Variety (Jan 1933)

TuWsdayt Jaiiuaty 24ir 1933 P I CTiiR E$ VARIETY 17 EXPLOITATION By Epes W* Sargent Makmg Them Look Most merchants will still fall for a co-op page If It can be shown that they will get action on the ad- vertisement. ..One, new scheme to assure readers and lookers Is to select a word with as many letters as there are trade ads. These let- ters are done oh a set of cards, one for each- window. Contestants for ticket prizes must visit all the stores, notb the letters on display, assemble them into a word' and then locate that word In the ad- vertisement .of one of the mer- chants. If. it is possible to obtain a word which uses the same let- ters as other words it makes the contest the morel interesting. Seems iiko a lot of trouble to take forthe sake of a theatre ticket,^^but. experience has demon- strateQ^'thiat enough people are in- terested ta make the schejne pay.- In nelghbojhoods the same idea can be worked without the news- paper angle,' where space is too ex- pensive because of large coverage. In that case .the letters are dis- played, as usual, -with the key ad (on' the picture) displiayed in the lobby:' Main point Is to get them to look %t the window displays. Bxingft JXIm Back Knowing from the box office re- port Just what iron tickets have been sold In th<B evening hours, one thea- tre man selects five numbers from each of the . first fbree night sales for trei admissions. on,. Thursday, which' Is'ltls off -.night. Selections are made froAi. the tickets sold to adults . and stipulated tht^t only adults, are admitted on the stubs biBarlng these-'htimbers on Thursday night. Announcement, of the numbers .Is made in the . lobbyafter 6: 3p ori Thursday, .which brings a lot, of people down to the theatre to see if they have won. If they have not; they are' Mght there, so they may as well buy In. It aeems^to have had an effect on the -^Thursday, business -yrltiiout hurting the.-flrst three nights of the week. The. ntanager Just selects the numbers ofHiand. -Two Way Campaign Washington. Loew publicity office here put some .thought behind campaign on 'Flesh' atid came through with fly- ing cplprs. Split picture's appeal in half and ' shooting wrestling angle to sport crowd and Beery human Interest Iti straight &Aa. T\r6 sides were kept absolutely separate. Dranta pages carried practically no references to ring stuff. Sweet old ladles are leery of it here but are nuts over Beery ever since Mln and Bill. Rassle angle was started off with cup pre- sented to winner of Beery Match at wrestle show day before pic opened. 10,000 ring programs carried ad for Fox,on page one and follow-up on each Inside sheet. Only cost in- volved was $l;l .cup. Result w&s delude of 'nice people' and mat stars.atid.a swell week at the b. o. Book Contest Giving a bookseller a break and getting a <:ontinuous contest at the same time, a theatre is conducting a weekly gag on the best books of the week. Liocal dealer supplies a list of the new books In stock with clippings from the advance announcement of a copy of the Jacket blurb, which material is posted In the foyer. Be- fore Saturdfliy all who desire write a letter to'the theatre telling which book they' would prefer to receive and why. Best letter gets a copy of the book desired, and the store makes about 80 sales at the cost price of one book. Best letter on each book Is posted in the store window, and writers of the non-wInnlng letters may If they desire claim a 10% dis- count on theit' book. Side money Is a permanent sign In the window -Virhlch tells of the theatre contest, with a space for the mention of the current bills. Doing Up 'Dances' Denver. Fpr 'Congress Dances,' Louis Hell- borii, of the Denham, got a lot of publicity, due to It getting four stars In 'Liberty.' He had 13.000 reprints of the page printed, with the Den- ham ad on the reverse. Ten thou- sand of these were inserted In the current 'Liberty,' making It appear at flrst a3 a regular part of the mag. On turning page