Universal Weekly (1922)

Vol. 16, No. 1 Universal Weekly 39 Restaurant Man His Bill Passer MILT SAMIS, of the Roth and Partington houses in San Francisco, capitalizes the popularity of Ike Tuchler, who runs the State Restaurant, which feeds several thousand persons each lunch hour and brings most of them back for the dinner or supper encore. Tuchler calls himself "the man with a million friends" and probably comes within a few thousand of that number, for he seems to know everyone who comes into his establishment and has a word for all. His pockets are loaded with novelty cards of all sorts, and Samis (and Nick Ayer before him) capitalize his advertising ability by supplying him with cards for the current attraction they wish to put over. These are vest-pocket size and on Monday Tuchler gives out a thousand or so to his patrons and adds a few words of personal comment. He is said to have an almost goat-like appetite for passes, but he puts these into good hands and that, in itself, ds an advertisement. In almost every town you can find some man who will put out cards for you. He may not have a restaurant: he may run a soda fountain or the post office, but if you will look around you can find someone who will be glad to help advertise your show if in doing so he can help advertise himself. It works well for the Roth and Partington string and should work as well for towns of any size. Keep the card small, make the text snappy and give us much to your distributor as you get for yourself. Don't try to cheat him. Used a Radio to Sell His Story A FEW weeks ago we ran into J. M. Edgar Hart, down in El Paso. He was one of the hustlers we wanted to see on our trip and he was at the hotel before we had finished writing our souvenir postals. He was playing a super attraction, opening that day, and we went back to the Rialto Theatre where already the men from Fort Bliss, under command of Captain John L. Rice, of the Second Cavalry, were installing a radio set in Hart's office and in a military ambulance, the idea being to send the latter around town and supply it with music and advertising announcements from the office. In less than two hours the set had been rigged and Captain Rice was hustling home to a chicken dinner. The lobby of the Rialto is of a familiar type, broad and shallow, with a marquise; about the type more than half the houses of the country have, but it looked different because a skyline cutout was run around the top with cutout posters for the marquise. It made the house look different from any other in town, and it got the business. About seven o'clock we dropped around again to say good-by and it was impossible to get close enough to the lobby to enter the business offices. In addition to the wireless stunt, Hart had planned an aeroplane stunt, for which he had to obtain permission from the Chief of Police and the City Council, since the local ordinances prevent low flying over the town. The Rialto ranks second or third in point of architectural attractiveness, but it was pulling the business where at the same hour a nearby house was more than half empty. Just in passing we saw the lobby lamps of which we spoke in a recent issue. They are so good that we want to repeat the idea. Hart wanted something better than the usual naked bulbs, and he did not want to spend too much money. From the ten cent store he acquired some small wooden chopping bowls about fourteen inches in diameter. He gilded these after drilling a hole in the center. Through this hole he ran the wires and then conducted them through a small earthenware flowerpot about four inches across at the top. This, too, was gilded, and the lamp socket was fastened to the wires to hold all in place, the bowl hanging inverted with the flowerpot upright. Four Christmas tree ornaments on the rim of each bowl gave a decorative finish and the result was a really good effect at small cost. — Epes Winthrop Sargent in M. P. W. "BOOK IT-BOOST ITAN A-l PICTURE" Says J. M. REYNOLDS, Elwood Opera House, Ehvood, Neb. PRISCILLA DEAN in a tremendous North Woods thriller "CONFLICT" From the novel by Clarence Budington Kelland. Directed by STUART PATON UNIVERSALJEWEL