Variety (Sep 1933)

Tuesdajt September 26, 193^ P I C ¥ URE S ■21 By Epes W\ Sargent Ei9s MarathbiL Taking a hint froth the kiss mara« thon at the Chi Fair ofie of the ^kidders announced a similar event «^or his lobby, knowing from past ^perience tliat it . would probably bring a blast froih a Hmlted mimber of . the exlra-gpod who .had junipfed on a nymber of his 'Stunts. Letting the. editor into the secret got him an editorial in which the rwriter speculated on the probable record to. be. hung- up. and ■virinding up with 'we are informed the two unknowns entered for the contest can keep it ui> .aU day.' That brought the paper a dozen tart letters whicli the editor printed, and also result€>d" Iri a i)rotest to the police, who promised the kickers to make a pinch it the performance seemed, to Verge 6n .the. indecent,.as^ charged. TJiat was printed, too. Fpr a week in advance a cur- tkliidd booth was set. up in thC: lobby with a card ahnouncihg that as the site of thie contest, and it attracted no end of attention.. dri the announced evening, , at seven o'clock the curtains were drawn and there were revealed two txutout heads, profiles, with lips about two inches apart. . The U&s w6re represented by small red batlloons which were alternately in flated and deflated by a small ihotor-opisrated belloWs. As the balloons bulged out it was a laugh able slmula,tion of a kiss, and it drew more comment than any Ipbpy display in months. banner either on the square Uself or oh a building facing the reserva- tion. If on the square; It is wise to. obtain permission. In , either case the notice recites the intention of: the Berkieley: Square . committee to apply for a change, with a warriing- tp all in opposition to get their:,uro- tests in. Should be startied .far enough in advjahce to break the story when the first advertising for the picture booking is • done. Generally twp weeks will be long, enough. Cotapetltion Manager who waiits a,. rnodel air plane to work on A AVins ^P^^i^''! has offered a prize of $5 for the best plane submitted to a certain date. Prize is really the rental of the plane for $10 for 10 days, but It sounds better .expressed as a prize. Manual training classes of two ischools are out to take thie honor, with several groups of boys working privately. Takes more than one boy, as the plane has to be 10 feet from propellbr to rudder. No special type required, and the only stipulation other than lieiigth is that the pro- pj»Uer must be capable of being mo torized. Theatre has a small motor which can be set in, drawing cur- rent from the house wires through a doorbell rheostat.. Figured that this will be cheaper than making a plane and at the same time glVe th6 Interest which centers about any contest. Judging will be .made at the theatre on a Saturday morning before the show starts, with the. hope that some of the crowd will buy tickets when the doors are opened following the judging. Neat Idea ' Travel magazine- gets out a circu lar which is adaptable to any story with traveling; In the form of a passport with a window cut . in the stiff paper front cover- to t )erini t a: ""number to-slivw through. Idea* "Ht nSot" carried Pn Insiderinrt-ltTis not necessary. Attention has been air- rested. To cut down cost ;lt permits a steamship travel bureau to add a card with check spaces for coun- tries the respondent is interested In. Novelty ideas always catch on better than a straight circular, and If there's something worth while to sell It usually pays to go to a. little extra expense to catch the eye. Doesn't pay to go to much expense for a brief booking, but the big idea Is that novelty of thought rather than cost of product Is what's to be aimed at. Three Way Developing the old ..nahi^b' in the classifled ads idea, one theatre has a hew three-rway gag which seeins tp work nicely, it's a cooperation between the theatre, sotne merchant aiid the liewspaper. Merchant is a yjariable element, all stores, desh'ing: being given