Publix Opinion (Jan 17, 1930)

u F i ( f i i i _ ‘pearing in the daily papers, Shea’s NEWSPAPER SERIAL TIE-UP GEIS SPACE FOR THEATRE Taking advantage of a serial ap Buffalo Theatre plugged a song of the same name and thus effected a tie-up with the newspaper during a campaign to increase circulation. ‘Credit for the arrangements goes to C. B. Taylor, publicity director of the theatre. The Courier-Express of Buffalo introduced its new serial ‘Short Skirts,” and Shea’s Buffalo offered to have “Happy” Phil Lampkin and his Gang play the theme song of the serial as a band number in the Publix revue. Cal Janowitz, one of the members of the gang, made a splendid arrangement and the band put on the number, entitled ‘Short Skirts,” with vocal solo by Phil and instrumental solos by other members of the band. In return, The Courier-Express gave the theatre two/column head stories every day fora week, used special promotion ads in which the theatre also got a plug, mentioned it in boxes on page one, published oF _PUBLIX OPINION, WEEK OF JANUARY 17rx, 1930 _ 9 A NEW SONG — AND A NEW STUNT Newspaper serials now have theme songs! meant a chance to cash in. His theatre had been plugging picture t _ couldn’t resist the temptation to plug this one—at a price of course! that the’ theatre got in return for playing the tune. tie-up. a three column photo of Phil play ing the song while the Mme. Ser ova Girls in the Publix revue lis‘tened, published a photo of Cal Maybe that’s news, but to C. B. Taylor of Shea’s Buffalo it heme songs for so long a time, that he Below you see some of the publicity In the adjoining column you will find the details of the Janowitz, the arranger, and capday Rotogravure section, with ped the climax by publishing the song in two half pages in the Sun FOR YOUR TICKLER FILE i file for next year. mind. . SEASY WA y 8 theatrical division to its annual roll call. Chorus a ae _ SATURDAY, NOVEMBER Mark Fisher, Paradise Theater musical director, heads aid the American Red Cross in girls will take part. He’s ]4 , showing how easy it is to buy Red Cross buttons from a #8 _ fair worker. Eunice Noble has others to sell, too. 2 -_ == ~ ae eS ee ee i] Dave Lipton suggests that, if you haven't done so already, you immediately put the old reliable Red Cross‘ campaign in your tickler | This clipping from Chicago is an example of one q [m the many angles to the proposition. It’s a natural, so keep it in 23, ‘|tain a comprehensive survey of the Lampkin’s photo on the title page of the song. This last stunt took the song with the master of ceremonies’ face and a Shea’s Buffalo plug into some 200,000 homes in western New York and on to the pianos of a lot of them. Newspapers all over the country are using lots of space to promote serial stories. No reason why other theatres cannot effect similar tie-ups. Often arrangements can be made to have the master of ceremonies compose a song and dedicate it to the newspaper serial. This has been done in Buffalo— “Happy” Phil Lampkin having composed a number in honor of “Who Will Marry Marian,”’ a feature in the Buffalo Times. PUBLIX CASHES IN ON PHILCO TIE-UP Although it is too early to ob TRY BROADCAST BY NEWSPAPER REVIEWER Tie one of your local newspapers and your local radio station in on this one. If the paper and station are affiliated, so much the better. Ernest Rogers, motion picture critic of the Atlanta Journal, made an experimental broadcast of several of his reviews of pictures over radio station WSB. The new idea caught on with the public immediately, and Rogers can be heard every Monday evening at 5.59, as one of WSB’s most popular sustaining features. Both your leading local critic and your radio station will jump at the idea when you point out the success it has enjoyed in Atlanta. And remember that it’s easy for a critic to be vitriolic in print, but when YOU lead him in front of a microphone you’ll find that he’ll even praise his mother-in-law. =e ordinary publicity for the picture which each theatre should immediately tie into. James A. Clark, Paramount Ad Sales Manager who, together with Leon J. Bamberger, Sales Promotion Manager, is handling the Paramount end of the tie-up, stressed the importance for all entire circuit, first reports indicate that Publix theatres are eagerly capitalizing on the tremendous exploitation facilities offered them by the nation-wide Paramount-| Philco tie-up on < “The Love Parade,” details of |P UBLIx which were given |OPINION * 2 wants a comin a former issue plete report Otc PU Be TX a eg you; | Publix theatres to make a favoOPINION. ed by ean rable and lasting contact with the Early reports Jup, with| | local Philco dealers so that. it show that the Newman Theatre newspaper v x might serve as a basis for the elippings,| ‘ heralds, pho-| | ext four pictures. pas Oye Bot tographs of One Each Month 50,000 roto-sec| window disThe present tie-up is only for tions purchased |Plays, street four pictures, one each month, which includes, in addition to “The Love Parade,’ “Street of Chance,” ‘‘Vagabond King,” and another picture not as yet selected. If the results and contacts by the local