Moving Picture World (Dec 1920)

December 4, 1920 MOVING PICTURE WORLD 587 Brooklyn Crowds Storm Strand Doors for Showing of Skinner in “Kismet” CROWDS that defied the efforts of the police to line them up and required the intervention of a squad of mounted men to drive them into that part of the street set apart for the standout, tells the story of the opening of the Robertson-Cole production of “Kismet” at the Mark Strand Theatre, Brooklyn. Anticipating a rush to see Otis Skinner in his best-liked role, Manager Edward L. Hyman made application for police to guard against a possible rush on the opening day, and several men were sent around to help out by keeping the sidewalk line orderly. They were pushed to the limit all the afternoon, but when the crowd started to come around seven o’clock they sent in a call for mounted men, who were forced to use riot tactics and ride the crowd down to get Fulton street open to traffic. Advertising Helped To the popularity of star no small measure of the crowd may be credited, but the three weeks of publicity work had their effect, and big business through the week marked the result of the most intensive campaign ever planned by Mr. Hyman. There was comparatively little stunt exploitation, but he made a solid drive from every regular angle and he had the entire town excited. As soon as the picture was booked and Moe Mark had adopted the slogan of “A $3 show at Strand prices,” he started in to work. He did not have to be afraid of holding the crowd away for the big attraction. A large proportion of the Strand patrons come every week, no matter what the attraction may be, so Mr. Hyman knew that he would not hurt current business by starting right in. Changes in Trailer He started a trailer two weeks in advance, running it immediately after the feature at each showing. The second week he got an entirely new set of scenes, to keep interest fresh. The trailer not only served to announce the coming of the star, but it gave an idea of the photographic quality and the magnificence of the settings. The scenes were carefully chosen to this end and a couple of hundred feet were run down. The lobby of the Strand is larger than many of the smaller houses, a huge rotunda into which advertising matter is seldom if ever put, but, as soon as they were available, Hyman installed a number of the oil paintings prepared by Robertson-Cole for exploitation work. Some Brooklyn matrons had an awful time getting their husbands past the harem scenes and out to the street car and home, but this did not cause them to stay away from the picture, since they figured that a celluloid lady was perfectly safe to flirt with. The Strand has a huge negro carriage opener, which gave Hyman another idea. He rented half a dozen huge turbans and sent the negro out to get other trustworthy men of his race to peddle heralds. The six men covered the greater part of Brooklyn, clear out to the cemeteries. Now and then there would be some explanations to give the police, but the display of the heralds always cleared the atmosphere. Some Bunch of Heralds Fifty thousand heralds, of two sorts, were distributed by the six duskies and about thirty thousand more were folded into the house programs. These were still another sort, and while there was much duplication, the fact that the heralds were differently worded offset this fact. The week before the showing Hyman started out to tie up windows. He got elaborate displays of Oriental rugs in two of the leading drygoods stores and built up on this with picture displays in lesser windows in various trade centers, for Brooklyn is still a combination of small villages and each section has its own “Main street.” , Newspapers Receptive Ten days before the opening the press campaign was started. The Times led off with a splash which covered pretty nearly all of the theatrical section, and the Eagle and Standard-Union came in line with plenty of stuff. The house is friendly with all of the papers, not alone in generosity in the matter of passes, but in establishing cordial good will. The papers took about everything that Hyman sent in — and he kept one coypist pretty busy with press stuff. His press campaign is not yet completed as this is written, but already it is several pages ahead of anything the house has ever done before, though he did not materially increase his regular space. All of the advertising carried the “Kismet” coming line, and so did the press stories for the preceding attractions. You could not read about the Strand without reading about “Kismet” and you could not read the papers without reading about the Strand. Exploitation Stunts Owing to the length of the production, the usual small features were cut out and the prologue, which ran eleven minutes, was the only addition. This prologue was described in last week’s issue in this space devoted to the Hyman program. With this shortening of the features the entire show was run well within two hours, and it was planned to open on the even hours from noon until ten o’clock, the last show ending very shortly before midnight. Brooklyn is a home town, and the ten o’clock show was more or less of an experiment, but it proved to be a life saver, for the huge electric sign out front read “Last Show Tonight Ten O’Clock” and it saved a ( Continued on following page) HYMAN’S STREET EXPLOITERS FOR THE RUN OF “ KISMET ” AT THE STRAND, BROOKLYN The big chap in the center of the left-hand picture is the door-opener and the others are a couple of his lodge brothers, who were pressed into service as bill distributors. On the right is shown the prologue — the “Kismet Chorus from Turkey” — who were conducted on a rubber» * neck tour around Brooklyn with a few square yards of signs draped around the car