a chance, but hot in regular order. Niewspiaper prints a box on the front page stating thiat. in some ad-' vertisemient in the current issue will be found the announcement of the store which .will give free tickets to' persons. designated. The box also carries; copiy for ..the picture,. Somewhere in some' store' ad Is the announcement that the following dily it will dlstrlblite BO tickets. Names of recipients are not given, but on appllcatidn to the !stpre In- quirers may learh whetlier or riot there is a ticket waiting.. Tickets are in sealed envelopes, each a,d- dressed to some person. . Nanies are taken frpm the store's iriaillhg list, the theatre's; list, the. telephone book or the rie'wspapei:'s . records, giving plepfy of variety.-^7As, a. rule, not more than 10 or 15 tickets aire called for/- (rives the store oissurance the ads win be read,, whlcii. aligo helps, the newspaper. .Store also gets visitors. Burled announcement requires care - ful reading; Ih ah evening paper for the following day's distribution Any store, wishing to come in .oiit of turn can do bo by paylng box offlce rates for the tickets,, repeating as often as desired. Prismatic A sign backing which is a little trouble to make, but which yields results warranting its retention long enough to get the material and labor cost back is a sunburst of colored tinsels set back of i wheel carrylhg various colored lights, iiulbs ^ire mpurited in the circumference of the wheel, picking' up current through 4, brush, contact, and each is separated-from its neighbors by a septuin, WI\ich prevents the lights mixing.' . As the vweel turns slowly, the visible tinsel changes color in rhanrier to surprise the average per son and to iattract the ey^ e'ven after • the wonder is over. Front of th e sign is covered with chicken netting, painted black, and letters forming the announcement are cut out and attached to this support New Again Two bid-timers promise to crop up for the expioltatiph of,'Berkeley jarj&.!_._jQne. \vas.u,sed.fojr tl)^ York openingr with'^he Fox pub llcity putting up street markers • reading in with the play title around Times Square. The other Is the pe tition to rename the local square. l^est way of handling the gag is to send gir.l.s put for signJitilres to petition to change the n.ime of the villago Common,, with a tipoff to th local paper. Second step Is to an, nounoo ihtontioh Iri a newspaper nA not on llio; tIioati"r> pa.a^o, with th hlowofE Uw posting of a sign or .Fudng Five Making a blanket campaign an offer was made of ticket prizes to those 'who most' correctly placed .five..'unusual- pictures booked con- secutively. Copy read, 'Examlne-.all the information : available af the theatre ort ^ thfese pictures, .weigh thelp probat>le value In this com- munity, take, into consideration that Saturday ^usually . mieans a . better patronage, and then .Indicate ' the, order .in which these pictures, will rank at the box offlce, telling in nOt more'than 50 wprds for each; picture Avhy yOu think it will merit your plaicement. This is not a guessing contest. We Want tp. see how closely our patrons appraise our . picturea.' ' In the lobby; were five frahies, at con-venieht reaiding height, each de-. voted to " printed matter from the press book, trade papers and first run revieWst. Quintet received niore consideration than any the house ever , pilayed, .and the stunt seemed to have a distinct .