Showmen's Trade Review (Oct-Dec 1941)

November 8, 1941 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW Page 11 TWO-FACED Turning to comedy in "Ninotchka," Garbo won the admiration and allegiance of many movie patrons who prior to that film had dismissed her pictures with the excuse that "they're too heavy and tragic for me." But there are still many people who, for sundry reasons, failed to see "Ninotchka," and who perhaps still labor under the impression that any picture starring Garbo is heavily laden with deep drama and tragedy. Of course, if they see "Two-Faced Woman," they'll be pleasantly surprised and pleased. And they'll see "Two-Faced Woman" if they're sufficiently impressed with the fact that it is a gay, hilarious comedy. That's where your showmanship comes in. And that's where we come in with this Showmanalysis to help your showmanship. SUGGESTED TEASER ADS Garbo does a lot of things in this picture for the first time. Playing up "these things" in your advertising will help you sell a lot of extra tickets. While they are really exploitation angles, we think they would be especially effective in a series of teaser ads. One ad would read: "Garbo Rhumbas! Watch Her Do the Chicachoca in 'TwoFaced Woman'." Another would read: "Garbo Introduces a New Short Bob! Setting a New Hair Style in 'Two-Faced Woman'." You'll find further examples on the second page of the press book's exploitation section and on the sixth page of the same section you'll find illustrated mats. There are seven in all — exactly a week's supply. Be sure to have the star's name set in large bold capital letters in each ad. BEAUTIFY A LOCAL GIRL The stunt that proved so valuable in connection with "Pygmalion," whereby an unknown girl in communities where the picture played Take to the Tieups, Theatremen If you depended on tieups alone to put over "Two-Faced Woman," you'd be doing a swell job of promotion, for there are over a dozen opportunities. Shown above are samples: (top) headache remedies, (bottom) boudoir slippers. Need we say more? , m Use Every Angle That Will Impress Patrons With Fact That This is a Laugh Film Original screenplay by George Oppenheimer. Produced by Gottfried S. H. Eehrman Directed by Reinhardt. , Salka George Viertel, Cukor. was transformed into an attractive young lady, can also be used in your campaign on the Garbo film. Beauty shops and department stores can help in the transformation, while newspapers can help publicize the stunt through special stories and art. SELL IT WITH TIEUPS When a picture has tie-up possibilities, that means window displays and cooperative ads for live-wire theatremen. Well, "TwoFaced Woman" has at least fourteen distinct tieups — ski suits, negligees, short bob (beauty shops), ballrooms, millinery, dining and dancing, furs, lighters, fashions, jewelry, evening clothes, swim suits and boudoir slippers — and if you search through the stills at your MGM exchange, you may find even more. So make tieups one of the most important angles of your campaign, even though you may find it necessary to abandon others. TRY THIS NEWSPAPER CONTEST Suggested by scenes in the picture which show Garbo and Melvyn Douglas — especially Douglas — taking spills and falls and clowning or romancing in the snow country, a newspaper contest could be conducted in which persons devoted to ice-skating and skiing could write short letters on their most embarrassing moments in winter sports. PHOTO IDENTIFICATION CONTEST If the ice-skating or skiing season has started in your territory by the time you play the picture, have a photographer snap groups of the participants, then encircle a head of a person who, if he or she identifies himself or herself after seeing the picture in the paper, receives a pair of guest tickets to see "Two-Faced Woman." If you play the picture ahead of season, perhaps the newspaper will have scenes taken during last year's sports activities which can be used. DANCE STRIP DISPLAYS In ballrooms, skating rinks, taverns — wherever young people congregate — displays made up of stills showing Garbo doing the Chicachoca should be on view. Even in bars and restaurants where music is furnished by juke boxes, such displays would prove valuable. Using the five-column dance strip mat shown on page 5 of the press book's publicity section, have special heralds made up for distribution to high school and college students and to dance schools. In making this suggestion, it is our belief that in getting the younger element interested in your engagement, you'll be going a long way toward establishing record grosses when the picture plays. TWIN-TEST GOOD STUNT Here's a publicity stunt they'll use in New York when the Garbo comedy plays there which, unlike many New York stunts, can be easily adapted to use in other communities throughout the country: In the picture, Garbo's husband isn't sure whether the Garbo he meets in New York is his wife from Montana, or her twin sister. Your job is to select identical twins and have a newspaper feature writer, columnist or college student escort one girl to dinner and the movies one night, following the same routine the next night with her sister. On the third day, the man meets both sisters, kisses them, and tries to guess which is which. A story with illustrations can be written by the man involved in the test. AN ANGLE FOR THE MEN Whether conducted via the newspaper, radio or the theatre itself, here's a contest that should bring a large response from men. Garbo nearly gets away with deceiving her husband. Therefore, ask the men this question : "Could your wife fool you?" Women might also be brought into the contest by asking them if they could fool their husbands. If you could get three or four married couples to appear on a local radio program and debate the question, a lot of curiosity and interest in "Two-Faced Woman" would be created. SWELL FOR LOBBY DISPLAY One of the illustrations on the 24-sheet shows Garbo in skiing outfit about ready to "take off." Cutting out the figure, you could place it atop an imitation snow hill for a smash lobby or window display; the latter, of course, in connection with a tieup on ski suits. DOWN TO EARTH Keep your campaign "down to earth" ; in other words, keep it directed toward the Smiths and Joneses, etc. After all, it's going to be the masses that will fill your theatre and roar with laughter when the picture plays. WITH GftBBOl Ads Like This Play Up Comedy Comedy — that's what the public wants these days, and that's what it will get in "Two-Faced Woman." The ads, an example of which is reproduced above, play it up big. Only in one previous picture, "Ninotchka," did Garbo have a comedy role, so it will still be necessary for you to convince those who think of her only as a tragedienne that she is really a comedienne in this picture. The ads will help you, so use them in your campaign.