Showmen's Trade Review (Jul-Sep 1942)

14 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW September 26, 1942 Sec ^Beyond Horizon' Via Telescope Gag Exhibition of "Beyond the Blue Horizon" at Schine's Manring Theatre, Middlesboro, Ky., didn't catch Harry Stearn and Ken Carter asleep at the switch. These theatremen were on their toes in a strong campaign effort to make the public Lamour-conscious. They i Bannered the trucks of all local Royal Crown Cola bottling plants, tieing in with the fact that Miss Lamour endorses the beverage. i Planted the special 3-column coloring contest in the local Daily News at no cost and received "wonderful" response. i Sold an ad on the back of one-thousand comic heralds to cover their cost. i Used the telescope gag, placing a boy on the street with a large telescope with a card reading, "Take a look 'Beyond the Blue Horizon'." The telescope was focused on the side of a building on which was posted copy on the picture. ■4 Made an outstanding front, utilizing four cut-out palm trees over eight feet high. Cutouts Tenth Month Overflows with Legal Holiday OCT. 12: COLUMBUS DAY Patriotic Observance OCT. 27: NAVY DAY — Book a Navy subject, either short or feature. Impress on newspaper editor necessity of publicity to arouse tovra consciousness of the big job the Navy is doing in this war. Tie in with Navy recruiting officials and try to get recruits sworn in on stage. An appeal for enlistments from the stage by an officer in charge would be appropriate. Special Day OCT 31 : HALLOWE'EN — FaUs on a Saturday, makes midnight show a natural. There is more money in circulation and people want to have a good time. Stage night show with a program of the more simple pastimes with audience participating in such games as eating an apple hung by a string, ducking for apples, etc. National Observance Weeks: OCT. 2 to 12: ADVERTISED BRANDS WEEK— Wholesale grocers are certain to be the spearheads of the National Brands Week campaign. Get in touch with their managements at once and try to swap screen mention and lobby displays in return for cards on delivery vehicles and in grocers' windows. Theme of the cooperative copy would be: "Health is a vital national asset. Demand advertised foods and attend (Blank) Theatre for necessary recreation." If their advertising cards are already printed try to arrange for a paste-on snipe or see if you cannot prevail on them to defray the cost of handbills with lucky numbers where the copy would tie in as above and a specified percentage be good for free admission to tfie theatre. Illustrations of the star personalities appearing on your screen will be attention-getters for commodities mentioned. OCT. 3 to 10: RETAIL FURNITURE WEEK— Furniture dealers and departments of stores can be persuaded to sponsor and defray entire cost of a contest involving display of furniture prizes in lobby, in return for prominence of display and screen announcement. It can be as big and important and profitable as you make by vigorous campaigning. OCT. 4 to 10: FIRE PREVENTION WEEK— Especially important this year. Local fire department authorities and civic leaders, also Civilian Defense organization, will be glad to cooperate for demonstrations either on stage or in front of theatre to impress the importance of reducing fire hazards. Insurance agents handling fire policies can also be influenced to advertise in cooperation with the theatre. OCT. 4 to 10: LETTER WRITING WEEK— Overshadowed by Fire Prevention Week, but gives added possibilities for theatre activity and prestige-building through merchant cooperation, with stationery stores naturals for tieups; program or newspaper handling of prize for best letter (if run in program subject should be "why I like the blank theatre," or something similar). Also NATIONAL BUSINESS WOMEN'S WEEK. OCT. 11 to 17: NATIONAL CANDY WEEK— Offers good opportunities for kiddie matinees with candy favors from your local merchants. Candy stores might be induced to tie up with a special Sweethearts show for "Sweetest Day," through offer of theatre tickets as a bonus with boxes of better Invites *Em Out Exhibitors troubled with youngsters who stay put for two and more shows on attractions playing to holdout business may profit from a stunt In effect at Warner Bros. Chicago houses. Comic books are given to the youngsters leaving after one performance. MacArthur buttons and many other inexpensive novelties could be used to accomplish the same purpose. of Lamour and Richard Denning and figures of jungle animals were placed on lattice work over the box-office with giant cut-out letters spelling out the title and cast. 4 Used a colorful board — 12 ft. x 5 ft. — in front of the theatre to emphasize the Technicolor. Board was made up in jungle effect to correspond with the special front and "attracted plenty of attention." The first and best victory is to conquer self ; to be conquered by self is, of all things, the most shameful and vile. — Plato. Tieups for Smart Showmen confections (theatre making special price on the "sweetheart tickets" to merchant) but you should insist that merchant advertise in newspapers and give window display to the attraction at your theatre. Also NATIONAL WINE WEEK— a ticklish matter for theatres, and probably suitable only for limited