Publix Opinion (Jul 25, 1930)

2 OR oe. SPOS. EP ees ; PUBLIX OPINION, WEEK OF JULY 25ru, 1930 TIE-UP SCHOOLS FOR CHILD PATRONAGE! SCHOOL ACTIVITIES LEAD AMONG CAMPAIGNS FOR MORE CHILD ATTENDANCE Pronounced activity all over the circuit has followed the statement of Mr. Katz in Publix Opinion on importance of building child patronage for our theatres everywhere. every section of the country, and every division in the circuit, |. | evidence of awakened effort on the part of managers in stimulating interest of youthful patrons has poured in to Publix Opinion. In all of these campaigns, activities in connection with schools are stressed as most successful in the drive for child patronage. Theatres of two alert New England merchandisers received untold institutional benefit from June activity which established the theatres firmly in the civic life of their respective communities by effectively tying-in with school graduations. The men whose exploitation earned for them the personal commendation of Mr. Sam Katz are Nathan Silver, manager of the Merrimac Square in Lowell, Mass., who sponsored a ‘‘Most Deserving Graduates” Contest, and Ellis Brodie, manager of the Paramount, Haverhill, Mass., who succeeded in having local high school graduation exercises held in his theatre. Silver, with co-operation of nine merchants, conducted a contest to determine the boy and girl in the graduating class of the Lowell High School who were ‘‘most deserving” of honor for having done the most for their school in four years of attendance, whether in sports, classrooms, or in any other field in which they may have achieved outstanding accomplishments. Merchants each offered prizes for both the boy and girl voted most deserving, a total of eighteen graduation gifts. Prizes, with appropriate theatre copy, were displayed in their windows for the three weeks of the contest. Winners were voted for by patrons of the Merrimac Square. Ballots were given patrons entering the theatre, and placed in a ballot box in the inner lobby. Votes were obtainable only by purchasing a ticket to the theatre, and were not distributed either at the High School or by co-operating merchants. Thus each vote cast in the contest, which aroused intense local interest, represented the purchase of a ticket. Standings of entrants were tabulated daily on a blackboard in the theatre lobby, so that patrons could follow the progress of the contestants. Contest ran from June 2nd to June 23rd, and presentation of the gifts to the winning graduates took place on the Merrimac Square stage on Tuesday evening, June 24th. Since graduation exercises were held on Wednesday, June 25th, mention of the contest was made in all commencement stories in the papers. Newspaper publicity accruing from the contest is reproduced in this issue of Publix Opinion. In From addition to the nine merchants’ windows for three weeks, bulletins announcing current attractions were posted in all classrooms for duration of the contest. Haverhill, Mass. In Haverhill, Brodie discovered that. as commencement approached, general dissatisfaction was being expressed with the inadequate facilities provided for the exercises by the high school auditorium. In conversation with the superintendent of schools one day, the latter brought up the question, giving Brodie an opportunity to offer the use of the Paramount Theatre. Since exercises in previous years had been held at night, and to take advantage of Brodie’s offer it would be necessary to hold them in the morning, the superintendent circularized parents of school children to obtain an expression of opinion on the change, and telling them of Brodie’s public-spirited offer. Not one letter was recéived in opposition. The school orchestra and glee club held all rehearsals in the. theatre, and Charles Hillner, Paramount organist, rehearsed with them, accompanying the orchestra with the organ at the exercises. Brodie’s artist made up a “1930” in 3 ft. figures, and these were treated in the school’s colors and hung in the proscenium. Graduating class marched from the high school to the theatre, and a Paramount News cameraman from Boston took shots and closeups of the class leaving the high school, en route, and entering the theatre. These were shown at the Paramount the entire week following, then presented to the graduating class. Each graduate received an invitation to attend the show at the Paramount during Commencement Week; those accepting were invariably accompanied by friends ang relatives who purchased tickets. Public comment on the exercises in the theatre was inspiring. House seats 1731, as against 700 in the high school auditorium, and it was packed, with 65 more, including the Mayor, City Council, orchestra and glee club, on the stage. Entire personnel of the theatre contributed their services for the occasion. Publicity attendant to Brodie’s part in making the commencement a success is reproduced on this page. Chelsea, Mass. | Marble tournament engineered by Joseph J. O’Hern, manager of the Olympia, Chelsea, Mass., part of that city’s Tercentenary Celebration, netted him 86 inches ANNIVERSARY AHEAD? Within the next few weeks, celebrate their anniversaries. the theatres listed below will Is your theatre among them? If it is, start thinking NOW how you can turn that event into money at your box oflice. Exploitation stunts? Newspaper stories and tieups? Also, don’t forget the Home Office special anniversary trailer you may get Ly writing to L. L. Edwards. THEATRE Victory Paramount Huron TOWN Tampa, Fla. Newport, R. I. Huron, 8. D. OPENING DATE Aug. 10, 1919 Aug. 10. 