Movie Age (1927)

AUGUST 1 3, 1927 PAGE 23 Birthday “Comps” Create CountyWide Good Will Harry Smoots of Mt. Vernon, Ohio Has Novel Method of Creating Timely Prestige and Patronage for His Vine Theatre The old saw about there being “more than one way to choke a cat” is aptly demonstrated by exhibitor Harry Smoots of Mt. Vernon, Ohio. The method em¬ ployed by Mr. Smoots is a new one, and from the very originality of it, we make bold to assume that not many showmen have ever used it. The idea is based on birthdays. Everybody has them at least once a year — except possibly the fair sex, who sometimes pass ’em up wilfully. So Mr. Smoots plays on the sentimentality of the birthday with complimentary tickets to his excellent Vine theatre. To start the campaign he sends out the following letter to his public: “Mt Vernon, Ohio, April 1, 1927. Dear Friends: It is our desire to mail a program each month to everyone who wishes to receive the announcement of our coming at¬ tractions, however, we do not want to annoy anyone who is not interested in pictures. In the future we will mail programs only to those who express a desire to re¬ ceive them by mailing their name and address on the enclosed postal card. BIRTHDAYS We have records of hundreds of birthdays in our files, but we want thousands. We are not interested in the year of your birth or your age, all we want is the Month and the Day of the Month. The enclosed postal has space for five birthdays. Please fill it out with your own and that of your family or friends. If you can give us more than five, please do so on a separate card. You will be well repaid for the time spent in mailing them to us. Do it now. Sincerely yours, The Vine Theatre, Harry Smoots.” When the cards are sent in containing the various birthdays, they are all filed systematically in a date file which is worked daily. A day or so in advance of each birthday an attractive greeting card and a complimentary admission ticket, accompanied by an attractive lithoghaphed cover program for the month is mailed out to the addressee. The ticket admits the holder and a com¬ panion to the show on his or her birth¬ day with Mr. Smoots’ compliments, and a ■wish that “each recurring birthday find you rich in health, wealth and hap¬ piness.” Such a natural and friendly appeal to human nature, augmented by attractive printed matter, cannot fail to and does produce splendid results. Spectacular Exploitation On “First Auto” in Cleveland Further proof of the facility with which Warner Bros. Extended Run Pro¬ duction ,“The First Auto,” can be spec¬ tacularly exploited, is furnished by de¬ tails of the campaign put on at the oc¬ casion of the picture’s premiere at the Cameo theatre in Cleveland. Two hundred bulletins were hung about the plants of Cleveland announc¬ ing that rebate tickets redeemable for ten cents toward admission price would be given away by request to Cleveland workers in the automobile industry. The biggest single feature of the campaign, however, was a contest tieup with the Cleveland News to discover the first auto in the city. Big space was given by the paper for a week in ad¬ vance, six columns on page one being devoted daily to the progress of the contest. It culminated the night before “The First Auto” opened, with a tre¬ mendous parade of the entries, more than a hundred of whom drove in an attention-getting line-up for two miles from the starting point to the City Hall where the committee of judges awarded the prizes. Song Cycle For “Cabaret” E. R. Rogers of the Tivoli, Chatta¬ nooga, arranged for a cycle of songs to be sung each afternoon in connec¬ tion with “Cabaret,” Paramount’s pro¬ duction featuring Gilda Gray. Rogers had a singer render “Songs of the Na¬ tion,” each day honoring a different country. One day France was honor¬ ed, then Italy, and then United States. This crowd jamming the entrance to Mr. Smoots’ Vine Theatre would indicate that birthdays are celebrated quite extensively in Mount Vernon, Ohio. <^> JPermit ustosfjare tfje3lops of tfjis, pour JBirtljbap, bp extenbing pou an inbitation to attrnt) fEfjt Vine this ebening. tCfje ®icfeet encloscb bull aim it pou anb a Companion, tnittj our Compliments, itlap ead) recurring JPirtfjbap finb pou riel) in Spealtf), health anb happiness. 3H)c VTtnc GTljeatre 5i>arrp Smoots Attractively printed greeting cards such as these are sent out by Mr. Smoots to patrons on their birthdays. Insert: Complimentary ticket which is enclosed with the greeting.