Moving Picture World (Nov-Dec 1923)

822 MOVING PICTURE WORLD December 29, 1923 Daddy and Kiddie Both Get Theirs Boys Took Buster Baby Lighthouse for Perambulation Guided Homeward Neither Daddy Day nor a children’s special are novelties, but the Rialto Theatre, Tacoma, freshened them up a bit by giving a Daddy Day on Jackie Coogan in Daddy and following this with a Kiddies’ Day on Penrod and Sam. Each helped the other, so that the combined pull was equal to about three singles instead of only two. Daddies got in free, for daddy and the youngsters had tickets to a special morning performance of Penrod and Sam. In each instance these tickets were to be clipped from a local paper, which was tied up to the idea. The hook-in brought three column cuts and large stories. A First National Release A CLEVER WINDOW DISPLAY The cut shows a special window card worked out for Daddy, based on a cutout but given so elaborate a mounting that it gains a new dignity. These special displays are well worth the trouble they involve since s they not only attract a greater measure of attention but convey the suggestion of a :cture well above the average. The frames V be used repeatedly, and the interiors |^be worked up even by those who cannot I \ backings. Doll furniture can be used jpvke . interiors and twigs will replace pl-ted trees for exteriors, and these will give better results than plain painting. Try one sometime and you’ll not only be delighted with the result, but you will come to take a real interest in building these miniatures unless you are materially different from the average man. Here is a new idea from Baltimore, developed by H. S. Ansley, a Metro exploiteer, for Buster Keaton in Three Ages. Ansley was pretty busy when the picture played the New theatre, and this was merely one of the by-products, but it is newer, than the other stunts and is susceptible of general use, though it will work best for comedy productions, since it is certain to get a laugh which might react against a more serious play. A figure was cut from the three sheet, provided with a cross piece, which was held by two youngsters, and taken for a walk. With the Buster Keaton hats on the two boys, the effect is capital. A Metro Release THE WALKING CUTOUT Ansley ’s chief hook-up was to a morning and evening paper under the same management. These papers were permitted to print a coupon good for a Keaton hat. Later another coupon was printed good for a free dmission if presented by a boy wearing the hat. Some 10.000 hats were distributed, ere was also a special performance for e boys selling the two papers, which gave another ballyhoo. Practically everyone in town knew about the picture, and most, of them came, apparently. The manager who feels that exploitation is too much of a nuisance toil l presently have nothing to worry about, for his house will fall from under him. You can’t keep up steam without fire under the boiler, and exploitation is the fuel that feeds the flames of patronage. Ollie Brownlee, of the Palace Theatre, Muskogee, Okla., made a miniature lobby lighthouse for Homeward Bound. It was scarcely as high as the box office and stood directly in front of it. A little sand, a few rocks and two ornamental signs completed the outfit. A Paramount Release BROWNLEE’S LIGHTHOUSE The chief advantage of such a structure is that it can be stored and repainted for almost any sea picture, or for that matter can be revived without elaborate change. Some means should be provided for wiring a light into the lantern and either a flasher socket or a shutter arranged for. This done it can be used repeatedly. It will store more compactly if built in two vertical sections, one of which can be fitted into the other. An Overture Prologue Getting local color for an arctic picture from the orchestra was one of the ways the California theatre, San Francisco, put over The Call of the Wild. The orchestra was put into ulsters and winter hats and placed on the stage before a snow setting in which worked a vaudeville act styled, In Alaska. The bass viol player was dressed as a bear and there were four men dressed as seals, who apparently did the seal orchestra stuff. These latter details may be beyond the reach of the small manager, but he can always put his band in overcoats and use a snow drop. A Metro Release ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF CAUSE AND EFFECT. THIS TIME FROM NORFOLK, VA. Live models were employed to demonstrate gowns in the window of a swagger clothes shop to tell about The French Doll at Well’s Theatre. The stunt was planned by a Metro exploiteer, who aided J. J. Madden in getting a stunt that held the crowd in front of the window until they had to take the models out in order to permit street traffic to be resumed. Then they went in again.