The Moving picture world (September 1923-October 1923)

44 MOVING PICTURE WORLD September 1, 1923 IVES 11A1D0N I*'IIHEY .1 Vitagraph Release HOW THE LETTER CARRIERS' BAND SERENADED LOYAL LIVES Andrew Cobe got the New Yoi'k letter carriers to help him put over this postoffice picture at the Central Theatre, and the band concert in ffont of the house worked as well on Broadway as it ever did with a minstrel show in a small town. white, blue, red and amber, but have them hung so they can be pulled out of the way and one or two 500 or 1,000 watt lamps used for top lighting instead. A dimmer is a real aid, but dimmers cost money and can be added after you have grown. Dimmer is not used in the sense of the rheostat, but the actual dimmer which can cut the light in a steady increase or diminution and not in jerks. The Stage Don't have too large a stage. If you are in a house with a large stage, cut it down by building a production stage on this. Your productions will be small, and they will be lost on a 40-foot opening. Build in a false stage from twelve to twenty feet wide and use that. It will give you a better setting and cut down your lighting costs at the same time. Drape in the opening with neutral hangings and center all of your lighting on the production stage and you can achieve real pictorial effects at much smaller cost. Next week the matter of program will be taken up. Boy Manager Is a Penrod Stunt During the various Boys Week drives it has been customary to put some youngster in as Mayor of the city for a day. Earl D. Wilson, manager of Gordon's Olympic, New Bedford, Mass., saw no reason why he should not adapt the stunt to publicity purposes and figured that the run of Penrod and Sam would be about the best time to put the idea into practice, so he announced that any boy on the City Playgrounds stood a chance of becoming a movie magnate for a day and the supervisors cooperated in staging the election of one candidate from each playground center. This left twelve candidates for the elimination contest, and the final decision was made by the Boy Scout Commissioner and two newspaper men, Wilson being appreciative of the publicity possibilities of the newspaper judges. Carlton Sundin was the final choice and he ran the Olympic for a day and gave a box party in the evening, and he could even write passes, which was the final jewel in the crown of joy. There is no copyright on the idea. You can work it if you want, and the wise manager is going to want to. It packs a forceful wallop, and it carries a lot of self-writing publicity, particularly if you can hook some newspaper to the contest end. If badges were given for good stunts, Wilson would be wearing a gold medal. It's good. Hollywood Contest Will Be Real Help One of the most efficient press stunts on Hollywood is suggested in the Paramount press sheet in a contest. This gives a list of 67 names with the announcement that only three of the names are those of persons who do not appear in Hollywood. Prizes are to be given for the discovery of the three names. • As the other advertising is supposed to carry the list of 64 persons who do flash into the play, the contestant has only to compare the two lists, but this is precisely where the selling comes in. The careful comparison of the lists sinks in the idea of the many stars to be seen. It will give emphasis to the number and importance of the players to those who will look at just one list uncomprehendingly. Getting Personal Down in Baltimore the Century broke into the Inquiring Reporter feature of the Evening News for a double run. Probably you have an inquisitive reporter in your town. Most papers have now, but in case you have not, the reporter takes a question of general interest and briefs the answers of five persons accosted at random. In the case of the Century the question was : "Am I a wise fool for not getting married?" The first day five bachelors were interviewed and five spinsters were tackled on the second run, probably the first time the same question has lasted two days. Two of the newspapers permitted their delivery wagons to be bannered with posters for Three Wise Fools and about twenty windows backed up 5,000 mailed letters. The story was broadcasted by a local wireless just to help along. Outside of that the manager and Goldwynner Jack Pegler just sat down and waited for business to come in. A First National Release ENGLAND IS TAKING KINDLY TO AMERICAN EXPLOITATION IDEAS. THIS IS FIRST NATIONAL WEEK. The Tooting Pavilion, a London suburban house, not only ran the special week, with Lorna Doone, The Voice From the Minaret, The Half Breed and Hurricane's Gal, but it worked the star identification stunt with eight First National stars. That six sheet to the right of the entrance shows the identification announcement. It backed an extensive billboard campaign with 40,000 throwaways. Who said they were slow? It isn't so.