Publix Opinion (Feb 7, 1930)

Ke LET HOTEL SPONSOR YOUR PREMIERE DELUXE PICTURE PRE-VIEW PUBLIX OPINION, WEEK OF FEBRUARY 71, 1930 _ AND FORMAL DINNER-DANCE © WILL STAMPEDE THE TOWN as occasions, do is sell him an idea, and he'll a doy! the work, and pay all the The owner or manager of the biggest hotel in your town can be depended upon to put over at least three de luxe “special premiere” performances during each year for you. All you have to expense. Here’s the idea: The annual New Year’s Hve dinner-dance is a huge profit making event for Mr. Hotelkeeper. He gets $5-a-plate and $1-a-bottle for gingerale and winds up with a terrific profit, even after paying for the breakage on chairs, etc. He wishes he had three or four more profitable events like New Year’s Eve, every year, but he doesn’t know how to get ’em. So you tell him. : The principal factor behind the profit of a hotel’s New Year’s Hve celebration, is the fact that peo ple love to celebrate anything, and they love to DRESS UP FOR IT. At least enough people do, to pack a ballroom at advanced prices. The important thing is to get an excuse that will make the local men get a haircut and slide into their tux, and make the ladies don their formal attire. La Guinan’s Secret Once they’re in formal attire, they want to strut their stuff. Texas Guinan got rich knowing this. Only a scant half dozen towns provide more than a few limited annually, upon which the town-folk can dress formally. ' Any idea that boosts the number “ spending their formal is welcome. You go to your hotel proprietor, and tell him that Mr. Zukor has given you permission for a special advance-preview of ‘‘The. Vagabond King,’ with reserved seats. Suggest that he tie-in with a dinner-dance and_ that the reservation list, while made up of paid seat-buyers, sored by yourself, the hotel owner and a few society leaders, will be carefully selected in advance by mail. The show will start at 9 p. m., on a Monday night, and following the show, will be the formal dinner-dance at the hotel ballroom. The hotel man will quickly envision a night of several thousand dressed up _ citizens, money for his gingerale. He’ll go out and get up a real committee of social leaders, and sell them the idea of staging the theatre party-dinner dance, at a price per head, that will give you $1.50 per admission,. and leave enough to give him a profit on his dinner dance. Sold in Advance Mr. Hotelkeeper will launch the thing by mail, six weeks in advance, and have all the tickets sold in two weeks, nearly a month in advance for you. Of course, any unsold tickets will go on sale at the box office, sans the dinnerdance privilege. The event will ‘break’ in three different departments of each local newspaper. The Society Editors will eat it up. So will the movie editors. So will the city editors, who will see a chance for some swell local newsphotos. If necessary, the Junior League—your best local organization of sub-debs,—will sell out the tickets for 10% of the gross, and give their end of the money to their pet local charity. The leading hotelman in any town is always doing favors for the society folks, and they’ll be glad to cooperate on this idea with the hotel man. In addition to the benefits 'in publicity and profits from a $1.50 top sellout, it is pointed out that ‘such an event also is a windfall of profit to haberdashers, milliners, florists and other merchants, who ‘would gladly run tie-ups in newspapers and windows, boosting _ their appropriate merchandise for the occasion. . Mr. Chatkin’s Letter The following excerpt, from a letter addressed to Division Direc ‘spon-| © +-S260-0 @ -O+O° Os-O+O:OO OOO -O* S90 9 ) STUDY ‘STILLS? : : Study your set of 8 x 10 } black-and-white ‘‘stills’’ on 3 each picture, a month in ad4 vance. You'll get a lot of ¢ ideas for lobby posters, spe; cial trailers—and above all ¢ else—newspaper display-ad ?¢ merchant-tieups. A picture ; of a feminine star in modern ¢ attire should make a great ¢ eye-catcher in the display ad 3 of your best local ready-to¢ wear merchant, and he’ll ¢ also use it in his window } with a credit-line. ; SO s-O-+ 0+ O28 © 0+ O20? OO: -O-+ 0? O01 S109 DO" D8" DOS O° SO" 9Qe-@-2@+-@-+Os-O-$@-O-#O*-OO--'O*-O 0" S°O* O90 OOo tor George Walsh, from David J. Chatkin, offers some illumination on the foregoing: “IT believe that it will be very essential and profitable to put on either a midnight showing of this picture (The Vagabond King) the night before its opening, selling the tickets at $1.50 or more if you deem it advisable, or, wherever possible, the night before the opening, closing the box-office to your regular picture at 7 o'clock, and put on one performance at $1.50 or $2, reserving the house and starting the sale of tickets two or three weeks in advance. “We know that this is quite a departure from our usual method of opening, and also rest assured that this change of policy was not gone into without due reflection and every element taken into consideration. However, in. view of all this, we believe that the picture is so tremendously outstanding that it is worth all this. We know that the picture could be road-showed at a $2 top and do a tremendous business.” Out in Lynn, Mass., Manager A. operative page man who said, “The person busy fying glass. | dealers’ windows. for any theatre that was twenty-two years o head and a big story on the history he likenesses of the staff on the editorial page. ‘It can’t be done, is often interrupted by a persom doing it.” In the lower right hand corner is a reproduction of an inon a tour of inspection. Use your magni Not only that but he got @ streamer cartoonist managed somehow to get t And good co-operative pages do sell tickets. stitutional story on a Publix sound expert visiting the Olympia pare ‘om %, NORMA TALMADGE PICTURE. GiVEN RADIO ASSIST When the United Artist picture, “New York Nights,’’ starring Norma Talmadge, opened its engagement at the New York Paramount 500 Atwater-Kent dealers assisted in giving the picture a good