Swing Your Lady (Warner Bros.) (1938)

Can be gagged to the hilt. Contest starts two or three weeks before opening of picture. All contestants are photographed clean shaven. They report to your theatre every four days to have beards measured. Patrons are informed of contest’s progress through bulletins in your theatre. Special section of house is reserved for them the opening night of picture. After show they come on stage and have beards measured. Prizes awarded to longest ones. To give stunt added plug, have attendants don beards and parade through town announcing that they are participating in the “Swing Your Lady” Beard Growing Contest. LADY Hercules jn Lob bY Strong lady act performed in lobby. Amazon stands atop small platform erected in center of main lobby and lifts weights; bends iron bars. Dummy weights and bars of course. Mock wedd Ng -forlauah¢ Mock wedding is held in the lobby; the wedding of Mountain and Swing Music. Man in full dress, gal in ‘big apple’ garb with couple of hillbillies, shotguns in hand, nearby. ‘Reception’ afterward has everyone doing “The Mountain Swingaroo,” the new dance sensation from the picture. jets Have Mounlain Music Some people can get music out of a comb, a saw, a washboard, a jug, or even a rake. Round up these freak musicians and give them a chance to entertain in your theatre. Audience chooses best players by applause. HlBily on te shales eZ Dee Hillbilly in full regalia cuts curleycues on city’s ice skating rinks. Incongruity of comic hillbilly on skates provides plenty gapers who receive heralds from skater announcing playdate and theatre. [7] a ney THEATRE “% -k& —-z IDEA-O-GRAM A Warner Bros. service to theatres to facilitate the exchange of theatre tested ideas for exploitation & publicity. If you’re looking for a no-cost advertising idea (and who isn’t) duplicate the slips of paper handed out by A. B. Morrison of the Warner Theatre, Memphis. A _ personal hand-written message, which can be done by your cashier. He simply had his cashier write a quantity of personally written notes reading: “‘Be sure to come again next Friday and enjoy ‘Swing Your Lady.’” These were handed to customers at the box office with their change. Frank Shaffer, manager of the Virginia Theatre, Harrisonburg, Virginia, gets out ‘Movie Chatter,” a house organ which carries advance publicity and advertising on his coming attractions. Printing cost is defrayed by space sold to local stores. Idea can be adapted to a Hillbilly edition to plug “Swing Your Lady.” Pick your pictures and reading matter from the publicity pages. { If there is a big ball or dance in your locality you might be interested in doing what the Spreckles Theatre in San Diego did. They covered the big events in town with numbered cards reading: ‘‘“You are someone's lady. While you are swinging around, find the man who has a number corresponding yours.’ Short selling copy on “Swing Your Lady” and theatre imprint is carried on card. Spreckles Theatre also comes thru with another good idea which fits the scheme of things to exploit “Swing Your Lady.”’ Arrangements are made with local restaurants whereby small cards are handed to customers with their check, reading: ‘‘Now that you’ve enjoyed a good meal at Walker's . . .we suggest you top it off by > 99 seeing a good picture, ‘Swing Your Lady’. School tie-ups work easy for J. J. Scholer of the Ohio Theatre, Sandusky. By special arrangement with the school superintendent, 50 passes are turned over to the school faculty for distribution in various classes among students who merit them as special rewards for high marks and attendance. The school permits the display of notices on bulletin boards and the distribution of handbills by school monitors. Tie-up also includes showing of slides on the auditorium screen, P. A. announcements at all outdoor events. Doug George of the advertising staff in Warner’s Philadelphia zone reports success with a pictorial window card. It measures 11”x 28” upright and displays three half-tone cuts, 534”x 834” of scenes from the picture. Bold display copy lines are displayed between the cuts, with the theatre imprints at the bottom. He says, “We find that merchants are more willing to give this display material because the size calls for scant window space, and be + ab De cause people are ‘pix-minded’”’.