Movie Age (1927)

PAGE 18 MOVIE AGE Garters in Jar Attracts For “Gertie’s Garter” W. H. Bergemann, manager of the Strand, Fort Dodge, la., used a simple but very effective stunt in connection with “Getting Gertie’s Garter.” Bergemann tied up with a department store for a window display of garters. A large glass jar was placed on dis¬ play and a contest calling for the guess¬ ing of the correct number of garters within the jar was announced. The guesses were registered at the store’s hosiery department and to the winner a pair of silk hose was presented. Berge¬ mann gave ten double passes to the run¬ ners-up. Another good campaign put over by Mr. Bergmann was a lobby display for “Alias the Lone Wolf.” A glass show¬ case was placed in a conspicuous part of the lobby. From the police station Bergemann borrowed some burglar tools and handcuffs. These he put in the showcase along with stills from the pic¬ ture. A large stuffed wolf was placed beside the display. The stunt attracted a big crowd. Miniature Flats Built for “McFadden’s Flats” The erection of a three-story minia¬ ture flat building under the marquee was a means of attracting a great deal of attention to “McFadden’s Flats” when that picture played the Majestic Theatre, La Salle, Ill. Eight men worked an entire day on the job. When completed the little building had glass windows, curtains, a fence, and a flower garden. On the first floor a cut-out head of Charles Murray was seen looking out of a win¬ dow at the garden. On the other side of the building was a cut out of Chester Conklin. An AD-itorial By E. L. Delaney, M-G-M Exploiteer. The movies are supposed to have emerged from the “5 & 10” class about the time John Bunny pictures went out of date. But the only difference be¬ tween some motion picture theatres to¬ day and the local “5 & 10 cents” store is, — that it is conspicuous by its red front and attractive window displays. Frank W. Woolworth, the man who made the nickel and dime famous, was as good a showman in his way as P. T. Barnum ever was. He painted red fronts all over the country and made window displays — so attractive that they even lure thin dimes from Scotsmen’s pockets. Some motion picture lobbies and “window displays” have about as much lure as Lon Chaney has sex appeal. Woolworth doesn’t use newspapers and billboards to put his messages across. He doesn’t have to. But neither has he raised his prices nor does he change his features every few days. If Bill Smith bought tooth paste or tack hammers there last month he knows he can get them again next year. It’s not the same with pictures. The exhibitor who is in the parade of progress knows that the “5 & 10” meth¬ od of selling pictures to the public is as dead as the Bull Moose party. Wise showmen believe in the well known business axiom that good ad¬ vertising, intelligently conceived and judiciously carried out will always pay for itself. The reason that some ex¬ hibitors shun the promotion efforts and advertising aids that will pay them ex¬ tra dividends is because they have an ingrained apathy and aversion to any¬ thing like extra work. Their’s is the line of least resistance. They’ll talk a lot about “getting out my advertising” — and all the work they do on it — when the sum total of it is to clip a made display ad from a press book and send it to the newspaper with or without a “mat.” The stock alibi of “if the picture’s good the people will know about it any¬ way” is as threadbare as the upholstery in their projectionist’s 1928 sedan is not. Millions of people know by this time “how to keep that school girl com¬ plexion,” but Palmolive goes right on spending millions to remind them of it. And King C. Gillett never stops telling us that he’s the man who made self¬ shaving popular. The men who have lifted the “flickies” out of the “5 & 10” rut, into the “two-bits” class and on up to the $2 scale, were workers, not shirkers. And good advertising, properly conceived and carefully executed, has been one of their chief “uplifters.” The exhibitors who have followed in the trails they blazed, and there are hundreds of them fortunately, are the ones who enjoy profits today instead of talking pessimism. What good fertilizer is to the farmer, good advertising is for the picture busi¬ ness. It yields two admissions where only one grew before. Spook Parade During the showing of “The Cat and the Canary” at the Orpheum, Akron, O., the management arranged a spook parade. Contestants were asked to dress up to resemble ghosts and all who en¬ tered were admitted free. The four winning spooks were used as a ballyhoo in front of the theatre during the showing of the picture. Contestants in a spook parade promoted by the Orpheum, Akron, O., dur¬ ing the showing of “The Cat and the Canary.”