The Moving picture world (May 1924-June 1924)

832 MOVING PICTURE WORLD June 28. 1924 .1 Warner Brothers Release THIS THIRTEEN FOOT TABLEAU HELPED BEAU BRUMMEL It was designed for the lobby of the Harlem Opera House, New York City, as part of one of the best exploitation drives yet planned on this picture. It backed up a strong front display and a campaign which included eighty well dressed windows. Fifty-seven Hooks to Public Library One of the best campaigns for library cooperation is found in the results obtained in Cleveland by Al. Feinman, working for The Hunchback at the Stillman Theatre. He landed 27 public library branches and then sold the idea to 30 school libraries, with the result that every book dispensary in town was a ballyhoo for the Universal production. Three of the displays are shown on this page to suggest the manner in which the stunt was worked. Two of them are on current book stacks while the third is a bulletin board. Quite apart from the purely advertising appeal of these displays, there is a moral support angle that is even more to be sought, and the thoroughness of this campaign particularly commends itself. Slid on This Because The Meanest Man in the World had been a Chautauqua attraction in Sumter, S. C, Oscar White figured that either they would come without being urged or could not be coaxed, so he slid along with a few semi-humorous lettered signs, figuring that it would be useless to spend much money for a display. Evidently he was right, for most of them read the signs and went on their way. George J. Schade is too good a manager not to be nice to the newspapers — not merely the big boss, but the smaller men. As one result, not long ago a paper got a syndicated article on "England's Flaming Youth." It was dated for release the following Sunday, but he knew that Schade had F. Y. booked and he held it until then. Played Dog Story C. W. Irvin stressed a dog story for The Uninvited Guest and made a clean-up with it. He featured the yarn about Jean Tolley actually discovering $50,000 in gold while working in the diving scenes. This was used in the newspapers and the house organ, and personal inquiries from patrons proved to Mr. Irvin that the story had taken hold. To alibi this he used the underwater pictures in the lobby and featured the colored photography in his newspaper work, taking down a nice profit on the engagement. Good Dressing a New Beau Brummel Angle Working in with the Harlem Board of Commerce got the Harlem Opera House, New York City, unusual aids in putting over Beau Brummel for a week. Perhaps the biggest stunt was to festoon the street for eight blocks with red white and blue electric lights. This covers practically all of the business section of 125 street, the Main Street of lower "uptown." The next most interesting event ; and one more easily copied was a "Best Dressed Man" contest, the award being a suit of clothes donated by a local merchant, of a retail value of $75. The judging was done by the Board of Commerce and the award announced the follow-ing day at the theatre, when the winner was in attendance to show himself. Some eighty windows were hooked to a painting, sets of stills or other material, including an old "beaver'' in one of the hat stores. The display was by no means confined to the handlers of men's wear. Candy and drug stores and even women's wear s.iops were lined up, for the Board of Commerce had declared a Beau Brummel Week in the interest of better business, working Jie locality sheet and the Harlem edition of one of the larger daily papers for publicity with special advertising. The lobby was nicely dressed with paintings and stills and a cutout tableau 13 feet wide was used inside the lobby, the display being shown on this page. Frank Shiftman, of the Opera House, with the aid of A. Costa, of Warner Brothers, worked out the details with Charles Fuller, Executive Secretary of the Board of Trade. A Universal Release THREE GOOD EXAMPLES OF ADVERTISING BOOK CLASSICS IN THE PUBLIC LIBRARIES These were planned by Ay Feinman, Universalist, for the run of The Hunchback of Notre Dame at the Stillman Theatre, Cleveland. He hooked all 27 public library branches to the picture and also ran in thirty school libraries for good measure. The most successful placement is over the desks, though the bulletin board in most libraries is frequently consulted.