The Thief of Bagdad (United Artists) (1924)

Lots of Stunts to be Put Over A Magic Orange Stunt * At the fruit stands arrange to mark certain oranges with the Thief of Bagdad crescent-and-triangle emblem, and let him put up this sign: These oranges are under the spell of “The Thief of Bag¬ dad.” Buy one and follow the directions and something won¬ derful will happen. You supply cards that advertise “The Thief of Bagdad,” and also the fruit vendor, on one side; the other side reads as follows: Dip a clean, new pen point in a teaspoonful of the juice of this orange and on a clean sheet of paper write the words: “Thief of Bagdad.” Then hold the paper over a radiator or hold a lighted match beneath it—and SEE WHAT HAP¬ PENS! (Note to Exhibitor: Heat will cause the writing “The Thief of Bagdad” to appear.) Street Ballyhoos Make a reproduction of the big spider used in the picture and put it in a glass-sided auto-truck. Inside the glass drape two or three layers of netting to subdue the interior. This will make it impossible to tell whether the spider is a mechnical figure or a real specimen, especially if the figure is suspended on spring-wires. It will make a great show and attract much attention with the sign: THE LARGEST ARACHNIDA IN THE WORLD which attacked Douglas Fairbanks in “The Thief of Bagdad” at the .Theatre As a ballyhoo stunt, the following has worked out well before and it is very applicable to this picture. Three people are required—two very large men (East Indians if you can get them) for street stunts. Dress them in the costume of the picture, walk them through the streets carrying the Magic Crystal, always in a sort of daze. At inter¬ vals they should stop and the girl pantomime that she sees something exciting in the Crystal, then she hands the man a scroll of paper. He unrolls it and shows it to the crowd. It reads: HE APPROACHES ON HIS FLYING HORSE, ACROSS THE DESERT HE COMES TO HIS BELOVED PRINCESS. HE IS NOW AT THE ... _____ THEATRE. Use decorated automobiles traveling single and NOT in parade formation—say one a day—or if more than one is to be used each day, let them travel singly in different sections of the city. In each auto, place a man costumed as a character in the picture, and identify each vehicle with a sign to fit the character: This is the Mongol Prince whose army took Bagdad—but he couldn’t take THE THIEF OF BAGDAD .Theatre This is the Princess who learned to love THE THIEF OF BAGDAD . .Theatre This is the Caliph who ordered punishment for THE THIEF OF BAGDAD .Theatre A Fruit Stand Display A novelty attention attractor is a gilded apple on every sidewalk fruit stand. It should tie up with the dealer’s stock of apples, in a card reading about thus: The Magic Apple of Indus that cured all ills for Douglas Fairbanks in “The Thief of Bagdad” .Theatre It remind us that “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” We sell the best. Rug Store Tie Up A dealer in Oriental rugs ought to jump at the chance to carry a window sign and stills on “The Thief of Bagdad” if the sign reads in the following style: The Flying Carpet used by DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS in “THE THIEF OF BAGDAD’’ was patterned after this elegant Shiraz rug $67.78 A Milk Company Tie Up Distribution for a reference to “The Thief of Bagdad” may be ob¬ tained from milk companies by providing a bottle neck card that bears the following text: The health of your family depends on plenty of BLANK MILK Guard this bottle from “The Thief of Bagdad” ...Theatre A small display HELP WANTED ad is a sure attention-attractor. It can read: HELP WANTED—To earn happiness. See how Douglas Fairbanks does it “The Thief of Bagdad” at the ...Theatre. A Shoe Store Tie Up A shoe store tie up is possible through the old Cinderella stunt. Use pictures of ulanne Johnston with the slippers she wore as the Princess. A pair of fine slippers could be offered to the girl whose foot is most perfectly fitted to Julanne’s size. Naturally, for this, it should be assumed that Julanne wore an extremely small siz.