The Moving picture world (April 1921)

496 MOVING PICTURE WORLD April 2. 1921 Selling the Picture to the^Public Here's Another Metzger E. Metzger, the economical exploitationist of the Strand, Creston, Iowa, did something better than usual for "Nineteen and Phyllis." He advertised ticket prizes for the best letters of not more than 200 words written by boys of nineteen recalling their own "puppy love" experiences, and ten tickets for the Strand was a sufficient bait to make the young men turn traitor and tell their heart secrets. The letters were copied off on the typewriter and exhibited in front of the house, and all day long the local Phyllises were in front of the place trying to find out if they had been written up. No names were used, of course, but some of them found out, and all were interested. This cannot be beaten for local interest in a small town or for a neighborhood house for this First National or any kid love story. Elaborate False Front Told of "The Spenders" Usually the Kinema, Los Angeles, employs an open lobby effect, and this makes all the more unusual this display for the Hodkinson production of Harry Leon Wilson's story, "The Spenders," when it was shown. The front was masked in with flippers, and that on the left suggests a scheme for utilizing cutouts from the twenty-four sheets, though this seems to be an original painting. With the headlight cutout and backed by a large mazda or nitrogen lamp and with the windows also illuminated, it would get attention anywhere. The text refers to the race between train and auto which is one of the sensational moments of the production. The other side shows a birdseye view of a city with "A great story of New York life, starring Niles Welch, Joseph Dowling, SHE'S A BARE IN HER DANCING COSTUME, BUT HE'S A BISON Also he is a perfect gentleman, which is why they trusted him in the window with the cutout. Being the only window on that side of the street lighted at night, Eli M. Orowitz, Paramount exploiteer in Philadelphia, felt proud Claire Adams and Robert McKim." The flippers are flanked, at the inner sides, by cutout from the six sheets. It all forms an elaborate display and gives a suggestion for similar treatment for other plays, where the lobby appeals to transient trade. KINEMA "J ALL STAR CAST •« "THE SPENDERS" MM J ATTRACTION "w MAD MARRIAGE V* IMUI UOD WILSOH5 fi uinKUFE Warmed. Mae Murray With Borrowed Fur and Skins Eli M. Orowitz, the Philadelphia Paramount exploiteer, overlooked one angle of .this good bet when he put a cutout of Mae Murray in "The Gilded Lily" into a fur store in Philadelphia, advertising her appearance at the Arcade, and did not use the cutout from the 24-sheet in the dancing costume. That was one bet he overlooked, for then there would have been a better chance for a caption about bare and bear skins, but then this stable mate of hers is a bison, and perhaps it does not matter so much. The window is in an exclusive shop, the only one on that side of the street to be lighted at night, and close to the Arcadia. It was several times more effective than a window just one of a row of brightly lighted displays. It was not the only thing to sell the picture, but it helped to make the run a notable one, for it was a fine display. Orowitz may not equal Harry Swift as a window hog, but he does a good one now and then. HOW THE KINEMA, LOS ANGELES, DOLLED UP FOR "THE SPENDERS" A pair of flippers and a cross bar transformed the house for the run of this Hodkinson release, and the patrons crowded into the house to avoid being run down by the ferocious railroad train. This offers something new in lobby display Kidded for a Week Chaplin in "The Kid" is the first to play Knoxville for an entire week, but W. E. Drumbar figured that he could put it over for the full period with a little hustling and he did. He used a street car perambulator with a twenty-four sheet on either side, put banners on the dashboards of all the other cars, used a Chaplin and a boy to Rube the streets and department stores and made a large supply of cutouts. And now he knows that a picture can be run an entire week without a slump in the receipts. It can be done, because he did it, which is the surest test.