over, Denham ad appears. The rest of the reprints were pasted In old copies, and planted in doctors, dentists, lawyers ofUces and barber shops. Ited crayon writing on front page In- structed reader to turn to papre with review on II. All this was done with very little cost to the theatre, most of this being taken care of by treating 'Liberty' boys to Saturday matinee. Tleup with stock show, giving free tickets at poultry show and re- ceiving; without cost, booth and dis- play, loudspeaker announcements apd 66 signs posted about stock shctr and yards .in prominent spots. MuslQ stores and radio stations tied in nicely on account of music in film and 24-sheet boards, mounted on truck, paraded city every day. Coffee and ..cake served In lobby, and numerologlst gave character readings. No cost to house. AH this for the two-bit top. Blinking Eyes One of the stunts on an effective lobby on 'The Mummy.*: at the Mfiiy- falr. New Yo'rk^ .was a large head of the muipmy on the coriieir of the house faclnjg the. flow''of traf- fic. ; 'thlB,. Stood nearly 10 feet hljg:h, done In irreen, with-translucent eye- lids, back of which a pair of bulbs on a resistance gradually calme up and faded down. The usual .flasher would have been too rapid for any effect, but. the slow lighting up was effective. Possibly an auto- matic, fader would be beyond the price range of a small house, but If It can be contrived It is worth the trouble. It-'would be even more effective, were pupils painted on' cellophane and placed, behind the lids to in- crease the lifelike, appeHiiance. Pointing oh the Inner surface of the sign probably would show through. Another and larger head -on the main front was -spotted from a roof on • feoadway'for the opening,. but this did- not help the effect'siiffl ■clently to pay for the currehtj Home<Uade Mummy .. '"-'.^ .LlncoW,', !N«b. State theatre . here in -^^ioltlng .the 'Mttmmy' took some -old under \vrear and stuffed , it with cotton, modeled a he$ul Of clay and wrapped ■the entire dummy, with gaVze. Palntihe it a, dingy, grei^h. It - was laid In a-mummy case with a green si)dt.Viflasbed oh it. '^.Beneath the carriage 'on which the-vcase > iria laid was a. motor operating A plstoh arm causing the mummy td ralise and lower from the waist at Inter vals. It was a ghostly'arrangement aiid attracted more attention than any stunt that's been here in years. The entire front of the marquee and lobby was done in true Egyp tiah tomb style. On the side -of the case was printed the words-:- 'The Mummy—It comes to life.' It was the tallc of the town and the whole arrangement was completed at the cost of less than' sixty dol- lars. Qeo. Monroe, the State ma.n ager, deserves a lot of cr^dlt in this exploit. Lobby Titles Manager whose glass signs for lobby display are much admired gets credit for spending more money than they actually cost. Sign con sists of glass- strips, oh which the titles are lettered In bright colors • against a, ground of frosted glass. Most persons Imagine that he has these strips sandblasted In some city shop, ■ . In reality the signs are merely strips of . clear glass . of the sort known to glaziers as 'double.' They are cut to flt the recesses In the sign. Titles are lettered on with colored varnish, and the back Is flooded with a saturated solution of epsom salts or some similar large crystal salt. Solution Is tinted with aniline dyes to match the varnishes. Kept In a warm place, the liquid quickly evaporates, leaving the glass evenly coated. Lighted from behind with Indirectly-placed bulbs. It takes a little practice to get Just the right quantity of fluid on the glass, but it Is not difficult, with result showy and attractive. Fasting Mirrors If you have any trouble 4>astlng signs to your mirrors, try )[^Intlng the back 6f the materiiil with yel- low beeswax, iand Ironing, it down with a warm flatlron. ' Instead of sliding off when the paste dries, It win stick until you want it to come off. Then- It's merely a matter of using a