Variety (Sep 1933)

Tuesday, September 12, 1933 P IC ¥ ■ B E S VARIETY 21 EXPLOITATION By Epes W. Sargent Verbal Serial liooktng^ for a novelty for his chil'- dren's clul> one. club conductor has Invented what he calls the spoken serial. At each session one of the children, previously designated, gets up and adds a ftve-minute chapter to a story which has been running about two months how. Child must end the contribution oh a crisis, the same as in the picture serials, arid it's up to the next kid, the followr ing weefcj to get the hero out of his; predicament. : A sihall prize Is awarded eiach month for the child who provides the most puzzling :climax and an- other to the youngster who most successfully extricates the character from the previous week's peril. HU16S are. slniiply that thei episode must be distinctly related to: the; previous chapter, arid retain the hero but child can swing the ^tory as de- Sired. One week, for'example, the hero was rescued from the grip of a python in the South \American jungle and left on the ocean bed. in a sunken submarine, .. One of the advanced pUplls from a business school comes over to take down the story and makes an orig- inal and a carbon. . Former ijs for the files and the latter is serit the child' deslgriated to carry^the story forward. Conductor is flirting v«rlth the Idea of chariging the scheme to ask all-children , to come prepared', with the one selected at the meet- ing to give the current recital. Fig- ured, that it will , make even more interest that way* , Either way it's a winner where the children l>ave imagination, and most children have. Always Right One lobby novelty is adapted from an .educational' toy in which a light flashes when the proper answer to a question is located. It's a one sheet sized box made to fit irito a lobby fi^ame and presenting, a nuni>^ ber of spaces, each with a- light switch beside it. Cover line urges the lobby shopper to 'Press the but- toii and see if you can - locate the title of dur next big picture the first ' trvi*' " iiny'6We'"<:aftT since each of the spaces, covered by colored paper, is turther backed, by a second card on whicih the title of the picture is written^ Turning any switch gives the title, but most investigators sriap Other switches to see what the other spa<:es say, and get the title hammered in. it might be better to make about half the spaces sales copy, but the original user counted on the repeti-: tlon as being m6re iriiportant than sales talk, since he desired merely to clinch the title against a lia-ter build up for the feature. UnTeiled a Sign. Looking for something to attract attention one steersman painted an oilcloth banner in oil paint for his outstanding pictures for the new season. This was stretched on a frame and heavily coated with whit Ing made into a thick paint with water. Below the sign was a state- ment that the list of pictures would be unveiled at a stated time, by the Are department. Outfit was hung from the side of the building,, which adjoined a vacant lot. Hung Just below the edge and just how the firemen were 'going; to figure had the average person worried, with the result.that a noon-hour session drew a larjge crorw.d. Firemen dashed up with their apparatus, hooked to a hydrant arid washed off the whiting, exposing the hidden lettering. Crowd chuckled at the simplicity of the Idea arid went home with the new product titles firmly fixed in mind. Always • danger of a walshdown, but .figured that would help td a newspaper story anyho\v. • Risky Stuff \ New Haven. For 'Bureau of . Missing Persons' at the Roger Sherman, Jack San- son has rigged up a snappy lobby display featuring .a 'missing per- sons' booth with a girl handing out circulars on the forthcoming film. .Display also included "two anriurir ciators which carry a serliss. of stills of girls in the picture, to- getljer with their description, der a scare head 'Missing.' A number of eight-foot panels contain lettered: copy headed 'The pojllce aria liars,' . 'The police are fakers,' etc.; with explanatoi*y text about the film. These heads are atteritlori-getters, but may strike: a sour notes with, the gendarmes un- less their co-operation is obtained in advance of disbla>\ I've come to Henderson to take in the show at the BIJou and get a square meal at Qardner's,' the lat- ter a local eating place. Sign adds the name of the picture being shown. Everyone kriows It's just an ad- vertisement, but still it impresses that anyone should come from the other town Just for dinner and a show. Cost is 80c for the ticket, a idpllar to the man, a dinner from the res- taurant and ia ticket to the show. Stands each co-operator 90c a trip. Emergency iBoard Orie of. the old timers has niade a, practice for years of holding in reia.dlness an emergericy board . for a ispeclal announcement. Other boards are going through the works, being repainted to take coming ari- nouncements, and generally the ma- terial is all in use, but he holds one large board. with a yellow face, ready for a quick talk to the lobby It niay be a clip from "the riews^ reel, which hsis more than ordinary local iriterest, perhaps a switch in bookings, a short, which turns out to be better than usual Or a special attraction, perhaps for oftly 'One night. Whatever it is, It is lettered on.'the board Iri red, and It stands out above all the other lobby dis- play... Regulars have come to look for it, kriOwlng the system. It still has value for its use Is never abused. It is always used for some- thing worth while and it Is always phrased to tell precisely -what that something is.: Figured it has been worth a three figure, sum to the house in the extra busi.xess it draws and that may very well run into four figures. There's no exact way of telling. ,It has worked 60 well that a similar color schehie is being considered for the motor- perambulator. As an example, the most recent use was to plug special pictures of the recent hurricane. Theatre was in the storm belt, and everyone was interested^ Colmnbia's Gag Using a press stiint suggested in the special campaign bOok on 'liady for a Day,' George Brown and his Gblumbia cohorts and the press force of Radio Music Hall put over the lady-for-a-day stunt In.a large and generous faishloh. - Nellie McCarthy, an actual apple seller, was selected for. the stunt, qoiartered at the Waldorf in a siiite, given a complete wardrobe to suit her new position, taken, to lunch and dinner at costly places and wind- ing up at a. night club. The 'Anierlcan' gaVe her three two-col. cuts staggered over a four- col* space,, following a one-col. cut arid half-col. story. The 'Times' contributed upward of a column arid even the 'Post' came in vith a two- col, cut and nearly a. col, of text. Every paper hiad at least one cut and most, of them ran two stories. Even Arthur Brisbane sat up and :ook notice, cracking that it would have been a more practical thing to have slipped her $50. As a matter of fact, Columbia and the Music Hall each gave her $25 in cash, she was permitted to retain all of the clothing boUghti arid Lk)u Goldberg tried to get the Music Hall to permit her to set up her stand In front of the theatre.. Just goes to .Lhbw that New York is as yap as the sriiall timers, and also to demonstrate that a good stunt is a good stunt anywhere. Boilding a Tom Using only a single singing turn for Saturday hlgnci a mlriOr theatre capitalizes the engagement by alternating a man and a woman, with- an offer of a prize for the best imitation of the slriger in a certain number the following Thursday night, which brings out a pretty fair business for what used to be ah off riight ' Care is taken that the singer will do one nuriiber niost people know and this Is' selected for the imlta tlon. Supposed to. be in that singer's style, but the judging is left to the audience, which seems, to care more for the song than the Imitation and frequently goes .batty In making the decision. But it's the .audience arid the losers have no comeback.. By varying the singers booked, the houafe keeps a certain variety that enables all aspirants to get into a contest at least once a morith. and the response is so good that he figures the professional earns double salary since the artist draws two houses. Helps T6wiis liy way of be^ng different one isriiall towner has a stunt he works about once a week. It seems to get better .with age, which Is more than can be said of most gags. There's a train which cpnies In around six o'clock. Manager has an au-rangement with a man in the npxt town to tftke the train' carry- ing a largo carpet bag banner*>d Sebook New tlaven. Walter Lloyd Is putting over a sriiart one as a come-on. for a forthcoming 'I'm, No Angel' run at the Paramount, Lloyd Is showing a re-Issue of the Mae West 'She Done Him Wrong' film and is sat urating his .newspaper copy with stuff like this: 'In anticipation of Mae West's 1933 smash sensation Tm No Angel,' we offer a demand performance of 'She Done Him Wrong.'. What you missed the first ■tlme."ybu may catch "^the^afeeolrfd or third time. Get used to Mae "West in thlis film so you can enjoy her thoroughly iri 'I'ni No Angel' later, on." Stunt Is not only a swell boost for the forthcoming: 'Angel,' but is causing plenty coniment currently on the 'She Done Him Wrong' re- vival: Nifty Emblem .Most theatres are displaying the Blue Eagle, but chiefly In the form oC a. flag Or on a card tacked Up over the box office, One theatre took . the card, mounted It . ori ply wood and cut out both the emblem and. the lettering. This gave raised, effect that made It look like something entirely different. They were tacked, to another panel done In aluminum and the emblem, was covered with blue flittet and the let tering with red. The Result, iivlth a baby, spot thrown ori It, Is an' eye knocker-outer^_and_yet it cost little TSoTe^^nfair^t h'e'^spa re^lim cTo sign writer. .. . It gives a new. dignity to the box office and somehow suggests that the theatre has been designated to receive, an espeolp,! riiark of govern niental favor, since it Is so much more iniposlng than the generality of .similar displays. ■ It never