The Moving picture world (March 1923-April 1923)

332 MOVING PICTURE WORLD March 17, 1923 A Paihe Release THE COLDER THE BETTER IN LANCASTER, APPARENTLY The further the thermometer drops the better, for the sign reads: "You Will Smile, Giggle, Laugh, Shake, Roar, Convulse with Laughter." It is better to start at the bottom and read upward, but the thermometer idea is good. Try it some time. State Forester Is Plugging a Picture Because Vitagraph's production of The Ninety and Nine shows vividly a forest fire and the ease with which these costly conflagrations are started, State Forester William T. Cox, of Minnesota, is conducting a State-wide campaign to interest the people in the safety angle, and has also interested the Dakotas, Wisconsin and Michigan, since fires are no respecters of State lines. He is stripping the 24-sheets and the ones with an urge to see the forest fire, and the one sheets are being posted all through the forested districts, while letters to the newspapers have enlisted their cooperation in putting the idea before the public. It is working wonders with Vitagraph bookings, but Mr. Cox does not care about that so long as he can get the results he is after, and if through this agency he is able to avoid a single fire, the result will more than repay all his efforts. Last year, coming down through northwestern Canada, we saw billions of trees standing gaunt monuments to someone's carelessness and on two occasions acres of flaming wood. If every exhibitor could have shared the sight, he would have tied this and all similar pictures to the safety angle even in the cities. You cannot gain, through reading, any adequate idea of the menace of the flames, often started through the careless throwing down of a match or failure to extinguish a camp fire. Don't wait for the State Forester. Do your bit anyhow. Down to the Sea Has Fine Display One of the best window displays we have seen in a long time is that used by the Cameo Theatre, New York for Down to the Sea in Ships. The Cameo is a short distance from the corner of Forty-second Street and Broadway and on the corner is a drug store. In one of the windows, perhaps fifty feet from the box office, is a highly colored plaster panel depicting a spirited relief of the overturning of the whalers' boat. Above and below are several old harpoons and lances, evidently the real thing, along with some of the bones of a giant whale and the rope police clubs used aboard .the old ships to preserve order. At the right of the panel is the miniature of the boat used in this production. No matter what time of the day or evening we have passed the store, there has been a crowd inspecting the display, and it has attracted more attention than any recent window show we can recall. And this is because the display is interesting. It holds the crowd and sinks the idea in, and helps to make the unusual business the Cameo has enjoyed. Another good stunt is a banner whicb faces the spectator as he leaves the theatrt and which commences "The picture you have just seen is a Hodkinson production" with more talk to the same effect. As the picture makes an unusual impression oa practically everyone who sees it, the crowd goes out with a last message to look for other Hodkinson pictures. It is a most adroit promotion of the brand name. Vamped the Springs on Alleged Wager Helping out J. E. Thompson, of the America Theatre, Colorado Springs, T. B. McCorniick, a Universal exploiteer, started io with a letter to the newspaper denouncing flirtatious girls. This was replied to by The Flirt and the scrapping started which ended' in The Flirt making a supposed wager of $500 that she could vamp the town. This led to the employment of the street worker, as has been done in other cities, local dealer lending a car in return for a banner to the effect that The Flirt demanded a car of his make. The usual ballyhoostuff was worked, with the usual good effect. One good angle was a display of engagement rings in a local store with a card to the effect that of all the engagement rings The Flirt had won that from this store was her favorite because it was in the best taste. Pictures Won There was a jam down in Indianapolislately between a picture and a road show, and the picture won. The road show carried a jazz band sponsored by Paul Whiteman, who has almost as many jazz bands as First National exhibitors have street parades. The_ road show agent announced a Paul Whiteman Week in the phonograph shops. But Robert Lieber had "Mighty Lak a Rose," which also is a phonograph number in various forms, and he wanted the windows. His agents pointed out that the Circle Theatre was a permanent feature of the town and Whiteman's band was here tomorrow and gone the day after. The argument won and most of the windows were shot over to Rose records. It might be a good argument to remember. A Hodkinson Release A BALLYHOO WINDOW WHICH HAS TOLD ITS MESSAGE WELL Thousands of persons pass the Knickerbocker Drug Company's store at Broadway and Forty -second street, and hundreds stop to view this interesting display for "Down to the Sea in Ships." It is only a few feet from the Cameo Theatre, where the picture is.