Moving Picture World (Nov-Dec 1927)

December 31, 1927 MOVING PICTURE WORLD 33 Selling the Picture THIS ART STORE WINDOW ON BEN HUR EASILY OBTAINED The Rialto theatre, in, some town not named, made announcement of prizes, for a drawing contest and got the major space in the window for stills and cutouts. The store made a display of pencils and crayons to get its share. A department of practical exhibitor helps, Established September 23, 1911 by EPES W. SARGENT and continuously conducted by him for more than sixteen years. These are not stunts for certain pictures, but for certain types of pictures. Apply the ideas to your own problems. No Cost for Acts To Hart PIN another bouquet on Edgar Hart. He registers something brand new so far as we know, and while it is, in a sense, an adaptation of the radio idea, you have to hand it to Edgar for adapting it to the picture theatres. As you probably know, Edgar made one of | his long-distance hops not long ago, jumping from Portsmouth, N. H., to his home in San 1 Diego, and from there connecting with the Hollywood theatre, Portland, Oregon. Edgar figured that vaudeville would help to ( jazz up a couple of off nights, but he also figl ured that vaudeville acts cost money, and with his natural thrift he looked around for someone to pay the bills. I Radio gave him the idea. If it paid national i advertisers to put out expensive programs on I the radio, why wouldn’t it help the small busi, ness man to sink a few dollars into a somewhat similar scheme? He prospected around and found that there were tradesmen who shared his slant on the scheme, and were willing to pay the cost of 1 one of the five acts used in return for the ad1 vertising given, and now “Sponsored Vaudeville” ^ is given on his two dull nights at no greater cost than making slides and getting out posters. In any event he would do this slide and poster | advertising whether or not he got his vaudeville | without cost, so he virtually pays nothing for il the turns. For each of these special nights he gets out a one sheet, and on this announces that the various features are “sponsored” by this firm or that. The headline is sponsored by John Doe & Co., and next feature by Richard Roe & Sons, and so on. The matter is so worded as to give the merchants entire credit for providing the bills and to create the impression of generosity, and screen advertising and even the daily news' paper ads carry the same suggestion. I Naturally you have to pay to get in to see , these five acts so generously provided, but you get the idea that you receive these turns in addition to the show you are paying for, so really you owe it to the generosity of the sponsors, and your gratitude is turned toward them, while your money rolls, into the box office. And naturally each merchant is particularly interested in “his” act, and spends a week or two talking about it. Two bills of five acts each gives ten individual pluggers for the shows each week, not to mention all who have gone before and are still talking about it. And since the proof of the pudding lies in the eating, Edgar writes that since the second MCFADDEN STILL FLATS How the Everett Theatre, Everett, Wash., dressed the lobby for Me Fadden’s Flats, which still seems to flourish. night he has not had to solicit the sponsors, but that, to the contrary, he has a waiting list that takes turn and turn about. Probably the idea will sag after a while, but in the meantime Edgar gets his acts free, he makes the merchants his boosters, and he gets better business on otherwise poor nights. And the beauty of it is that there is no bother. The acts are booked through a certain agency. The merchant tells what he is willing to pay, the agency does the best it can for the price, and collects directly from the merchants instead of looking to Edgar. A minimum price, per act, is set, but there is nothing to prevent the merchant from swelling this minimum in order to be fittingly represented on the program. Probably it will be a long time before Roxy or Major Bowes book their acts in this fashion, but for a neighborhood or in a small town there seems to be a cash profit in sponsoring acts, and Edgar has his entire neighborhood taking turn — and liking it. Got Nickels C. T. Perrin adapted the ancient “Buffalo” stunt to a special “Joy Week” program at the Sterling theatre, Greeley, Col. You were supposed to collect a coin from a friend and then hand him the card, which read: Thanks for the Nickel Look on the other side and see what I’ll spend it for. Don’t get peeved. You can get your money back. Ask a friend for a nickel and hand him this card. On the reverse side was the Joy Week program. With half the town trying to collect from the other half, the shows were well advertised.