The Moving picture world (September 1923-October 1923)

Selling thePiciliRE to the Public EDITED BY EPES WINTHROP SARGENT Canadian Exploiters Set the Standard for Novelty Ideas on If Winter Comes o PEXIXG in Ottawa ahead of the New York presentation of If Winter Conies, the showing at the Regent Theatre in the Canadian capital gives the first line on the actual exploitation possibilities of the Fox release. G. de Grandcourt, chief exploitation man for Fox in the Canadian territory, cooperated with Oral D. Cloakey, manager of the Regent, in the campaign, and they procured some exceptional results. The chief novelty was the "talking 24sheet" which is nothing more than a stand backed by a loud talker, but the idea is new and if the stand is well placed, as this was, it is a splendid stunt for any picture. To get attention, the sheets are pasted upside down. Over this is placed a loud spea <er and from any convenient point snappy phrases are called to the passers by. In this instance the amplifier was rigged by a local radio shop, which hooked in on the stunt. If you use the idea, try to effect a similar hook up. get the store to use a window card stating that it was employed to install the talking 24-sheet, giving the location, and then cut another loud speaker in just outside the window and let the chat be duplicated in front of the store. This will give you a three-point contact for the single stunt, especially if the transmitter is in the window. Fine for Fall! One of the most natural and effective stunts is a hook in to the coal dealers. This will last only until cold weather, but it is a splendid stunt until the snow flies, for If Winter Conies you are naturally interested in a well filled coal bin. Cloakey and de Grandcourt worked it for a parade of seventeen coal trucks, and window displays worked out in letters of coal against a snowground. Mark Sabre's devotion to his bicycle was capitalized in the form of a bicycle coasting contest. Just how this was worked is not explained, but if you have a convenient hill, the best way is to shoot them down the hill with the feet off the pedals. The machine to run the greatest distance on the level, through the acquired momentum, wins. On a level let the contestants pedal for two hundred feet to the starting line. At the line they remove their feet from the pedals and coast. The same distance test determines the winner. In either event have it decided in advance whether the coasting must be done in a reasonably straight line or whether the contestant can scull along in a series of half curves. A clever rider can materially better his record by working the latter device, and its use or prohibition should be known in advance. Tied to Jams A hook-up to a marmalade was good for window displays in scores of groceries of all sizes, and a lozenge concern not only supplied samples for advertising use, but donated a 20-foot car which was bannered full length on both sides and at the rear. Both the police and fire departments loaned their aid to the promotion of the picture. Six military police were detailed as a guard in front of the house each evening and a fire truck with three searchlights helped the opening ballyhoo, whic.i ostensibly was the photographing of the crowd. The stunt tied up one of the busiest corners in town for fifteen minutes. It was an unusually good stunt, because the authorities do not usually lend themselves to advertising schemes. The music hook-up was strongly worked, both on the phonograph and music stores. One large store had the title in two-foot letters across its front. These letters were frosted, and at night were illuminated with dazzling effect. Other Store Hook-Ups A drug store gave a double window to a winter scene with an argument that if winter conies a certain line of cosmetics will be needed to preserve the complexions, six soda stores sold the sundae named after the play and showed banners with frosted letters, and a jeweler tied in on the cigarette case incident with a display of cases and stills, showing the scene, while Mark Sabre's bicycle was hooked to all the wheel stores. Innumerable other stores were tied to the title with such lines as "If Winter Conies use Blank's underwear" and three full newspaper pages were worked along the same lines. There was a special showing to dignitaries and useful citizens, and an elaborate mail and straight poster campaign. All told the cost was very slight. 13 With this issue, this department enters its thirteenth year of continuous publication, a record enjoyed by no similar department, all of which have been more or less patterned after this. To those good friends whose co-operation has made it possible to extend aid to those most in need of it, we offer cur most sincere thanks. To those who find in these pages the help they need we pledge the same effort to make this department really helpful and not merely a paste-up of material supplied by the various press agents. Did you ever notice that this is the only department which is entirely written for the exhibitor? It is. We hope it always will be. .-1 Fox Release THE TALKING BILLBOARD— A TRAFFIC STOPPING STUNT About the best bet in a masterly campaign for "If Winter Comes," staged by O. D. Cloakey, of the Regent Theatre, Ottawa. The 24-sheet is purposely posted upside down to get attention and a magnavox hooked to a l'adio shop across the street does the talking.