Moving Picture World (Nov-Dec 1923)

554 MOVING PICTURE WORLD T\ J. First National Release THIS IS NOT ONLY EFFECTIVE BUT ARTISTIC It is all compo board, painted, but it looked like the real thing in the lobby of the Rivoli Theatre, Portland, Oregon. It is by far the best display on this title yet to be exhibited and a real credit to Gus Metzger, who put the production over with it. Uses Same Coach for the Street and Stage When the Scollat Square Olympia, Boston, put on Pioneer Trails, the management dug out a stage coach for a prologue showing an attack on the stage. It provided a vivid introduction to the picture and helped to create the proper atmosphere. But it was figured that the coach could help more on the street, so the actors reported earlier in the morning and with a banner on top the vehicle ballyhooed the downtown streets until it was needed for the first afternoon de luxe performance, when it was a simple matter to remove the banner from its sockets and run the coach onto the stage. After that it was free to circulate the streets until the night shows called for its stage appearance. Xot many towns can command stage coaches, but it is a comparatively simple matter to build up some old wagon with profile, and where the structure can be made to do double duty, it should be well worth the cost. Gave Mae a Whirl When he played The French Doll, Edward M. Foley, of the Academy Theatre, Haverhill, Mass., had a real French doll, in swagger dress, on a slowly revolving platform. The children were interested in the doll, the women in the dress and the men got the general idea that Mae Murray was to be seen, even though they were not interested in the dress. December 8, 1923 Famous Managers in Big Cup Race Harold B. Franklin, of the theatres department of Famous Players, has offered a silver cup for the best advertisement from any theatre in the F. P. string. Due allowance is made for a theatre’s facilities — or lack of them — for preparing advertisements, and the small houses have as good a chance as the larger ones. The decision will be made monthly and a manager will be allowed to hold the cup until the next award, when it must be passed along to the next winner. He will retain a diploma stating that the theatre won the cup in a certain month. If any manager wins the cup three times in the year the contest will run, he will be permitted to retain it. If there is no one to qualify for the award, the managers who have presented the three best entries during the year will be entered in a play-off. The contest is to be handled through The CloseUp. Judging is made on the advertisement in the newspaper and not from original drawings or specially pulled proofs, and the weight will be given the smaller advertisement. other things being equal. If the contest does no more than emphasize to the local men the importance of learning to make display more important than mere size, it will be worth many times the cost of the cup, elaborate as the trophy is. The Ushers > Own Under the title of McVicker’s Service Man, the ushers of McYicker’s Theatre, Chicago, are issuing a four-page weekly intended for the employees of that theatre. Because of the limited circulation the text is typewritten and run off on the ditto machine. Harold B. Franklin, head of the Famous Players theatres department, used to get out a printed sheet along similar lines for the Shea houses in Buffalo, and it is not unlikely that he is more or less concerned in this new venture in a paternal or godfather sort of way. The idea is to further teamwork and increase the spirit of fellowship in the organization, and it promises success in this purpose. A Titagraph Release USED THE SAME STAGE COACH FOR A BALLYHOO AND PROLOGUE ON PIONEER DAYS Gordon’s Scollay Square Olympia Theatre, Boston, put its stage coach to double use for the Vitagraph feature, and set it about the streets when it was not in use for the stage work, the more or less actors doubling on the set and street, in good old minstrel show fashion. The left hand cut shows the ballyhoo and also the two plane banner based on the paper.