Showmen's Trade Review (Jan-Mar 1947)

SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW. January 4, 1947 25 SELLING THE PICTURE Money Dates for February Any let-up in business during January was undoubtedly due to the fact that most people were paying the bills for the Christmas presents they bought in December. By the second month of the year, there should be a let-up in this activity, so that an improvement in business should become evident. February presents much in the way of patriotic and commercial observance. Theatremen can build extra profits by taking advantage of these observances, most of which are national in character, and making them colorful local events. Get busy as soon as possible and contact interested merchants, school authorities and organizations that may be prevailed upon to take part in observance of the various occasions. Newspapers and radio stations should cooperate. Keep your theatre in tne limelight of activity throughout the month. The month may be snort (Z8 days), but you can make it long on profits if you put your shoulaer to the wheel. National Observance Weeks reb. 7-13 — NATIONAL BOY SCOUT vViiEK. Arrange a meeting witn all local troop icauers ana tie the tneatre in witn tne special membersnip drives ior cjui troop, uct tile Su^uit ot tne newspaper or radio for the drive and nave it start witn a Dig party in your tneatre, with all troops marching through town to a special perioimance. Allow tne leaders to occupy cne stage on tne nrst mgnt ana expiain to parents the benefits their offspring will receive tnrough memoersnrp. l<.ach troop might demonstrate its pronciency in anils, camping practices, etc., on special nights of tne week in front ol tne tneatre. ijive a tneatre party to tne troop snowing tne greatest increase at the close ot tne drive. Help tne scout leaders set up a local committee of civic leaders to solicit tunas or in other ways help the movement. Pernaps all new members could taKe tne oatn of membership and be sworn in on your stage. If there are too many for any one mgnt, arrange two or three such initiation periods. Feb. 9-15— NATIONAL DRAMA WEEK. High scnool dramatic teacners, local drama leagues and private elocution and dramatic teacners mignt arrange eitner tor individual presentation oi their prize groups ot pupils or comDine tneir efforts into a special stage presentation. Get newspapers and raoio stations to lend tneir assistance to making the e»ent successful. An arrangement whereby a portion of the receipts from tne evening ot the nnal presentation would go to a deserving local charity should give tne occasion a nice tone of public spirit and remove tne stigma of selfisn commercialism, including the music, vocal and dancing teachers would enhance the entertainment values of the presentation and otter possibilities ot holding stage events two or more nights during tne period oi observance. The display manager of the local newspaper will find possibilities tor neup advertising among the local music stores and teachers wnose pupils take part. Feb. 15-22— NATIONAL CHERRY WEEK. Candy stores, fruit stores, produce merchants and bakers could be induced to participate in observance of this period. Undoubtedly tne national organizations will have contacted most of them and they are susceptible to approach on any angle that promises to popularize or expand the cherry market. The display manager of the newspaper should be able to get a lot of advertising space to support a publicity campaign involving recipes wnere cherries are used in cakes, etc. The candy stores are naturals and the ice cream manufacturer should also go along. The baker might be prevailed upon to make a cake for lobby display. Feb. 16-23— BROTHERHOOD WEEK. Tie in with the Big Brother movement in your town. If no such organization exists it might be a good idea to contact leaders of the Rotary, Kiwanis, Elks, etc., and get such a group started. The newspaper or radio station should cooperate to the limit on a movement of this kind. Briefly, such an organization exists in many big cities and engages in efforts to alleviate the burdens of needy children by each member acting in a semi-foster father capacity to certain deserving youngsters designated by school authorities. You can also interest church dignitaries. Set up regular periods when the "adopted" kids will be guests at the theatre at a cut-rate ticket expense to their "dads." Holidays. Feb. 12 — LINCOLN'S BIRTHDAY. Contact high school authorities and arrange for debates among student groups on "What would Lincoln do in the present post-war peace period?" Admit winning teams as your guests or, if possible, arrange for two winning contestants to present fiveminute summaries on the stage. Try to get the Boy Scouts to parade to the theatre and offer special tribute to Abe Lincoln. Contact the prin cipals of the grade schools and endeavor to have tnem interest tne kiddies most proficient in elocution in appearing on tne stage to deliver Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and tne Emancipation Proclamation. Give your lobby and front patriotic treatment featuring heads ot Lincoln. A lot of attention could be attracted to a rail-splitting contest in front of the tneatre with a period pass going to tne winning team. If tne banks of your community will participate in a "penny drive," you might get excellent advertising results with a stunt in wnich a special price concession is made to patrons paying their entire admission in Lincoln pennies. Feb. 22— GEORGE WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY. Pernaps it is possible tor you to get the various city or town orhcials, leaders of women and men's clubs, civic ana social organization togetner in a rally to give verbal support to that wnich Washington stood for — freedom, liberty and enterprise. Speeches by the orhcials embracing peace, unity and religious