areas where wine growing and making are chief or important industry. OCT. 18 to 24: PHARMACY WEEK— Drug stores are your friends during Pharmacy Week and in cooperation with your newspaper you may be able to work up some contest that exploits services of the modern drug store, with newspaper and theatre deriving mutual benefits. OCT. 20 to 25: RETAIL GROCERS WEEK— Opportunity tor coopcrduon alter the same pattern as that suggested for National Brands Week. OCT. 24 to 31: NATIONAL APPLE WEEK— A natural for tieups vnth merchants along produce row. Non-active advertisers may be sold by newspaper in conjunction with editorial cooperation on jingle contests aimed to encourage more apple eating. Have merchant include three lines in the ad and offer tickets for the best fourth line to limerick. OCT. 25 to 31: GIRL SCOUT WEEK— Certain to be widely observed this year. Contact local officials and arrange for as much of the planned activity as possible to take place at your theatre. Stage entertainment of very high order is also possible from this group. OCT. 25 to 30: NATIONAL DONUT WEEK— Bakers will cooperate fully on this. Aside from the possibilities of handbills paid for and distributed by bakers and window displays, there is chance of cooperation on a "dunking" contest on stage. Some years ago Eddie Cantor made dunking famous and many theatres cashed in on the fact by staging such stage demonstrations, including proper dunking technique and youngster versions of the dunking process to add comedy. OCT. 26 to NOV. 1: BETTER PARENTHOOD WEEK — Your chance to build good will among the older groups. Contact leaders of the Parent-Teachers to hold meetings at theatre in morning and arrange for dentists, dieticians, doctors, teachers of domestic science courses, etc., to address the meeting. APPROPRIATE SEASONAL EVENTS FASHION SHOWS— Your local department stores are anxious to bring prominence to new fall and winter styles, and can be counted on for cooperation if you make the right approach for a stage show of models of clothing, wath high school girls as models. Proper buildup in cooperation with newspaper for extra advertising by store will make the event important and profitable. FOOTBALL — Opportunity for publicity tieups with sporting editor whereby teams in the immediate surrounding vicinity figure in weekly contest with prizes of tickets for the readers who come closest to guessing scores of scheduled games. HARVEST FESTIVAL — For theatres with potential rural draw this activity has great possibilities. Success hinges on getting competition among wives and daughters for best jar of preserves, etc., and in corn-husking, wood-splitting, etc., among the men. Be sure you get the newspaper in on this and have lobby and front suitably decorated wdth corn-stalks, other produce. Gotham Goes to Town With 'Talk of Town' Home Office Exploitation Department of Columbia Pictures went to town with a bang-up pre-opening campaign on "The Talk of the Town" for its Radio City Music Hall premiere. Setting a precedent, Columbia promoted four full windows devoted to "The Talk of the Town" from Saks Fifth Avenue, one of America's finest department stores, in addition to a full page ad which "broke" the Sunday before opening in The New York Times. All four windows, including the highly coveted corner window (see cut) seen by hundreds of thousands Coveted corner window of Saks Fifth Avenue, one of four full windows devoted to tiein on Columbia's "The Talk of the Town." If it was good enough for Saks, it's good for local dealers. of passersby daily, were on Fifth Avenue and attracted much attention. The film was also selected as the "Go See" picture of the month for the New York subways and it is estimated that the cards, two to a car, have been seen by 168,000,000 subway riders. Fifty thousand "Hush" posters reading: "Hush, Don't Let America's War Secrets Become the Talk of the Town" and carrying the photos of the three stars, were distributed throughout the city. A tie-up with the New Yorker Hotel and the Kitty Hawk Room at LaGuardia airport introduced a "Talk of the Town" cocktail to thousands of New York's go-outers. Seven radio stations in the Metropolitan area took up the cudgels for "The Talk of the Town" with a contest asking listeners-in who they wanted to win the girl : Cary Grant or Ronald Colman. In addition, one hundred shops in the downtown area carried large display cards in their windows along with picture and playdate credit. The Whelan drug stores in the mid-town district concocted a special ice cream dish which they named "The Talk of the Town" and gave over their windows and counters to the promotion. All-Sports Night Highlights Cleveland 'Yankees' Campaign An all-sports night highlighted the exploitation arranged by the management of the Allen Theatre, Cleveland, for the engagement of Samuel Goldwyn's "The Pride of the Yankees." Through the cooperation of the Cleveland American Baseball Club, the entire "Indians" team and wives attended the opening night performance. Following the premiere the players were asked to give their opinions of the picture via a loud-speaker arrangement in the lobby. All Cleveland newspapers covered the premiere from every angle and this resulted in a wide and thorough coverage. Money Dates For October