Moving Picture World (Jan-Feb 1927)

Picture to the Public *jlus Department Was Established September 23, 1911 btj its Present Editor^ &pe$ Wircbhrop Sargent If Lent Reduces Your Attendance Much, Try and Make Lent Build It Up Again ^Jl^jNLESS the Lenten period does not materially affect your business, it flrl is a good time to plan right now for the period. It comes March 2 this year, and six weeks is none too little time in which to make your preparations. You cannot fight the sage with sensational pictures. These will carry no appeal to the people you wish to reach, but on the other hand do not get the idea that you can hold business with specially selected polite features, or you will drive other patrons away. Instead run your regular bookings, so far as programs are concerned, and seek to build extra business with other features. Many church people simply will not go to the theatre during Lent, but may respond to the appeal of the “educational” or “instructive.” If you have many of these you can not only build a nice extra business but actually make friends by working out a series of morning performances. It will be recalled that some time ago M. W. Larmour made a real feature of a Pathe series of travel views in Palestine through getting a local minister to lecture on these specials. If you cannot get these, you can at least get some travel reels very cheaply and get some minister to give a lecture on each. You may have to offer him a small percentage, for himself or his church, but if you can do any better than break even, financially, you will profit enormously through the later patronage of those new people you have drawn into the house. Pay a Commission The best way to do this would be to offer a commission of sales to the women’s organizations of all the churches. Plan a program that will run about an hour and a half or two hours, and start at eleven o’clock. This will get them out of the way before your regular matinee. Or you can time these specials so that they will run into the regular show and permit the special patrons to remain for the rest of the program, if they desire. Plan your bookings well and you will be able to offer an entertainment that will please the people whose support and good will means most to you. If you do not care to incur the risk of these specials, plan a musical program and a short chat by some minister. If your pianist or organist is clever, you can do much with the various musical versions of Stabat Mater. It does not so much matter what you offer so long as you get the church people into your house for something other than pure amusement pictures. They may deny themselves the films, but they want some entertainment, and if you supply this need during Lent, they will turn to you for entertainment following the Easter let-up. If you do not think that the Stabat Mater will be within your organist’s capacities, provide a more general musical program. But whatever you do, work with the churches, and get ministerial approval. You might even consult the ministers as to what they think will be the best attraction, being careful not to use the word “attraction.” In the cities Lent is the time for lectures and special concerts. Supply this requirement in your small town. It will do more to give your house a standing in the better church circles than you can realize until you have tried it. And it is something you can repeat, year after year, always with increasingly good results. Let Griffith Chatter Warren Irvin, of the Imperial Theatre, Charlotte, N. C., persuaded a local radio firm to lend him some apparatus, with a mike in the office and a loud speaker back of a cutout of Raymond Griffith in You’d Be Surprised. From 11 A. M. to closing time the staff took turns doing the talking. They argued in a lot of patronage and all it cost was a slide for two days. You can work it on any picture for which you can invent a brisk line of talk. Splashed Atlanta for Gilda Gray's Showing The Howard Theatre, Atlanta, lifted the lid for the personal appearance of Gilda Gray in connection with the showing of Aloma of the South Seas. For two weeks in advance the Constitution carried Miss Gray’s life story, concluding the day before her opening, while the Georgian ran a seven-day series of beauty exercises and the Journal tagged with photos in its roto section. The day before the opening the Georgian ran a double truck on Go Shopping with Gilda Gray. . Two of the stores advertised her appearance at a specified time and one of these stories also carried a special panel in its larger store ad outside the truck. Five Thousand Kisses Five thousand tagged kisses were distributed and an equal number of tape measures contrasting the star with the Venus de Milo were given out for further personal comparisons. A banner was hung on a building across the street from the theatre for two weeks, and 10,000 special booklets of dance poses were distributed. Several hundred stickers were placed on soda fountains and windows and twelve jewelry stores and several music and book stores carried portraits in silver frames nicely set out. Backed by an unusually large newspaper and litho campaign, the picture was sold to the best advantage. A CARNIVAL STYLE FLOAT ON THE MIDNIGHT SUN This was planned by Thomas H. Burke (right), of the Liberty Theatre, Cumberland, Md., and E. M. Fish (left), of Universal’s Washington exchange, to put over the picture. It is very little work and not particularly expensive.