Showmen's Trade Review (Apr-Jun 1939)

6 T 1 1 ANN I V II R S A l< \ ISSUE Page 31 tiire writer on your local paper is a strange bird indeed, and more resourceful than most, if he cannot be interested in an idea for a story. A back-stage visit, for example, humanizing not only the management but the equipment can be written as a feature of general appeal. There are many things about the inner workings of a picture theatre that the public can be told. As another most important operation there is the "public relations" work. This deals with cooperating with the important local groups. Charitj' organizations, fraternal groups, parent teacher associations. Boy Scouts, music clubs — whatever group or groups are prominent and active in the community should be cultivated. Whatever is done to indicate a real interest on the part of the showman for local activities of benefit to the whole communitj^ will enlist interest and respect for that theatre on the part of people whose influence carries weight in the local social or civic life. Printing news items about meetings in the programs, tying up with some special event in which these organizations are engaged, giving benefit shows sponsored by such groups — all these are activities that have been carried on with the greatest amount of good both for the community and the theatre by showmen. "Buy at Home" Putting on lobby or foyer displays of the art work of school pupils of the drawing class of the local high school; or one-man exhibits of some local artist either of reputation or aspiring to future fame as a painter; display's of private collections of paintings or art objects of some local collector, all these are activities that bring the theatre into closer relation with the community it serves and into a higher prestige with people of the town. They are activities which prove conclusively that the theatre and the management really "belong" in that community. Prestige build-up along these lines can always be turned to account in meeting competition of carnivals in neighboring situations— even in offsetting the magnetic draw of some large deluxe theatre in a nearby city. This can be done by appealing to local pride and loyaltJ^ Initiating a "buy at home" movement whenever such competition threatens is not a difficult matter if the theatre enjoys the reputation of being a definite asset to the community in which it is located. But whether you ever get the theatre into this categorj or not, this much is certain — every bit of selling you do for your own theatre is selling effort that accumulates to the advantage and profit of the theatre itself, come bang-up attractions or just plain, run o' the mill program pictures. Idaho Showman Is Booster of "Pal Night" He Says In Interview A guest at RKO Radio Pictures' lounge for showmen visiting the New York World's Fair, Merle Bucknum of Emmett, Idaho, says "Pal Night" has been a big booster of business in two theatres in Emmett in which he is associated with his father. Bucknum on Tuesday and Wednesdaj^ evenings admits two persons for the price of a single admission. His prices are 10 and 30 cents. A man and his wife or two pals are admitted for 30 cents and if a child is brought along the youngster gets in for a nickel. The two Bucknum theatres are the Ideal and Liberty, and Emmett is a town of 3,500 persons in a fruit growing and lumbering country. Summer business tops that for the winter seasons due to the influx of workers. Bucknum was accompanied on h's visit to New York by his wife who at one time assisted him in the managership of the theatres. She is a graduate of the University of Idaho, while Bucknum is a graduate of Stanford University. Summer Business As Good As the Winter, Says Roy of Eugene, Ore. While the summer used to be a slump season for the motion picture business it is now on a par with that of winter in the Northwest territory, according to the veteran showman George Roy of Eugene, Oregon, who was a guest last week at the RKO Radio's exhibitor's lounge. "I have noticed in the last two or three years that our summer intake has caught up with that of the winter," Roy said, "and I am spotting several big pictures for the so-called dog-day season. People will see good product at any time of the year." Roy, who operates theatres in Eugene and Corvallis, is one of the pioneer exhibitors of the Coast. In 1907 he operated Green's Hall in San Bruno, California, a combination restaurant-theatre-dance hall open only on Wednesday and Saturday. In 1908 he became an exhibitor in Burlingliame and later at Reno, Nevada, then Medford and Grant's Pass, Oregon. Twenty years ago he sold film for Sol Lesser and he rented product from Jack Warner when the latter managed an exchange in San Francisco. At the State, in Eugene, his patronage is largely of the farmer class and they want the best type of action pictures, while at the Oregon State in Corvallis, a college town, Roy must give his patrons sophisticated film fare. He has put on a prosperity night at Eugene for the last four years and for this program he uses one feature and several shorts, whereas double-features is his regular policy. During Roy's absence his houses are operated by a son, Alfred, who is 34, whom he began training at 9 for the show business. His son has a son now five years of age, who wants to be a movie mogul too. MAN TO REMEMBER He doesn't pretend to know everything, but when it comes to theatre equipment he knows a Sot. He's your buying guide to better values 52 weeks a year. He doesn't have glamour — except perhaps for his wife — but he knows how to help you put glamour into your theatre and, after all, that's what you've got to sell. He's your National Theatre Supply Company representative — the man to remember when you want to put carbons into your projection room or glamour into every part of your house. Clamour is magic, enchantment. See how it has been put Into Oakland, California's, Laurel Theatre, equipped by National Theatre Supply Company. THEATRE SUPPLY COMPANY Ar;iiL'Ju;i EVERY STORE A LOCAL INSTITUTION WITH A