The Moving picture world (February 1920-March 1920)

2122 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD March 27, 1920 City Manager Finds Four Reels Will Please BIBiPlliiiiiiiiiiliiliWIilllWM^^^ luiiiiiiiimiiiraiiiiuiiiiiiuiiiuiiiiiiiiiiimuiiiiu^^^^^^ Trick Street-car with Cut-out Fares Helped to Open ''The Eyes of Youth SIGNING a check for publicity is about the easiest way of promoting a picture—for the check signer. When William Smith, of the Rialto, Tulsa, Okla., booked "The Eyes of Youth" from Peacock Productions, Inc., he merely signed his check for the sum he was willing to pay for promotion and the Peacock did the rest. About the best stunt was a special street car used the Saturday before the opening. This was a regular passenger car, run over all of the lines, but the usual lettering was obscured by the streamers, the top reading, "We are going to see 'The Eyes of Youth.'" The lower gave the house and date. In each window cut-out "passengers" of the comic supplement type, enlarged to life size, gave emphasis to the "we" in the streamer. The faces at the windows were a far more potent attractor than a cover sign could possibly have been. Decorated the Dash. The front of the car was even more startling, for here a banner covered the dash with a pair of painted eyes, a headlight nose and a mouth formed of the word "Youth." It was brightly painted and the effect as the car made its way over the route was startling though not as bad as it probably would have been in pre-prohibition times on a Saturday afternoon. The newspaper campaign was started two weeks in advance of the opening. The first week only the press book teasers were run, working into a two sevens the week before the opening and with the space increased each day up to a full page for the opening Sunday. Glenn Condon, who had charge of the campaign, used nothing but planbook mats, for he wanted to show what could be done with the aids available to all. Five hundred sheets of paper were pasted including fourteen 24-sheets, a large number of threes and sixes and plenty of ones. Ten thousand stock heralds were put out the Friday before the opening, and a number of hand-painted window cards were used. Each carried two stills from the play and were so attractively done that they were put into many windows, to which a printed card could not possibly gain access. They were artistic and a credit to the window, and they were put in the most advantageous positions. Of course the plugger song was played Wouldn't This Jolt You. up. Mr. Smith also runs the Orpheum, the vaudeville house, and arranged to have the song sung there the three days prior to the opening. He also used a trailer in the Orpheum as well as the Rialto. Because the song was boomed, the tencent stores gave up windows to the display for a week in advance and during the showing, while every cabaret and dance hall was supplied with orchestra scores and used them. Taggred the Car*. Tags of a shape and color similar to those used by the police in summoning delinquent automobile owners were attached to every parked car in the business district the Saturday before and the Wednesday of the showing. The front read "You arc summonsed," while the back advertised the film, but the shape and color were so deceptive that many visited the police station to make certain that it was not a regular summons in spite of the reading matter? They were taking no chances. A projector which threw a slide on the sidewalk of the chief business street was installed and a miniature automobile, built on the lines of a racing car, but only two feet high, was used for a perambulator. The lobby display was a cutout showing Miss Young and the Yogi, and a Yogi gave a five-minute prologue to the showing of the picture. And the picture cleaned up in spite of the fact that there was no blizzard to report. Cleaned Up with Chaplin As a Grind Show in Four Reels USING Chaplin's "A Day's Pleasure" as a grind show with only two news reels in addition, Thomas H. Schnader, of the Columbia, Pittsburgh, not only played to capacity with double the usual number of shows, but was surprised to find that his patrons actually liked the shorter program. When he booked in the comedian, he figured that the crowd coming to see Chaplin would not care particularly about what dramatic feature he had, so he did not provide any. Two news reels gave him a four-reel program and this was ground throughout the day. He made a point of asking the departing patrons how they liked the show and was surprised to find that practically all of them approved its brevity and that none complained of the lack of dramatic feature. He used small display advertisements, the Chaplin flivver cut being th^ attractor, and he had a big cut-out of this for his lobby display, with an usher dressed as a policeman directing the traffic with a semaphore. The rest of the lobby was kept clear for the crowds and playing to twice as many persons as he might otherwise have done, Mr. Schnader feels that now and then a brief program pays the best, if only the short feature be carefully chosen. He does not argue that the public habitually wants a four-reel show, but that when they go especially to see a comedy, they do not care a whoop about the drama, which merely takes up time and brings no return. Some No Wonder Car Fares Have Been Raised. of the comic cartoon passengers who got a free ride in Tulaa Okla to advertise Clara Kimball Young in "The Eyis of Youth " Used Outdoor Stands for Selling Out "Desert Gold" UTILIZING outdoor sales stands at the leading book shops for a special sale of Zane Grey's novel, "Desert Gold," D. M. Bain, of the Victoria, Wilmington, N. C, put over the film version to big business and left the booksellers in shape for his next drive, for they cleaned up, too. Two of the large stores were induced to give windows to the advertisement of the book and play, and then to put into commission outdoor stands for the sale of copies. It was this latter touch which put the idea over. Book hook-ups were not new, but the outdoor sale was, and it caught on. And after he got the people in Mr. Bain pleased them with a prologue following one of the big scenes.