvation Army. All theatre help is donated, newspaper is playing up the midnight attraction to encourage advance sale of seats and altogether the entire community is pepped up by the fine work being done. From point of good-will and public reaction we doubt whether any idea ever conceived can match this for putting the theatre in a peach of a spot. Particularly since E. F. A.'s town has several thousand unemployed and conditions are the worse in many years. This rough draft is designed specifically to guide any member or reader who has a desire to get behind something of this sort. More information is available and at your service if you just shoot us a wire to Club headquarters. We are very grateful to E. F. A. for the inside dope on how he is going about it. "Chick" Rex Koury Features Novelty Organ Solos ; He's the Talk of Troy According to reports emanating from Troy, N. Y., Proctor's 4th Street Theatre is featuring the world's youngest organist in the person of Rex Koury, 18-year-old console artist, technician of the keys. It is said that he has acquired a technique which is delightfully modern. His presentations are varied, alternating between community singing presentation and solo work. One of his recent offerings — and one which showed the hold he enjoys upon the Troy public — was the rendition of what he termed a "Request Program." A specially designed modernistic scrim was used. A frame of film, showing numerous letter requests, was projected upon the entire proscenium. The letters dissolved into screen patter, which explained that, due to the enormous amount of mail received, it would be well nigh impossible to play, in its entirety, every number requested, but that Koury would attempt to play a few measures of as many numbers as the seven-minute time allotment would permit. Koury then broke in and voiced his sentiments by asking musically, "How Am I to Know?" — following this by a slide in which he asked for more requests, and promised to play them at a future date. Thirty selections in all were played on the "Request Program." each number being rendered with a slightly Fresh Air Taxi Co. In Lobby Was Golden Amos 'n' Andy Gag different combination and style, one blending into the other. This specialty was culminated with a fitting climax in the form of the "RKO March." It stopped the show. The showmanship displayed by this organist has them doing plenty of talking in Troy. One of his other showman moves was the billing of his turn as "The Voice of R-ex K-oury Organist. In Rochester, N. Y., Amos 'n' Andy, the prize eight balls of the N. B. C. network, and the Pepsodent company, certainly got a great send-off from J. Golden, manager of the Arkayo Palace Theatre, when he set out to exploit the dialectitians first "ain't dat sumpin," entitled "Check and Double Check," the film venture made possible by ether. As lack of space will not permit our printing every phase of the campaign, we are taking a few of the highlights which lend themselves to adaptation on almost any type of picture. Look them over carefully and you'll see our point in passing them along. First we'd like to point out the novel lobby display that served as an advance plug for the picture. A duplicate of the office of the well-known "Fresh Air Taxicab Company" was constructed in the lobby. The office was exactly as the one seen in the film. Two men were hired to black up and wear costumes similar to the Americ-Nubian "shoshos." The men conversed over the phone, and with each other, in language that was taken from some of the film's sequences. How the town gasped when it entered the theatre and saw the lobby display. Persons were talking about it all during its run. When they were not working the office gag, the men drove the "Fresh Air Taxi" about the street, creating a lot of talk wherever they went. You will note in the photo showing the man "repairing" the car, that Golden has impressed upon the men the value of this old showman gag of making it appear as though the car was unable to proceed, and, as a result, being forced to stop in the busy sections of the town. They received plenty of word-of-mouth comment on this angle. When not pulled too frequently, this stunt is very effective. If used too often, and the traffic cop on post gets wise, look out. Still another angle that immeasurably helped the selling of the picture was an effective tie-up made with the boys who weekly distribute "Liberty" magazines to subscribers in Rochester. The kids were invited to see the midnight twins emote. Carrying a large banner which gave their destination and plugged the picture, and preceded by the "Fresh Air Taxi," the boys marched to the house, attracting comment from all of the pedestrians. In return for Golden's courtesy, they placed heralds in every magazine distributed in the city. These few activities that we have set forth, formed but a small part of the complete, and excellent, camoaign. We hope that in the near future we'll hear some more regarding Mr. Golden's work, so that we can let the rest of the Club in on what is being done to keep Rochester show-conscious. Give us some dope on the situation, will you, Mr. Golden?