The Moving picture world (November 1920)

November 13, 1920 MOVING PICTURE WORLD 187 Selling the Picture to the Public EPES WINTHROP SARGENT f1^St*\ Hathaway Gets a New Treasure Hunt As Promotion Idea for "Go and Get It Election Features Did Not Offset the Weather New York photo play theatres offered a bulletin service to patrons on election night, though most of them felt that this would have the effect of holding people in the house past the first night show, cutting down the possible revenue, but the election was so one-sided that the houses emptied about on the usual schedule. A rain about 7 o'clock, when many were preparing to set out for the evening, cut down the downtown crowd. Those who were on the street were driven to shelter and the standouts at the theatres were limited to capacity for covering the waiting line. Eddie Hyman, of the Brooklyn Mark Strand, had the best of it here, for his inner lobby has a large capacity, and he could hold the line after they had given up their tickets, but the barrier was down about 10 o'clock and from that time on the stragglers passed directly into the house. In the early hours the waiters were read the election returns, which later were flashed upon the stage, and about 11 a film announced that the probable victor was — followed by intimate views of Harding. Election returns are a necessary evil, but they do not make money for houses giving two or more shows in the evening. Balloon Stunt Hit Traffic; Police Shut Down on Idea Balloons carrying passes to the Park Theatre, Boston, stopped traffic in the narrow streets, and the police caused the stunt to be abandoned. The idea was worked by the Boston Record in connection with its "Riddle : Woman" search, along the lines of the "Raffles" stunt. Geraldine Farrar, in the play, was at the Park, and it was planned to release one thousand balloons from the tops of tall buildings, each carrying a pass Boston streets are narrow and the enormous crowds which gathered tangled the traffic so badly that the police requested the newspaper to call the stunt off. It is hard at best to keep the traffic going and with the roadways jammed with people it was impossible to handle the vehicles. The idea was abandoned when only a few balloons had been sent off on their journeys, but the paper and the attraction got the full value of the exploitation. AN army of exhibitors who used to buy Moving Picture World from the newsstands have sent in their subscriptions to receive it direct. As the price is now 25 cents a single copy and the subscription price is $3.00 a year, it's a Wise thing to do. FRED HATHAWAY, assistant manager and publicity man of the Alhambra Amusement Company's De Luxe theatre, Utica, has invented a new form of treasure hunt to exploit "Go and Get It." He got the Observer interested in a hunt for the newsboys, calling it the Observer-De Luxe treasure hunt. The kids were provided with placards advertising the stunt and the show and were lined up at the Observer office. Simple But Jazzy Each kid was given a letter G and then someone megaphoned that the letter o, to complete the "go" would be found at a signboard within two blocks of the office. No other hint was given and the kids started off four ways in search of the stand. There a man handed out the letter and told the boys to go to "stars on a pole on Genesee street, north of the Busy Corner." There they got the "and" and directions to the "Get" where they were told where "It" might be found. Then they hustled back to the Observer office with the completed title and the first boy in got $5 and there were other cash prizes with tickets for all who finished. Cash and Carry Another good stunt was a hook-up with the cash and carry stores with the advice to "Go and Get It" and save the money, the delivery charges cost other stores. These stores are growing increasingly numerous and there were many to work with. Hathaway took them all into the game and got a bunch of windows. He also used "flippers" which were no more than squares of cardboard "scaled" from the roofs of tall buildings and from automobiles. Ten thousand of these were used and the sight of the cards fluttering through the air like miniature aeroplanes helped to connect with the airplane stunt in the play. All of this was preceded with a teaser campaign which put the title over with no connection with other advertising. Two inch spaces scattered through the pages of the four local oapers, got the town using the phrase inside of two days, and then the hook-ups broke, to be followed by the larger stunts. Hathaway was quick to see the value of the title, and he worked on this at the start, then he hooked the phrase to the sensations and found that they stuck better with the title planted. Used the Bull A more local angle was using Bull Montana, who plays the gorilla, for press work. Montana had several times met the local mat actor in spirited contests, so Hathaway made a special drive on the sporting editors from this angle and landed all four of them, one of them using a large cut of the actor in his make up as the ape. Wesley Barry was sold to the fans on his past performances, but for once he had to share the honors with a lesser member of the cast. Who Wins the Prize? The porcelain condenser lens goes to the first exhibitor who first exploits "Conrad in Search of His Youth" with Vernoff's monkey glands experiments. The postmark on the letter will be the basis of judging. HATHA W AY'S TREASURE HUNT INVOLVES NO DIGGING Instead of letting the kids muss up the scenery for miles around, Fred Hathaway, of the De Luxe, Utica, gave the boys clues and they all looked for tickets to "Go and Get It," as ivell as cash prizes