Showmen's Trade Review (Oct-Dec 1944)

10 SHOWMEN'S TRADEREVIEW December 30, 1944 Suggests Patrons Request Programs to Conform with Current Paper Restrictions Christmas has come and gone, and by the time most of our readers peruse these lines, the new year will have begun. As we have so frequently told you, we must prepare this material well in advance to meet publication date ; and so it is somewhat difficult to assume an afterChristmas, after-New Year's attitude when we have not yet experienced those two days. Al doing so. By the way, Pat, we'll do our best to i)ick out some old programs and send them to you as soon as possible. A real sign of the times is the reduction in the size of La Nopalera, program for the Melvan Theatre, Los Angeles, which we have discussed previously in this department. Reason for the reduction, according to Editor Harry Edwin White, was to cooperate with the theatre's printer whose stock of paper is very low these days. The original size, he reminds us, will be resumed in the near future. The new folded size is 3x6, just right for the average pocket or handbag. White's "History of Hollywood" continues, occupying the front MOVIE ▼/guide WCD. ' THUIS. DKEMIEl 6-7-1 Miranda Ameche Bendix "GREENWICH VILLAGE" TK« htoil wnwKial Pkiura ot a D«od« "Dangerous Journe/' &AT. ■ SUN. MON. TUES. DEC. 9 . 10 ■ It . 13 Katharine Hepburn "DRAGON SEED" »ith WALTER HUSTON Costlnwovi Popwlor Prk« WED. THUtS. ■ ni. DfCEMIEI 13 U tS Anne Shirley Dennis Day "MUSIC IN MANHAHAN ' with Pride . bRAGOl KATHARINE HEPBURNg^ Walter HUSTON* Aline MacMAHON "I am rather proud of this week's program," wrote Pat Neels of Rugoff & Becker's Granada Theatre, Brooklyn. "It turned out fine because the paper 'took' the ink and prevented smearing." Here is the inside spread of that issue, which follows the usual format but which, thanks to a "Dragon Seed" (MGM) layout that might easily have been especially designed for the purpose, takes on an attraction that places it in the class of top quality programs. The white space is an asset. though what we say here will be mostly guesswork, we feel sure it will come about as close to the truth as if we had waited to write it sometime after January 1. Our Christmas gifts included an umbrella, a pair of hip boots, a raincoat, a rain hat, an automatic body cooler which keeps one comfortable in the hottest weather, a thermometer, a barometer, a weather forecaster and a pair of socks. (That body cooler is out of this world, so far out it isn't even real ; so don't take us seriously on that point). As for the other gifts, well, it just shows how much Santa knows about our interest in the weather. And so, now that the holidays have passed and we must settle down to work again, we'll cast out our Yuletide visions and return once more to the mundane routine of everyday life. It will seem mundane at first, but after the Christmas spirit has been entirely forgotten, it will become exciting again. Among the items in our morning's mail is a note from Pat Neels of the Granada Theatre. Brooklyn, calling our attention to an enclosed program which "turned out fine" because the high quality of the paper "took" the ink and prevented smearing. Since Neels does not object too strenuously if we reproduce this particular issue on this page, we are taking the liberty of page, while the second and third pages are devoted to an editorial, coming features and other special items. The week's program appears on the back. An editorial on the reduction in size follows : "The Melvan Family are still all here. In the interest of all of us, we have reduced the size of La Nopalera and therefore have to omit the names of the family members. You will see all of us here, though, and we think we have been here long enough for you to know all of us. We think you will like this small Victory size of the paper better. We are all busy, and need to have everything wrapped in small packages. We ae also only mailing La Nopalera to those who ask for it. We are extending this courtesy to the much overworked post office department, and ask that you make this request. We are delighted to mail it to you if you want it, and the post office wants those who really want it to have it." That's an excellent way of explaining the situation, and what's more, it's a subtle and effective method of attaching importance to the program. Patrons who merely took its weekly arrival for granted would feel themselves in danger of "missing something" if they ignored the editorial suggestion. When we mus make a little efi^ort to obtain something, it always means more to us. .^nd so the effort made by Melvan patrons to insure delivery of the Ijrogram each week will cause them to look for it and read it more carefully than ever before. In these days of paper restrictions when it is important that no paper be wasted. Editor White can be sure that copies of La Nopalera are being distributed because patrons have requested them. A few paragraphs back we were discussing Pat Neels' program. Just a few minutes ago a new issue reached our desk, decorated in keeping with the Christmas season and printed in green on white paper. An attractive and impressive copy carries this Yuletide message : "Through a rapidly changing world we still adhere to the age-old custom of setting aside business problems in favor of friendly greetings at this holiday season. We thank you sincerely for your patronage, friendship and goodwill and extend our best wishes for Christmas and the New Year." Few programs with the Christmas motif have reached our desk, but that's because we are writing these lines right at the time such programs are being issued, and they will not reach us until after the holidays. What few we have received were from members located reasonably near us ; the others we will have to wait to see later. One important thing we've noticed is that nearly all theatres (as borne out in the programs we've received), are not letting the pre-Christmas slump lessen the quality of their offerings and their efforts to attract patrons, but instead are booking the best pictures available and using showmanship to get patrons to come and see them. For that reason, most of them are probably doing much better than was formerly the case when exhibitors took it for granted there would be no business just before Christmas and so booked inferior pictures and then sat back and complained of the small figures in their box-office statements. We hope you have had a Merry Christmas, and we hope, too, that this New Year just getting under way will see the final victory of peace and freedom over the forces of tyranny, and that the next twelve months will be filled to the brim with happiness and prosperity for all of vou. Bdwy 'Dragon Seed' Opening 2-Way Event Loew's turned the opening of "Dragon Seed" at the State Theatre, New York, into a two-way function. As the date of the premiere coincided with the 33rd anniversary of the Chinese Republic, that event was commemorated, as well as a celebration of the 23rd anniversary of the theatre on the same evening. Invitations to the affair, which were sent the press, Chinese consulate, officials of the United China Relief and others, were written in Chinese, with English translation, on bright red rice paper. They were enclosed in long slim red envelopes and sealed with red and gold stickers. Four Chinese girls in costume were on hand to greet the guests. Chinese girls staffed the bond booth during the film's engagement. A week prior to the opening a Chinese lobby display was placed on a platform over the fountain. Made up to resemble Katharine Hepburn, a Chinese manikin was seated in a bright red rickshaw, pulled by a coolie. Costume was complete with blouse, skirt, trousers and an elaborate gold headdress. Four bamboo poles were raised over the display from which hung a dozen Chinese lanterns. Electric light fixtures on each side of the fountain were covered with a red transparency to resemble huge Chinese lanterns. A phonograph was placed in the check room and electrically connected with the back of the display. Music from Chinese records was played continuously. To add to the atmosphere, Chinese incense was burned and its odors wafted throug'n the lobby.