^infliience oh business.;.. Three persons made the correct rating, which the man- ager confessed was better than he had done himself , as he reversed the fourth arid fifth. big idea and was told that Hepburn liked to wear, shorts, arid. iso the femme fans were registering ap'- proval. Event won a lot of free pub- licity for tiie'pic, .'which Andy Saso still: claims he didn't promote. It was just a natural,- said Andy. But the old news hounds always skeptical. • Saving Up Figuring that some of Ed Wynri'6 alleged inventions will iEOrm part of the coniedy. of the picture now in the making, one exhib has- started to do a little inventinig On his own Hopes by. the time .the picture comes along to liave enough for a lobby display; Figures on using.lt in the mezzanine the fi.i'St week and then moving up Put ihto the open, One Idea is a napkin for fat men, an oilcloth bib With a tin trough at the bottorii' to catch, food and drink. Another is a cellPphane <:over for grapefruit with ah opening for the spoon, while a third is a bank check printed on a large rubber ball, so, it cari bounce b&ck. Just before the cariip.algn, a prize will be hung up, for the be&tj!jpori-» tributioh froni Other Inventors, but le exhib- wantia , to. liaXO-.. e|ISSaifh samples to giv e the Idea. Each con testant will have three minutes during- one Of the shows to explain his gadget, with that figured tp help the fun. Brass Taclcs Academy, N. Y., which for a time contented itself with an announce ment style of mailed program, each looking pretty much like all others, has come to life. Has increased the size, but iises paper instead of card, so the cost is probably littlie. If any, more. But the big idea Is that it sets out to sell each show, as a- unit of en tertainment and_ not nierely. aa a film title'-with th'O riames^ of soriie vaudeville acts. Brags up the show without getting unbelievably ex travagant, arid not .only sells, the spilt week but backpages the .under lines as proof of the sloetan 'V/e pick the. best, then scrap the rest Helps to create: the right impression Gives the press agent a little more to do, but it is time well spent, since it. so. greatly increases the sales ap- Deal. "Inhere maiy be sOme; sd,les v«ue to-a hare anhouricemeht, but sales ar^iiment rea[che9 many niore people, and^does. Infinitely riiore good.. Spelling Bee Bronx, N. Y, The spelling bee,.always a popUr lar feature in rural communities; is to be. conducted as a'special stunt iri this nietropoUtan section, at the RKO Empire. Will be conducted for five nights, tcginning:-0ct..2, arid 6p>n to school students. .Prizes will bci scholarships to a ncighbprhood BecrctaPbal=^-schoolr-=W-hieh=flgUP-C4;^in, the publicity.. IC the stunt attrs^c.ts, there will be a similar contest»for a-duUs. Cops as Guests Paritersb.urg, W. Va Nlanat;ftr Barrett of the .Strand theatre here boomed 'Bureau Of Missing Persons' by • pre-seritlng all nioriibcrs ;0f- the I'arker.sburg city poliro dopartmont and thpir wives with guest tickets. Hilkllaias . Oregon City, Ore, Rurail . frolic Wpke -*em ;rup. . at Liberty Itheatre here, With; milk maids Contest the. ,: gag.:. Captaih jack had themilkingcontest as part of his Treasure Chest* viude show, getting three cows ohvstage. Three gals -Avere .selected from 10 whP wanted to show their skill, as milkers, , and cash prizes were given the' mald:s. .The uhiisual got :the Crowd and the contest itself, panicked 'em. Circulation Coney Isiand's ' Mardi Gras has shown , ah average attendance' of a quarter . million persons nightly Most of them .see the parade. Brook lyn Strand got . coverage by Entering a sound truck with a camiera atop and taking shots of the crowd .'while the truck barked that the pictures would be shown at the Strand the following day. Backed up by announcements and art In the Brooklyn papers. Sounds Fishy fortlarid. Ore, Ix femriie fans of Katherine Hep biirn showed up at' the Music Box b. o., clad in shorts .and shirts, and astounding the burg's natives with such lack of attire on the main drag, Aridy Saso asked them what was the Mile long Parade Seattle, Biggest outdoor exploitation in a moon used by Roxy theatre, tp at- tract tO'Tarzan, the Fearless.' -Bob Armstrong, Pi a., engineered it, with mile long parade,, iricluding three bands, the top. Co-op adyertising gathered for the theatre; also 50,000 broadsides, gratis, with tleup with Signal Oil Co., • distributors of Tiatr- zan gasoline. ' Prizes ,tO floats in parade totalled $100. Talked Turkey St. Paul. When . Manager Ey Selbel Of the