Phil. |22T2@des. ete. co dealer. It also received a deluxe radio set to give away as a prize in connection with a contest run by the theatre. Automobile parades, street ballyhoos, z a | of this tie-up. on the first four pictures are satisfactory, the tie-up will be continued, to the lasting benefit of Paramount pictures and Publix thea window displays, heralds, and. other effective means of plug-: ging the picture and theatre were MUSIC NOVELTY DEPT. MAKES FINE RECORD The record of accomplishment made by the new Music Novelties Division of the music department | in the last few months of 1929 ig of outstanding significance, declared Boris Morros, music director, in a statement reviewing the work of his department. The Music Novelties Department is an outgrowth of the Non-Syne department established early in 1929 to furnish theatres with slides and discs of popular songs. Supplying slides at first to only thirty theatres, the department soon increased its output to meet the demands of ninety theatres scattered throughout the circuit. The need for novelties, however, resulted in the making in July of the first film product, ‘Deep Night.” This was very well received and in August the novelty “Garden in the Rain,” sung by Géne Austin, was also recorded on 33% R.M. P. dises. This was followed by ‘“‘“My Dear” sung by Ruth Htting and was recorded for standard Vitaphone equipment, eliminating the use of non-syne: This proved so successful that all non-. syne work was dropped by this department and it devoted its efforts entirely to film novelties. In December its’ name was officially. changed to the Music Novelties Department. Wide Expansion Some idea of the remarkable expansion of the activities of the department may be gathered from the following figures. The Armistice Day novelty on slides was sent to 170 theatres, the Thanksgiving sound-on-film short to 230 theatres, the Christmas sound-on.-film novelty to 370, and the New Year’s sound-on-film to 342. What makes the achievement of this department still more remarkable is that it has been run as a separate unit, having to pay its own way from the returns on its product. It not only devises and produces the subject, but attends to the problems of booking, distribution, and price fixing. Matters of production are taken care of by E. H. Kleinert, head of the Music Novelties Department under the supervision of Boris Morros. The work of booking and distribution is under the direction of Joseph Zimanich, assistant to Kleinert. Overture Shorts _ In addition to the work outlined above, the department has begun to make dises for overtures, trailers, and exit music, these discs being sent to the theatres. They proved so successful that within two weeks 145 theatres were supplied with them. It has also made two notable overture shorts on films, the ‘‘Love Parade’? overture and the ‘Chanson Russe’ overture. It is planned to record on film many more that are similar. Future plans for the department _ include the preparation of special discs and novelties containing the music from pictures so that the shorts may both act as a plug for the coming feature and for the tunes. At present the department is engaged in producing ‘‘Lonely Troubadour,’ a special Lincoln placed at the disposal-of the the ‘ ‘tres. atre at no or litile cost, as a result “Never, in the history of the industry,’’ declared Mr. Clark, “has ‘there been a tie-up that has been worked out on such a sound, logical basis as this one, nor has any motion picture company ever enjoyed the enormous exploitation possibilities offered by this tie-up. In order to derive the utmost benefit from it, theatre managers should co-operate to the fullest extent with their local Philco dealer and thus lay the foundation for a continuation of the mutual advantages which will result from the tie-up.’’ From Chicago comes the news that Les Kaufman, of the Publix Balaban and Katz Advertising and Publicity Department, is putting over a Mammoth campaign on the strength of this tie-up. Similar reports are coming in from San Francisco and other points of Publix operation. At a recent meeting of Philco dealers in Philadelphia, the dealers obligated themselves to post over 10,000 Philco-Love Parade 24 sheet posters, which will go up between Jan. 18 and 25 throughout the entire United ‘States. This in addition to the double-page spreads in Saturday Evening Post, Colliers and other nationally circulated magazines, provides extra Theatres Change Names The names of the Portland and Seattle Theatres in those cities will be changed to ‘‘Paramount.” and Washington day subject, and a number of popular song records. Special Garage Rate Lures Theatre Patrons Tying-up with a new downtown garage in Kansas City, the Newman and Royal theatres arranged for a three-hour parking service for their patrons, at a cost to the patron of fifteen cents. The plan resulted in increased patronage for both the theatres and the garage, and.can be effectively applied in any city. It is particularly valuable to the theatre in the winter season, when patrons hesitate to leave their cars exposed to the weather for any length of time, d