hui'ts to Uoll things up and this goes double tot- the ea«le sibly pave the way to a film sub-? scriptlon for the following season, subscribers uniting; to bring the big Ones to the theatre^ and probtibly staying away from the downtown earlier showings. Local Critics Small towners like to see their names played up, and one good way Is the Criticism board which Is used to mount the audience comment Lobby is large enough to give space to a couple of desks with', pages of paper about 3x6 inches with an invitation over the top to write out a criticism^ These are used' on a permanent board with' the best and a few of the worst picked out on the lines of the Vox Populi department in 'Liberty.' Most of the slams are palpably written to be funny and are not apt to be hurtful. Only dtuuger is there's liable now and then to come along a picture no one likes in particular. When that happens it's tough to have to admit a frost, but it will help other pic- tures- along, and the. town is so small that' the first night talk would hurt business more, than the written comment. — All criticisms should be signed with authentic names with no effort made to pad with favorable com mOnt. Good little gag for a town where everyone knows most every brie else. Helping Oat Uptown house, in a city where there is a drama subscription sea son, is working up business in its territory in 'the guise of local pride, but in reality with an ulterior mo tive; Management feels.that these shows, which will be the first to be seen, in a cOuple of years, will give the patrons who bewail the loss ot the old-fashioned drama chance to compare the qnounting and acting average of the visiting shows with the work' of the Hollywood prOduc tions. Has an Idea that it will re dound to the advantage of the pic^- turesw ' May be a risky experiment, but the rhanagement feels that the sea- son may fiop before the six produc; tions are played, and in any event It's riot likely that the people who subscribe would stay away Just be cause they could not get tickets, at the picture theatre. House will gain a reputation for liberality and pos Combined . Seattle. For 'Moonlight and Pretzels' '(U) the Music Box (Hamrlck) attracted attention with 18-Irich pretzels, on n^oon cut-out, placed on counters of 20 leading beer parlors. Wording on.card, 'Moonlight for love;' pretr zels for fun,' with announcement of the pic being at M.B, In lobby of i;heatre barrel of pretzels was dis- played, with passersby invited to take a taste. Bob Murray, manager, states 320 pounds were given iaway. Running Props , Often a good Idea is passed up because the materials, for an un- usua:l sturit are not', immediately available. . It's a good'plan- to mark down possible sources and be refidy for emergencies. One advertiser, for example, had an: Idea if or. sub- merging a cutout under" an invert- ed glass In an aquarium.. He used a pickle bottle and it looked Just like a pickle bottle. But. he knew the janitor of -the high school arid had no trouble In borrowing a bell glass from the chemistry lab, and It .worked like a charm. Iri another Instance an old clock was wanted, and the explolteer re- membered that one of his patrons had spoken of a grandfather's clock one day, so he took a wheel- barrow and went around and bot- rowed it. ■ ' Knowing just where things can be .located Is as handy tO a lobby builder as' to a studio or theatre property man, but most lobby wor- riers- generally have to start from scratch because they didn't remem- ber where they had seen things. Here's an Idea Birmingham. ixttlesnakes are a big problem for Franklin county, ,Tcnn., aiid are scaring tourists away from that sec- tion. So soriiebody hit upon the idea of ridding the county of some snakes- by using them for admis- sions to the county fair. Everyone killing a. snake is C'rititled to an ad- riiission, and the bigger the snakes ooriie, the more tickets. A ticket i.<? given for every rattler on the snake. ■ Furthermore, a prize of $25 for the. largest Uye Snal^e and ■ $.10 for the largest dead one is offered.^ Repeating Universal did, so. well with its radio record: on 'Jazz King/ a simi- lar record "has. been prepared for 'Moonlight arid Pretzels', Double- faced and local annpundemerit nec- essary only when the disc is flipped, over. Set New Renbtl Deak For F-WC Calif. Honses Deadly Parallel Working from the flies of "Variett, a theatre recently offered a chart of the New York theatres, showing that only one success was running and that most of the recent Broad- way tries had been flops. On the other side' of the table was the list Of notable successes scored by the picture house iri the period when Broadway was at a lower ebb than it had been in. years. The irifererice was that the Broad- way hits all came to the local hOuise in due course,, splendidly mounted, better played and often more snriart- ly written than the orl^irial play with the moral that Broadway ha* moved Into the country and that' it no longer supplied even a small per- centaige of the successes the small town patron was permitted to