Showmen's Trade Review (Jul-Sep 1945)

14 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW July 21, 1945 Olampatgn nf June 1945 RHAPSODY IN BLUE (Warner Bros.) An exploitation campaign whose chief angles were carried out to the point of saturation coverage, and a selling job that was unique in the sense that it contained a most imposing number of "firsts," was built around the New York premiere of "Rhapsody in Blue" by the Warner Bros, advertising, publicity and exploitation chiefs and their staffs. Results of long-range planning for the campaign are still registering for impressive results in many sections of the country, as well as in New York, where new developments in the merchant and musical angles of the drive are cropping up with clock-like regularity. The campaign has been selected by a panel of showmen as the Exploitation Campaign of the Month, June 1945, for Showmen's Trade Review. Far in advance of the New York premiere, the Warner exploitation crew lined up representatives of the entire music industry to attend a luncheon at which plans to honor George Gershwin were discussed and a program arranged for a series of musical events. At the luncheon, held at a New York hotel with newspaper reporters, photographers and feature writers present, Paul Whiteman was named honorary chairman of George Gershwin Jubilee Week which was to be held just prior to the New York opening of the picture. The event was to include tributes to the composer through prominence of his music on radio programs. Nearly every musical aggregation on the air cooperated in this program by presenting salutes to Gershwin with suitable plugs for the picture and its New York date at the Hollywood Theatre. These in the majority were musical programs with national hook-up arrangements, reaching millions of listeners. One of the most important aspects of the entire campaign is, that in addition to exploiting the New York opening, it has focussed national attention on George Gershwin's music, thus calling attention to the picture itself for future local value. Unique Newspaper Features Two "stories within a story" are interesting aspects of the New York campaign. Feature writers of the World-Telegram and the HeraldTribune became interested enough in commercial tie-ups to write stories about these features. The World-Telegram writer devoted four columns of story and art space to the BonwitTeller eight windows displays of gowns and lingerie, each named after one of the composer's songs. She called her article "Rhapsody in Style." The Herald-Tribune writer went into the aspects of Giant Blueberries, describing a series of dishes prepared by the chef of the Hotel Roosevelt, where the waiters wore blue rosettes, and where the chef created a "Rhapsody in Blue" special dish, with blueberries as its Musical Air Salutes, Fashion Tie-Ups Highlight Saturation Exploitation Coverage For Warners* 'Rhapsody in Blue main feature. Even Bleu cheese contributed to the special menu. Four columns of pictures and art comprised this article. Another interesting aspect of the campaign is a report that window displays on the picture already are set up in a dozen cities, with at least 35 other cities scheduled to put on displays in the next week or so, although the picture is not scheduled for showing outside New York until late August. The reason advanced for the window promotion so far in advance is that the displays are based on summer wearing apparel, including several nationally advertised lines which have made tie-ups with "Rhapsody in Blue" and are now running ads in national magazines and newspapers and whose own promotional activities in connection with the picture include supplying window display material to their own dealers. Notices in the windows carry prominent exploitation credits for the picture as well as copy advising movie-goers to watch for opening dates at local theatres. RCA Victor Division, Camden, N. J., has mailed display material to its thousands of dealers urging direct tie-ins with theatres when the picture arrives for local exhibition. A long explanatory brochure, giving methods of merchandising its 4 album record tie-in with the The toy window (above), fashion window (left), and music window (below) indicate the success Warner men had in persuading merchants to use the typical Warner advertising script in decorating the .variety of displays. A large number of inside-the-store cosmetic displays, of which the McCreery department store display in New York (left) is typical, were arranged by the Warner crew.