Paramount Press Books (1917)

Advertising Suggestions FURNISHED BY EXHIBITORS’ SERVICE DEPARTMENT — 485 FIFTH AVE., NEW YORK CITY. LOBBY DISPLAY: In this photoplay ‘Ice Harding” (Wm. S. Hart) starts in by holding up a stage. Why not have your lobby artist either paint a stage hold-up or import an old-fashioned stage and place before it a life-size cut of Hart, gun in hand, masked and all the rest? Beautiful Sylvia Bremer, the Australian actress who recently made such a hit with Hart is about to strip off her rings to give to the bandit when he reckons he isn t takin jewels from a lady. You might add to your lobby display a life-size cut-out of Sylvia facing Hart and offering him her jewels. WINDOW DISPLAY: If your town furnishes an old-fashioned coach, so that you could make a window display of same in some department store or automobile show window, this would make a hit. Especially the automobile display would show the contrast between the old locomotion of the plains and the modern twelve cylinder. The opportunity for advertising THE NARROW TRAIL by signs attached to the coach or on a sign post or on a window card are obvious. If you cannot get a stage coach, then try to get the automobile display rooms to put a sign on their latest type of car, with some sign reading about as follows “This isn’t the stage coach which Wm. S. Hart holds up in THE NARROW TRAIL — his latest photoplay to be seen at the . theatre on but it represents the progress that has been made in locomotion during a generation. You can’t own a stage coach — but you can own a ” STREET DISPLAY: A cowboy; a stage coach; and then a modern automobile would be some procession through your town, especially if furnished with clever banners. If you can get a horse marked like Pinto, Hart’s noted pony, and have him parade the city with a sign: '“This isn’t Pinto, Hart’s famous pony — but it’s near enough like him to be his brother. Come and see Pinto at the theatre on ” CAR CARDS: Car Cards are the hall-mark of superiority. You might have felt in the days gone by that you couldn’t afford them. Try them and see what prestige accrues to your theatre as a result. For illustrations on your car cards, use a picture of your street or lobby or window display on one side — Wm. S. Hart on the other, if possible get the man who sells you your car card space to help design a car card that will be different from the usual run of cards — something that will catch the eye instantly — something of local interest that deals with your locality. Then add your local advertising to the local interest. STORECARDS: A long trail; mountains in distance; a sign post with THE NARROW TRAIL pointing to the horizon; a lone rider in cowboy outfit, silhouetted against a clear blue sky — such a store card would be bound to attract attention to your showing of this picture. NEWSPAPER ADVERTISING: As an ideal advertisement let us call your attention to the full page Bull Durham advertisement appearing recently in the New York papers (August 30, 1917) which stated that American soldiers in France could be identified by the Bull Durham tag. These advertisements were not a cold statement of the merchandise offered, as is the case in so many amusement advertisements. They showed a picture of a real soldier; they showed a news item from the Chicago Tribune; and they brought France and the American soldier and Bull Durham right down to date with real NEWS. Now there is plenty of news in your theatre. Why not hook it up with your house and get it in the advertising. If Hart visited you on the way East, get a big cut of him made and some saying like this in your type matter: “Wm. S. Hart — the man you tried to shake hands with when he was here come and shake hands with him again on the screen when he appears in the first Artcraft release — THE NARROW TRAIL — written by himself.” FOR SPECIAL ADVERTISING SUGGESTIONS FOR YOUR HOUSE ADDRESS EXHIBITORS’ SERVICE DEPT. 3