Riviera recently .scramriied on his vacash his assistant, H. W,. Kadrie. who Is half Tiirk by birth, , caught several lines of Turkish lingo in the pic, 'The Barbarian.' .Kadrie rushed in his dad to. check the chatter, found U the real McCoy, then lOoked up the' feeveraV hriridred . Turks In town and gave them each a persoriai phone" call, plugging the pic. Result'Was a few hundred, ducats sold Which would rieiyer had been box-Offlce possibilities: had not .this recently promoted tisher had his ear to the screeri. Looking Forward First cold; snap one niariager plans^ to Inaugurate an overcoat drive along the lines first-used by H, M, Addison wheri he was in Blnghstni- ton; With Addy It was an annual stunt, even before the smash.. ■fwO'tickets are given each person who brings to the theatre a, still serviceable overeat. Minor repairs such as- torn linings, are niade by a local tailor In return for credit lines an'd the garriients'are turried over to some local organization qualified to distribute them Intelligently to those unable to buy 'a proper cover Ing. Newspapers can generally be en listed: In the drive, and this will later bring full mention of-the distribu tlon, but thb distribution Is made quietly; so as to :embarras3 the recipients. In ahy comriiunity. there are a surprising, nuriitier of over coats riot old" enough to be thrown away and yet too seedy to be worn by their original. ownerSk Sexy Film Ads Rapped By N. t Publishers At Syracuse Meet Too sexy adyertlsihg:. by picture theatres as - wh.Ole was put on the pan at the .recent convention of the Xew York State Publishers Asso- ciation iiri .Syracuse. Feeling that the exhibs. had over- stepped, the bounds of decency in. riumerous'; instances, with .. ads on picUres, the puijlishers d^^cldbd the theatre men .Avere. way but bounds and rieeded; vigorous Control through estjiblishment of CensOr- shtp by the -Jiewspapers themselves.: General discussion from the floor brought out numerous IristanQes where exhibs had in.serted ultra-^: sexual illustratioris and tCxt copy in display ads, and' readers had lodged prbtests witl'i the editors. General, cbmpiaints from many- quarters resulted in passage of a- resolutlon condemnlrigf questionable 'ad'vertlsing: in newspapers, it asked all member publishers to instruct their display departments to. sub-, rnlt. any sexy, theatre iadver^iising copy tp the publisher for; his pSr- sonai oicay . before ihsertlori. ' Copies of the resolution Were serit to ■NVlll. Hays arid heads of nir tipnai advertising Organizations. Liatter Were -instructed to broadcast fuii text of; the resolution to their members. The" assboiatlori also voted that copies of the resolution be dlstrii>« uted to theatre owners and man* agers via local newspaper offices. BEHIND the KEYS Albany, Lotiia Pressler new man'aiger Ldn coin, Troy , " su ccee<Hnq r i^e idier tjKoLjr;eari^iriaJUoily.^iie^ poOr soiihc _ - . and com)E»etitlOn frbm Avenue thea tre, directly across street, Ed Mon oghan, now bossing Aventie. Wlll dp duty for both houses. Sperks, who .was Shifted to Dearie theatre; Meeliria, Albany. Lou Goldlrig, niariager of the Pal- ace. RKO theatre, transferred to the Newark RKO Prbctor house. Change Was. made after an oi)erat- ing agreenient between RKO. and the C. H. Buckley Theatrical Enter- prises, Inc., Which has taken opera-: tlon of the two theatres here. Oscar J. Perrln succeds Goldlngs. Alex SayleS appointed by Buckley as general manager of the four houses. Johri Garry, manager of the Le- land, one of the Buckley owned housesj gbes to the Hall as manager,: and Paul Wallen eacceeds him at the Leland. B. J. Skelly remains at the Pro.ctor'3 ds.'riianager. Buckley ond-Sayles have moved their offices Into the Palace. Goldlng IS to direct the Newark' for a timer but later Is to be made .divisional rnariageVr ' Asheville, N. C, Thomas .Reed; manager .of .the Plaza here, tp manage Paramount, Atlanta, succeeding E. E. Whitaker; Whltaker becomes riianager pf