break. The tie-up hinged on the appearance in the picture of Donald Novis, winner of the Atwater-Kent You can ex-| national singing ploit this} contest. Novis picture from sings Al Jolson’s song hit, “A the same angle in your town! Year From Today,’’ in the Talmadge picture and the AtwaterKent distributors took advantage of the opportunity to plug their protege and boost the picture. Eddie Hitchcock, in charge of publicity at the New York Paramount, and Henry Speigel, his assistant, contacted the AtwaterKent people and the radio distributors responded by printing up 1,000 12 x 15 broadsides for their The copy was headed ‘“‘Paramount Theatre News” and contained a picture of Novis with copy giving the picture a great plug. The radio company assumed the entire cost. NOVEL AD SELLS SHOW WwW. F. Brock, manager of the Publix Tennessee in Knoxville, persuaded the local newspaper editor to print his ‘Show of Shows” ad in red ink, at reasonable cost. The ad attracted as much attention as Clara Bow at a college prom. A colorful lobby and marquee also helped to attract ticket buyers. A three weeks old baby girl, left in the Publix Strand, Knoxville, Tenn., and now in the care of the local nursery, has been christened Patsy Strand, according to a notice in the Knoxville Journal. This is not a publicity stunt! “IT CAN’T BE DONE!” L. Lashway of the saying ae e They SateNNY. Bute Pe PRICES Olympia Theatre was told he couldn't get a cold. And so—but you’ve guessed it—he did it. | Premieres! District bookers have been directed through William M. Saal to notify all theatre managers of world premieres. This is important for two reasons; first, so that FULL advantage is made of the selling opportunity inherent in being able to boast of ‘‘being ahead of the big town’’. Secondly, it is important because of the opportunity to provide expert selling campaigns in a locally made scrap-book which is to be forwarded to A. M. Botsford for use in press books and Publix picture manuals. SRE 00+ © +0:-O--0+ © 0+ OO G09 O02 O-0" OO +--+ 0:-O-10+© 202 O18 O-18* O08" OO" 0-0-0 --@-20-@-20»-@--0+-@+0:-@-10°-@10--O 10:-0--0-0-0+ 0-20-28 OO" OO" OOO : ee Brian and Arlen Score over Air, Ash Returns Participation of Mary Brian and Richard Arlen, two of the screen’s most popular players, and the return of Paul Ash to the microphone, following an absence of one week, made the Paramount-Publix broadcast on Saturday evening, February 1, one of the most enjoyable hours of ether entertainment since the beginning of the series. Miss Brian and Arlen, from the Paramount studio in Hollywood, offered an interesting scene from “Burning Up,” their next talking picture, which is due for release soon. Ash acted as master of cer emonies during the presentation! of “Step on the Gas,” a lively musical novelty featuring such artists as Harriet Lee, Dorothy Adams, Paul Small, Fred Vettel, Mary Charles and other favorites. The symphony orchestra, under the baton of David Mendoza, played an enjoyable series of specially arranged compositions and Jesse~ Crawford contributed another of his marvelous organ solos. of the house, and the newspaper Remember the wise | mount, DENNIS KING ON FEBRUARY 15 | RADIO HOUR Dennis King, golden-voiced star of many of Broadway’s most popu-. lar operettas and a recent addition to the ranks of motion picture players, is to be the featured artist on the regular weekly Paramount-Publix radio hour on Saturday night, February 15, in the greatest territorial coverage embraced by a regular broadeasting hour. Hooked up over the national network of the Columbia Broadcasting System, See your local chain station and tis your local announcements into this hour. Also plant photos and sto-. ries on your| which includes local radio more than 60 afnews pages. filiated stations throughout the United States and Canada, King and the program coming from the Paramount Playhouse at Station WABC, New York, will be heard during the hour starting at 10 o’clock (Eastern Standard Time). The famous romantic singer of the stage and screen, star of such musical successes as “Rose ‘Marie,’ ‘The Three Musketeers” and “The Vagabond King,” will sing a selected group of numbers included in which are hits from his first starring vehicle for Paraa screen adaptation of “The Vagabond King.” ‘Street of Chance Sets Four New Rialto Marks Showmen who for years have been “fans” for William Powell, and hoped for heights of stardom for this capable actor, finally get their wish when they see him in “Street of Chance,’’ which broke four records right off the bat, from the minute it opened at the New York Rialto Friday night, and has been doing phenomenal business ever since. The four records broken are: 1. Opening night business Friday evening; 2. Saturday record on |any picture; 3. Midnight business on any attraction on Saturday night; 4. Sunday record on any picture. Boas At the same time that it serves as a starring vehicle for Powell, “Street of Chance’ gives Kay Francis, that beautiful, big-eyed and voluptuous actress, who has | been edging closer and closer to stardom in each succeeding Paramount picture, a chance to do her best work. Powell and Miss Francis, because of their expertness in portraying villainy, have been forced to forego much of the publie acclaim, their competency entitled them to. In “Street of Chance” each has a sympathetic role which enables them to stand revealed in characters that are brand new for them. Although Powell was the star in “Four Feathers’ and _ the numerous murder cases, in nearly each case the “plot” was the hero—not the central character. However, in “Street of Chance’”’ Powell is a regular hero and you'll find the public will go for him in a big way, for the first time in his career. As for Kay Francis—Publix Opinion is willing to wager that she takes the place on the screen that has been vacant ever since Barbara, La Marr died. The Mission Theatre, Wichita Falls, Texas, which was re-opened on February 1, has ‘been re-named the State. ; A we \ Oddly enough, both | 4