tolerance would be picked up by newspaper and radio. This is "AllAmerican ' day, in which you get the American Legion, Boy Scouts and World War II veteran groups to take part in a huge parade ending at your theatre. You can do a swell job for your country and people while boosting theatre receipts by getting ail tnese top civic leaders and the heaas of various organizations lined up well in advance. Tne newspaper editor, the Board of Education, your local church and synagogues all will participate. Stage it as a tribute to the father of our country or as an expression of appreciation for the freedom Washington made possible. You can have them parading the streets all day and a lot of activity in trout and in your theatre, if you really go to work on the idea. Special anniversaries. Feb. 11— THOMAS A. EDISON BORN, 1847. Contact the local light and power company and persuade them to use your lobby as a showcase tor the old and new in electric lighting and power equipment. You donate the space and they carry the newspaper ads to call attention to the display. Feb. 14— ST. VALENTINE'S DAY. Make a tieup with local candy merchants for the sale of special sweetheart tickets — at a lower than boxoffice price — to be given away or sold in connection with purchases of candy at their establishments if they agree to purchase a stipulated amount of tieup advertising. Or, if you wish, you can establish a special sweetheart price at the box-office to be given all sweethearts patronizing the theatre together. Have the editor conduct a search for the oldest sweethearts in town and arrange to have them as your guests. Stage a husband-and-wife night. Be sure your screen attraction is on the romantic side. Feb. 25 — INCOME TAX AMENDMENT ADOPTED, 1913. The tax collector and his assistants will welcome an opportunity to explain the manner of filing returns to your customers and you'll be doing the patrons a big favor by permitting the use of your stage for this purpose. The newspaper and radio station can be depended on to publicize the service to the fullest extent. Feb. 26— PANAMA CANAL ZONE TREATY SIGNED, 1904. If your theatre happens to be in a community where a portion of the population is from Latin-American countries this is a swell chance to put it in the front ranks of the exponents of the U. S. good neighbor policy and possibly attract additional business. Get the newspaper and radio to publicize your observance. Sectional Observances. Feb. 6 — Massachusetts admitted to Union, 1788. Feb. 12 — Georgia Day (Holiday in Georgia). Feb. 14 — Oregan admitted to Union, 1859. Feb. 14 — Arizona admitted to Union, 1912. Feb. 19 — Ohio admitted to Union, 1803. Peters Ballyhoos 'Rage' At a Rural Exposition An effective ballyhoo on the MGM revival, "Rage in Heaven," employed by George Peters, manager of Loew's Theatre in Richmond, Va., brought the attraction to the attention of 25,000 persons daily for six days in advance at the Adantic Rural Exposition. Peters sent a boy and a girl, carrying banners, through the exposition grounds. As is his custom, Peters also made extensive use of radio in his exploitation with six 15minute "streetman" type of broadcast over Station WRVA from in front of the theatre, with photos of Ingrid Bergman and guest tickets as prizes for correct answers; WRVA, on its Juke Box program also offered Bergman photos and scene stills from the picture as prizes for six days ; Station WLEE plugged the film with guest tickets as prizes on its "Battle of the Crooners*' program for six days; Radio Commentator Len Singer gave biographies of the three stars on his program three days in advance. Teaser trailers were used two weeks in advance and the regular trailer for a week. Theatre's lobby carried a 14-foot display headed "Loew's Fall Festival Starts with a Raging Hit." Large cut-out letters of title and playdates were placed on the orchestra pit in advance, illuminated during organlogues and at audience recessionals. Window displays of electrical goods were obtained in six dealer stores, with the distributor of the wares using plugs for the film on six 15-minute broadcasts over station WLEE. Newspapers, despite the newsprint shortage, gave good space to stories and pictures. E. Milburn, UA exploiteer, aided Peters in the compaign. 'Best Years' Basis for Reader's Digest Articles The January edition of The Reader's Digest carries the first of a series of feature articles entitled "The Best Years of Our Lives," inspired by Samuel Goldwyn's new film. The initial story was written by Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick, New York clergyman. The next five issues of the Digest will carry similarlytitled stories by well-known authorities in varied fields. This is said to be the first time in which a periodical has adapted the title of a motion picture as the basis for a continuing feature. The Digest, with an estimated circulation of 10,000,000, will provide a total of 60,000,000 readers in the coming six months who will read articles inspired by the Goldwyn film. Girl in Mexican Attire A Street Gag for MGM Film Ed Fitzpatrick, manager of Loew's Poli, Waterbury, Conn., used a street gag for "Holiday in Mexico," by sending a girl dressed in Mexican attire walking through the downtown section, with a sign, reading, "I'm a goodwill ambassador from Loew's Poli for Holiday in Mexico'." Local stores ran co-op ads. A juke box was obtained from Mattatuck Music Co. in connection with a lobby display. Top music from the picture was played over the juke box. Autographed Photos for Buyers of Picture Frames "Mr. Ace" was plugged in Hartford by Jim McCarthy, manager of the Warner Strand, through a department store stunt. McCarthy and the store announced that all persons who purchased frames in the picture section of the department store on the opening day of "Mr. Ace" would get a free autographed photo of George Raft.