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MOVING PICTURE WORLD
December 29, 1923
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A Bodkinson Release
Dancing Troupe Is
a Selling Device
Bob Gary, erstwhile Paramounteer, just before he went into limbo along with the rest of the department, went up to Madison, Wis., to put over The Spanish Dancer, and he surely did that little thing.
His best stunt was to get a local dancer who had a Spanish costume and an idea she could dance with her feet. He hired three men, one of whom could play the guitar, and he also put two donkeys on the payroll. The dancer rode one of the donks and the other was bannered. Now and then one of the temperamental pair — the two jackasses, of course — would decide to balk, and that helped to get the attention of the crowd, so no one minded, Gary the least of all.
All Over the Town
The troupe was used in the lobby and for street work, they appeared at the Rotary luncheon and in the lobbies of the hotels. They did their stuff for restaurant patrons and invaded the stores. Her best hit was made during the intermission of a football game at the grounds of the University of Wisconsin.
You can find a Spanish Dancer in almost any town, and if she can sing the plugger song as part of her act, all the better. This girl did. It was Gary’s best bet, though only one of a series of stunts.
Autographs, Too
One of the papers was permitted to print a coupon good for an autographed portrait of Miss Negri and a perambulator was run around town for several days at a cost of $7.50 for the banners while Mr. Holah, the manager, arranged for a banner across the street in Appleton, only half a block from the opposition house. Street banners are forbidden, but he got his up.
Pola told the story of her life in a paper in Madison and another in Appleton (which is close enough to help), and about all the shorts in the press book were used in one of the three papers.
Will Sponsor Dolls
Along with the Jackie Coogan pictures, the Metro has taken over an exploitation interest in the Jackie Coogan dolls and will will see to it that Coogan dollars are available for exploitation uses. With Jackie’s first picture, Long Live the King, an exceptionally good audience offering, the dolls should come into extensive play to help get the crowds in.
A Paramount Release
IF YOU CAN FIND A GIRL WHO CAN DANCE SPANISH THE REST IS EASY
Just give her a guitar player or something and send her around town. That s the stunt the Madison Theatre, Madison, Wis., used and it put the picture over like a circus in a mill town on payday. Two donkeys went with the outfit.
AN EXCEPTIONAL STAND FOR A 24-SHEET POSTER
C. D. Hill, of the St. Louis Hodkinson exchange, obtained this location through the use of a bottom line to the effect that The Drivin’ Fool could use the make of car named. As 70% of the west bound traffic uses this street its value is apparent.
Ties to Calendars Two Old Ones
The treasure chest and the wigwag were selected by Thomas Groves, of the Orpheum
With a Local View
One of the best stunts worked by Howard Price Kingsmore since he took over the Howard Theatre, Atlanta, is a tie-up to a calendar for 1923 issued by the Association which has in charge the Confederate memorial on Stone Mountain, a short distance from Atlanta.
This memorial, the work of Gutzon Borglum, shows a group of officers of such gigantic proportions that even at a distance the group seems of heroic size. It is the largest sculpture ever attempted; so large that it \ has attracted the attention of the entire country.
\ Naturally Atlanta is proud of the effort, |4 a tasteful calendar has been prepared I \ general sale with a picture of the work M present advancement and 'Ye .alendar I J Un tfie back is a detailed description of the group, which will be 1,300 feet long.
Kingsmore took 2,000 of these for distribution to hotels for room use, and he has assurance that any stolen will be replaced for f I least a period of two weeks. On the face I a large advertisement for the Howard, and it the bottom of the text on the back is a Ine urging a visit to the theatre. This latter ill run on all calendars sold in the stores Vat the newsstands, as well as on those I for advertising. It was this which ined him to purchase the 2,000 with the •nt advertisement, for he knows that thounds will be sent all over that section of *he country and will help to make the Howard Theatre known to all. It would be worth the purchase of twice the number to get the quasi endorsement carried by this line.
Of course this is a purely local stunt, but it suggests that managers elsewhere can find other means of attaining the same end through support to some local project.
Theatre, Wilkes-Barre, Pa., to put over The Isle of Lost Ships.
In the former an old chest was placed in the lobby and the treasure was offered anyone who could open the box. It contained a bag of sawdust and a five-dollar gold piece.
The wigwag is the old stunt of two boy scouts using their signal flags, in this case on tall buildings on opposite sides of the street. When a crowd gathered throwaways were floated down to them.
Both are old, but they combined to help business at the Orpheum.