The Moving picture world (September 1923-October 1923)

250 MOVING PICTURE WORLD September 15, 1923 Rolled His Own J. C. Wodetsky, of Richmond, Ind., writes that the Filmrick idea, noted in this department under date of August 15 and there credited to Goldwynner H. T. Snowden, is his own idea and adds that the stunt was under way before Mr. Snowden made Richmond. The information was taken from a Goldwyn press statement, which evidently credited the stunt to Mr. Snowden through error, and we are glad to transfer the credit for a good idea to Mr. Wodetsky. 1 Right in Line Keeping in the good graces of its young patrons, the Metropolitan Boys' Shop, of Dayton, Ohio, gives several entertainments each year to its customers and prospects. Even were that not the custom, there seemed to be every reason why a special showing of Penrod and Sam should be staged at the Strand, because the Met carries the Penrod cloths, so a special matinee was bought, and the Strand manager heaved a sigh of great relief. He did not have to give another newsboys' matinee. He got a two-thousand-boy parade, and rode on the store advertising as well as his own. Used Local Girls for Be be Daniels When they played The Exciters at Hunt's Casino, Wildwood, N. J., Norman G. Johnson got a couple of local girls to travel up and down the boardwalk in a wheeled chair with cutouts from the three sheet on either tide. Just what the idea of the cutouts was A First National Release THE STREET CAR IS OLD BUT THE MEGAPHONE IS NEW Harry Dekn, of the Capitol Theatre, Montreal, put out a street car ballyhoo lo? "The Isle of Lost Ships." It was new in Montreal, if old elsewhere, but, listen, it carried a megaphonic "lecturer" who called to pedestrians as the car progressed we do not know, for most people were looking at the girls, but it helped dress the perambulator. For the house front the cutout from the 24-sheet as shown on this page was used, and when the girls were not taking rides they were posing around the cutout. Most of the rest of the feminine bathers went to see the picture to see if Bebe had anything on them when it came to shape, and The Exciters played to nice money. Bathing girl pictures at the shore might seem to be coals to Newcastle, but The Exciters has made a lot of money on the salt water circuits and has done about as well over the fresh water routes. Now that you, have the season started, keep it going. Do not permit interest lo flag. Time your big stunts to hit at pretty regular intervals and in between do a little all arou>td work to keep them excited about pictures. A Paramount Release GOSH! HOW TALL BEBE DANIELS HAS GROWN IN THE EXCITERS Norman G. Johnson used these bathing girls to put over the Paramount picture at Hunt's Casino, Wildwood, N. J. He also put them in a beach rolling chair for a jaunt up the boardwalk with cutouts from the thrtee sheets on either side Contestless Votes for Purple Highway Just to get the town talking, Amike Vogel slipped into Erie, Pa., and invested twelve whole dollars of Charles Fargreaves' money in a set of newspaper teasers about two fours each. These passionately appealed to the readers to vote for The Purple Highway in the contest for the best name for the Erie-Buffalo highway. Later Amike announced that the P. H. had 11,497 as against 8,121 for The Erie Scenicway and 2,145 for Buffalo Boulevard. And the funny part is that a lot of people did send in letter votes after vainly searching the newspapers for other news of the contest. They were willing to be good sports and vote early and often even though they could find no contest. It was not strange that they could not locate any contest, for there was none. Amike thought it would be more interesting to work without going to the trouble of staging a fake contest, and events proved that the idea took hold better than had there been such a thing. Of course the newspapers were tipped off not to get worried about it, so they sat back and laughed and let Amike and the State Theatre run interest over to the attraction when the definite advertising broke. Letters of protest against the choice of other names were sent the Auto Club, Chamber of Commerce, Rotary, Kiwanis, the Highway Commission and other bodies and the communications were solemnly read, though no one knew what it was all about. It made more noise than the Main Street stunt from which it appears to have been derived. Navy Again Now it is Fox's The Silent Command which is being tied to Navy recruiting. The copy at Fox's Monroe Theatre, Chicago, formerly Barbee's Loop, was: "Join the Navy and see the world. Before you start on your trip see The Silent Command, a story of the American Navy that every American should see." Pretty soon the recruiting service will have to form a waiting list.