The Moving picture world (November 1921)

December 10, 1921 MOVING PICTURE WORLD 691 Selling the Picture to the Public #2?EPES WINTHROP SARGENT Drumbar Exploited "Lord Fauntleroy" At Small Cost to Unusual Results JUST because he had Mary Pickford in "Little Lord Fauntleroy" to exploit at the Riviera Theatre, Knoxville, W. E. Drumbar did not expend all his anticipated profits in his exploitation. He figured that he had an unusual picture at advanced prices. He figured he could bring in more than the usual receipts. And he also figured that if he put most of that extra money into the bank, his bosses would appreciate it more than if he sank it into extra exploitation. This doesn't mean that he lay down on the job, but that he sought to get his effects without spending a lot of extra money just because he knew that extra money would come in. That's where a lot of managers have fallen down. They fail to realize that brains and hustle can often do more than money. A Heavy Campaign Drumbar made a heavy compaign, but he spent less than a hundred dollars above the average cost of exploitation. His only financial plunge was on posted paper. If he did not have room for a three sheet he used a one, and if a 24-sheet could be put up instead of a three, he used that. He circused on his paper, out to the suburbs, because he was appealing, strongly to the children, who do not read the amusement advertisements in the papers. But he wanted a more direct appeal to the children, and he got out a card announcing a prize essay contest with $10 in gold for the first prize and 20 tickets for the second. * Made It a Marker And because he was appealing to children, he used a cut and selected a card that would serve as a book marker. The prize was for the best composition on the story ; not the play, and in many classes the teachers read the story to the children, to help them along, for the teachers knew that a prize winner in their class would mean the approval of the principal. In most schools Drumbar was permitted to distribute the offer in the class rooms, the lessons being stopped while the distribution was made. Window tie-ups were made on the book, .along with others by the same author, and after the book stores were exhausted, straight •window-grabbing campaigns were made, posters being used and special cards painted where cards were demanded. Borrowed the Trash Cans All of the trash cans placed about the city as receptacles for waste paper and rubbish were posted by permission of the City Commission, and cost only the price of the special posters, the size being unusual. minds of our employees the essential feature of always talking business. We train them to be boosters and sell them as a business concern sells its employees on selling their products." There is a world of suggestion in this idea. Sell your employees before you sell the public and they will help the campaign along. That's worth a lot of money if you use the idea. Drumbar' s Cans Several business concerns, particularly the public utilities, sent out literature with their monthly statements, at no cost for postage, and the street cards carried banners on both ends, to catch them going and coming. Orphans were invited to the matinees, each "treat" being good for a news story, and there were all sorts of general news stories, including an appeal to local pride through the fact that Mrs. Burnett was born in Knoxville. The Biggest of All The big point, however, to quote Drumbar's own words was "We have drilled into the Two Unusual Stunts for "The Musketeers" E. E. Collins, of the Opera House, Greenville, one of the hustlers of the Texas section of Southern Enterprises, worked the postcard stunt for "The Three Musketeers," hooking up the local paper and offering ticket prizes for the persons who could write the words, "The Three Musketeers," on a regulation postcard with pen and ink. The real winner was a woman who wrote the three words 1,293 times, but the first prize, four tickets, was won by a jeweler, who used his microscope to write the words 1,927 times. The woman who got only 24,314 letters on the card won three tickets, or one ticket for every 8,105 letters, which is cheap at the price. The stunt attracted wide attention and proved a fine advertisement for the house, the banner, and the jeweler-engraver. Made a Road Show The United Artists' attraction is being handled as a road show in Texas, the manager being "Casey" Stewart, cartoonist and "K. C. B." of the once more defunct "Spotlight." "Casey" worked a fine stunt in a three column cartoon of the prominent men in the town, each ballooning some sentiment favorable to the Fairbanks play. As the drawing had to be sent to Dallas for a cut, and there was no time to be wasted, "Casey" anticipated the comment and then held the cut for release. They all gave their O. K., and the cut was run the day after the opening in regular metropolitan fashion. It carried far more weight than a straight criticism and made "Casey" much kudos. Collins writes that the postcard stunt took hold better than the essay contest, because so many people are afraid to expose their literary shortcomings in the essay line, but all think they can write. This is a good angle to remember on your own stunts. II1IIII1II1H TWO OF DRUMBAR'S DISPLAYS FOR MARY PICKFORD IN "LORD FAUNTLEROY" IN KNOXVILLE He used more brains than money in putting over the United Artists' feature in Knoxville, and did not take all the extra profit to sell these extra tickets. He got a lot of windows in prominent stores, and the cut shows two of these displays, both straight lithographic showings. He had paper all over town, with enoughleft over to stick in the windows as well as on the trash receptacles