Side Show (Warner Bros.) (1931)

—_— TWICE AS FUNNY AS A 3 RING X. PLOITATION says: Box-Office Real Circus Parade Saturday Decorations Morning Matinee “Side Show” is a picture you can go out and ballyhoo like a cireus—because it IS a circus! It has lions, tigers, merry-go-rounds, band wagons, ferris wheels, high divers, freaks, whiskered ladies, Make your box-office look like a tremendous drum-head. Any earpenter can build a circular frame around your box-office and cover it with Arrange with your local Boys’ organizations to dress up in any This is a picture the kids will go nuts about. Make arrangements with schools and other boys institutions for a special Saturday morning matinee. Cooperate with your newspaper along these lines. Make a play for the Kiddie Klub and Boys strong men, midgets, AND— costumes that they may have and The greatest laugh combination in pictures— WINNIE LIGHTNER and CHARLES BUTTERWORTH. There is only one way to sell this kind of picture— ballyhoo it from the housetops. You have plenty to parade with their pet animals to The way to pull this stunt is to co-operate with the Boy Your boxoffice will project through the canvas and on the head of the drum will be staccato catch-lines as follows: canvas. your theatre. Scouts, Girl Scouts, schools and any shout about! “Laughs!” other boys’ organization and work| Clubs. Get as many of the young “Fun!” through their leaders. Offer attracfolks as you possibly can to the “Clowns!” Givdicicea Yor tho Dent aaktunic. tha meet showing and they will sell this “Tions!” picture to the grownups better than funniest-looking costume, the cutest pet and the funniest pet. This stunt is an exceptional one for a Saturday morning when you can have a special showing for the kids, admitting all costumed children into your theatre. The method of handling this stunt depends entirely upon local conditions. Newspaper co-operation is helpful, but not necessary. Parading any other medium. You may be able to tie up with a local concern to supply the kids with peanuts and pink lemonade. “Tigers!” “A whirlwind of comedy!” “Better Than a Circus!” “With Winnie Lightner and Charles Butterworth” Calliope Go the limit with street exploitation. If you can get hold of a circus wagon or any animals, put them on parade and let them sell the show for you. If you can’t get any animals, hire a wagon that looks like a circus wagon, cover it with canvas and have a sign on each side reading as follows: Guess the name of the animals in this wagon and get a free ticket to see “SIDE SHOW’’ with WINNIE LIGHTNER and CHARLES BUTTERWORTH at the Strand Theatre Deposit your answers at the boxoffice of the Strand any time this week. How they’ll go for this stunt can be estimated from the amount of curiosity a regular covered circus wagon gets when the circus comes to town. Heralds announcing the nature of the contest, as well as sales copy on the show, should be distributed by the driver, Hire a clown to follow the wagon and do his stuff. If you can get a monkey, tie him to the top of the wagon and let him prance around. If you are going to sell “Side Show” like a circus, you’ve got to aud “vice une of them. It should be an easy matter to hire a calliope and a man to play it. Somewhere in your town there should be one that is ,mounted on wheels and run by steam. It shouldn’t be very expensive to put this on parade, properly bannered. SUGGESTIONS FOR LOBBY FRAME BALLYHOO! Boy scouts will help. Get in touch with Scout Masters and see if you can arrange to have the scouts parade to your theatre with the proper banners and flags announcing the production and play date. These catch-lines should not be in ‘| rotation, but should be seattered in a conglomeration all over the head of the drum. : NY SIDE SHOW} MI —— if | S\DE SHO 6) WINNIE SS with CHARLES B & Mount still (Winnie Lightner 104) and follow ad illustration running flat tones over faces. Background is in blue with copy in dark green. Winnie’s ribbon and suit is in red. Title is white wm dark blue panel. Use ad illustration and color background in light yellow. Winnie’s ribbon is in light green with her suit in dark green. Title and cast are in white on a vermillion panel. Color giraffe in yellows and browns. Mount stills (Side Show 288 and 297) and run in natural tones. Color background in blue behind heads. Tent is in yellow with title in red and copy in black. Cast panel is in purple with lettering in white. Enlarge still (Wiiume raghtner 104) and follow ad illustration with a flesh tint on face. Laffs are in red on a yellow ground with title in purple. .. Cast is in white on a purple background. _.a Dancer Hire a hula dancer and dress her’ in the typical costume consisting of a grass skirt, moccasins, ete. and have her do her stuff in front of your theatre at various intervals. You can also use her on a wagon driven by a man who is also a spieler. The wagon stops at busy sections of the town, the hula dancer does her stuff and the barker makes his spiel about the virtues of “Side Show,” after which he distributes heralds to the crowd and moves on to the next corner. Family Patronage The Final Touch To Your SIDE SHOW Here is your chance to make a great play for the whole family because “Side Show” has a cireus for the kids, action for dad, romance for mother and sister and a world of entertainment for everybody. Balloon Stunt Teaser “Side Show” offers you a chance to revive the old stunt of releasing balloons containing passes from the marquee of your theatre. Announce Campaign Use half-sheets, one-sheets, window ecards, tack cards, with the follow that anybody finding a balloon will also find a ticket inside that can be used for admission to see “Side Show.” Announce also that you will give a special cash prize (to be very small) to the one who finds the balloon at the farthest point from the theatre. ing copy: “THE CIRCUS IS COMING TO TOWN with WINNIE LIGHTNER and CHARLES BUTTERWORTH Follow this up a few days later with the title of the show, billing Make Your Screen Presen Campaign Is the WARNER TALKING TRAILER and playdate. HEY, HEY, HEY, LOOK AT THIS ONE! Here’s your chance to get a number of freaks in front of your theatre and a tremendous amount of publicity at the same time. All it requires is a little effort and a little initiative. Arrange for your local newspaper to conduct a contest to find your town’s tallest person, shortest person, fattest person and thinnest person. Any editor who can’t see the value of this stunt as a circulation builder should not be an editor. Can you imagine the photographs in the papers of all these over-sized and undersized people? And it all comes under the heading of local news. tation Artistic and Colorful EFFECTIVE SLIDE, elaborately colored, created especially for “SIDE SHOW” No. N-87 Made in two sizes, 4x5 and 314x4 for Brentograph F-7 or any standard equipment. Colored positive alone will give excellent results. Can also be used with uncolored negative to obtain greater depth. PRICE GET IT AT COST The way to conduct this contest is to start it at least a week in pag tar a Lage ) Joe advance of your playdate. Offer prizes both cash and tickets, as well as 7 —— SOT positive and negative a a job to the winners for the duration of the run of the picture. The win314 x4—Colored positive only 1.50 FROM YOUR LOCAL ners will be used as lobby and street attractions. After all, the publicity Set (positive and negative) 2.95 they receive in the papers you will find that a larger number of people will — Jet { po e 8 , WARNER BROS. | EXCHANGE come down to your theatre just to see the winners and if you have the right kind of a lobby display, you will get them all into your theatre. If for any reason your local newspaper refuses to co-operate with you on this stunt, put it on without their aid. It would pay you to take paid space in the newspapers to advertise this contest, and you can, without doubt, plant pictures of the winners in every newspaper in your town. Order by number direct from NATIONAL STUDIOS, INC. 226 WEST 56th STREET, NEW YORK, N. Y. Be sure to specify size and send remittance with order, to avoid parcel post and C.O.D. charges. Page Two