Variety (Aug 1932)

fuesfliajf i^ugu^ 2,. .193? P ICTn KES VARIETY 19 j I , Sbowboat Week Tbere Is ntoney In . Showboat iVV'eek recently staged by a sufferer jfrom thie product shortage. He had to play something back, and his earlier attempts at revivals had not been particularly happy. He got a new idea, worked It out and instead of sliding over,Sifter a fashion he eohteved one of the blackest weeks 0lncd the warm weather set in. ' His marquee w&s :^ullt up to sug- jgest a river, boat with a couple of tall smoke stacks rlislng some 20 teet. They wiere made of corrugated paper, painted withi black asphaltum varnish and then lettered in white 'Grand Showboat,' the former being the name of the house. A collection of smaH cans of various sizes repre- sented the calliope, each can mount- ed, on a broomstick/ He. was so for- tunate as to be able to hire a Small calliope to supply the music for ballyhoo. ' The edges of the marquee- were masked in muslin iand brightly painted with .announcement of the showboat without mention of the titles other than 'A. different show every nighit.' The lobby was turned Into a salon with the box office letteried 'Purser.' AH of the lobby crew were in borrowed uniforms. The, bill consisted of a dally' change of six of the oldest melo- dramas made since pictures started to ' talk. The! 'Captain' made an- nouncements from the stage, candy butchers Infested the. aisles at tiiries and lllu.strated songs took the place of the shorts. Now. the patrons want another showboat, week because they en- joyed the first. Every 50 GaU ' Out of town theatre has a deal with a chain of 10 service stations to give a free ticket with every BO gallons of gas. ' "Not much of an in- ducement, but since they have to have gas they buy from the chain. In return, the stations give adver- tising space to the theatre and pay Xor the punch tickets. Latter are on hard stock with 50 punch holes. Can be punched at any of the 10 stations and when completely used are good< at the .b. o. for one admission, generally car- rying a cash sale, which makes it at lea^t a two-for-one. Company had a special set of punches made up. to prevent cheating, but theatre does not care much if some of the holes are phoney. It's a good ad- vertisement either way. ^ Open Lobbies .It is particularly, important through the summer to keep the lobby free from cluttering displays. ^t Is even advisable to cut down on the number of display frames to create an airy effect; Patrons do not sit in the lobby to witness a performance, but if the lobby looks hot they are apt, unconsciously, to feel that the house must be warm, ho matter what the'plug for the cooling system. In most homes heavy 'upholstered furniture is either retired or cov- ered with linen slips. The lobby miist be given the same treatment if it Is to appeal, with some of the advertising material taken Into . store windows if felt to be essen- tial: Drinks selected are those served at every fountain, so they-get in all over town. Another appeal Is paint- ed mirrors done over weekly. His house artist makes the colors from whiting and package dyes and the house porter is kept one Jump ahead Of him cleaning off. last week's paintings. ' T Competition . Gags in which various merchants enter competitors for bathing suit and simildr contests Is not new, but here's a different slant. Theatre In a town with two daily papers got both to stage a contest in their sheets for a girl to represent the newspapers for the best lookSr of the two. Each paper selected an entry and the two girls were judged by the audience on a dead night. . Both pa- pers plugged hard for their entries, and the . theatre got more reading lineage than on. anything else It eyer worked. Only trouble Is to get the papers to compete with each other khow- ing that oii^. must take second place. The answer to that Is that the paper has only, to dig a .prettier girl than the other sheet. and then boost harder. Hade the Sale Theatre near . a -.beach resort wanted to banner the large New- foundland dog, which belonged to one of the life guards. Guard was perfectly willing to lend the dog In return for tickets but figured the authorities would not permit. Manager pointed out that the dog warf in and out of- the water. .Every time he came out he shook .a couple of. gallons of water over those near- by.