The Moving picture world (May 1923-June 1923)

Had Tent and Tomb Bella Donna Lobby The' nasty opposition put in Mad Love the week before the Howard Theatre, Atlanta, played Bella Donna, and Howard Price Kingsmore was real peeved about it, not remembering that he would have slid Bella in front could he have done so. Anyhow it moved him to extra effort and he sat right down to fight fire with fire by writing his own telegram from Pola telling that Bella Donna was the best thing she had ever done. This was displayed in the lobby and 5,000 copies were sent out in Western Union envelopes to a mailing list. Three thousand heralds were distributed in laundry packages and 2,000 were handled by a piano agency which also gave a window display on the plugger song. He used the dashboards of the street cars and sent out 5,000 rotos which were given to women as they boarded the street cars on their way home. He also used 5,000 fanfotos for matinee souvenirs. The lobby used part of the old Sheik tent, and the box office was topped by a cutout of Pola from the 24-sheet, another being used above the electric banner. On the box office the cutout was extended by draping the structure with a sort of skirt, which apparently continued the lines of the figure. The columns were painted with glyphs and the lobby walls were fronted with flats done in ancient Egyptian style. It was a good campaign and offset the dastardly work of an unprincipled opposition. Careful Driving a Help to Driven Careful driving was the drive on Driven when the Jewel product was brought into San Francisco at the Granada Theatre. It was a modification of the Safety First idea, and all autoists were glad to use the windshield signs proclaiming that "This car is DRIVEN by a careful driver." Generally the autoist did not have to ask. They came after him, but if they happened to overlook one, he went down to the Granada to see about it. The result was that the entire city was covered by the volunteer perambulators. Then the "campaign" was started with a non-hour parade of 110 Yellow taxis, eacn labeled "Hop in and be Driven to the Granada to see Driven," with a truck in front A Paramount Release A KING TUT LOBBY FOR BELLA DONNA IN ATLANTA Bella lived a long time after Tut, but he is the last word just now and the play isj more or less Egyptian, so Howard Price Kingsmore made this striking front for the Howard Theatre. Note the cutout above the box office. It's good. announcing a reduction in the taxi fares. Half an hour later a second parade was started. This was shorter and comprised a semi-historical exhibit, each car representing a different model put out by the firm, with a banner stating the year in which it was "born" and the number of years it had been Driven. The campaign was planned and put over by Charles E. Kurtzman, of the theatre staff, and D. M. Vandawalker, Jr., Universalist. Add Mr. Bank Add the name of H. Bank, manager of the Cinderella Theatre, Williamson, W. Va., to those who used a church on The Christian. He used as large a cathedral as his lobby would hold and an open book of The Christian from which appeared cutouts of the principal characters. These two displays were flanked by frames, one containing stills and the other the big city press notices. A cutout from the six sheet was used on the marquise, and 2,000 heralds were mailed. Flowers and Music Aided Lak a Rose Florists and phonographs are the best bets on Mighty Lak a Rose and J. G. Evins, of the Lucas Theatre, Savannah, used both. He supplied cutout to embellish a wonderful rose display in a florist's window and sold a phonograph dealer on the idea of grinding a record to sell the various numbers with this selection. A horn was put on the store front and a repeater attachment used. For the lobby he used ropes of paper roses for festoons, and built up with stills and cutouts. Mighty Lak a Rose is one of those titles which pay in proportion to the exploitation done. The more you do, the better it sells and the better your patrons like it. Don't just drag it out. Sell it in advance. You can't expect to get big money for small attractions. Don't look at rentals. Look at profits. A Universal Rrle TWO OF THE STUNTS USED TO PUT OVER DRIVEN AT THE GRANADA THEATRE, SAN FRANCISCO The first is the head of a procession of 110 Yellow Taxis. The other is one of the cars in the auto parade in which a local agency showed one of each model of its cars and told how long it had been Driven. This car has been driven seventeen years — two years on the road and fifteen in dead storage. It made an interesting exhibit to trail the taxi parade by half an hour.