Variety (Aug 1932)

26 VARIETY PICT a RES Tuesdiayf AuguBt 2, 1932 Exploitation '.. (Continued from page 19) prosperity.' Those ehterlngr are In- vited to outline their views In not more than 300 words. FJrst prize Is $.100, second 50, third 25, and there are additional prizes of $5 each to exhaust the 1500 fUnd ap- propriated by the thieatre. In addi- tion, . 100 ticket awards will be given. . Theatre's direct return Is the pro- vision that contestants must per- sonally deliver their letters to the ballot box In the Inner lobby. No restriction on the-number of plans a contestant may submit, biit only one nidy be dropped In the box with each .admission. Credit for the gag goes to Downs. If successful here, plan will be used nationally by the Loew circuit. Girl Barker Mirineapollsi - Publlx tried the Innovation of us- ing a young and pretty girl attired In natty male yachting, suit with tight-fitting white trousers^ in front of the. Lyric as a barker for •Society Girl,' ; Attracted such a crowd of young men .on opening day that traffic be- came blocked and it was necessary to caU the police. Maybe Snndays Manager in a jsoutherh town with an alr-coolcd house Is working in with the churches. Attendance had been poor at the various places of 'Worship and he suggested a series of union services in his theatre. Ministers take turns preachlnj^, and the. combined congregations just about comfortably All the house. Costs a little money to run the plant oh Sunday but he figures that ho Is setting it back In extra attendance through the week.' :• And' he is hot entirely unmindful 'of the fact that there is to be La drive for Sunday, openlnir next fall and' figures' that the ministers will be less rabid against the summer host.' Even if that does hot-go dver, he flguY-efe He's still on the black side of .the ledger with the returns not yet .all. In... .. : Church , service Idea worked so welt that.now ne is also running a Sunday stihobl. session. Ing placed behind thO' scrim and .shaded on the side toward the spec- tator. It is a familiar stage device, but It seems to get more than usual attention when used( in the lobby. A sign aboye the box urges the passerby to press the button and about .four out pf Ave will do, so. Value lies in the fact that it con- centrates attention oh the matter Instead of merely winning a passing glance. The button should be above the reach of children. If a she^t of clear plate glass can be borrowed. It can be set into, a recess at an angle of about 15 dcr grees off the perpendicular with the top slanting toward the spectator. With a black backing turning lights onto a poster or sign resting below the level of. the glass will bring the sign into view on the glas? Itself. The sign must be done in reverse in order that it may reflect properly. Just, the old Pepper ghost trick but new to this generation. Boach's Better .Babies . Culver City, ■ Hal Boadh tied up with better baby contests being conducted cur- rently by" Chicago . 'American' and the :Li6s - Angeles - 'Herald-Express.' . iln the Ideal contest he offers two. weeks' work each for two kiddles at |Bp a weekr/and free tests for 25 othersf • Best picture baby In - the Chicago contest gets two months' work- iat ,$^0 a week, and possible term contract. Kids will be used .In 'Our ^ Gang* (Bhorts.: , Fans on Exit Theatre manager importuned by .a merchant to help him distribute a lot of advertising fans. ilgured It ^ouia..be .poor policy, to hand them out to his patrons until he hit on therldea of glvihg/.tlieim away to those who left the theatre. .> Fans were stacked on an orna- mental table with the sign 'Take *ne as you leave.' You'll not need It inside,' Manager had his lesson the first year he .put' In his'cooling fiystem.. He .had a lot of fans left over from the year before and-he put them but. Having them, many patrons fanned more from force of habit than anything else. Result was that many fanless patrons came oiit for one declaring it was hot Inside. A checkup proved that the house Was normal on tempera- ture. It was merely the patrons had been given the'Wrong.idea. New Contest Contests always seem In order. "While the old ones can be repeated a new one has greater attraction. Something new is a sponge estimate contest using pressed sponges. They should all be of about the same size with one retained ih its normal form for a sample. Thd others should be wet and theh putjuhder heavy pres- sure. The oldrfashloned letter press la excellent, or the sponges can be merely put between two planks