The Moving picture world (October 1920)

October 16, 1920 MOVING PICTURE WORLD 939 Simple Lobby Stunt Will Help "Ladder of Lies9 Screen Newspaper Gets Good Publicity For Dear doffs Two Indiana Theatres Actual Ladder Used for Booming "Ladder of Lies" C. J. Eg-gers, of the Lyric, McKeesport, Pa., and Elmer Rutfer, of the Paramount Pittsburgh exchange, got up a neat scheme for Ethel Clayton in "The Ladder of Lies." It is effective and inexpensive and anyone can work it. THE LADDER DISPLAY The stunt uses a ladder, topped with a sign and with a cutout of Miss Clayton at the bottom, apparently about to ascend. The cross pieces are lettered "Truth," "Sincerity," "Honor," "Love," "Trust" and "Happiness," in that ascending order, with happiness as the result of the earlier steps. So long as the kids do not attempt to climb the ladder it makes a good display, and if it can be fixed securely, so that there is no danger of accident, the boys will help the ballyhoo. Let them climb all they want. Needed Five Big Trucks To Carry This Message Some theatres got along nicely with a single perambulator, but E. O. Child took five big Mack trucks to get them into the Liberty, Portland. Child is the Paramount exploitation man for that section, and when he read that three trucks turned out for San Francisco he felt that he would have to raise the ante. The local Mack agency had five spare trucks, so he got them all and they went through the streets like a herd of elephants holding onto each other's tails, and the combined sign read "What's Your Hurry. Liberty today." Even with gas costing what it does, the trucks kept on the streets all day during the run and drove a lot of business in. Mack cars are used for the story, though they are called by another name in the play, and like the Roamer hook-up, the Mack is working in with the theatres all over the country. MOST managers know that the screen is one of the most valuable means of publicity, especially to regular patrons, but few managers seem to be able to make their screens work to the fullest advantage. Many of them flash one slide for each coming attraction, and many of them alternate with trade advertisements. Sometimes they will use a couple of slides for a specially big attraction, but that seems to be about the limit. Bert Deardoff runs two houses in Kendalville, Ind., the Strand and the Princess. He makes his slides work right up to the limit and he pleases his audiences at the same time. It's all very simple. He makes his screen a last edition of the afternoon paper. Cut Stencils He has a stencil machine for making slides and at first he merely copied a few personal items from the evening paper, flashing these on the screen to vary the monotony of the subject slides. Pretty soon he found that he did not have to look for copy. The patrons left little items about themselves, and it was not long before he was also running mention of local events in church and school circles. No baby is now considered to be fully born until its advent has been announced by slide, and often he beats the papers to announcements of enagemets and coming marriages. They Eat It Up Now and then he slips in a specially good joke or a bit of smart comment on local improvements being made or needed to be made, and now his screen topics enjoy almost the popularity of the Literary Digest. People come to see what the screen has to say. Not long ago Mr. Deardoff ran a slide to the effect that he had been invited to go to Indianapolis to see the screening of "Forty five Minutes from Broadway," and was leaving that evening. When he returned, so many persons asked him how the film was that he put his opinion on the screen and now it is a regular thing to read of a projected journey or his report on his return. Sells Tickets It sells tickets and it keeps interest. People like to know what he has seen and what he thinks and a chatty paragraph on the screen strikes the reader when he is in his most receptive mood. He is thinking of film entertainment and if he is told that a coming release is specially good, he makes up his mind to attend. Now Mr. Deardoff has gone a step in advance of reports and he supplements the pictorial slide with another telling what he thinks of the play. Of course there is danger that the slides may be overdone, but Mr. Deardoff knows his people and he knows about how much they can stand and ask for more, and he keeps within those limits. Be Chatty Years ago Bill Dockstader, of Wilmington, Del., used to make a practise of telling his patrons about the next week's bill. He came over to New York to book his show and when he got home, the latter part of the week, he would come out on the stage and tell them all about who was coming. It made a hit and his monologue was by no means the least part of the performance. Not all managers are good talkers, but they can punch or write slides, and they can talk so the whole house can hear them. Will Help Care should be taken not to over-praise, or the excess will rouse suspicion, but a clean-cut statement of what is coming will help a lot and relieve the monotony of the pictorial slides, if mixed with local gossip. HERE'S YOUR TRUCKS! "WHAT'S YOUR HURRYT" San Francisco used three Mack trucks to put over the Wallace Reid release, so E. O. Child felt that he must sre their three and raise them t<wo, and he took the pot unless you can beat five of a kind. Ever try tof