putty knife If the sign has no further value, Or the warm Iron again If It Is to removed Intact. Any surplus remaining on the glass can be removed with a cloth wet with kerosene. If the liquid is not permitted to drip down to the frame the odor will not linger. Columbia Shows '£m Los Angeles. As an aid to exhibitors in plan- nin=r lobby displays for 'Bitter Tea of Oeneral Yen,' Columbia exchange here has fitted up a section of Its poster department into a miniature house entrance. Setup Is a rcplica of a Chinese tea room or garden, with all sot pieces and backgrounds so arranged tliat they can be ampli- fied for any size lobby. As a further exploitation ."ervice. exchange has a quantity of Mandarin gowns which can be rented by the day or week for the garbing ol house attaches. Dubuque's $1 Worth Dubuque, la., Jan. 23. Innovation in several of the dine and dance spots here- abouts has been to tie in with a theatre'for a combo din- ner; dance !and theatre eve- ning. One liotel is featuring a dinner dance program at |l per person with theatre tick- ets gratis. Stubs can be used at will by the. recipient. *Early Bird' BaUykoo Hollywood. To wise Hollywood boulevardites to Its 10c early bird sho-ws, the Studio had a sandwich man dressed In a bird' costume parading up and down the street. Visiting, Cards Artie Beck, of the Boyd theatre, Philadelphia, revived the. visiting card Idea for 'Frisco Jenny,' chang- ing the. original Idea slightly. In- stead'of leaving cards at the homes with 'sorry to H.ave missed you' the cards were printed with ^Frisco Jenny, 1908 Chestnut street. No phone.' Plenty of the icurious, went to the .address to see the huge advance sign^ Not Just a stag: .ga§r, for women want to see what It's all about, too, Ten thousand cards are being passed fronv hand to hand for many- times that circvflatlon. Nicely Done Lately the Navarre theatre, Brooklyn, small nabe house, was closed on account of a slight flre. Day after the' blaze the regular 'window, cards were replaced -with signs ahhounoing the house had been clois'ed for alterations. No men- tion of -the flre, and the house kept In th^ local limelight without re- minding of the. accident. Stress was laid on the fact It would be the same management to further head off the suggestion of financial trouble- in the minds of those who had not heard of the fire. Nice handling of the situation to minimize the effect. New One John Field of West Englewood, Chicago suburb, has.--what'seems to be a brand new one,.' Toshers dis- tribute locality, paper, and In turn the paper gives him-a-back, page free. Paper get^ 26 tickets vreekly to scatter through the ishei^ts.. Those' who locate their names e^t the tickets. Names are appended to, the; bot- tom of Items and' people read the entire paper, good for. the adver- tisers. Three of : the .names Are ini the. theatre's owti'spac'e, *bu't the sheet has not. many-advertisers, yet.. It's still youhg. .,- San Franclscot. Changes of ownership In this ter' rltory Iniiltide: Palm. Oakland, from C, H. -Poss" to Robert Llppert; Pat-- terson, Patterson, from C. V. Har- rison, td R. Im and O. L. Bare; Owl,. Cov^lOt from E. M. Ournford tb Lovell and James Durnford; Colfax; Colfax, from C. W. Taylor to V. C. Shattuck: Oaiety* FrlacOf from F. 'Vtr. Carbine to Rex Lane; Star, Sonorai. from Ethel Duchow to N. S. Trons- Iln; State, Sebastapol, from A. Huntley to N. Rossi. J. Samts has opened a new house, the 'Willow -Olen, In \Villow Glen, Calif. Reopened are the Soledad, Sole- dad; n^Uon, Fallon, Nev.; Owl, Covelo^ Colfax, Colfax. Closed are the Eidlson, Frisco; -Arbiickle, Arbuckle; Lyric, Gold- field; Campus, Berkeley; State, Sebastapol. New officers of the Frisco Film Board are: Charles Miiehlman, president; Barney Rose, vice-presl' dent; Jack Bettencourt, re-elected secretary-treasurer. Govemora are the three officers and Bill WoUC and Oliver Watson. Rowenia, Foley re- mains secretary in charge. Lisbon, O. Indictments charging them with exploding stench bombs in the American and State- theatres In East Liverpool, have 1>een .returned against W. E. Hartmah ahd Robert Hamm. Police attributed the b..nb- ing to a dispute over employment of booth operators. The two mien are said to have been memhers of a picture operators union in Youngsto-wn. Tuscon, Ariz. Willard Osborne, formerly with the Phil Checker circuit In Spring- field, O., repl.