Manhattan Parade (Warner Bros.) (1931)

4 Don’t Call It “Exploitation” LS of its MERCHANDISING Sure You'll Sew The Buttons On Free Tell your patrons they’re going to laugh the buttons off their clothing at “Manhattan Parade.” And tell them, too, that you’ve made arrangements to sew them right on again. The way to do this is to set up a small glass case in a corner of your lobby, well in advance of your playdate. You ean get one of those small show cases and mount it on an end table. Inside have a collection of buttons that should include every possible type, size, shape and color, with an equal variety of cotton. Include a package of needles in the display. The following copy should be lettered on a eard (fairly large) and displayed with the button-needle-cotton exhibit:— YOU'LE LAUGH THE BUTTONS OFF YOUR CLOTHING when you see “MANHATTAN PARADE” but don’t let that stop you from seeing The Funniest Picture In Years because WELL SEW THEM ON AGAIN! FREE! a snail nn aS Street Stunt A novel street stunt would be to place a man sitting on a camp chair in the busiest corner of your town. The sign on his back should read “I am waiting for ‘The Manhattan Parade.’ ” To further enhance the value of the stunt, have a man sitting in his chair all day long. Perhaps you can arrange to have a platform for him. His lunch should be delivered to him, so that he wouldn’t have to leave his chair. Undoubtedly the newspapers will cover this item the way they cover the flagpole sitting stunt and plenty of publicity should result. Give the man a quantity of heralds to hand to the crowds that will gather around him. Any fellow who “exploits” his product is way behind the times. Today you've got to MERCHANDISE. And when you MERCHANDISE, you don’t invest your time in anything that hasn’t a direct box-office benefit. Lost Teeth Gag It took A. F. Avey, Manager of the Rialto Theatre, Kingsville, Texas, to add a new twist to the old anatomy gag. It’s a natural for exploiting “Manhattan Parade.” After the first showing of a comedy feature, he placed a set of false teeth on display in his lobby. The teeth were fastened to a ecard whieh read:— FOUND These teeth were laughed out during the first performance— Apparently unnoticed by the owner who can get his property on application to the manager. This stunt not only caused a great deal of comment, but was funny enough to warrant a newspaper story in one of the local dailies. The yarn gave plenty of prominence to the title of the picture, the star, theatre and manager. It certainly is funny enough to make every reader laugh. And once you get the prospective patrons laughing, they’re not prospective any more. We Have Done It For You— Take Full Advantage Of This Great Merchandising Idea The exhibitors service division of the advertising department of Warner Bros. have arranged with The Exploitation Printing Company, 1 West 3rd Street, New York City, the following merchandise plan, which we believe will prove exceptionally effective in the promotion of “Man hattan Parade” at your theatre. Here is the plan: Send your mailing list to The Exploitation Printing Company, who will then address as many post cards as your list contains and mail same from New York over your entire mailing list. These cards will contain interesting views of New York and the following copy: “Hello, Pal: Here I am in New York. Today I saw what is un doubtedly the funniest’ talking picture that has ever been made. It is called ‘Manhattan Parade. I want to warn you not to miss it. It will give you one of the most enjoyable thrills of your lifetime. Mabel.” The above copy will be written in script on the address side of the post card and you can imagine its effect upon the recipients. It will contain a New York post mark and in every detail will look absolutely authentic. The following prices, complete with mailing expenses, prevail: $50 as ees If you go through with this stunt and we think you should, please communicate direct with The Exploitation Printing Company, 1 West 3rd Street, N. Y. C., and send your mailing list, as well as cash with order. In view of the fact that most of the expenses involved in the completion of this idea are labor and postage, no orders will be filled unless they are accompanied by cash, check or money order. Page Ten Lobby Decoration The entire scheme of the lobby should be one of gaiety, life and spirit. Use plenty of brilliant colors. Every time you show a picture of Smith and Dale (and be sure they are in a funny pose) use a sexy figure of a girl in conjunction with it. One of the most important lines in your entire campaign is “Better Than ‘Gold Diggers I ID of Broadway. This line definitely establishes the type of picture and its value of screen entertainment. Everyone of your lobby ecards should carry this line, regardless of what other catchlines you use. “Manhattan Parade” is smart, witty, but above all uproariously funny, and if your lobby reflects this spirit, you have done a good job. Lobby Card Ideas The border of ha-ha’s adds a new and different touch to the usual lobby ecard. Each one of these laugh signs should be in a different color as brilliant as you can possibly get them. The four heads should be done in poster effect style with the background in varying tones of blue. The title will stand out prominently in Persian orange. Catchline copy should be in white on the blue background. Use the following color scheme on the above lobby card and you'll get a very effective display. Solid blue panel; girl’s figure in pastelle shades; title in white on a red background; lower left corner in lighter blue than panel; copy in purple; heads in black and white photographic reproductions. TIE-UPS AT A GLANCE Clothing Tie-Up Every merchant in town handling wearing apparel is interested in a tieup along the following lines: “What The Well Dressed Man (Woman) Wears In ‘The Manhattan Parade. “ A quantity of window cards with the above slogan will do the trick. Hosiery Tie-Up There is a tie-up between Winnie Lightner and the Walter Fred Hosiery Mills, Ine., Nashville, Tenn. For complete details of this tie-up see another section of this merchandising plan. Musie Stores Tie-Up There are several songs with “parade” titles that are currently popular. At the present time Harms, Inc., 62 West 45th Street, N.Y.C., is publishing a song called “I Love A Parade.” Your organist should feature this number during the showing of “Manhattan Parade.” “TI Love A Parade” is the theme song of the trailer. It is not used in any part of the picture but offers splendid tie-up _ possibilities with music stores. Restaurant Tie-Up All restaurants are possibilities for tie-ups on “Manhattan Parade,” along the following lines: “You will burn up your vitamins laughing at ‘Manhattan Parade. However, don’t let this stop you from seeing this great leg and laugh show “at the er ey Theatre, because you can store up a big vitamin supply with the following foods.” Under this copy the restaurant can list the foods that contain the most vitamins and designate the amount of vitamins in each.of the substances. Se-Ling Hosiery Tie-Up We have arranged a tie-up with the Walter T. Fred Hosiery Mills of Nashville, Tenn., manufacturers and distributors of Se-Ling Hosiery, whereby their 10,000 distributors will co-operate with local exhibitors for the exploitation of “Manhattan Parade,” in which Winnie Lightner wears Se-Ling Hosiery. Go to the local Se-Ling distributor in your town and work out stunts and ideas that will be of mutual benefit. The distributors have been advised of this tie-up and have also been supplied with accessories to supplement it. Arrange for window displays. Make cut-outs of Winnie Lightner for the center of the window. Dress up the display with stills. Use the window eard supplied by Se-Ling to their distributors. If you run a contest of any nature, make Se-Ling Hosiery one of the prizes. Have the merchant insert a herald in each pair of Se-Ling Hose he sells. You'll find Se-Ling distributors more than willing to co-operate with you on a reciprocity basis. For further information on this tieup write to Walter Fred Hosiery Mills, Nashville, Tenn., for complete details and press sheet. Once you have established your contact with local merchants, you can use it again for the exploitation of Warner Bros. and First National Pictures which feature other stars in this tremendous tie-up.