White Bondage (Warner Bros.) (1937)

“Wd ite. B, , a7 EX PLOLTAT-ION EXPLOITING PICTURE A NOVEL COTTON THEATRE FRONT Cover your theatre front with cotton batting, and you’ll have an allwhite eye-catching front at a minimum of expense. Makes a swell background for your special outfront displays, too. A variation of this idea might be to use balls of absorbent cotton pasted at intervals over the front to simulate cotton plants. Using either one, you'll have no trouble in making an interesting front that will attract the attention of everybody in town. NEWS DISPLAY Your local newspapers should have no trouble finding plenty of head-liners about the “share croppers” in their files. You can make a swell lobby display out of the stories illustrating them with stills from your show. Copy above the display might read: “Straight from the headlines on to the screen of the Strand.” or “You read about it in the newspapers, now see it on the screen.” HORSE AND BUGGY Make the town aware of what’s going on at your theatre with this novel street stunt. Get hold of an old horse and buggy, and fill it with folks dressed as hill-billies. They ride all through the town and surrounding country. Signs on the buggy read: “The Share Croppers are coming to town. Follow us to the Strand and see ‘White Bondage’.”’ If you want to do it on a smaller scale, get the folks to walk around the town dressed in hill-billy clothes and wearing appropriate sandwich signs. Won’t be very expensive, still it’s bound to bring in a crowd. WEIGHT GUESSING Create some interest in your lobby with this unusual guessing contest. Get a small bale of cotton and a pair of scales. Folks guess the weight of the bale by looking at it, or lifting it,-1f you like. Then the bale is weighed, and the closest guessers win ducats, or a promoted prize. Might plug the contest in your ads, so that folks will be sure to know about it. COTTON EXHIBIT A history of cotton from the time itis picked, run through a cotton gin, threaded and then mixed into a finished piece of goods would make an interesting display for your lobby or in the window of some local merchant in that sort of business. Ought to be easy enough to get up an exhibit like this especially if you’re located néar a mill. HOW'S YOUR MEMORY ? NOVEL LOBBY CONTEST SIG YP fe ae ® oy say neat Aer Here’s a novel memory contest that will give your patrons plenty of fun, and will carry out the general store angle which plays such a big part in the show. Rig up a small counter and stack it with as many articles as you can think of. Patrons can look at it | for about two minutes then the shade in front is pulled down and they write the names of all the articles they remember. Ducats will serve as prizes. USE “THRILL” BOOTH The high pitch of excitement running through the picture renders it particularly well adapted to the use of the “thrill” booth stunt. In your lobby an artist or carpenter constructs a booth of compo board. Booth is curtained and covered with ad copy on the outside. When a patron enters the booth he is confronted by a display of stills from the picture with brief explanatory lines. It might be a good idea to have the speaker of a phonograph inside the booth emitting shrieks and howls. ESSAY CONTEST Contact the English department of the grammar _ schools and see if you can arrange an essay contest for the pupils. Essays should be written on the development of the cotton gin, and winning essay ought to get a break in local newspapers. Promote some prizes to be awarded the winning youngsters. Should result in a very fine school turnout for the show. MAKE COTTON GIN Educational displays are always popular, so how about constructing a model of the Whitney cotton gin for your lobby? You can get a drawing of it at any library, and your mechanic will have no trouble making a simple reproduction of the machine. Will create a lot of interest and should rate a story. A diagram drawing by your artist would be a very good substitute. CHAINED FIGURES ON YOUR MARQUEE Use your marquee to create real interest in your show. Three cutout figures of the principals in the cast are strung across the front of the marquee, with real chains shackling their hands together—thus carrying out the title angle perfectly. It’s a simple stunt and one that’s sensational enough to attract the crowds. Same set-up can be used in the lobby, if you prefer. LOVE TRIANGLE Play up the love triangle in your show by having cut-outs of Jean Muir, Gordon Oliver and Howard Phillips in the lobby. There’s one man on each side of Jean, and each is trying to pull her his way. Copy above Oliver reads: “Come to a civilized country with me.” Copy above Phillips reads: “Stay here and help me save our people.” Should create a great deal of interest, and can be used out front as well. TIE-UP STILLS Play up Jean Muir with as many local tie-ups as possible. Below are a list of good stills that will make the tie-ups for you. Complete set of six will be sent you for 50c (10c each if ordered separately). Order from Campaign Plan Editor — 321 West 44th Street, New York City. PORCH FURNISHINGS —. JM PUB. A 86 BOOK STORE — JM PUB. A 88 ELECTRIC REFRIGERATOR — JM PUB. A 157 PET SHOP —JM PUB. A 179 NEGLIGEE — JM 846 COIFFURE — JM 757 YOUR VITAPHONE SHORTS “THE GATEWAY TO AFRICA” (ColorTour Adventures) A colorful and. interesting sojourn into the realms of the dark continent. (10 minutes—No. 2311) “PORKY’S SUPER SERVICE” (Looney Tunes) Another knockout cartoon from this same smash comedy series with Porky as the ultimate in humor. ie (7 minutes—No, 2811) “THIRST AID” (Broadway Brevities) Joe Palooka crashes through with a haymaker to the box-office button! (10 minutes—No. 2032) “ELISEO. GRENET ORCH” (Melody Masters) The peers of rhythm-makers go to town in a smooth melange of melody. (10 minutes—No. 2516) “THE RHYTHM ROUNDUP” (Broadway Brevities) Estelle Taylor, glamorous star of stage and screen, brings you a program of quality entertainment. (10 minutes—No. 2033) “VITAPHONE PICTORIAL REVIEW NO. 11” Interesting views into various subjects including Dogs, Milk and Oriental Rugs. (10 minutes—No. 2411) “STREAMLINED GRETA GREEN” (Merrie Melodies) Great gags, swell color, catchy music make another hit in this popular color cartoon series. 2 (7 minutes—No. 2212) Page Three