- 3es M. J. Murphy, who resigned as manager of the Fox (Fox-West CpastX here after four weeks. Murphy returned to Los Angeles." ' Glens Falls, N. Y. - Differences over scale between local RIalto theatre and Local 624 have been settled. ' Sevenjanlbnr .men, including four stagehands, 'two 'projectionists and a relief man, returned to work. Columbus. Dave Pence Is manager of Hart- man, vaudfilm house. Succeeds Ed Breckenrldge. Pittsburgh. Feb. 15 set for .reopening of WB's State In Washington, Pa. House was destroyed by fire last August. Hollywood. In a realignment at Warners' Coast theatres, Carl Walker is transferred from the Huntington Park (suburban) to Santa Barbara as city manager, replacing "Vic Rosen, who goes to the Beverly Hills. Cliff Chellew takes over manage- ment of the Huntington Park, with Charley Plncus supplanting Foy Barnett at the Western, here. Latter and George Riley of the Beverly have resigned. Changes In the Northwest give Carl Porter the city managership at Salem, Ore., rejplaclng James Carey, resigned. .Denvei?. One of the four districts''In. the Inter-mountain division, "'S'ox-'Weet Cpast, has been aipollshed, merged Vrith the otheris,-. and the manager, Dave Davis, goes to North Platte, where he will manage the'* Fox and Paramount theatres. . Hq - succeeds Charles Ernst, who is sent to .Trlnl diEid, - Colo., to nianage the West and Fox, replacing Henry Westerfl^ld, who Is on a leave of absence. Sld 'Wlsebaum, former film-sales man, ha$ sold his Mines theatre at Idaho''.Springs, .Colo., to Clifford Biennelt. . Harlan S. Coulter has sold the Princess at Meeker, Colo.; to.R. W. Thomas. Par Theatre Corporation closes Owl theatre at Longmont, Colo. C. W. Aller and Wm. R. "Van Sant take over Washington Park theatre, Denver. M. M. Wllhersdorfer buys Emer- son theatre at Brush, Colo., from John: M. Anderson. Flaying for Femme Trade Hollywood. Play to the femme trade Is being made by Harry Sugarman In all his advertising and exploitation at the Egyptian, with his stunts register- ing at the b. o. Started his cam- paign with an ad in the 'MIdtown News,' nabe sheet circulating In a territory removed from the theatre. Coupon printed In ad admitted one femme free. Sugarman's experience on this gag vrAa that each femme holder (and there were 1,600 of them) of a cutout brought along one or two other women, or her husband, with plenty of extra cash in the till. Next was his distribution to each femme of a vial of good quality of perfume, a stunt that hit the vanity and paid for itselt!. Another, gag was the give-away of biown jglass articles for home decoration. Located on Hollywood blvd., the Egyptian .-manager next arranged for the display:; of spring models in women's gowns -In the lobby,' pre- ceding the loeaC style show. In con- nection, he conducted a style show on the stage. Lee Blumberg will 'not be suc- ceeded in Philadelphia as director of ' publicity and advertising there for Warner theatres. House man- agers will handle > It -in > future. Bluhtberg is transferred-to h. 0. And Into Lou Goldberg's post. Goldberg- resigned last week after, hayin^ beeti In charge of - advertising pver' Warner New York'h6hseB fdr a ysar in addition to national exploitation. Prior to Goldberg's resignation, Myer Beck quit and was succeeded by Irving WIndlsch, who had been an assistant to Herb Crooker. Goldberg Is considering several offers made him by theatre inter- ests. New Orleans. Jack Meredith, who came down from the Publix home office six months ago as assistant division manager of Saenger, has been transferred to Shreveport, in charge there for