1929 Aug. 18 * Sos ~~ ‘e7 i i a as; TRY THIS NEXT YEAR! Part of the publicity which rewarded Manager Nat Silver and Assistant Manager George Heeley of the Merrimack Sq. Theatre, Lowell, Mass., for their idea of promoting graduation gifts for the most deserving boy and girl in the Lowell High School. Details of the contest are in the story on this page. OUTSTANDING PUPILS. PRESENTED AWARDS Mut Doris Brown acd “D2e" Larabee Recelre Olfte ta IEATRE SPONSORS UNIQUE CONTEST George (Doc) Lavalleg, versatile ate las Darts ‘autreccurri ued Ra paivona (9 eark QUISTANDING STUDENTS RECEIVE Marthe eaten for Weir eheien Lavaileg Beads Eat of Ihe bey wtadents WEA well over fe 2290 voten and Miss Brown Ad 3 cillse Jak gre 134 na OE Te poms eiatt of tea tocal cerrbents Ho tee bod cooperated Lh the UDeatre acage smask a sseones the contest by €or Biter wf of space in the Chelsea Record and proved tremendously successful in winning the friendship of Chelsea children for the Olympia. Tournament was conducted in co-operation with the newspaper, and with the physical director of the local schools in charge. Paper gaye away bags of marbles to all entrants, who filled out entry coupons clipped from the paper to receive the gifts. Theatre gave a cup to the winner, a boy, and guest tickets to the runner-up, a girl. Presentations were made on the stage of the Olympia by O’Hern, on his Saturday matinee, which was a holdout affair. Ogden, Utah Managers in Ogden, Utah, are hard at work putting over summer children’s campaigns, according to Fred E. Hamlin, District Publicity Director. R. C. Glasmann, manager of the Orpheum, and Jack D. Marpole, manager of the Paramount, have secured from the superintendent of schools a list of every school child in Ogden from 6 to 16, with home addresses, ages and birthdays—11,000 children in all. Each child from 6 to,12 years old, about 7,500, is receiving a postal card, outlining a ‘‘Mother Guest’”’ feature. Cards are numbered from 1 to 12 in boxes around the edges, and these are punched in rotation by cashiers of both theatres. On the sixth and twelfth visits, the child is entitled to bring his mother as his or her guest. Birthday register for the children, at the Paramount, with children as guests on their birthdays, is an added feature of the campaign. | High Point, N. C. | Opening stroke of Roy L. Smart’s campaign for child attendance at the Broadhurst, High Point, N. C., consisted of circularizing teachers in local schools, telling them of coming attractions, and suggesting theatre parties for their classes. Smart obtained unusual response to this idea. He is already working on a stunt to be employed upon reopening of schools in September. Various merchants will entertain different classes in the schools at theatre parties, selecting classes in which children are of the age they wish to reach with some of their merchandise. ee Biloxi, Miss. Activity of Monte Hance, manager of the Saenger, Biloxi, in stimulating child attendance, has been eminently successful. Hance has conducted a series of children’s amateur nights, securing a stage attraction as well as providing an incentive for attendance on the part of both adults and children. When Biloxi’s amateur talent is exhausted, Hance plans an elimination night, on which winners of previous con tests will be pitted against each other, with possible extension of the plan into other Southern Mississippi towns. One phase of Hance’s co-operation with the Biloxi schools was presentation of an old projector to the local elementary school, which was built with a booth but had _|mot succeeded in procuring equip ment. Machine will be used for projection of films secured from the Mississippi A. & M. College extension department, and other educational films, and Hance was almost overwhelmed by the gratitude of local school officials. Story and picture on the presentation made the front page of the Biloxi News. Texarkana, Texas | Realizing the import of Mr. Katz’ statement in Publix Opinion on the importance of developing child patronage, Manager Edgar A. Simonis of the Strand, Texarkana, Texas, undorked.an idea which added 500 members to his Strand Booster Club and doubled attendance at his Saturday kids’ matinee. Plan was an outdoor sports carnival, in which only Booster Club members were to participate. That jumped the membership, 500 kids registering at the theatre in the week before the carnival. Acting as M. C. of the carnival, Simons conducted potato races, bicycle races, and, since he was entertaining young Texans, a horse race and rodeo! Grand finale was a chase after a greased pig. F Use of the grounds, refreshments consisting of ice cream, cookies and Coca Cola, and enough American flags to give one to each kid were all promoted. Carnival ended in time to make the regular Saturday matinee, where the feature for the children was ‘Trigger Tricks,’”’ made even more attractive by the first installment of a new serial, “King of the Kongo.” [esx] HAVERHILL” FRONT PAGE APPLAUSE FOR BRODIE! How would you like to have results of your activity spread on the front page of your community’s leading newspaper? Read on this page how Ellis Brodie, Manager of the Paramount Theatre in Haverhill, Mass., earned the everlasting gratitude of Haverhill school and civic authorities, and firmly established his house in the minds of young Haverhillans as THE theatre of the town. REIN GAZETTE VOL DI. NO IM — TRENTY TWO FACES TAVERMILL, MARS, THU RAOAY, JUNE 18, 1929 Teck TWO CENTS ——— ntl x THEATRE UN pans MO) Ua. MA LARGEST HIGH SCHOOL CLASS GRADUATES New_York Roars Welcome to Admiral Byrd 305 STUDENTS OF HIGH SCHOOL ARE sLV. [AS William D, Parkinson Delivers Ad dress Upon “Decisions” at Ex