- Manager pointed .out that a neat oilcloth blanket would reduce the showers and save the clothes of the loungers J Sale was made on that basis. Off Phoning Exhibitor who still believes in personal phone calls to sell pictures is temporarily off the idea. He Worked it recently and got so many kicks from prospects that he has decided to store the Idea until they relight the furnaces. "Women phoned In to assure the headacher that they dldn!t like being dragged in" from the cool porch or all the way downstairs, merely to learn that a certain picture was coming to the theatre. Not so niuch reaction when the weather is cool,, but heat makes extra exertion resented. Largely to be questioned whether the idea ever was really good in moist spots. Best for suburban lines where any phone chat is a diversion. hammer Stunts Some managers make a point of laying off street stunts for the s.um- . mer, figuring that people when they are out In the sun are less apt to be responsive. One old-timer pulls his street stuff as soon as It warms up and trans- fers his attention to the soda foun- tains and the better restaurants. He has no competition from a bath- ing beach so he works where he figures he can reach -most- of ■ the crowd. In winter he goes for only the leading soda shops, but In the summer he gets after even the drug store fpuntaliisw One stunt which seems to work unusually well is a card which reads 'Two good bets. A long malted milk now and (title) at tiie Gayety Saturday and Sunday.'. Cards are changed weekly with a hew drlnl; and. a new. title each time. Windshield Namben Manager who "wanted to use auto mobile stickers on a special feature had theim printed up, getting a Job that the average aiuto owner would not {object to carrying. Bkck was 'rubber stamped with an offer of a pair of tickets to those who were named in the lobby. Each sticker was provided with a serial number, put In with a numbering machine, and each day of the run five numbers were posted to receive free seats. Drivers came to the the- atre and consulted the numbers. If one matched that on the sticker, the doorman . verified, the fact and the cashier issued the seats, good any time that day. Result was a string of autos at the curb most of the day, all advjer- tising the picture being sold. Con- tact was made through screen an- nouncement, lobby card and similar cards in garages, service stations and parking lots. Oas Contest Promoters of a community benefit ball game, to be held on the Infield of the local half mile track, came to the manager of the theatre for ideas. He realized that there would be no use trying to fight the affair and that the only thing to. do" would be to work for .as much publicity. as possible. He-evolved' the gas con- test, giving It the name of the the- atre for providing ticket prizes. Only cars of 1910 or earlier Were eligible. Tanks were drained and each filled with one gallon of gas. Prizes for those who traveled furth- est on the allowance, circling the track until the car came to a halt. Check was kept on the laps made by each entrant. ^ . Payoff to the theatre was. that each car w-as bannered lor some coming attraction or a house sales argument. Different Something a little oui of the ordi- nary is a neat set of lobby cards achieved by a manager who had an amateur artist who was good on figures but terrible on faces* One week he made, a full showing of combination poses with pen and ink bodies on a set of photographic heads. Some of the bodies were purposely made about quarter size in proportion to the head, but most of them were straight figure work and they excited so much, comment that It was repeated. A few weeks later the same Idea of photographed heads Was used but the artist merely outlined the figure and. pasted down' fabric for the clothing. A checked shirt on a cow- boy figure was a very fine check from a'remnant of dress goods, wRh a khaki colored handkerchief sacri- ficed to make a pair of overalls. A bit of sheared rabbit skin was con- verted into chaps and soft kid leather supplied boots for the men and slippers for the girls. . The result was so good that the cards were given a week in a store window before being taken Into the lobby. Get Popular Publtx managers are going after Hotary and other local <;lub presidencies. circuit. Is anxious - that this be done by Its men where pos- sible for the natural benefits Involved; Transient Trade . Exhibitor whose small town house is located oh the main street, which is also part of a state highway, has a deal with the gas stations at either end of the town to hand out cards to all who stop for gas and are headed the right way. Cards are! headed 'Visitors Cour- tesy Card' and argues that a stop off for a look at the feature will be restful, adding that there Is plenty of free parkin^; space and making a two-for-one discount on ticket buys. Cards are inexpensive and the house takes in from .