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December 31, 1927 MOVING PICTURE WORLD 35
Moulded His Own Candle for the Magic Flame
Production Hints from Edward L. Hyman
Managing Director, Mark Strand Theatre, Brooklyn
BE RIGHT IN 1928
You can make the new year a banner one by going after the customers with your coat off. Unless you sell all your seats every show, you are not getting all you can.
All you need is a copy of Building Theatre Patronage. It pays for itself the first week and after that it rolls in the velvet on each change of bill.
Not the theory of management alone, but the practical angles of selling through both management and appeal.
Five dollars from your supply house. But $5.20 if mailed direct.
Made a Menu
For his Thanksgiving advertising E. E. Whittaker, of the Imperial theatre, Charlotte, N. C., announced his program in the form of a menu, both in his newspaper spaces and in an ornamental frame in the lobby, the form being:
Soup M-G-M News
Fruit cocktail Aesop’s Fables
CeleryOlives The Collegians
Turkey Dress Parade
The idea might be elaborated for Christmas by setting a table with all appointments and with covered dishes labeled with the various items. The furniture store might contribute a window to this and be glad to declare in.
A big musical and dancing presentation was the chief draw of the program which had Milton Sills in “The Valley of the Giants” as the picture. This incident, called “Carnival of Venice,” took up 20 minutes and introduced singers, dancers and instrumentalists who have become favorites at this theatre. The act was devised, compiled and staged at this house. In addition there were three other presentations and two short film subjects, the latter being the usual Topical Review, running 7 minutes, and the novelty reel, “The Twenty-Four Dollar Island,” a Pathe release, running 8 minutes. The complete show required 2 hours, of which time 1 hour and 6 minutes went to the Milton Sills subject.
The overture presentation by the house orchestra was selections from Verdi’s “La Traviata,” running 10 minutes. This was lighted as follows : pink ceiling spots ; 2 pink floods on orchestra from dome ; bridges 1 and 2 pink floods ; white at finish.
Don Williams, the new xylophonist of the orchestra, used 3 minutes to good advantage with a medley of popular tunes, including “There Must Be Somebody Else,” “Just A Memory” and “Bye Bye Pretty Baby.” A pink spot from the dome covered the artist ; stage dark.
After “The Twenty-Four Dollar Island” came another stage act, this likewise devised at this theatre, programmed “They Call It Dancing.”
Made His Own Candle
for the Magic Flame
Last Summer, down in Waco, Tex., a shipment of candles to a local ten cent store was left in the sun, and the result was a fused mass of wax that the store was glad to sell to J. P. Harrison of the Hippodrome theatre for 80 cents.
Harrison melted them down and made a new candle three feet tall and three inches in diameter. This was displayed in the window of a Martha Washington candy store with the offer of prizes to the ones who could most accurately estimate the length of time the candle would burn. It was lighted at nine o’clock each morning and extinguished the same hour each evening.
The Light and Power Company contributed an electric doughout iron for a first prize while Harrison gave a two month’s pass for the second and the store offered a two pound box of candy for the third. There were fifteen ticket prizes of singles.
An attractive girl in a page’s costume stayed in the window until the crowd got too large, when she would slip out and let them drift away. It helped materially to get attention.
The store distributed the estimate blanks to all who applied, but found that many persons, once they were in, stopped to make a purchase.
There was a fabric eye at opening as Vale & Stewart, male buck and wing dancers, started the presentation. The entire number was done on a dance pad. Amber spots from sides ; bridges off. After their routine came the Serova Dancing Girls in a line dance and they were joined by Veronica, premier dancer, who did a fast dance on her toes. Bridge 1 amber floods, bridge 2 orange; lemon spot on Veronica. The presentation closed with an ensemble number.
After the Topical Review came the “Carnival of Venice.” The setting, in full stage, consisted of a blue sky drop, in front of which was a balustrade running across with a gate in the center, with huge urns with flowers on either side of the gate. Everybody in Neapolitan attire. The routine was as follows : The opening number was “A’ Frangesa” by the Ensemble. Two light pink floods from the dome; bridges 1 and 2 lemon floods; 1 pink ceiling spot. The Serova Dancing Girls then did “The Flower Dance.” Bridges flesh pink floods ; dome also flesh pink floods. Caesar Nesi, tenor, followed with “Santa Lucia.” The stage dimmed off, leaving deep blue borders for sky drop; pink spot on Nesi. For the fourth number, Restivo, accordionist and whistler, ylayed and whistled a number of Italian folk songs. Same lights on stage, bridges deep blue floods and pink spot on Restivo. The Serova Girls did their second number “Dancing Tambourines.” Deep blue floods from bridges ; amber spot from dome. Next came Ruth Watson, soprano, who sang “Venetian Skies ;” she too was covered by an amber spot from dome. The incident closed with Carlo Ferretti, baritone, singing “Funiculi, Funicula,” assisted by the entire company.
Cat Impersonator Was
Basis of This Contest
For The Cat and the Canary, George M. Watson used a cat impersonator at the Spencer theatre, Rock Island, 111. The mask was hired from a customer, and similar ones can be found in any large town. The man, wearing the mask and a black domino paraded the streets for two days before he was bannered for the attraction.
After the banner was added he handed out circulars offering passes to those who could identify him, and he made a stage appearance at each show with a slide repeating the offer. This served to give added interest to the trailer on the picture.
Although more than 400 replies were received in this contest, only four correctly identified the perambulator, which gave a big kick to the idea at a cost of only four passes. It also got a special reader in the newspaper.
For the playdates a siren, operated from the box office, was placed on the marquise. To prevent confusion with the fire alarm siren, this was muffled by being placed in a box. The muffled tones accorded more nearly with the mystery idea of the picture
The identification angle is good only in town where people know each other fairly well.