City Lights (United Artists) (1931)

Chaplin Kid Contests CHARLIE CHAPLIN Charlie Chaplin is the youngster’s idol and in “City Lights’ you have opportunities no end to build up kiddie trade through tie-ups, contests and exploitation ideas. To benefit fully from your campaign interest your local newspaper and local merchants to cooperate with you in putting over the various stunts. They will be more than glad to do so for Chaplin copy insures widespread pub¬ lic interest. Impersonation Contest Invite every kid in town to participate in a Chaplin impersonation contest. Those competing for prizes must be sixteen or younger and must have designed and exe¬ cuted their own costumes. The contest consists in getting up an outfit identical to the one the comedian has made famous in his pictures. Old clothing of the parents can be used for the purpose, but the garments must be cut down to the proper fit by the children themselves. En¬ trants should be required to have photographs taken of themselves in the get-up. Three photos should be submitted—a front view, a side view and a straight photograph. Effect a tie-up with your newspaper so that the con¬ test receives plenty of publicity. Run pictures of promis¬ ing contenders for prizes alongside of stills of the star. Local merchants can be gotten into the campaign eithei through window displays or a promotional sales drive. Have each store back some entrant in the contest, and run his picture in cooperative ad spreads. Store cham¬ pions might be those inducing the greatest number of people to trade with the concern over a certain period, or they might be the children of families having made the greatest number of purchases during a certain f^iod. Start the contest far enough in advance ing so as to take full advantage of the localtn sible. Arrange to have the contest come to before you open. Have all participanj at your theatre some afternooi after school hours or a Saturday afternoon. Fix up a camera in front of your theatre and take mo¬ tion pictures of them. Cover your marquee with banners telling about the contest and the picture. Announce that these films will be shown at the theatre during the run of “City Lights.” Special Chaplin Party To assure the presence of a large number of contest- •ants arrange with the papers and the local merchants to sponsor a mammoth Chaplin party in which cake 9 , ice cream and knick-knacks are given each child. Hold this party immediately after the taking of the motion picture. Have this affair played up in the papers and the news columns, dealer and theatre ads. Chaplin Imitators Through the women and children clubs in town con¬ duct a contest to award prizes to the youngster doing the best take-off of Chaplin in a Chaplin costume. Limit each club’s entries to two or three boys. Allow girl Chaplins to participate also, providing special prizes for them. Have several of these outstanding contestants appear at your theatre each night. Get the newspapers and the merchants to cooperate and contribute prizes for the winners. Clubs entering grand winners should rec. ceive some special award or be paid some noteworthy tribute. Hold a Ballot Run voting ballots in the newspaper and have them distributed from your theatre and from the stores of the ants tied-wp with you. Let patrons pick their lumber which is simply arranged by giv- a numbered placard to carry as he walks of the camera. Get local merchants and onate merchandise and articles which may o the various winners. Invite the winners to attend spe¬ cial performances held on different nights during the run of the pic¬ ture. Present the youngsters to your audiences and have them go through a short Chaplin routine, carefully rehearsed, before they go on. C/TYUG/m Charlie does a Horatio Alger in his latest, appearing as a hobo hero who seeks fame and fortune first as a white wing, then a prize fighter and finally a snooty stanchion of society full of grand airs and languorous indifference but without a dime in his pocket. There’s a love story, a love story as only Chap¬ lin can tell them. “City Lights” is positively the world’s great¬ est entertainment. Here is a sure-fire attention-getter and a stunt certain to arouse the interest of the entire kid population of your community. It’s a Charlie Chaplin Parade. Every youngster is eligible to participate. The only requirements are that the parader be dressed in a Chaplin outfit. Hold the parade at hours when many people are likely to be on the street. See that all important sections of the town are covered in the march. To insure a good turn-out serve refreshments in your lobby for the paraders. Get a quantity of the Chaplin Derbies, mentioned on the opposite page, and announce that each marcher gets a Charlie Chaplin hat FREE. The parade can be tied up with the Field Day mentioned below. Those participating would have to join in the march. the ill-fitting coat and baggy pants, and the -pocket edition mustache. Everywhere they are saying he’s funnier and more appealing than ever in this new and greatest of all side-splitting comedies. The picture is “City Lights” and it’s coming to the. theatre on... Three years, $1,500,000 and 800,000 feet of film were spent in its production. From sources close to Chaplin comes word that the comedian’s enthusiasm for “City Lights’’ is greate-frr*w^"- than it has been for any film he has made. A staunch, believer in the silent picture, Chaplin has made his new comedy entirely without dialogue. There are sound effects and music but the voice of the forlorn little figure is never heard. Though un- - prejudiced, the comedian points out he is merely dealing with what he believes to be a superior art form. “City Lights” tells of the comic adventures of a blue blood of the highways, who forms a strange friendship with an eccentric million¬ aire. While intoxicated, the Croesus treats Charlie as a bosom com¬ panion, sobered he will have nothing to do with him. There is a blind flower girl who does unusual things to the heart strings of the friendless tramp. You’ll roar one minute and feel all choked up the next watch¬ ing this happy-go-lucky vagabond trying to solve his and the world’s problems by becoming in turn a white wing, a prizefighter and a man about town. Here is the entertainment the whole world has been waiting for. A giant helping of laughs, gaiety, surprises and the un¬ matched artistry of the greatest of all comedians combine to make “City Lights” the greatest funfest you’ve ever known. 1 —Three Col. Ad (Mat 20 c; Cut 75 c)