Showmen's Trade Review (Apr-Jun 1939)

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June 24, nK^9 SHOWMEN' S T R A D REVIEW Page 29 Dealing realislically with the booking, advertising and exploitation of the uewsreel, ferial and short, and emphasizing their importance. Ties In With Newsstands The Keith's 105th Street Theatre of Cleveland has tied in for March of Time promotion with a large local news company. Several hundred posters are used each month on the newsstands within the drawing area of the theatre, costing the theatre only a few passes and giving the house advertising space which can't be bought. Theme copy for the posters follows — "Be better informed in 1939. Make TIME magazine a weekly habit — your copy on sale here." Then follows copy devoted to the current March of Time. Unusual Angles Will Sell Musical, ''Dream of Love Because it is more than ordinary screen musical, "A Dream of Love" will be of interest to all true movie lovers. Accordingly, it merits more than ordinary attention in all your advertising mediums. Besides being a solace, music is also said to be of major interest to the blind. The story in this picture is told primarily with music. Therefore, why not invite a chosen group from a local school or institution for the blind to be your guests at a special screening? Let them be the guests of the newspaper, with a reporter on hand to get their reaction after they've "seen" it. Their ability to follow the story in spite of their handicap will probably amaze you, and will make good newspaper feature copy. If you hold an advance screening for various leaders in the music field, it should result in additional patronage for you when the engagement opens. For a good radio tieup, stage a music memory contest in which several Liszt melodies are played, wdth tickets offered to the first certain number of people who correctly identify the compositions. You should contact the music shops for window displays. Remember, too, that many books have been published about Franz Liszt, which makes tieups possible with your public library and book' shops. "Story That Couldn't Be Printed" Timely Subject for Exploitation Freedom of the press is a timely and vital subject, not only to all newspapermen, but to the public as well. Therefore, a subject that's appropriate for smart exploitation is John Nesbitt's Passing Parade, "The Story That Couldn't Be Printed." A screening for publishers and executive editors of all local newspapers would surely win columns of discussion on the MGM release. For a worthwhile newspaper tieup, why not get the newspaper to invite members of the school journalism classes to be their guests at a special performance of the film? Much of the picture's action has to do with the trial of John Zenger, obscure newspaper publisher, who, in 1734, printed the story which won America's cherished freedom of the press. In ■•dew of this, it should have a strong appeal for your legal fraternity. A postcard on which the copy reads, "Hear one of the most brilliant speeches in American courtroom history, as delivered by Andrew Hamilton in this factual reenactment of the trial which established America's freedom of the press, etc." should be mailed to all local attorneys. Twenty-Two Additional Manufacturers to Sponsor Novelties on ''Gulliver's Travels'' With production past the half-way mark on the feature-length Technicolor cartoon, Max Fleischer's forthcoming "Gulliver's Travels," Lou Diamond, head of Paramount's licensee department on this feature, announced at the company's recent sales convention the signing of contracts with twenty-two additional manufacturers who will sponsor novelties based on characters to appear in this cartoon feature. New Firms Tieup Among the new contracts closed and calling for the manufacture of novelty merchandise of exceptional value to exhibitors in preparing exploitation campaigns on "Gulliver's Travels" are the following: Brian Fabrics Corp., printed colored scarfs; Banner Bros. Inc., children's hand bags; Cohen & Rosenberger Inc., novelty jewelry; Milton Bradley Co., boxed paper and cardboard games; Fuld & Co., valentines; Einson-Freeman Co. Inc., comic masks and window displays ; Ivon Bear Co. Inc., lamps and interior decorations ; Hazel-Atlas Glass Co., glassware; J. R. Brundage, Inc., composition books, tablets, pads and stationery; Decorative Utilities Corp., hand painted, 3dimension Decco plaques; Willard & Giles, ribbons and hair novelties; Kerk-Guild, Inc., character soap in model form; Micro-Lite Tieup on "Air Waves" Through the efforts of Frances Barr, of the Melba Theatre, Dallas, Texas, a tieup was arranged between the theatre and local Station WFAA whereby the RKO-Pathe Reelism, "Air Waves" was given spot broadcasts folloiving important programs each day for four days. Special stories were featured in the Dallas newspapers, and the set-piece, shown above, tvas displayed in the lobby of the Melba. This is just more proof that "Air Waves" is worthy of extra selling effort. Co. Inc., flashlights and novelty battery articles; Joseph Love, Inc., children's dresses, sunsuits, play suits and pajamas; Gardner Display Co., large mechanical displays; American Decalcomania Co., decalcomanias put in packages and sheet form; United Lithographing Co., lithographed and silk screen art wooden plaques and embossed, printed and lithographed pictures; Zell Product Corp., coin banks; Charms Co., hard and soft candy; Perry Knitting Co., sweatshirts; Rich Manufacturing Co., doll houses, forts, castles and pull toys, and the Apron Novelty Co. for costumes. Ready for Action Contracts have previously been closed with the following organizations: Saalfield Publishing Co., Sun Rubber Co., Ideal Novelty and Toy Co., American Miniature Co., Norwich Knitting Co., and Ira G. Katz. In addition to the above licensees already under contract for novelty merchandise on "Gulliver's Travels," the company's licensee department is negotiating with twenty additional manufacturers on other articles suitable for this outstanding tie-up. "Gulliver's Travels" is a screen adaptation of the famous Jonathan Swift story, now in production at the Max Fleischer Studio in Miami, and is scheduled for national release during the Christmas holidays. Book Your Short Subjects With Care, And Not Just as Fillers Attendance at a neighborhood theatre recently inspires us once more to warn exhibitors to book and arrange their short subjects with as much care as they do their features. At the show we attended, there were two travel reels and two cartoons. It would have been bad enough to run a travel reel, cartoon, travel reel and cartoon; but to bunch them up so that the audience was traveling around the world the first twenty minutes and watching the antics of two different cartoon characters the next fourteen or so was just a little too much. With so many types of short subjects available from practically every releasing company, there is no reason under the sun why any exhibitor, whether he be in Keokuk, Iowa, or Kokomo, Indiana, can not make his short subject program as diversified and interesting as possible. Don't book your shorts as fillers; book them to heighten the entertainment value of your show. RKO Arranges Effective Golf Promotion for "Smooth Approach" Instruction articles on golf by Horton Smith and Dick Metz are being used by RKO Radio Pictures' publicity department to cash in on the short "Smooth Approach" through the interest in the national open championship this week and local tournaments throughout the land. Smith and Metz are featured in "Smooth Approach" along with Jimmy Thompson and Ed Dudley. Smith gives the golfing "bugs" pointers on putting and Metz on the water hazards and their articles have gone forward to several hundred sports-page editors.