Showmen's Trade Review (Jan-Mar 1940)

Record Details:

Something wrong or inaccurate about this page? Let us Know!

Thanks for helping us continually improve the quality of the Lantern search engine for all of our users! We have millions of scanned pages, so user reports are incredibly helpful for us to identify places where we can improve and update the metadata.

Please describe the issue below, and click "Submit" to send your comments to our team! If you'd prefer, you can also send us an email to mhdl@commarts.wisc.edu with your comments.




We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.

Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.

January 6, 1940 SHOWMEN'S T R A J.) J< E V I E W Page 11 A PLAYBOY becomes a gangster! That is the novel twist in Robert Montgomery's newest picture, "The Earl of Chicago." In this picture, Montgomery departs from his usual role of a wise-cracking playboy to become a tough, hardboiled gangster. One of the most unusual situations in the picture concerns Montgomery's leading lady. All that js ever seen of her is her legs. Known as "Silken Legs" this idea can be developed into several different stunts. One of them would be to send a ballyhoo girl out at a certain hour, clad in a pair of red silk (or some distinctive color) stockings. Either by means of a newspaper tieup or by a herald announce that the lucky finders of "Silken Legs" will be awarded prizes or guest tickets. As a ballyhoo send out a girl completely masked, with copy reading, "I'm Silken Legs. 'The Earl of Chicago' loves me. Find out why I'm masked by seeing Robert Montgomery in 'The Earl of Chicago'." Have a local shoe shop display the foot and leg measurements of a girl — foot, ankle, calf and thigh dimensions. Invite your women patrons to enter a contest whereby a pair of free silk stockings will be given to each girl whose measurements exactly correspond. Definitely limit the number of silk stockings which will be awarded. Girls buy stockings on the basis of shoe size, but the store could not afford to make the contest as simple as that. That is the reason for the suggested measurements of the whole leg. Arrange a tieup with a store, either a silk stocking shop or a shoe store. Curtain off half the window so all that can be seen are the legs of the model. Have her walk around, change her stockings or do anything to attract attention. As soon as a crowd has gathered, have her place a series of signs on an easel in the window advertising the picture and the theatre. Stage a beautiful leg contest in your theatre. Award prizes to the girl whose legs are judged to be the most perfect. The press book has a series of four one-column A SENSITIVE GUY . . . -K Tosgli Bi thif temt-.. afraid of oebodT-.-with ■ fiit Cki a fiTi-toB bomb! But w ^nidcy hi KOD't [mi € gDB araund him. "Thty'r* Dtiiy," tit taji. H^cn ht uaoihH a gnr il'i qoidi, and final! Hi tikn ihrngi unesth, ilitii utd ibin)r...tWi wbf thiy (all him "Silkf th* S]rl»ariti''...a htrnon pantbtr whs movn lofllf, grocelallir, bm vicioDiIy open hit I HKAAO itionTcomERV TheEARLof CHJCAGO ARNOLD • OWEN U SSmst BOBERT MONTOOMERT himiilf What's In It For Them? Well, there's a lot in the ad layout above, one of the many prepared by MCM's advertising staff. For one thing, there's swell copy. Then there's the suggestion of mystery, represented by the gun and the circular inset just above the signature plate. And, too, there's an endorsement from Montgomery. Its Unusual Story Formula Demands Selling Slants That Get Away From Beaten Path teaser ads. These should be run well in advance of your regular advertising. It would be wise to make up a teaser throwaway, too. The press book offers an illustration for a newspaper or throwaway contest. This is the outline figure of a girl. Offer prizes for the best conception of what Montgomery's girl friend really looks like. A contest for art classes is contained in one of the incidents of the picture. As the 12th Lord of Gorley, Montgomery discovers a picture of an ancestor of his who lived in 1645; the amazing thing is that they look exactly alike. Secure star photos of Montgomery and offer prizes or guest tickets for the best conception of the star as a pirate or a gladiator and the like. Practically every school has a complete file of the costumes of the past. An interesting suggestion for a newspaper tieup is contained in the idea of giving guest tickets to those readers whose names suggest royalty such as "Earl," "King," etc. This is a particular effective tieup for the classified section as that would allow the names to be scattered throughout the entire page. Use the first, middle or last name, for then you will be able to reach a much larger proportion of the readers. Give guest tickets or prizes for the best letters written by radio listeners, newspaper readers or patrons in which they observe the social formalities attendant upon inviting a Screenplay by Lesser Samuels, Directed by Richard Thorpe. Produced by Victor Saville. royal person to an imaginary social affair. Another contest suggestion consists of offering prizes for the best design of a Coat-of-Arms or Crest which Robert Montgomery could use if he were actuallv an Earl. When you have as unusual and impressive a title as "The Earl of Chicago," a good stunt is to imprint an impressive looking invitation to meet royalty on such and such a date at your theatre. These can either be mailed out or given out by a ballyhoo man dressed in evening clothes complete with the symbolical colored sash that denotes honors as given out by a foreign government. Another distinctive novelty for a ballyhoo girl or man to distribute is a card with a real nail in a slit The c<-;py should read; "Me was as hard as nails — as a gangster; but he was as soft as putty when he became a lord! See, etc. . . ." You'll find this illustrated in the press Ijook. A liigii hat or a topper is one of the emblems of class distinction or social aristocracy. Manufacture a big one from compo board, painted l)lack, with cut-in title 1 e t lers iliuniinaled \)y a flaslier-light. Use it as a teaser idea in your lobby a week in advance of play dates. Shields, banner, flag and pennant designs have been created which can be employed inside and outside your theatre. Make them both atmospheric and decorative and show them in various combinations of colors so that they will give the picture stronger appeal. The trial by tlie House of Lords, shown in the picture is authentic in every detail. It is one of the few times it ever has been presented on the screen. Members of the legal profession and law school students w'ill be more than interested in it. Let them know about it by means of personally-written letters. Try to promote a small quantity of colored feathers. Perhaps there is a local novelty manufacturer who will make them to order for you at a low price. Affix a small picture and theatre billing stickers to them and pass them out as a novelt} to the younger generation. In all your advertising, drive "home"' that this is Montgomerjr's most unusual role. Look What You Can Do! The reproduction above is only an indication of the stunts you can use on "the girl with the beautiful legs" angle. You can conduct a contest for the girl with the most beautiful legs in town. You can make a display for the lobby, like the above, and let the girls see how they'd look with the painted legs. And you can tie up with hosiery shops and hosiery counters of department stores, too. And more, toc>'