Movie Age (1927)

PAGE 20 MOVIE AGE Baseball Players Parade to Exploit “Babe Comes Home” Valuable free publicity was obtained recently by J. G. Weigand, of the Co¬ lumbia at Junction City, Kas. Ac¬ cording to some film salesman who wit¬ nessed the stunt, Weigand used the Ju¬ nior ball leagues of the city as exploiteers of “Babe Comes Home”, First Na¬ tional’s baseball comedy starring “Babe” Ruth. Weigand sent out notices to all the amateur baseball teams in the city an¬ nouncing that all members of the vari¬ ous teams who apeared at the theatre in their baseball uniforms would be ad¬ mitted free. When the players arrived at the house, Weigand asked the boys if they would parade through the streets carrying a “Babe Comes Home” ban¬ ner. The boys consented and the flash was very effective. Hunt for Pictures in Store Window Gets Big Publicity A search for “lost” film stars was a unique stunt put over by Keith’s Palace Theatre, Columbus, 0. With the aid of a newspaper, the management an¬ nounced a search for 30 Universal play¬ ers. The pictures of the players were place in store windows in the downtown district, one star’s picture to a window. Cash prizes were offered to the persons naming each star, and the window in which he or she found the pictures. The stunt got a front page break in a daily newspaper and it aroused a great deal of attention. The campaign was used to exploit “Sensation Seek¬ ers.” Rebate Checks Draw Rural Folks for “Scarlet Letter” The management of the Rivera, An¬ derson, Ind., sent out 3,000 envelopes to the rural routes during and before the showing of “The Scarlet Letter.” In each envelope was enclosed a check for 10 cents rebate when purchasing the regular 40 cent tickets, a small an¬ nouncement card, and a herald. Four oil paintings were placed in prominent places in the downtown sec¬ tion. This simple but very effective cam¬ paign drew a big business. An AD-itorial If you doubt the value of persistent advertising , which advertises any parti¬ cular piece of merchandise to the con¬ sumer we would be pleased to have you satisfy yourself as to its merits in this way: When you go home to dinner, just ask the Mrs. which soap it is that the manufacturer says in his advertising, “It floats.” She’ll say “Ivory” soap. Ask her which vaccum cleaner claims this slogan: “It beats as it sweeps as it cleans.” She’ll say “Hoover.” Ask your neighbor what automobile company claims to build “The most beautiful car in America.” He’ll say “Paige.” The grocerman would not for one minute be without “Ivory” soap. Every progressive furniture store or home fur¬ nisher sells the “Hoover.” You will find the “Paige” cars represented every¬ where. Every successful merchant car¬ ries the trade marked brands. Why? Because they are nationally advertised and the demand for them has been created. And so it is with “Universal”, “MetroGoldwyn”, “First National”, “Para¬ mount”, “Columbia”, “Educational”, etc. Your patrons are anxious to see these companies’ productions, be¬ cause they read about them week after week in national magazines. When you play their product — back up their nat¬ ional advertising campaigns with a local advertising campaign. Your are bound to kick “no business” into middle of the street. Increase your newspaper adver¬ tising lineage and bill your town like it was never billed before. You are bound to get the desired results. Midnight Show Draws Big Crowd in Small Town When “The Midnight Sun,” the Uni¬ versal special was due to play the Grand Theatre, Lenoir City, Tenn., man¬ ager Clyde S. Jones decided that this would be the opportune time to try out a midnight performance. He spent con¬ siderable time on advance exploitation for this showing, and arranged, among other things, an elaborate window dis¬ play. Roto heralds were distributed widely and hundreds of townspeople were told of the special performance over the phone. Mr. Jones was somewhat skeptical as to whether there would be a crowd or not, but the novelty of a midnight show, since one had never before been held in Lenoir City, and the advance advertis¬ ing had done its work. When the doors were opened at 12:05, a long line was waiting for seats and very soon the house was entirely filled. The picture continued to capacity all the following day. “Big Parade” Exploited) by Signal Flags in Cleveland The Stillman, Cleveland, 0., center¬ ed its exploitation around the lobby during the showing of “The Big Parade” recently. U. S. Army signal flags were strung from the marquee for a half¬ block in both directions. A string of flags was hung under the marquee and in the lobby giving the entire front a great deal of color. Oil paintings placed on easels furth¬ er decorated the theatre front. A bronze papier mache soldier, eight feet high, was used as a center piece in the lobby. A large gas balloon was flown from the roof af the Statler hotel. In large letters appeared “The Big Parade” on the sides of the bag. White Pants in Lobby Gets Business For Hines Picture During the showing of First Nation¬ al’s “White Pants Willie” at Houston, Tex., Curtis Dunham placed a large glass lobby frame in the lobby in which was a pair of white pants. A sign read: “White pants worn by Johnny Hines during the filming of ‘White Pants Willie.’ ”