Showmen's Trade Review (Oct-Dec 1939)

October 14, 1939 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW Page 13 WHEN you've got a picture that appeals to youth, you've got something that's certain to attract the whole family to your theatre, provided, of course, you get behind it with an enthusiastic campaign. That "Babes in Arms" will appeal to youth (and we don't mean babes in arms) "there can be little doubt. For in the starring roles are two of today's most popular stars as far as the younger set is concerned — Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland. And since they play a song and dance team in a jubilant musical which created a sensation during its Broadway run — well, there just isn't any doubt at all. Don't let the public get the inference from the title that this picture is about kiddies. Certainly they won't if they know Judy and Mickey are featured. But just to be sure that those who draw their own conclusions without thinking don't get wrong ideas, let it be known throughout your campaign that "this youthful musical is for everybody;" that it's "a musical story of the two-a-day that will put a lump in your throat, a tear in your eye, and a smile on your lips." Covering the Town How about covering the town with jumbo window cards? Here is an item that's inexpensive, but what work it can do when multiplied over and over in every available location in and near your commiuiity ! And that goes for the posters, too. Of all the songs in "Babes in Arms," there are three that stand out — the title song "God's Country" and "Good Morning." Get the folks to humming and singing 'em now. Get displays in the windows of music stores on the sheet music. See that orchestras in local hotels, restaurants, inns and night spots are supplied with orchestrations. Have the tunes played as often as 'Teen Age Misses' Fashions High schools and colleges are in session all over the country. So what could be more appropriate to appeal to smart young misses than tieups on |udy Garland fashions. Reproduced above are only a few of the style stills available from MGM exchange. If It Has Youth-Appeal, It's Worth Selling to the Family possible over the air from the local radio station, with the announcer giving your forthcoming engagement a plug. That goes, too, of course, whenever the numbers are played by orchestras. There's something in connection with the orchestrations that might make a good stunt. Let's suppose you purchase the orchestrations on the three songs, if they are available. Each part of an orchestration is mailed to an individual, together with the notation on a separate sheet of paper that if he finds the others to whom parts have been mailed, and the complete orchestration is returned to your theatre by a specified time, each of the recipients will re Produced by Arthur Freed. Directed by Busby Berkeley. Screenplay by Jack McGowan and Kay Van Riper. Based on play by Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart. ceive guest tickets to see the musical. If this isn't building interest in the picture and via the hit tunes, then we're an old fussbudget. Surely by the time you get ready to get your campaign under way some of the nation's leading orchestras will have recorded any one or all of the hit tunes. A couple of good looking young ladies, attired in danc ng clothes, could carry a portable phonograph around the business district, stopping at certain spots to play a record, afterward announcing the coming of "Babes in Arms" to your theatre. Or you might have a young fellow and girl, swingsters, as it were, do a few steps to the numbers, with a sign on the back of the boy reading: "I'm taking the babe on my arm to see Mickey Rooney and Judi^ Garland in 'Babes in Arms' at the Blank Theatre." It'll be the football season when you play the picture in all probability, unless you don't play it until after the first of the year, and there's a scant possibility of that unless j'ours is a subsequent-run situation. Distribute heralds at the games. Furnish imprinted folding megaphones to the rooters. Have gaily attired youths carry banners around the field announcing your showing. Here's a chance to get cooperation from your merchants. Everything worn by kids from birth to old age can be featured in tieup ads for a cooperative single or doubletruck display. And every store that comes through with an ad will just as surely devote space to a tieup in its show window. Invite local sweethearts to send in photographs of them together. Prizes could be awarded for the best snapshots, the competition to be sponsored by a local camera store. About the best thing for a street ballyhoo; that is, soriiething that will impart the jollity and liveliness of the picture would be to have a large baimered truck carrying a number of high school "jitterbugs" cruise around town. By means of a portable phonograph or a loudspeaker system, swing tunes could be played for the youths to swing to. You have the opportunity when you play "Babes in Arms" to organize a Mickey Rooney-Judy Garland fan club. Details and the accessories necessary to get such a club under way are explained and illustrated in the exploitation section of the press book. This should be a part of your campaign, because these two kids have thousands of admirers throughout the country, and a large portion of those admirers are right in your own town. Of course your front and lobby will be arranged so as to get across the comedy, the music and the youthful frivolity of the picture. You'll have cutouts of Mickey and Judy atop the marquee. You'll have music staffs as the motif of your lobby frames. You'll have blowups of some of the important scenes. Pennants strung above the marquee will give the front a festive air. Tie Up oai Garland Fashions We want to take a few lines here to urge that you take advantage of tieups on Judy Garland fashions. There are plenty of photos available, which should make it a comparatively simple matter to get window displays, cooperative ads and feature stories and fashion art on the women's page of the local newspaper. Bear in mind that all the 'teen-age girls in town follow the style trends set by Judy, and you'll realize how important it is that this phase of showselling not be left out of your campaign. If you want to stage a jitterbug contest, "Babes in Arms" is an appropriate picture on which to base it. Get several adults to act as judges. Tie up with dance schools. Ad Looks Specially Created Besides selling the picture's co-starring team and the rollicking merriment, the ad shown also has that distinctive art which immediately labels it as something special in the way of amusement layouts. Readers will declare you had it specially made.