Movie Age (1927)

PAGE 22 MOVIE AGE Kunsky Gets Helpful Hints From Patrons’ Suggestions In each of the Kunsky theatres there is a small table placed near an exit on which are cards asking patrons for sug¬ gestions or complaints. While it takes all kinds of people to make a world, and as a result some of the suggestions are absolutely ridiculous, nevertheless many good ideas come through these little cards. On one side of the card reads: “We would like to have you offer any sug¬ gestion or make any complaints regard¬ ing the comfort and pleasure of the pa¬ trons, or for the betterment of the per¬ formance on reverse side of this card.” On the other side these questions are asked: “Does this performance meet with your approval? Were you comfort¬ able? Were you courteously treated? Does the music suit you? What stars do you like best? What type of film subject do you prefer?” There are lines for the patrons’ names and addresses. The Kunsky manage¬ ment has been able to make some prof¬ itable improvements by means of these cards. Tops Record With “Strogoff”; Exploitation Helps to Do It The Park Theatre in Youngstown, O., made a summer record with Universal’s “Michael Strogoff” and gives much credit for it to Andy Sharick who came from the Cleveland exchange to help with the exploitation. Because of the foreign angle on the film — it was produced in Latvia by a French company using Russian actors — Sharick made a special play for foreign trade. He visited four Polish priests and secured their co-operation. The priests made mention of the film in their Sunday sermons and their choir boys distributed roto heralds printed in Pol¬ ish to the congregation as they left the church. A tie-up was put through with the Loose-Wiles Biscuit company on their animal crackers, the line being “Michael Strogoff would rather have met the Sun¬ shine Animals than the real ones he did meet in his thrilling trip through Si¬ beria.” As school was not in session, Sharick turned to the playgrounds. He found that Youngstown has 26 playgrounds with directors in charge three days a week. From the directors he found out how many children came to each play¬ ground and then had envelopes of animal crackers delivered to the director for all the children under her supervision. In this way 4000 children were reached and the result was shown in the number of children who came to see “Strogoff.” There were 593 at the opening matinee. Liberty Tie-Up on “Prince of Headwaiters” The short story by Viola Brothers Shore and Garrett Fort upon which Sam E. Rork based his First National picture, “The Prince of Headwaiters,” having appeared in Liberty Magazine, the pub¬ lishers of that periodical have tied up with the advertising and publicity de¬ partment of First National Pictures, in exploiting the film. Liberty Magazine has also sent a let¬ ter to all wholesalers handling that pub¬ lication requesting them to notify their news dealers to get in touch with First National exchanges and the first run theatres to make tie-ups with them when the picture is shown in their towns. This co-operation on the part of Lib¬ erty Magazine with First National’s ad¬ vertising and publicity department will be a great boost for the picture in ev¬ ery territory. Insurance Against Death From Laughing Effective C. Clare Woods, manager of the Colo¬ rado theatre, Pueblo, Colo., put on an effective campaign for “The General,” Buster Keaton’s production for United Artists. In a tie-up with an insurance company, 3,000 heralds were distributed advising the public that insurance could be taken out against injury or death from laughter during the picture. Old guns anr relics were furnished by Pubelo citizens for a window display. Five days in advance of the picture a lobby cut-out of Buster Keaton with a winking eye, made by a flashilight, was used. “Captain Salvation” Well Advertised in Louisville Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s “Captain Salvation” was well advertised at the Mary Anderson theatre, Louisville, Ky., where it played to excellent business. Herbert Morgan, mannager, assisted by an M-G-M exploiteer, managed the cam¬ paign. Newspaper advertising and bill board publicity was especially stressed in this model campaign. The bill posting and accessories were put out in the follow¬ ing quantities: one 6-sheet, two 3-sheets, thirty inserts, one thousand heralds, three sets of 11x14 photos and one set of stills. In addition to this, three thou¬ sand bookmarks were made up, and also one thousand imitation passes. The bookmarks were placed with the public libraries in a tie-up on the novel from which the film has been taken. The imitation passes, which contained the trick clause, “do not” in minute type, before the word “Pass”, in huge bold face type, most of them being thrown into parked automobiles away from the theatre. A model ship contest was arranged with the manual training summer schools and the models were displayed with stills from the picture in a prominent window of the business section. Warning Issued To Police That Lunatic is at Large A two-column advertisement in a Nashville, Tenn., newspaper addressed to the chief of police warning him that a lunatic had escaped was one of the novel features in the exploitation of “A Lunatic At Large” at the Capital thea¬ tre. Under the heading was the fol¬ lowing caption: “I have been warned that the “Lunatic at Large” who es¬ caped from the New York asylum re¬ cently, is headed for Nashville. Please be on your guard and take extra pre¬ cautions as I understand he is extreme¬ ly dangerous. He can be identified by his collapsible legs, which occasionaly give down under him. He is due in Nashville Monday.” The advertisement is said to have created unusual interest and drew good business to the theatre.