and heavily weighted. Idea la to figure how many sponges like the sample are con- tained In the compressed mass. If the job. Is properly done most estl- hiates. will err on the minus side,- for In the sponge country they can press half a bushel of sponges into a small cigar box. _ Might help to t\xn a window coh- test for a couple of weeks and then bring the mass-over "the theatre to be soaked out after the last night show. They are simply placed in a tub ot, water and allowed to swell, And . .then . counted after being squeezed dry. . £Synthetic Headlines ^.It Is a good plan to save up such house organs .and pr^ss books as apply to. pictures booked and now and then paste a sheet of headlines. Done so that It does not appear that the lines are taken from an advertising sheet Instead of the newspaper,^ stuht'will be fairly con- vincing. Idea la to create the sug- gestion that the picture Is much talked about. \iF'''%^..T'^^^^ headlines from the filty dailies are available it Is handy to have these ,to supplement the on- the-level notices, provided that you do not deliberately seek to convey the Impression that the clips are J^^.i:^^ newspapers. Don't say that they are, but you do not have to say they are not.. • Fresli Start Even where there Is no real rea- son it's a good plan to shut down Xor a week just before the fall sear fion in order to bave a big opening event. Some renovation should be made Inside the house, the lobby tou<ihed up, and an extra strong bill arranged for the first week. Sell a comblnatloO-. ticket for all ©f the shows the opening week, pricing it about 70% of the face value. It might be better to cover only three shows, where there Is a dally change, but it will be worth the discount to get them . coming back again. If possible promote some sort of a band to give a concert the open Ing night, get the merchants in on a hook-Up and make all possible noise about the reopening. It will mean twice as much as it would if put over with the house running. But if there is opposition. It would be a good plan to coax all the the- atres Into the same shut down or the other house may get some of your patrons. " Kidding the Eids Members of. a kiddie club were I ti^f^ 1*° register when they went on their vacations telling when and wjiere. Where there Is a definite address each child Is getting at least one picture postcard. If they are away for more than three weeks, they will get two.' And, more important, they are aU , ■hand written by the manager. Just a line or two, but a definite messagfe from the boss himself, and It makes the youngsters feel, terribly Impor- tant to get a letter from 'my the- atre. ' ' A letter from the theatre Is a clincher on goodwill. Record Bout At the Pordham theatre, N. Y., , Max Halperin pulled a, honey for' Lady and Gent.' lie built a prize , ring on the marquee with a referee and timekeeper with a gong' and everything. For .10 hours a day I two 16-year-old boys staged a boil- ing bout with one-minute rounds and two-mlniite rests. It attracted an enormous crowd, most of them going Inside when they got tired I watching the boxers. Had the advantage of Interesting I without holding them in the street ' too long. Fresidential Pozzies ^, ■ Chicago. Chicago Sunday 'HeraldTExam- Iner* selected Essaness as a dis- tributing point for jlg-isaw puzzles on the presidential election. Late I starters In the contest go to any. of the 19 Essandess houses and obtain free reprints that enable them to I catch up. Circuit gets free mention and publicity. Net cost to theatres: zero. Herb Ellisburg is Essaness publicist. Coaxes Peepers Varying the usual peep box, a Bhadow box with the poster or other advertising matter back of a tightly 1 stretched scrim presents a blank surface except when a push button completes an electric circuit and lights up th^ subject, the lights be- For the Elks Birmingham. With several thousand Elks In town for the national convention, George Steele,'manager of the RKO RItz, fixed up a microphone arid loudspeaker. . , Every Elk that passed the cashier In yelled 'Hello, Bill' through the mike. Issues End <^ tfiis Month (Augtist) DEVOTED TO EXPLOlTATIC^ NATIONALLY AND INTERNATIONALLY) Opening of the Season 0|>f)ortMni(:y To Tell AH the Show Business About Yourself RADIO ARTISTS STAGE ORCHESTRAS VAUDEVILLE ACTS STAGE PLAYERS SCREEN ARTISTS USE INTERNA TIONAL' NUMBER as a Pre-1932-33 Advance Agent Cheapest World^s Exploitation Round Trip Advertising Copy to Any 'Variety' Office ^ NEW. YORK CHICAGO HOLLYWOOD LONDON PARIS