see at much smaller prices. Same house Is planning to list the stage hits It will show with a com- parison of the prices paid, on Broad- way and the much sriialler suriis asked for local showing. It's good argument, with plenty of sound sense behind it. Paraded a Tbeatre Birmingham. In the Labor Day parade here the operators' union had a float which can be adopted for ordinary street ballyhoo. A large, truck was secured and an old silent projector was bolted to the . rear end. A screen was then placed at the front of the truck. Just behind: the driver's cab, and. a six-sheet pasted on It. Seats were On the truck and an audience used. Clinton, 111,; . Burhorn, riiariager bf Clin- tonia, is now genera.1 manager Of. a circuit in Paxtori.'Falrbury, Dwlght, GUritori, Hoopestoh. G. Nelson of Dwight, succeeded BurhOfn. Gririnell. la. Richard Phillips nianaglhg the Iowa for Central States, former Co- lonial. Lynchburg, Va. Roanoke at Roanoke, may reopen after closed; most of sumriier. House went dark after flames swept de- partment store next door. Seattle. John Danz theatre, here, Rocse- velt, opened Sept". 6 as. second run house. Seats 900. ' Birmingham. George Steele, manager of Jeffer'- son, vaudefilrii here. Policy changed from, subsequent to first-run with independent pictures now. Pittsburgh. Maurice Baker, manager of the two. Warner houses 1ft State Col- lege, Pa., has resigned to go with ChatkIn and Feld In Sfubenvllle, O., Successor is George Planck. Reslgnatlori of Morty Henderson as; manager of i^na has: sent J.'A. McDonald, of DaVls, to that house McDonald's iassistant, Sani Gould, elevated at Davis, ' Chicago; M.' H. Singer circuit opened Its Du buque house. Now the Orpheum, formerly Spensley. Will play pic- turi&s with occasional name stage shows. Los Angeles; New. ,. whereby West Coast, through Fox Rialto Theatres Corp., . resuriies opeiratlon of the deluxe Fox in San. Diego, calls for a reduced rental figure, but with a 15% of the gross maxi- mum monthly to be paid. Deal, en-,^ tered irito with the Gildred Build-^ Irig Co., landlords, brought" a mod- ified lease, whereby the rental fig- ure for the period starting tbis month, and continuing until . June, 1934, is set at $4,5ii3;Sf3 per mOnthi. After that, fixed monthly cbUec- tlon advances to $5,00>0 for the rest Of the year, with the rental from that time until the lease explreti Dec. 31, 1937, to he later deter- mined; For the entire period F-WC s'lib- sld will pay the rental figure speci- fied, or an amount equal to. 159& of the house monthly gross. In ordeir tb pay the premluni rental,, house will have to gross around |7.50(^ weekly. Sunklst Thefitres Corp., another F-WC subsid, has executed a niaw lease bn the Sunklst, POmona, ef»' ffictlve as of July 4, this year, ex- tending for nlnie years' and fbqr~-; months. Rental figure .up to end of April, 1938, will be $413.50 monthly, and then. $660 to Nov. 4, 1942. Option Is' renewal ■ for 10. years at a, monthly rerital of not less than $660. HOME-MADE LADY FOR DAY Col's Publicity Boys Put Over Quite a Stunt With Rosie of the Alley Denver. Marian Hart bought and reopened. Iris at Edgemont, S. D. Seattle. Ray Grurnbacher, old timer as film exchange and theatre operator in Northwest, owning houses for years "iTr=sp5kam"here==a'rTsmiiaipr^^^ Jensen*von Herbcrg at Roxy thea- tre. He succeeds J, William Houck, who plari.s trip to California, - — Seatle. Don Oeildeis l.s manager of Sterling chain's n6w hou.se, Roo.sevclt, on Pike noar Fifth. Roy Cooper Is chain manaqfT of thl.n John Danz strijig. Arnold Van Leer, Lou Goldburg and Leo Friedman, under George Brown of the Columbia Plcts honie- offlce, put over so{ne excellent space for 'A Lady for a Day/ Opening iSept. 7 at the-Radio City Music ilall, New York, with Rosle of Shubert Alley as the subject. She's an apple seller, 73, and quite a character in. Times square sector. : Explolteers took her In charge for 24 hours a,nd she- became a regal lady for a day, parking at the Wal- dorf-Astoria, lunching In swank, places^.butfltted by exclusive, rnod- Istes. and. motbred with police escort. Including a visit to Mayor O'Brien (whom Rosle snubbed by refusing to wait, for the latierarrlving chief • magistrate)'. it all landed lots bf space- most- difficult of the daily papers. The 'Times,' 'Sun,' .etc., werit over a column each, detailing the experi- ences of Rosie as she became a; lady for a- day under the aegis of a film company.. It broke just right on the 'day or two "preceding the film's opening. The publlcLsts promoted everything through ti|D-ups, paying for little, including the fancy edibles which merchants, bakers, food shops, along with the restaurarits, modistes, hDlel; etc., Vlonated. .Got a Lot "f='rinTr=lto5rfir-^'as-"stakrd=="to^ whole caboodle, including the clothes and $50 in ca.sh, whereupon shie re- re.sumpd stlllng fresh- fruit in Shu-, bort alley at 5c each, Ro.s.ie'a dallir gro.ss before .she -jVent. higher up for a (lay -a.s about $1.75. It climbed rl^'ht alter the publicity, though Ilo.sic flifln't boost the pric^o bn npplVjH.