Pocketful of Miracles (United Artists) (1961)

APPLE STUNTS Contact a fruit wholesaler and make a deal with him for a large quantity of apples to use in your ballys and displays. You can offer him publicity, posted credits . . . or you can set the promo with outlets such as markets and fruit stands in return for guest tickets and displays around your theatre. Here are some uses for the apples: LOBBY DISPLAY: Have a tremendous bin of apples in your lobby (you can fake the bottom, using only the top layer of apples) and plan the rest of the display around it. Front of bin should feature large blow-up of Crockwell art (Still PM-ART-1) with the apple painted bright red. Hang apples from string all around lobby, just out of reach of your tallest patrons. Hang them over the candy counter also, and under the marquee. Sell candy-apples at your concession. Apples are your gimmicks: they’re small, cheap, practical and they arouse curiosity. On matinee days you can set a duckingfor-apples contest in the lobby. Copy to cover reads: We're..having Hallowe'en in ............ (month)............ ; Just one of the many miracles in "Pocketful of Miracles.’ Coming next. 5 al APPLE GIVEAWAY: During run of your previous at traction have a “surprise night” and give apples to patrons as they leave the auditorium. Tag apples with credits and playdate for “Pocketful.” Don’t give them to incoming patrons, or you'll have floors of cores. STREET BALLY: Dress a model as Apple Annie, following Bette Davis’ rag-bag makeup as closely as you can, and have her distribute apples in front of your theatre the day before opening. You can replenish her apple basket easily this way, and the apples will not have to be tagged with playdate material: your theatrefront can tie in the stunt. Use another street bally for away-from-theatre activity. » NEWSPAPERS, RADIO, TY: Send your Apple Annie through the city rooms to the entertainment editors of all your newspapers. Have her take the longest route there once inside the building, stopping at as many desks as she can to ask the way. She presents your contacts with apples, properly tagged with playdate and credits, a set of stills, your stories, invitations to screening—if you are having one —and whatever else you ordinarily bring yourself. You can accompany her if you think it best, but that will give the gag away before she gets where she is going. Alone, she should know enough about the film to discuss it with paper personnel whose curiosity is piqued enough to ask about it. It’s best not to combine this stunt with the street bally; have your. newspaper Annie driven to each place by a theatre employee, to be sure she keeps a schedule and nothing happens to the apples and material on the way there. Keep it all in the car. This way she can cover radio and TV stations the same way, the same day . . . visiting program directors. Follow up with an apple a day to everyone she visits, for a week, to keep them reminded. Apples can be mailed or delivered, with tagged messages about your coming attraction, as a painless method of planting more stories, or to get coverage for other stunts around town. Call on the program managers of the stations later and try to set appearances of Apple Annie on a local show She can give away other “prizes” or » guest tickets, as well as apples. MARKET DISPLAYS: supermarkets, grocery stores, delicatessens—set displays of apples in Wherever apples are sold — the windows and in store, together with apple cider, candy apples, apple-pies . . . playdate. If you have lucky number contest, leave coupons on check and movie material. Be sure storekeepers feature your out counters or at the display. PAGE 10 Merchant Tie-Ups to Make A ‘Miracle Mile Of City’s Leading Boulevard Or Shopping Center Contact all of the merchants on a shopping street in your downtown area, or at a shopping center, and get their coopera. tion in setting “Pocketful of Miracles” day—or days. Idea is to have bargains on merchandise in all cooperating stores. tying in this “miracle” with title of film. All stores should have movie-material and playdate information in windows as well as point-of-sale displays. They should all be printed on the same kind and color of stock, so shoppers can identify cooperating stores upon sighting the displays. Call the street you tie in “Miracle Mile” (many cities already have a section so named, thus making the tie-in easier) and urge the merchants to advertise this promotion in their regular ads; spot it in your own, and post announcements of the event on a 40 x 60 out front of your theatre, and in the lobby. Here are some ideas for tie-ins you can set: JEWELRY STORES: Use stills PM-96 (Bette Davis), PM-99 (Ann-Margret) and PM-109 (Hope Lange). FLORISTS: Use stills PM-105 (Ann-Margret) and