Saenger. Joe Estes has been brought here by Saenger as head of advertising and publicity for the chain. Previously Meredith combined this work for Saenger with that of post as assistant to the division chief. Bronx, N. Y. Bronx has lost two of Its femme theatre managers. They were Olga Swertlow and Marjorle Lou MIrras, manager and assistant, respectively, of the TuXedo theatre. Given their notices and will be replaced by males. Louis Gans out as manager of the Boston Road theatre, and Is now in charge of the United States theatre for Lee Ochs. Dallas. Robb & Rowley taking over Strand, Del Rio, Tex., from D. F. Luckle. Same circuit recently ab- sorbed Luckle's Angelus at San An- gelo, Tex. AshevUle, N. C. Thomas L. StelUng, manager of Paramount, goes to Plaza, with Ce- cil Young replacing him at Par. William A. Byers, manaprer of (Continued on page 64) Big Time Stuff Arnold Van Leer,' of Columbia, hung up a record last -week when he snagged a big. sign on the side 9f the airplane which Is parked in the concourse of the big Pennsyl- vania 'station: In New York. This is a ''Cabln' passenger plane- adver- tising, the -airway, service which Is a part of -the £>ennsylvanla system. - Sign-urges the re&der tof Jsee 'Air Hostess' , at the old 'Aoxy -and win a ticket to Callforna 'f^nd back by :dubmlttjlng- ;the best. nickname for alcniteii: C&tch; .of: coul'fie, -Is that the p63i for^ttie^depbsttof t)iie Bub- jnissloiiiui is wibapk of the pay.'gate. Fllrst. time th^ rallrdad has. per- mitted picture advertlslqig. In' the station: other than foi',.6mau. houses ■which useduts^^'wh cplnm'erblat.pic> ture 'The Pie)hnsylvania;l4mited4; Managers planning, to -niake & marqiuee display of large silver'dol- lars'niay get' away with It on-the WarheiT: plctu^; but 'iB^ thoi cities they'di> hot stand ihuch:of alciiance. It-is against the law. to make even a. colbrable. j(iiliUatIoh; of -the 'jidlhage, and the '^fedefal 'officials 'frequently carry this Ihtetdibtion .to wha^ inay seem to be an e'xtlremi^ as -'in the case of an Installment hOiise..lA f^ew York which made Its selling:- point the fact that a dollar wojAdVopen an account. It painted a greenback on the brick wall of Its ' building. Authorities forced the owne|« to re- paint. .. . .. J.. . Law. Is stringently ^ eh|or.ced to provide ho loophole . for . ipossible counterfeiting. . Erring, .on -"^e. safe side. No one. supposes a 'person will accept a pasteboard'dollar perhaps 1» .Inch'es,;. in diameter, ^bilt - that makes no difference.-* ' ComebiM^kf , , Academy, New York, Is fighting hard and springs a-new ohe almost ev6ry week. Ohe -'pf the'latest Is a coupon on the back of the distrib- uted .'|>rogram, >irhlch- U maljed' and handed :'6ut butsjlda the-'^theatre. Coupblii/:is .tb:be fllled in' wlth the name and address of the' recipient. It Is-then deposited in a box'in the foyer. Each week 100 names are selected to receive the coiirtesy of the theatre, the names befng Ishown In the lobby. Since the coupons must be de- posited In the box Inside the pay line, It's two-for-one at worst, and many who come down to consult the list buy In when they :dO. not see their names. Argument Is that the ho:iiS&lvantB to get acquainted, and 'hammeriB heavily on that angle. Tulming On tihe FaWcett Minneapolis.; Don Alexander of the State tied up the short subject, 'Technocracy/, with the hew Fawcett publl(iatl6n.^of the same name. The Fawcett pub- lications placed 350 cards at all lo- cal newsstands. Jointly advertising the picture and their magazine.' An easel board In front of the theatre contained newspaper clips and por- tions c. ...J magazine. Ushers' Plug Some of the Warner Indiana thea- tres have a new one in the shape of cards which the ushers hand to departing patrons. Essential text is, 'For months I've been showing you to your seats. Never once have you (Continued on page 64) NOVELTIES That Will Bring Business Tell Vh Your rroblem And Wt Win Solve It Economy Novelty&FrintingCo. 230 West 39th Street, New York