|10 to |25 a day oh these rebates. Probably .the mere urge to stop would be of little appeal, but the bargain rate seems to catch manjK Where there is a garage handy, it probably could be arranged to split the cost by adding an urge to have the car. checked or minor repairs made while the show is being en- Joyed. Sprinkling Names Ottumwa, la. "With a local paper running pro- hiotional ad copy regularly for a full page, the Capitol crashed this page at a cost of but 10 tickets per page ad. Stunt was to sprinkle names of patrons In ads, tickets being avail- able to those calling on the mer- chant, and presenting the ad with their name. Plenty of good will from merchants sis: It guaranteed reader response. . On Summer Camps Publix managers are being urged to try to build kid business If . lo- cated In summer resort or camp localities/ Suggestion is that theatre parties from these camps should be organized, 6r that interest be worked up by offering to show pic- tures in the camps. ~': ' Minneapolis.' Barry Burke, of Publix low* di- vision, appointed Twin City district manager under John Friedl. Burke succeeds C. B. Stiff, who becomes, an assistant to Friedl. Following closing of the Garrick, Duluth, Ed Slebl moved by Publix to its publicity department here. He will assist Charles Wlnchell, transferred from the New York of- fices. Don Chambers from here to New 'Fork to take Wlnchell's place. Lynchburg, Va. Order has been received from Publix to close either the Academy or Isis thealtres here Aug. 6. Which house will be shut Is to be decided just becore closing time. park theatre, Roanoke, also closed. , Wellsburp-. "WT, Va, New Palace theatre has- been i-e- opened by N. G. Anas, manager. City. has been without a film the^ atre for two months. Pine Bluff, Ark. . James Topping, former manager of the Alamo here, has leased a the- atre in North.Little Rock. Opens as soon as sound equipment Is. in- stalled. Milwaukee. Jack Worner, Milwaukee, elected president of the Wisconsin Associa- tion of Stage Employees and Pro- jectionists at semi-annual meeting. Al Mohr, Fond du Lac, vice-presi- dent, and S. J. Thomas, Racine, secretary-treasurer. Los Angeles; Lark, downtown grind, operated for 10 years. })y Carl Drane, sold to Ringer Bros, who will operate un- der same policy. Waterloo, la. Paramount closed during month with Harry Herman, manager, va- cationing. . ■ Rochester, N. T. Paul Fenyvessy, manager of the Madison, also will direct the West End, latest of the Fenyvessy string. George Gemming will be manager of latter spot, with George Gans assistant; Lansing, Mich. Garden theatre dark July 31-Sept. 6 for installation of new sound. The Orpheum, which with the Garden comprises the Jarvls theatares here, reopened this week after haying been closed for Installation of new equipment. Los Angeles. After unloading the Arcade, downtown grind, to Dalton Bros, for stock burlesque, Gus Metzger took over the "Wllshlre at Santa Monica; HousiB, formerly operated by McManus & Johnson, went dark three weeks ago. : Reopens Aug. 10. Coggon, la. The Coggon opera house has been taken oyer by Raymond Detlefopn, Lawrence Poppe and James Mor- burger. Sound will be Installed with opening in August Newark, N. J. Jim Lundy, doing publicity at Loew's State, tra:nsferred elsewhere, and Bill Phillips on his own Again. Oak Bluffs, Mass. Alfred Hall, owner of the Strand and Island theatres, has petitioned for a permit for Sunday shows. Public hearing will be called. Los Angeles. Two more indie picture houses closed here last week. Vernon, 600-: seater, went dark July 18, Norwalk, at Norwalk, a suburb, put on the padlock two days earlier. New Haven. Barney London, formerly with Fox in New York, traveling auditor for Arthur New England chain. San Francisco. Henry Plhcus Is out after seven years &s manager of the Casino for Ackerman & Harris. Ackerinah is vow operating .the house alone with Arthur Loring as assistant. San Francisco; Fred Siegel has reopened the Roxle, Oakland, as third run pic- ture house. Frank Jenkins in as manager. Fox, Richmond, Cal., opened for summer under Bob Sharp. Fox United Artists, Berkeley, ten- tatively set for Aug. 30 opening. Hartford, Conn. F. T. Thomas, manager of the Capitol, has joined RKO. Will .be replaced by Samuel Maurice, for- merly of RKO in Brooklyn. Israel Chancupp, manager of Strand, resigns. Succeeded by Tom Bro.wn, of the Garde, New London. Long Branch, N. J. Russell Terhune, formerly of Strand, Plalnfleld, N., J., managing recently opened Sff&nd, Long Branch, also a Publix house. Only for the summer, Terhune going back to Plalhfield In fall. Dallas. Grand iat Corslcana, Tex,, gutted by blaze; Cops decided arsOn after finding rear door open and. house filled with kerosene smoke. Oper- ated by C. J. Musslenian, indie. Gainesville, Tex. A. V. Wade, Texas indie leader, rebuilding the Majestic here. Re-, cently destroyed by fire. Dallas. G. R. Frank, New Orleans,' re- placing Doalc Rol)erts as mgr. of UA branch here; Arthur Wein- burger succeeds Frank In N. O., Roberts gdlng Into Indle dlstrlb field. Dallas. Jake Elder, P-P's divisional pur- chaser and maintenance director at Atlanta, switched to Dallas. Fills same capacity for southwestern loop. Nash Weil shifted from here to Atlanta vacancy. . San Francisco. George Blumcnfeld has bought into the American, Oakland, with Charlie Carroll, and the pair have reopened house as a 15c grind. Nasser Bros, plan ah Aug. 16 opening for the new Alameda, Ala- meda, . Des Moines. Barry Burke, division manager here for Publix, transferred to Minneapolis.. Evert Cummings, dlv. mgr. at Omaha, will Include both Nebraska and Iowa In his territory. Charles G. Branham, of Boston, comes here as district manager. Arthur G. Stolte will be In charge of Publix houses in Waterloo. Book Covers Working ahead ma.y give you an edge on book covers when you want them, In September. : If you arft in ■ a city go to a large Job printer and tell him what you want. Often he will have- stock cut from iarger sheets.