Moving Picture World (Nov-Dec 1923)

Selling thePiduRE to the Public EDITED BY EPES WINTHROP SARGENT After a Word Rick Rickets on Wins Paramount Prize With Huge Two-State Touring Pageant OFFERING prizes aggregating $700 for the best stunts worked by a Paramounteer on Paramount Month brought out hundreds of good ideas and landed thousands ot dollars worth of publicity. The first prize could have been awarded immediately following the close of the contest, but the decision as to the other three winners held up the judges. These were Claud Saunders, director of exploitation • A. M. Bottsford, advertising manager; Charles E. McCarthy, publicity manager; L. J. Bamberger, assistant to Saunders, -and Sam D. Palmer. They have announced that the awards have been made to Rick Ricketson, Denver; Russell B. Moon, New Haven ; Kenneth O. Renaud, Salt Lake City, and Joseph T. Emerling, Omaha, in that order. The prize money was split $250, $200, $150 and $100. Rick Never Headed Ricketson took his cue from the constant appeal of his chief to promote the small towns as well as the cities. It has been Mr. Saunders’ constant thought to persuade his exploitation staff to help the little houses, which most sorely need such help, and Rick’s stunt was planned to provide each town within reach with the nucleus of a local celebration of some sort that would put over the idea of Paramount Month. Early in the summer he arranged with the Willys-Knight factory to loan him a chassis on which he could build a tableau float. This was provided with advertising material for Paramount and carried a gas tank for the inflation of balloons, a generator and searchlight and a bombing machine. Planned Ahead Through correspondence and personal solicitation Rick sold the idea to his entire territory. The Mountain States Theatres Corporation agreed to provide two additional floats and supply thirty framed banners and cutouts provided that Ricketson would tour their territory first. After that he could have the floats and banners for the other towns. Other theatres were tied to some local scheme, a baby show here, a popularity con test there, and a beauty contest somewhere else. Each local manager planned what he could, and where possible hooked the idea to some civic enterprise, such as the opening of a new paved highway at Golden, fairs of Weld and Adams counties and the Pike’s Peak Festival. At Grand Junction an escort of cowboys and girls met the tourists and guided them into town, the Mayor of Delta turned over the keys of the city, and in default of anything definite, the Mayor of one town would send a message to his brother in the next stopping place and the delivery of the message would be the feature of that event. A Continuous Performance On September 1, Ricketson started out to cover the territory, working first for the Mountain States, as agreed. Four, six and even eight towns were made in a single day, the events being timed so that the touring floats could come into a town, head the parade, stir things up and rush on to the next booking. On arrival in each town the salute was fired, the special stunts were observed, the parade toured the business streets, and then two six foot gas balloons would be sent up, with passes or fan fotos attached. These balloons were purchased in bulk and by this means the cost was cut to $1.25 for the pair. As soon as the balloons were released, the trio of floats would rush off to the next town, and hold a similar celebration there. In the early evening the searchlight would be put to good use. The Willys-Knight Company had broadcasted instructions to all agents to line up the W-K owners, and at no point did the line drop below twenty cars in support of the floats and often rose to seventy or eighty. The cut shows the head end of a 75-car parade in Canon City, with the Mayor riding with Rick. Over in Wyoming It was not possible to cover all of Wyoming as well as Colorado, so Rick arranged with the Rialto Theatre, Casper, to handle a popularity contest with a trip to Hollywood as the prize. The usual subscription Close-Up, the house organ for Paramount theatres department, is after “pretentious,” and Mort. Blcomstock is on the trail of those who misuse this habitually misused word. It does not mean “elaborate,” hut rather connotes trickery and the effort to impress through misrepresentation. Pa ramount managers are being urged to drop it from their vocabularies, and it would be well if others not under Harold B. Franklin’s observation followed suit. Put it into the same pen with “replica” — and lock the door on the outside. vote was used, and at a cost of about $500 the Rialto not only did a huge current business, but sold off about $6,000 worth of tickets, many if not most of which will be used during the dull pre-Christmas days. The winner was sent to Hollywood and a pictorial record was made of the trip, which included a trip to Portland by water and a return from there. Under the title of “Miss Wyoming in Hollywood,” the winner was featured in a personal scenic, which was run with a trailer made up of scenes from the current product to the end of the year. As the contest was statewide and the papers taking news service from the Casper paper used the story daily, thousands of lines of publicity were given all of the exhibitors in the state at no cost to the theatres or Paramount. For that matter the entire cost to Paramount did not require a fourth figure for its expression, and brought in publicity worth a hundred times the cost. Rick earned his $250 and more. Remember that 1924 is c/oing to need a Midnight Matinee. Don’t overlook this real money. RICK RICKETSON’S PAGEANT CAR AT THE HEAD OF THE PARADE IN CANON CITY COLORADO You will note the Mayor riding in the car, silk hat and all. Most of the mayors along the route were glad to cooperate because in every town the pageant was hooked to some local event. In Canon City the Daily Record offered cash prizes for the best floats and seventy-five cars were lined up in the parade. This stunt was worked forty times in Colorado and Wyoming. t