Purchase Price (Warner Bros.) (1932)

Night Club Show As an added attraction during your showing of ‘‘The Purchase Price,’’ stage a special amateur talent cabaret floor show. It need tahe only a few minutes and when properly exploited will benefit your showing directly. Secure the best local talent possible: a torch singer, a couple ef dancers, a small dance band, a dancing school chorus, ete. Have each do a number, with a master of ceremonies announcing the acts. Be sure that the singer uses ‘‘Take Me Away,’’ the song Stanwyek sings. Set the stage in regular cabaret style: Small platform for band, small tables, small dance floor in center, ete. Advertise the night club show in addition to securing special publicity for it. Name all the entries in your publicity. Stress the fact that Barbara Stanwyck appears as a night club singer in the picture. Promote any costumes and sets you need. Exploit the entire affair as a miniature big-city night club show. Letter to Farmers If your patronage is mainly drawn from farmers, cireularize them with a special letter as follows: Dear Mr. and. Mrs. ® In presenting Barbara Stanwyck in “<The Purchase Price’’ next ......... I honestly believe that we will have a picture which you and your whole family will find one of the most interesting we have ever shown at the Fe ee ee Theatre. It is a picture that speaks ow language, with thrills, romance, struggle, hope, fear and all the emotions and instincts we ourselves are living today. I’m sure you will find ‘‘ The Purchase Price’’ one of the best pictures of the season. We will be happy to greet you at the on... paces 1 ESSER ie ras nee Tankina favanavd ta seeing yan TF Sincerely yours, Manager Do not use this type of letter if your patronage is not agricultural. Ff you cater to city people, stress the night club ‘‘torch singer’’ angle on Stanwyck, the cast strength, and other points outlined in ‘‘Sales Angles,’’ using the patron letter described on the preceding page. Lobby Blow-Ups Spotted throughout this merechandising plan are one and two-column brief biographical boxes of Barbara Stanwyck, George Brent, Hardy Albright, Lyle Talbot and David Landau. Cut them out and have them blown up for a 40 x 60 lobby frame. Place photos of the players opposite their write-ups to make a novel lobby display. Lobby Display Have your artist lay out a display on the following order: Surround an alluring figure of Stanwyck with heads of the male players in the film, George Brent, Lyle Talbot, Hardie Albright and David Landau. To each of the heads affix a caption lettered in the form of a price tag. Captions should read: HE OFFERED MONEY BUT NOT LOVE; another caption—HE OFFERED LOVE AND LUXURY; another—HE OFFERED HIS HEART—etc. Under Stanwyck run this line in large, bold letters— YET SHE MARRIED A MAN SHE HAD NEVER MET! Novelty A purchase tag cashing right in on the title is available for your use. The face of the tag has been gagged up to resemble an actual price tag while the back carries sales message, theatre imprint and playdate. Place them on ears, buildings, hand them out as throwaways etc... Price fully strung and imprinted: $4.00 per M, $3.50 per M over 3M, $3.00 per M over 5M, $2.50 per M over 10,000. Order direct from EXPLOITATION PRINTERS, 20 West 22nd Street, New York City. “Get Acquainted” Open up a ‘‘Get-Acquainted’’ bureau patterned after the correspondence clubs and ‘‘lonely hearts’’ bureaus. Announce that you will take the names and addresses of people who wish to correspond with others. Distribute the names to the people who take part. Show them the advantages of getting acquainted and making friends via correspondence. Let them know that that is the way Stanwyck becomes acquainted with the man she marries in ‘The Purchase Price.’’ Have the newspaper present the ‘‘Get Acquainted’’ idea. Show the public that you are doing something for lonely people in this effort to bring them together and bring happiness into their lives. Crowd Photes From Windows Tie up with a merchant in the busiest section of town. Put a pretty girl in the window with a camera. Spot a large poster in the window on ‘‘The Purchase Price’’ and one on the stunt. The stunt poster should explain that the girl will take photos of different people in the crowds that gather in front of the window. These snapshots will be developed and posted on a large frame in the lobby of your theatre. A pair of passes should be awarded to each person who comes to the lobby and _ identifies himself. The girl should manage to take the pictures in such a way that it will be difficult to know whose photo she took, adding a teaser value to the stunt and arousing interest in the photos displayed in your lobby. credit your local film and camera store for use of the materials, thus making it an absolutely costless seller. PEPPY LOBBY SUGGESTIONS Rural Contests If you are in a purely rural community, hold contests which will appeal to farmers. Hold a miniature agricultural show, using ideas which make up country fairs, ete Tie up with your local farm granges and crop and soil associations for brief talks on farm improvements A novel + for farm communities which -vrked fairly easily is a sst,’’ the farmers to weaiy IN their” best miich cows aud young farmer lads and lasses to take part. Hold this on the stage, if pos sible, at your first showing of ‘‘The Purchase Price.’’ Be sure to not to use rural exploitation angles unless you are in a community made up almost entirely of farmers. DEALER CO-OPERATION a. Co-Operative Ad Any dealer from the smallest merchant to the largest department store is eligible in this co-operative ad stunt. The outline following is self-explanatory : THE BIGGEST BARGAINS TROY HAS EVER SEEN DRESS MEN’S Barbara Stanwyck SHOP FURNISHING in Be eS “THE PURCHASE PRICE”’ SPORT DRESSES POLO SHIRTS with eas eke ret etd GEORGE BRENT 7-H E-ASIEReE G60 -PEyY. f HAT BARBER TIRE GROCERY STORE| SHOP | COMPANY GARAGE AD AD AD STORE AD Purchase | Purchase Purchase AD Price Price Price SPECIAL $3.50 25¢ $4.98 aah CANNED PEAS Jewel Purchase J : >EAS ewelry Price Purchase Price SHOE STORE Shop See 8 for 26¢ a Pop ee Purchase Price Price $5.00 $37.50 Your newspaper’s ad solicitor will handle all the work. All you have to do is to give him the idea—he’ll do the rest and welcome it. b. Window Displays Every dealer who comes in on the ad should agree on this cooperative window display—but whether he participates in the ad or not, this window tie-up should be one of the most widely circulated ones you’ve ever arranged. Here’s the idea: Around a center-piece of several stills showing figures of Stanwyck and scenes from the picture the dealer should build his regular display. Price tags on the merchandise should bear the line SPECIAL PURCHASE PRICE. Your still display should carry an appropriate plug for your showing. Explain to the dealer that by using the movie material as a center he has an inexpensive window display and one that is certain to attract loads more interest than his window usually receives. c. Herald Distribution Have all co-operating merchants distribute your heralds with each purchase. Its copy, scenes and layout make it an all-around swell convincer. Herald Distribution Via Magazine Delivery Boys “<The Purchase Price’’ is adapted from ‘‘The Mud Lark’’ by Arthur Stringer, which ran serially in the Saturday Evening Post. Contact your local magazine distributor in an effort to have him permit the insertion of heralds in the magazines and newspapers delivered and sold by the ecarriers. You will probably be able to get his co-operation if you use a cooperative herald at the theatre, devoting half the space to the distributor. Magazine Stand Displays Tie-up with every possible magazine stand for 11 by 14 or 22 by 28 poster space on ‘*The Purchase Price,’’ stressing the fact that it ran in the Saturday Evening Post and will play at your theatre. Copy should read: Read your next movie stories in these magazines—then see them at the Embassy BARBARA STANWYCK mm “THE PURCHASE PRICE” from the Saturday Evening Post Serial, ‘‘The Mud Lark,’’ by Arthur Stringer NOW PLAYING EMBASSY THEATRE The above copy can be adapted for book-store window displays by using the word ‘‘books’’ instead of ‘‘magazines’’ in the second line. COLORTONE EFFECT 4x5—Colored positive only. .$2.00 Set (positive and negative) 3.00 34%x4—Colored positive only 1.50 Set (positive and negative) 2.25 Order by No. N-282 NATIONAL STUDIOS, Inc. 226 West 56th St., N. Y. “Lonely Hearts” A. Reserve a section of your theatre for a special ‘‘Lonely Hearts’’ theatre party. Take up this matter with your newspaper ‘‘ Advice to the Lovelorn’’ editor. Have daily publicity stories about the possibilities of making new friends by correspondence and such get-togethers. Arrange dates for all people who write in, having the men eall for the women and take them to the theatre. Explain to them that much of the action of the picture hinges on ‘‘the mail bride’’ idea, with Barbara Stanwyck marrying a man she had never seen, through correspondence. B. As a good advance gag that will reach the thousands of people who read the ‘‘ Advice to the Lovelorn’’ letters, plant a series of letters in that department raising the question of whether or not a girl should marry a man she has never seen after carrying on a correspondenee with him. Use the same type of query for several days in advance, making an effort to have the answers addressed to ‘‘The Purchase Price’’ Editor. If possible, have the paper run special letters and ans: wers about such matters, mentioning ‘¢The Purchase Price’’ as often as possible. “Before-Or-After” Trailer Song To further exploit the importance of Barbara Stanwyck’s role as a torch singer, and also to make a strong impression from the ‘‘singing-for-thefirst-time’’ angle, get one of the entries in your ‘‘Barbara Stanwyck Torch Singer’’ contest to sing a chorus of ‘‘Take Me Away,’’ before or after the trailer. Place her on a side of the stage against a black drop. Dim house lights and footlights and throw a baby spot on the singer. The prettier the singer, the better the effect on the audience. Page Thirteen