Movie Age (1927)

PAGE 20 MOVIE AGE Smoking House in Lobby for Beery-Hatton Comedy A clevel lobby display was promoted by Emil Bernstecker for the exploita¬ tion of “Firemen Save My Child” at the Lyric, Jackson, Tenn. A miniature house, four and a half feet tall, was built in the lobby. Cut¬ outs of Wallace Beery and Raymond Hatton were placed on each ide of the house, each man holding a fire extin¬ guisher. By means of smoldering rags, smoke came out of the windows of the little house. At night railroad fuses were used to give the appearance of fire. A child fire engine was placed near the house. The lobby attracted a great deal of attention. “10 Modern Commandments” Exploited by Trick Scales A simple exploitation stunt that cre¬ ated attention and laughter was put over recently by L. E. Davidson, Princess Theatre, Sioux City, la. While exploit¬ ing “Ten Modern Commandments” he pasted ten humorous commandments on the dial of a scale so that when a person steped on the platform the indicator pointed to one of the “commandments.” When the arrow pointed to 200, the caption read “Thou Shalt Eat Sparing¬ ly.” The others were appropriate to the weight. The scales drew a big crowd and busi¬ ness boomed as a result. Campaign For “Rookies” Results in Big Business “Rookies,” the Karl Dane-George K. Arthur comedy vehicle, recently played the town of Michigan City, Indiana, to big business. A splendid campaign was arranged by Manager Mick of the Tivoli Theatre, for the showing of the product¬ ion, and an M-G-M exploiteer assisted. In addition to one hundred window cards, two thousand programs were mailed and distributed throughout the city. One and three sheets were also used. A very clever novelty stunt was ar¬ ranged in the form of a huge book, placed in front of the theatre, each page thirty by twenty inches. The pages were of heavy bristol board and in the center of each was mounted a still from the picture, with some copy and remarks about each, lettered on the page above and below it. The book was mounted on a stand right at the street with an invitation to the public to “Read about ‘Rookies.’ ” Another sign read “If you can’t stand a laugh, don’t come to the Tivoli next week.” The book or illustrated album, was the center of attention at all times. A lobby display was presented with cut-outs of Karl Dane and George K. Arthur. Rookies Exploit “Rookies” E. R. Rogers, of the Tivoli, Chatta¬ nooga, Tenn., put two men dressed in mis-fit army clothes on the street as a bally-hoo for “Rookies.” The men car¬ ried a sign which read: “Don’t miss the Fun! More of these Rookies at the Tivoli Now.” “Chang” Given Flash With Light Circle in Des Moines A brilliant electric sign was used dur¬ ing the run of “Chang” at the Des Moines Theatre, Des Moines, la. A cir¬ cle eight feet in diameter was studded with amber lights with an exclamation point going through it studded with red lights and the word “Chang” in three foot letters was spelled out in white lights across the circle. One of these circles was put on each side of the mar¬ quee and was visible for several blocks. Tepee On Truck Carol Mac Pike, Le Claire Theatre, Moline, Ill., worked a simple ballyhoo in connection with “Drums of the Des¬ ert.” An Indian tepee was placed on the floor of a truck and a man in Indian makeup squatted in front of the tent. Banners were placed on the truck which was driven around the town. Teasers for “Chang” Mysterious teasers in the newspapers, a quantity of tack cards, and a guaran¬ tee of money refunded if not satisfied were the angles worked out by Everett Cummings, manager of the Fort Arm¬ strong at Rock Island, Ill., on “Chang.” No money was given back so it is to be presumed that the patrons were satis¬ fied. Cummings got a break the week be¬ fore the show when a circus came to town. He got the ring master to an¬ nounce the show from the ring and em¬ phasize the elephants. Don't Be Bashful! VOU won’t give your age away by joining 1 the OLD-TIMERS’ CLUB. They say the industry is still in its infancy. We want to hear from the boys who were in the bus¬ iness when 5c was top. «ts>i l, . .I.'.1 ' ' . ■■ . . " ■ ' .Ka» Read About the OLD-TIMERS’ CLUB on Page 8