Showmen's Trade Review (Apr-Jun 1939)

Page 20 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW April 8, 1929 HERE is a picture tliat a real showman — one worthy of the name — can get his teeth into and show real results wit'h. Believe it or not, you can sell this picture along lines that with another picture would spell ruin. The reason is that its very nature is such that it requires sensational selling. First of all, it's a prison picture. Now, at first glance, prison pictures may seem to be anathema to you. But remember that this is a dif¥erent kind of a prison picture. There are girls in it — scores of 'em — and beautiful girls at that. What more do you want? Can anything excite more sympathy in a potential audience than the sight of a bunch of beautiful girls behind prison bars? You've often heard of pictures which had plenty of men in them but no women. Well, here's the opposite. This one's got women without men. Is there anything more calculated to interest the average male .... or for that matter, the average woman, either. Besides all these angles, you've got a new star here. Corinne Luchaire is going places. Mark these words well. She'll ap PRISON BARS Witk out An Exploitation Natural Which, If Sold Properly, Should Create Sensation (.REG. U. S. PAT. OFF.) pear in a few more Korda pictures in England and then she'll be over here and once again appearing on your marquee. You'll want to be billing her as the sensational star of "Prison Without Bars" and how in the world can you do it unless you put her over in her first picture? Remember the Dead End kids? Their name is now a by-word all over the world following their success in the original "Dead End" and subsequent releases. Here are the "Dead End" girls. That's something important to remember. You can use that line in all your ads. Shea's Buffalo Theatre used it and it's been sensational up there. The Shea office reports that that is the best suggestion made for a campaign on "Prison Without Bars". Let's see what has been done with the picture in one typical opening. In Albany, Charlie Smakwitz and his crew went to work five days in advance and put on a campaign that anyone will do well to emulate. Here are some of the high lights. A special trailer was made up sensationalizing the picure. This was spotted in the regular National Screen Service trailer and inserted in the newsreel. Twice a day the manager of the theatre got up on the stage and told the audience about the picture. He pointed out the unusual features of the picture and urged his audience not to miss it. This stunt is rarely pulled in any theatre, else your audience will soon become accustomed to it and your speech will merely bore it instead of exciting interest. But take our word for it, here's a picture which is really worth that effort. A big display was put up in the lobby. It was cut out of the 24-sheet figure with stills mounted around it. Of course, the title was very large and the copy played up the "Dead End Girls" angle. The display was illuminated and a special record with talk was made to use in conjunction with it. In the center space between the doors in front of the theatre, the figure at the top of this page was used blown up high and large. Beneath it was copy reading, "Shocking revelations in a reformatory for delinquent girls". At the top, blown up stills surmounted the doors further sensationalizing the picture. There were ten blown up stills in this display. Copy tried to play it up as an all girl production so all Here are your ads on "Prisons Without Bars." The large layout in the center, and those to the right of it, with the exception of the ad element of Corinne Luchaire in the upper right-hand corner, constitute the sensational 8-day newspaper advertising campaign which broke records for the Strand Theatre, Hartford, Conn., managed by John Hesse. The other layouts represent those in the press book, from which Mr. Hesse got the inspiration for his adaptations. You can't go wrong with ads like these.