Moving Picture World (Nov-Dec 1923)

MOVING PICTURE WORLD November 24, 1923 394 Merry Go Round Is Smartly Exploited A Universal Release TWO SAMPLE DISPLAYS FROM KEITH AFFILIATEES ON THE “MERRY GO-ROUND” That on the left is from Moss’ Regent Theatre, and on the right is shown the flashy display on the marquise of Proctor’s 125th Street Theatre, both in New York City. Most of the theatres appreciated the motion possibilities. Donated a Feature to Children's Week For the recent National Children’s Week George J. Schade. of the Sandusky theatre bearing his name, suggested a filming of Oliver Twist for the opening of the local observances, and donated the picture, getting his reward in good will and the moral value of this hook-up with the schools. Stunts like this do not bring in direct money, but in the long run they will prove more profitable than the returns from any single stunt on a particular picture, since the effect is far more lasting. It is worth more than the expense to become identified with a prominent local movement, and no -one knows this better than the astute George J. Add Browning Add Tod Browning’s name to the list of managers who have profited through the presentation of style shows with Potash and Perlmutter. It did not cost him a penny extra, and the co-operating store even threw in the “Miss New Haven” of the recent Atlantic City contest as the star of the show. About $300,000 worth of gowns, golem figures, were shown during the progress of the well-rounded little prologue, and the -only reason Browning did not make more money was that the fire department would not let him. 3,000 for $37.50 One of Bill Saal’s ideas for the Missouri Theatre, St. Louis, was a contest on “Should a Wife Be a Silent Partner, and Why?” You could taken either side of the argument but you were limited to 25 words. There were $5 prizes each day for five days. The Times liked the idea so well that it paid half the value of the prizes, which gave the Missouri more than 3,000 lines for .$37.50, or a little more than a cent a line, which is pretty reasonably cheap for reading notices. Of course the play of that name was the attraction at the Missouri. Seared the Cow Joseph T. Emerling, Paramounteer out of Omaha, drifted into Norfolk, Neb., to help Fred Webster, of the Grand Theatre, put over Hollywood. He hired a cow for a family pass to the show,, and used it for the no-bull stunt, dressing the boy who led her as a farmer, which required very little make-up. That’s old stuff, but noticing that the cow was s fittish, Emmerling chartered a motorcycle with a powerful honker and when the boy and cow had reached the main street, he came up from behind and scared her into a runaway. It put a new kick into the antiquity. Of course if the cow had run down anyone or had gone through a plate glass window, the stunt would not have been so good, but an exploiteer has to take some chances. Mark A. Luescher, former manager of the New York Hippodrome, and now exploitation manager for the Keith and affiliated theatres, reports that Keith managers have made better than average use of the exploitation possibilities of The Merry Go Round, and in one house the manager put it over so well that it had to be booked for an immediate return. Harry Mandel and John Bryan, of the Keith forces, and Joe Weil, of Universal, collaborated. Practically every house in the metropolitan district played to S. R. O. each night. The general billboard campaign followed so closely upon the general campaign of Universal on this picture that the effect was practically continuous. The individual houses hooked up to this general campaign in their own sections. Several hundred thousand heralds, of various sorts, were provided by the campaigners. What Moss Did Harry Mandel, of the Moss theatres, split his 24-sheet stands. The, Universal six sheets were posted either end of the 24sheet space and the central twelve sheet space was given to the vaudeville and to dating the picture. This made an effective stand at less than the usual cost. Four theatres, the Fordham, Franklin and Coliseum in New York, and the Keith Theatre in Jersey City, used a miniature merryseveral of these operated in New York at a penny a ride, and one was chartered for these showings, the owner being provided with a clown costume. Passes for free rides were thrown out. At Proctor’s 125th Proctor's 125th Street Theatre, New York, used a very elaborate mechanical display, and the Hamilton, New York, and the Prospect, Brooklyn, were among others to employ animated displays. The Jefferson used a “follow the green line” stunt, starting the line down the sides of the marquise, under the canopy and up to the box office, and Moss’s Regent used a number of devices including a fanciful billboard shown in the cut, and a miniature of the Prater. All of the houses used serpentines, balloons and flags to give the lobby a carnival aspect and helped the picture make one of the biggest clean-ups of the season. A Pathe Release THIS KEPT BUSINESS UP FOR A TWO-WEEK RUN This looks like an old castle front made over for “Why Worry,” but it was imposing, and for two weeks the Main Theatre, Uniontown, Pa., did a fancy business, and the first week broke the house record, while the second week was close to that.