Showmen's Trade Review (Apr-Jun 1940)

Page 18 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW May 4, 1940 MY FAVORITE WIFE Romaoce, Comedy, Big Names Mnist Be Plogged Bard Foi* Beist Besultsi 'T^HE title of this picture suggests immediately that it is a comedy and in view of that, it should be sold as such. There's a quartet of big names in it — Irene Dunne, Gary Grant, Randolph Scott and Gail Patrick. These, too, provide an excellent selling angle. The implications in the title and the story further provide selling angles. Examining these, one by one, we find first that the comedy angle is predominant in the story. So let's put it over. There are a number of stills which can be used in a "What are they saying?" contest in the local newspaper. The answers should, if possible, be exclusively funny. This can be promoted by giving a few comedy lines yourself as suggestions and offering prizes for the funniest lines submitted. Another contest can be for the best toast to "My Favorite Wife" which can also bring in some good gags. RKO has also made up some excellent stills for newspaper planting which put over the comedy angle. Those available on mats have comedy captions. For lobby display purposes, you can add your own captions after mounting them on a large board. An innovation in the press book is a complete description of every still available. You Can Reveal the Plot The story of the picture is in itself hilarious. It is of the type that is not hurt by revealing it to a potential audience. You can let them know that Grant has married Gail Patrick when the picture starts and that his first wife, Irene Dunne, whom, he believed dead, enters the scene, having been cast away on a South Sea Island for seven years. And right there in the very beginning is where the comedy starts. With this in mind, you can go after any number of tieups and stunts. For instance, you can run newspaper contests (or if newspapers are not available the same thing can be done with heralds) on any number of subjects suggested by this brief outline of the story — "Where are your sympathies, with the first or second wife?" "What should a person do if her or his spouse, supposed dead, returns just when he or she has remarried?" would make another good question along this line. You might also give an outline of the story and ask for endings, the best ones to be rewarded with suitable prizes. Of course, this sort of thing must be done before the picture opens and is only good for first runs. A simple idea to put over the title would be to have a man walk up and down the main streets, carrying a sign reading, "Gary Grant unfair to bachelors — ^he married Irene Dunne and Gail Patrick at the Strand in 'My Favorite Wife'." You can get local radio stations— or newspapers— or if necessary use your own heralds for contests in which housewives will tell "Why I am his favorite wife" or men will tell "Why she is my favorite wife." Such contests if properly handled will put over the comedy angle in the picture as well as the title. We don't have room to give you all the details on this, but such a contest worked in connection with local advertising campaigns on certain food products will materially help the picture, without cost to you. Messengers With Jumbo Telegram Another ballyhoo idea is to have a couple of messenger boys (pint-sized preferred) drag a huge "telegram" on which is lettered, "To my favorite wife. Palace Theatre — Although we are scheduled to leave on our honeymoon tonight my first wife has just returned from the desert island where she was marooned for seven years." A similar stunt would be to stick big "Wanted" posters up with letter calling for the return of "My Favorite Wife," missing for seven years. Somewhat along the same line is the stunt of having a girl in bridal costume walk through the street with a big sign on her back reading, "Just married — but I'm not his favorite wife — see why at the Strand." A gag like that will attract plenty of attention and laughs, which after all is the main idea in selling a comedy picture. Since Gary Grant has two wives in the picture, there is a wife in the title and brides are always popular, it would be a good idea to present every couple obtaining a license to wed during the engagement with a pair of tickets to see "My Favorite Wife." Story by Bella and Samuel Spewack. Produced by Leo McCarey. Directed by Garson Kanin. There's one idea in the press book which should appeal to the editor of the woman's page of your newspaper. When Irene Dunne comes back from her seven years' castaway on a desert island, she has no clothes but the ones she used in 1933. So she dresses in heir seven year old togs. How about a comparison of the styles of seven years ago with those of today? You could also run a story of this with comment by the editor on changes in styles, with suitable illustrations. Many Good Newspaper Angles Besides the woman's page and the general run of the paper (not forgetting the amusement page, of course) there are a couple of other spots in the paper where you can plant stuff' about "My Favorite Wife." The Adviceto-the-Lovelorn page can carry a couple of items on different days on the quandary of the various characters. Golumnists of this type often like to get away from the abstract and especially when all their readers can see these very problems right before them. Then you can run an ad in personal columns reading like this : "I need help ! I'm married to two wives. Please come to the Palace Theatre next Friday evening and help me select 'My Favorite Wife'." There's one especially good tieup which you ought to put to work on this picture. Irene Dunne appears in a series of ads for Max Factor products. You can make your own tieup with beauty shops, drug stores, department stores, etc., adding portraits of the star and scene stills from the picture. Store Tieups and Coop Ads For store tieups and cooperative ads the title is a perfect one. It has long been noted that although women do the most shopping, men, when they do shop, buy mostly for their wives. So you can appeal to men by making tieups with jewelry shops, furniture stores and other emporiums where the number of men making purchases for their wives is likely to be large. This can apply equally well to florists. Book stores, on the other hand, can appeal to women with a display of cook books grouped with a sign reading, "How to become his 'Favorite Wife'." The same can be done with various foods and with stores selling ladies' doodads and knickknacks. A novelty throwaway that will get laughs and interest the women especially can be easily made up. It is folded once. On the outside appears the phrase, "What men know about women." The inside is perfectly blank and on the reverse side appear your playdates and copy. Compare With "Too Many Husbands" There's an interesting angle in connection with this picture which you may have already thought of. The plot is about the same as that of "Too Many Husbands," a recent Golumbia picture, except that here it is the man that has two wives while in the other picture it was a wife with two husbands. If "Too Many Husbands" went over well in your town, you can use a line like this : "If you laughed at 'Too Many Husbands,' you'll roar at 'My Favorite Wife'." Newspaper stories can make the comparison in advance. In fact, it might be a good bet to avoid any unfavorable notices from the critics who may think they_ have discovered something big in the similarity of the plots — a possibility you can circumvent by pointing it out yourself. A "What Are They Saying" Contest You can promote keen interest in your engagement of "My Favorite Wife" by utilizing the layout reproduced above (it's available as a 3-column mat) in a newspaper contest in which readers are aslced to supply the dialogue for Cary Grant and Gail Patrick after he tells her that his first wife, Irene Dunne, is alive. Ditto for Irene Dunne. Offer ducats for the most original entries.