- The original job pays the cost of the entire sheet. The printer regards the trim as clear profit and win sell it cheap. I^ he has no trini, he can be on the lookout for a Job in the sort of paper you; want and pick it up more cheaply than if he has to go into the market and make an immediate buy. Book covers for school children shbuld be something more than Jackets. They must be capable of being tucked In at top and sides to stand wear. They should be of stout craft or manila paper and cut to proper size. What those sizes are almost any child of school age can teir you. They should be printed on the front with spaces for the pupil's name, the school, this class and the room number. There should also be a modest advertisement for the theatre; stressing both the amusement and educational value of the picture; with special emphasis on the travel shorts and news reels. Back page can be laid off to one, or two' merchants whose wares ap- peal to the children. This - should cover the entire cost. Announce- ment of the covers should be made in advance of the Opening of school and the co-operating raerchdnts given a Supply for distribution. ■ ■ — 7' ■■ ." *• ■ >-i Staked the Hewsie Recently a manager learned that one of the young men who patrori- ized his house had .been offered a chance to. handle the local route for the newspapers from the nearest large city. Boy .needed-a little cash, and space for headquarters. He knew the lad-to be . a hustler, so he staked him to the few dollars needed, and let him use one of the rooms backstage for his office. He went a bit further and an- nounced that subscriptions might bo left at the box ofllce, running this in his daily ad as well as on the screen and In his program. All he Is asking in return is that now and then the. boys who carry the routes be used to distribute the- atre advertising and to keep him posted on families moving into the terrllory. FigMres that It costs, very little since he will get his loan back and he'll have the use of trained distributors. He had the good sense not to stuff the papers, knowing that many resent this practise. Bronx, N. Y. AI Rosenfeld has acquired the Jerome theatre, turned back to its (Continued on page 54) 5c and a Sign Denver. Joe Dekker, owner of the Graniada, doesn't let the fact thsk^.hls is only a naborhood house Interfere with exploitations plans. Dekkef* always makes an' extra effort to have the house filled with youngsters at the start of every serial. ^ For the last one he decided on, a sign contest. Every child was a<l- mltted for 6 cents-and a sign. It didn't matter how the sign was nmde, how small or large, but house offered $1 for the • largest. • When Saturday aitternopn came around the neighborhood sat up and took notice—«very kid for bloqks had his slgn-^'I'm going to the Granada,' and was headed for thei theatre. Winning sign was printed on wall paper, waa over a block long and was carried by 20 kids. Local News Views Working along the lines of the pictorial news sheets, sold In the cities for window display attractors, a theatre in a town of 10,000 deyotes a special frame to local news shots, working In with a clever highschool boy who has a 5x7 camera. Anything . out of the ordinary, such as parades of fires, are played up with several prints, but the aim is to have at le^t one new print a day. ■• It's almost alwa.ys possible to get at least' one print a day. Display prints are rushed through and put into the frame. Orders are taken, from those desiring prints for their own usCi and real news shots are rushed off to the city illustrated news sections. The photographer thinks the 'Bijou Theatre News Ser- ; vice' on the backstanip and letter heads gives him better standing with the out-of-town papers. He is permitted to use the theatre as an address. 'Prosperity' Contests Trial Syracuse, N. Y. Cracking the supposedly impreg- nable 'Herald,' William Downs, Loew division manager, and Harry F. Shaw, manager of the local State, finally placed a contest via the- ad department, but It Is costing the theatre more than $500 to turn the trick. Scheme accepted avoids any di- rect film tie-up and leans to in-? ."itltutlonal good will. Contest topic is 'My plan .to .speed the return ot (Continued on page 26)