PM-113 (Hope Lange). CLOTHING STORES: Gag still of Glenn Ford in his Dave-The-Dude duds will draw attention and point up the fun natureof the film. Use stills PM-15, 83, 85, 106, 114 and others. Your tie-in copy can read: This was Dave The Dude’s style on Damon Runyon’s Broadway—and on Glenn Ford it looks good—in Frank Capra’s “Pocketful of Miracles.” But how would Dave’s Duds look on you?? Better stick to today’s fashions. We've got the styles for you. Come in now and see them. Then go to the Bijou and see ‘Pocketful of Miracles.” Set posters and accessories in windows with the stills and offer guest tickets with purchase of every suit or coat. On a mannequin in the same window the store manager can baste a breast pocket of red or yellow felt on the suit—witl copy announcing that one of the pockets of one of the suits in the store is a “Pocketful of Miracles.” The customer trying it on and finding the proper certificate or identification in this pocket wins the suit. The management of the store will wan to reserve the right to decide what days the store will go along on his stunt, and to try on clothing that is obviously the custom er’s size—and none other. The publicity gained by the store on a stunt like this should make the inconvenience worth while Where There’s (Cigar) Smoke There’s (B.0.) Fire Glenn Ford, Peter Falk, Thomas Mitchell and others smoke cigars in “Pocketful” and look good doing it. There are many stills you can use to make a tie-in, and there is a public relations firm ready and more than willing to work with you to blanket your city with window and point-of-sale displays in all stores where cigars are sold. The Cigar Institute of America has worked with United Artists before. It’s goal is to promote cigars and ours is to sell tickets. By contacting your local representative of the C.I.A. you can place sniped stills and posters in cigar, drug, candy and grocery stores everywhere. This is a lot of valuable extra exposure. It may cost you guest tickets for the cooperating merchants but the promo can also get you a few boxes of cigars for giveaways at screenings. In fact, you might call such special shows “Smoke Screenings.” For this tie-in, you can use Ford star stills PM-82 (Mat 2A) on page 8 and also stills PM-50 & 56. Have your sign shop mount these prints on 10 x 12 boards for counters, larger ones for windows—according to the cooperation you get. Offer larger merchants one of the contests outlined on these pages. This stunt is as big as you want it to be. For the representative in your area, contact: Stan Kolker, Cigar Institute of America, 1270 6th Ave., N.Y., N.Y. BAKERIES: ful,’ especially the Crockwell main art with stars and co-stars walking out of the big apple. Plant movie Bakeries all over town will go for a tie-in between apple-pies and the apple-art on “Pocket material in windows of chain bakeries and grocery stores in your city, together with all apple products (pies cakes, turnovers ... ) The windows will be fun-filled, and the exposure excellent. SUPER MARKETS: © Work with a chain on the familiar promo of imprinting shopping bags wit theatre copy. It can read simply: This is a bag full of miracles and | got it at Smith’s Supe Market. See “Pocketful of Miracles’ at the BijouTheatre. You can make these bags available at thi check-out counters—and combine them with a lucky number contest if you wish . . . awarding merchandise anc cuest tickets to holders of bags with lucky numbers printed on them. Post winning numbers at theatre anc in windows or points-of-sale in the stores only after all the bags have been distributed. The cooperatin; merchants should mention the free shopping bags in their advertising, whether or not you set the contest Use National Magazines To Publicize ‘Pocketful’ You have plenty of magazine breaks to work with for displays on this one: Look, Cosmopolitan’ and Newsweek were out when this pressbook was being BETTE PLAYS APPLE ANNI made—with Esquire and Life coming up. They should be on the stands by the time you get this information. Also look for the November 11, 1961 issue of Saturday Review and the December issue of the new Show COSMOPOLITAN magazine. Make posters and. displays for use out front of your theatre, in your lobby and in connection with your merchant tie-ins all over town. We have made an 8 x 10 black and white still which you can enlarge to 40 x 60 size, or larger, for convenient display. It features the three layouts which were ready. Be sure you get the rest of them, however, and have your sign shop make up attractive displays of them ALL—to let your public RANK CAPRAS Pocketful of Miracles know how well received “Pocketful of Miracles” has been around the country. Order the still at right by number from: National Screen Service. Still PM-X-7.