Showmen's Trade Review (Jan-Mar 1947)

SHOWMEN S TRADE REVIEW, March 1, 1947 13 m wimmv 'Sea of Grass' Governor Val Peterson of Nebraska, the entire Legislative body of the state and former Governor G. R. McKelvie on whose ranch the outdoor scenes of MGM's "The Sea of Grass" were filmed, were guests of honor at the world premiere of the film Wednesday (26) at the Stuart Theatre, Lincoln, Nebraska. The theatre is operated by the Cooper Foundation and managed by City Manager Ted Butterfield. Proclamations honoring the world premiere were issued by both the Governor and Mayor. In a tieup with the Daily Nebraskan, student newspaper, proxy representatives of Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn were chosen and also attended the premiere. Details of the contest were broadcast daily at regular intervals by station KFOR and via stories on the radio time of regular advertisers. Details of the premiere activities were broadcast by KFOR. Gene Rich, Omaha exploiteer for MGM, was in charge of the campaign under the direction of William R. Ferguson, MGM director of exploitation, who also attended the premiere. Rich was assisted by Ted Butterfield, and John Schafleutzel, Bob Buchanan and Charles Shire, other Lincoln theatre managers for the Cooper organization. K. C. Newman Sponsors Weekly Radio Quiz Beginning this month the Newman Theatre, Kansas City, will sponsor a weekly half-hour Teen-Age Movie Quiz over station KCMO. The decision follows study of the situation over the past year and an experimental broadcast last December. The radio show is built somewhat on the "Information Please" format with a board of four teen-age movie experts selected from Kansas City high schools. They work with Chuck Fribzell, master of ceremonies, answering questions on motion pictures sent in by listeners. Cash is paid if the listener's question is not answered by the experts, and if answered correctly the sender still receives free tickets to the theatre. The only change of the new show from that of the experimental broadcast is that it will originate in the KCMO studios and will not be made from the theatre except on special occasions. M. D. "Babe" Cohn, manager of the Newman, said that in setting the broadcast at 10 a.m. on Saturday morning he hopes to establish a time when it will be most acceptable to teenagers and in a broader sense set up a regular period where listeners know thely can hear Newman Theatre and motion picture news. Subject matter of the show covers the entire extent of the motion picture industry, however, and is not limited to product showing in the Newman. Junket Well Publicized Publicity gleaned by the Enterprise junket to Salt Lake City last week for the world premiere of Harry Sherman's "Ramrod" reached more than 60,000 words filed by wire and mail, as well as many extra columns of material written by press representatives upon their return home. Fifteen photographers on the "Ramrod Special" made 3,600 photos, and six radio shows broadcasting the event reached an estimated 42 million listeners. Fastest Typist Contest 'Miss Pilgrim' Natural A tieup with the local Remington Typewriter sales office in Fresno, California, garnered plenty of attention and newspaper space for the engagement of 20th Century-Fox's "The Shocking Aliss Pilgrim" at the Fox Wilson and Tower Theatres recently. The stunt was arranged by 20thFox exploiteer Frank Jenkins of the San Francisco office. The stunt centered about a lobby setup of old and modern Remington machines, with a contest designed to find the fastest typist in Fresno. The contest ran daily between January 21 and 31, with patrons of the theatre and visitors to the lobby typing an unfamiliar piece of copy against a three-minute deadline. Passes were given to the contestant achieving the highest word average for each day, and score charts with the names of the winners were kept posted throughout the duration of the contest. At the close, the daily winner with the highest average was awarded the grand prize of a new Remington typewriter. Remington took ads in the paper plugging the picture and the contest, and interest in the event was good for extra newspaper publicity space. Star Boosts Clinic Fund When "Margie" opened recently at the Alabama Theatre, Birmingham, Jeanne Crain, star of the 20th Century-Fox Technicolor production, was invited to come to Birmingham from the coast. Francis Falkenburg, manager of the theatre, extended the invitation to Miss Crain for the opening of her picture as well as to be his guest at the Crippled Children's Clinic football game. Due to picture commitments Miss Crain was unable to leave the studio, but she contributed generously to the Clinic Fund. Broadcast Buildup As a means of strengthening Century Circuit's weekly half-hour radio program over WNEW every Sunday at 5 p.m., during which time biographies of famous stars are presented, the life history of a screen personality will be depicted at the same time that personality is appearing on the screens of Century Theatres. Rubens Advocates Gieatei Use of Ad White Space Constructive criticism on managerial efforts in the compilation of newspaper advertisements is constant on the part of M. M. Rubens, executive of the Great States Division of Publix Great States Theatres. A recent bulletin from Rubens to his "A" House managers is a case in point that discusses in general terms, "Small Ads that Sell Big!" In his bulletin Rubens states, ". . . Very often small individual ads become scattered, buried or are so poorly constructed that they have little or no 'selling' value. . . The greatest problem appears to be the manager's attempt to lay out small ads. . . . crowding reading matter into border rules with the result that they become lost in a mass of foreign advertising or readers. "For this reason, in many instances, a onecolumn ad 10 inches long cannot be found on the newspaper page, whereas a two-column, twoinch ad representing only four inches of space, of proper construction, can be readily discerned." Rubens continues in his bulletin to discuss steadily increasing advertising rates, etc , leading up to his positive statement that "it is more important than ever that exploitation costs be a matter of daily analysis. . . Wise spending is the basis of intelligent saving." In concluding his comment Rubens states that a course of using little or no advertising or exploitation may permit a theatre to "coast along" for awhile but that a continuation of such a course eventually results in a drop-off of income to the point that the operation will show little or no profit. He then points out : "What interests me most is the claim that best available statistics show that 63 million in the United States do not go to the movies. Just think of that ! What an opportunity for new 'selling' ideas. What an opportunity for men in the field to become outstanding!" morrow afternoon. At Your GREAT STATES THEATRES SUNDAY! INAUGURATING A FULL f\l^ WEEK OF OUTSTANDING ATTRACTIONS! EFFECTIVE SMALL AD. Reproduced herewith is the style of small ad (four and one-half inches deep on two columns) suggested by M. M. Rubens, Publix Great States Theatres executive, as a means of attracting maximum reader attention in limited space.