Bordertown (Warner Bros.) (1935)

EXPLOITATION To get the most attention — the exploitation on this picture is planned to concentrate on selling the two great star names—Academy Award Winner Paul Muni and Academy Award Winner Bette Davis. Here are a number of inexpensive and easy-to-work ideas to help you get started. BOOST 2 AWARD WINNERS Paul Muni and Bette Davis are both Academy Award winners for best performances by an actor and actress, respectively. Send letters to local dramatic groups and organizations. Tell them that “Bordertown” their only picture together shows them at their best and is brought back to your city by popular request. It is drama only they could bring to the screen. In the event that Muni or Davis are honored with any other awards during or before your local showing, play up this fact in all ads and publicity. SOCKO TRAILER! No other advance trailer can equal the selling job of this specially prepared screen salesman. It features new, up-to-date selling copy. Punches out the fact that Muni and Davis are Academy Award winners. Shows strong action scenes from picture. BLOW UP ADS Note that our ad campaign is based almost completely on the selling of the two greatest names on the screen today — Paul Muni and Bette Davis. You can easily make use of this strong selling aid by blowing up the ads for lobby and front display. RADIO SELLING (One Minute) ANNOUNCER: In response to public demand the Strand Theatre is happy to announce a return engagement of “Bordertown,” starring two of the screen's greatest stars, Paul Muni and Bette Davis in their only picture together. Paul Muni, forever unforgettable as Zola, is seen in one of his outstanding early successes. Here’s an opportunity for those who missed seeing “Bordertown,” and thousands who will want to witness again Paul Muni's and Bette Davis’ astonishing performances. We wholeheartedly urge you to see this picture for its grand entertainment and for blazing dramatic performances by Paul Muni and Bette Davis, winners of the Academy Awards for best performances of the year. Remember! “Bordertown” -is their only picture together. For a real screen thrill see “Bordertown” at the Strand Theatre. Selected Vitaphone Shorts “UNREAL NEWSREEL” (Vitaphone Varieties). Collection of the screwiest news shots ever filmed. Narrated by Paul Douglas. (9 minutes—No. 3905) “THE WOODS ARE FULL OF CUCKOOS” (Merrie Melodies). Satire of greatest stars of radio and screen. (7 minutes—No. 3404) “PURE FEUD” (Vitaphone Novelty). Charlie McCarthy and Edgar Bergen get mixed up in a hillbilly feud. (10 minutes—No. 3203) “VITAPHONE FROLICS” (Vitaphone Varieties). Jack and Loretta Clemens; Zeb Carver and His Cousins head four ace vaudeville acts. (9 minutes--No. 9904) “HERE’S YOUR HAT” (Broadway Brevities). Comedy entertainers include: Charles ‘Cookie Bowers,’ popular radio and screen star; Phil Silvers, Three Marshalls, Evan Evans, Helen Young, Ted Adair, and Twelve American Rockets. (21 minutes—No. 3014) | [4] LOBBY DISPLAYS A large compo board roulette wheel with star :tills taking the place of regular numbers. Put a slit ql] around the inner edges of the stills and by meansof a geared motor arrangement a white ball spits around the board. Copy in center: “Bringing baci the stars and thrills, millions want again! Paul Muni in BORDERTOWN with Bette Davis — Their only picture together. Brought back by popular request.” Display of gambling devices: roulette wheels, birdcages, faro, card hands, anything that will help give the exhibit an authentic appearance. Copy: “Gambling devices used in BORDERTOWN — brought back by popular demand to give you the million thrills, millions wanted again!” Arrange group of stills from Paul Muni's outstanding pictures alongside a group of stills from Bette Davis’ successes. Order these stills from Campaign Plan Editor: I Am A Fugitive, Black Fury, Story of Louis Pasteur, Life of Emile Zola, Dangerous, Marked Woman, Petrified Forest, and It’s Love I'm After. Add selling line: “Their Only Picture Together — BORDERTOWN — Brought Back by Popular Request! Greater Drama Has Never Been Filmed! Greater Stars Have Yet To Be Born!” @ A lobby sign asking: “Who gives the betier performance — Paul Muni or Bette Davis?” should provide patrons with enough incentive to scribble on the ballots you have handy. Can twist this for contest by adding: “Why?” to the question and providing prizes for best reasons. & “Bordertown,” the stirring novel by Carroll Graham, was a best-seller a few years ago and stores are still promoting its sale. Special window displays can be arranged with all local dealers. Supply store with plenty of blow-up material, star stills and display cards, announcing theatre and playdate. WINDOW DISPLAYS Any empty store windows in busy sectors? Place “Bordertown” display cards in window and dress the inside with gambling machines, layout of lucky card hands, Mexican pottery, paintings, etchings, and any other Mexican curios you can get. Punch out display of star heads of Muni and Davis with banner: “The screen's Two Biggest Stars Together In a Smash Hit! Brought Back By Popular Demand.” TRAVEL BUREAU TIE-UP Mexican angle lends itself to a travel bureau tie-up. Place display card and star stills of Muni and Davis in agent’s window. Copy: “Take a Trip To Mexico For an Unusual Vacation and a Trip to Bordertown For Entertainment Thrills That Have No Equal.” JEWISH CAMPAIGN Paul Muni is Jewish, and was once a star on the Jewish stage. Make up one-sheets with copy in Jewish and spot them in Hebrew quarter; place ads in Jewish newspapers and magazines; contact popular Jewish institutions; send personal letter to special Jewish mailing list. Stunt has been worked by exhibitors on former Muni pictures with great success.