The Crash (Warner Bros.) (1932)

GENERAL “AT HOME” CARDS Use ‘‘ At Home”’ cards as an effective teaser on ‘‘The Crash.’’ The following copy is all you need to arouse wide interest in advance of your formal announcement of the picture. MR. AND MRS. (RUTH CHATTERTON) GEORGE BRENT WILL BE AT HOME TO THEIR FRIENDS OCTOBER 8-15 1432 COBB BOULEVARD Give your theatre’s address, but not the name. Send the eard through the mails or distribute it house to house, mailing having better effect. When the public comes to your theatre to find out what it’s all about tell them you are having a reception for Ruth Chatterton and her husband, George Brent, at your theatre when they play there in ‘‘The Crash.’’ Mii iim nnn mn nn BRIDAL TIE-UPS In addition to a general merchants’ tie-up on Chatterton and Brent, the ‘‘newlywed’’ basis of. this campaign gives you a tieup with specialty shops and department stores stocking bridal gowns and accessories. Have an elaborate wedding window put ini and spot stills throughout. AUUDULLUANOLANUROOUGUOOOLSYEOOGSUEOAQSEOLSUOOGUUEOOLGUOOOGSOOGAOUOOASOUOOUAGERUEEEOOUGOUROAHERGLOUOASOOAEAU AGERE ANOTHER FREE WINDOW DISPLAY TIE-UP An additional opportunity to cop more free window display space on Ruth Chatterton is furnished by the national tie-up effected with the Modern Merchandising bureau whereby window display and supplementary advertising material is furnished directly to your departmtent store or specialty shop. The tie-up features a dress copied from an Orry-Kelly design worn by Ruth Chatterton in ‘‘The Crash.’’ Window displays consisting of 11 x 14 photographs and 30 x 40 enlargements of Ruth Chatterton wearing the dress are furnished to cooperating stores. All you have to do is send your playdate on ‘‘The Crash’’ and the store or stores you want to tie-up with, to MODERN MERCHANDISING BUREAU 22 East 55th Street New York City Remember to mail in your playdate on “The Crash” the minute it is set. TRAVEL TIE-UP Tie-up with a travel agency to offer a free trip to the couple winning a contest to determine ‘‘The Strangest Honeymoon.”’ You can let the single people in on this by asking them to tell where they would like to go for their first honeymoon. Get the cooperation of the newspaper on this stunt by having the travel agency take added space in their ads. Cooperate with them by announcing the contest and crediting them in your theatre ads and from your screen. If possible make the first prize a trip to Bermuda, where much of the action of ‘‘The Crash’’ takes place. Don’t forget the ‘‘Newlywed”’ angle on this stunt. It’s important in giving continuity to everything you do on this picture from, the angle of the Chatterton-Brent marriage. UDUUYVEDOUUQUAOOULGYOUOEEOOQUEOEGUOEDUETUOETAEHOOEAOOOO ESET MANNEQUIN PARADE You can create a sensation in your city for the exploitation of ‘‘The Crash’’ by staging a street fashion show, using mannequins furnished by the cooperating stores, from whom you can promote a cooperative page of ads in announcing the street fashion parade. Suggest this to your newspaper’s advertising manager. Make it 3-way cooperation stunt: you, the newspaper and the stores. If possible, stage this in connection with the local fall fashion openings. Secure newspaper publicity on it, explaining that you are bringing a touch of Paris to your town in honor of ‘‘The Crash,’’ getting over the fact that street fashion shows are regularly held in Paris. Start the mannequin parade from one store, picking up the mannequins as they go from one store to another until all of them are in the parade. Then have them parade the main thoroughfares of your city, ending their showings of the new fashions on the stage of your theatre. This ties in for big matinee business when announced in advance. Make it a real ‘“‘hen party’’ at the theatre, but give everybody on the streets a chance to know what it is all about by giving the mannequins signs to carry. You may also be able to tie-in a ‘‘Mannequin Popularity Contest’’ for this stunt, adding further interest and aiding your newspaper publicity campaign on it through the medium of photos of the entries. In staging this stunt, be sure to keep it smart. Don’t eall it a “‘Fashion Show’’ — it’s a ‘‘Mannequin Parade.’’ Build up prestige for it by calling attention to the ‘‘Parisian’’ angle. Make references to the running of the Grand Prix, the Auteuil races, ete., all of which are great fashion events in the French capital, where mannequins from world-famous shops parade to show off the new styles. It isan atmosphere build-up for ‘‘The Crash”’ which you shouldn’t miss, mentioning also in your publicity that Ruth Chatterton appears as a model in a smart New York shop Distribute a letter house-to-house, in the mails and from your theatre, developing the ‘‘newlywed”’ angle as follows: eR So enc ok : You are probably one of the many millions who read the news of the marriage of Ruth Chatterton and George Brent, her handsome new leading man about whom she said, ‘‘Where has he been all my life?’’ when she first saw him in a screen test. We are proud to announce that the ................ Theatre will be the first to show, next Friday, the Screen’s most famous newlyweds together again for the first time since their romantic marriage in ‘‘The Crash.’’ We are making the engagement, of ‘‘The Crash,’’ a gala event in order to pay homage to Ruth Chatterton and George Brent in appreciation for the many hours of delightful entertainment they have given us during their notable screen careers. ‘“The Crash,’’ is based upon the stock market collapse of 1929 and shows the effect it had upon a nation’s people. Miss Chatterton and George Brent, by a strange coincidence, are husband and wife in the picture. We feel confident that you will enjoy the picture and we hope to see you with all the other prominent people who have already signified their intention to attend ‘‘The Crash.”’ Cordially Yours, Maviaverol 335. . Theatre. POOUUUYVEUTOUEYOROOEETOQEOOUGGAVOEOULAUUEEOUGQUUOOUAVOUEOUEOUSUUOEUESERUOESHERAEHUOUOLPEOEESOGGEEE OU EEE ROA OOUPEUOOHEE OOOOH STAFF COSTUMES Dress your staff formally for the presentation of ‘‘The Crash.’’ Have the cashier wear a smart evening gown, the ushers cutaway coats and striped trousers. Put a silk hat on your doorman. Put sashes on all employees, reading ‘‘Welcome—Ruth Chatterton-George Brent, The Newlyweds, in ‘The Crash.’’’ Have the ticket-taker say ‘‘Thank you and congratulations on coming to see Mr. and Mrs. Brent, in their best picture.’’ ENUHOOADOAYEUAUUGVOASEOSUOAGEOAGEEGEOAEEEUESEERELEEU AU NEWLYWED WELCOME The recent marriage of Ruth Chatterton and George Brent gives you one of the greatest exploitation possibilities you’ve ever had. Base an entire campaign on the idea of welcoming to your city and theatre ‘‘The Screen’s Newest Newlyweds.’’ Put over the stars and you put over the picture. The picture does not lend itself to ordinary ballyhoo and exploitation; the ‘“‘newlywed’’ angle, therefore, gives you a legitimate and out-ofthe-ordinary means of putting it over. The following ideas will give you a good conception of the possibilities in the ‘‘newlywed’’ angle, every one of which will further cement the film fan following of Chatterton and Brent: HMLUUGEAVOAEEUUEAGUUECSAUUUAUUASEOE USGA —IT WILL PAY YOU! in several sequences of the picture. ) — , LN lh, ~~ -Use-the special 3 column, 4-styie fasiion mat of Orry-Kelly ee a designs in thi ti f lici CHATTERTON-BRENT LETTER g is section as one of your publicity plants. UEVOEYEUUUAUUUTUUUUPEOUUEUUEUEAOUUULUA EE FREE “LINDA” COAT TIE-UP Warner-First National has affected a tie-up, national in scope, with the manufacturers of the ‘‘Swansdown Linda Coat,”’’ adapted from a coat worn by Ruth Chatterton in ‘‘The Crash,’’ and named after her character name. The tie-up gives exhibitors window displays and other advertising material without cost and is executed by the coat manufacturers, from playdates furnished to them by the booking department. This assures you of display on the tie-up in advance of and during the run of the picture. Advertising material in the tie-up consists of mats, placards, circulars, mailing cards, trade paper advertising, local pewspaper advertising and large 24 x 36 inch window posters. Stills from the production supplementing the poster are to be furnished by the individual exhibitors playing the picture in each city. This is also supplementary to special stills to be furnished by the manufacturer, as illustrated. In addition, the cooperating dealers will credit the picture with the same line as is used on the still illustrated. The dealers window will carry local theatre and playdate credits and information. This tie-up gives you an opportunity to get window display on “The Crash” in the best stores in your city. For complete tie-up details, write, ~ giving your play date to: MR. M. SPIVAK Advertising Agency 205 West 34th Street New York City HUVUUVEUUAUOTOOOAGOOAUOOUEAEAAOOESEOEAUEUEREUOEE SAE Page Fifteen