Fox, Atlanta. iWauGomaii The CasS - opera house, m anage - nient has opened .a. theatre "hero. For the first' time la 20 years Sumner, • la., is without . a; clneriia, exorbitant license fees being given a> the reason for folding by the Cass opera , house management. PhillppI, W. Va. .Grand theatre here h$is Installed AOg:.ijlj''te,:ne\V SAund ls ^ ^^ ^, Omaha. Aoqui.sitiori o£ Uptown, neighbor- hood', theatre has been made by Ralph Goldberg for purpose of ex- hibiting foreign films. Goldberg now operates Town' (downtown) and Ayenuo (neighborhood) theatres, both showing films only. Uptown is located at 29th and Leavenworth Ktreet.S: and was built ju.gt previous to advent of'talkers. Capacity is about 500. Ooldbyrg has installed improved ; sound apparatus, Ijadly needed. House has b^en dark past Pittsburgh. New assistant to Roy ROwe, mari-. ager of the downtown Warner, is Tony Stern, fprriierly in Milwaukee. Ho replaces Pat Nattoro, who has returned to his. old post as chief of service^ Another rinariagerlal asslgnriient here Is Mbrty Henderson to. the Avenue Cinema, •which the Harris people have opened as a revival site.. Old hits are . to be brought back here for split-week engage- ments under a 15 and 20-cent. tbp. Tease iE^rst Fox's 'F.p.l' was built for the explolteer, and the first move in any campaign ..should be the use of teasers to get the odd title fixed. "This can be run In. the newspaper or, if the police Will permit, it can be chalked on the sidewalks. Two small, boys with plenty of chalk Will cover plenty c2 territory for a pass aiplece. ^ Indicated fbllowrup is an explana- tion of what -he F. P. means,, with, a .floatlrig;,^bdel, if at-all. possible. Something"'?ri<mg those lines should, be within the reSiehof any manager. Where a. tank is i!B£ available, a wooden riiodel can be made, maslced Iri With cloth waves. If the modei is siipported on a trestle similar to a seesaw, but off center, to have one end slightly heavier than the other; the rocking riaotion can be com- municated by a single motor ■work- ing on the lighter end, Motor oper- ates a pin in the side of a wheel, with the ariiount of play propor- tioned to the rise and fall desired. -Also gives a chance for • specia|_^ prt>g.«j work' fro riii th i e bseudo-scien ^Tl tiflc angle. Aviation editors will eat the stuff lip and will probably use the press, book mat. Unlike some pictures Which require explaining this one carries Its owri ideas. For„ the New York campaign classifled personals wei-e hsed read- ing merely 'F. P, 1. Why don't you answer?' Full title of the film i» 'F, P. 1 Doesn't Answer.' Romney, W. Va. ideal theatre here now under, management of H, B. Wbodcock arid ,T. F. Wellington of Cumbexlarid, Md. New. •management, will, improve acoustlcs.pf. the theatre; Lbs Angeles. " John Frdy Joins the Majestic Picr tures exchange today (.25> a:s ex- change manager. '■■ ' '^.^ ,1 .He is transferring from Unlver- .^ai's exchange, where he worked in the sales department for 10 yCars. . , Frankllq> W. Va. This town; the heart^Of tiie Pb- toniac fishing region, now has a the- atre called New theatre,Vwhich Is open 0" Tue.9day.s and Saturdays. It is-showing; mcstly western fiilonts. Home talept miisic included. Seattte.^ : Ray Orunib.s:^cher now managov Of J' My',.(J -tlvH:.):.._ H arry Wood i n up frohi ,L. A. to mnnage T'ararnbunt (E^voVgreon) .with former manager, ,M/)rric Nim-: tvc^r rr-malnlng as ais.sist.'int mgr. . Si:)voncctady; Sept. 25.. Colony theatre, opcrdtod for year.s a,s neighborhood, deluxer on, upper State, street by Abram f^wbreV has been takori bv(Vr by group opcr;illij'4 Arnprioari theatre, ariothfr nal)e. Financial troubles of l)worf» spop.sible for hi.s. "tting out. Schooled iMinneapoils. Telephone Information, girls at local Publlx circuit ofTlces, Bemice Babler and Lucille Thompson, are. given continual instruction In ,sales-. mia.nship urider a Systeni Installed by John . Fried!, divlsloh niariager. Girls receive, more than 700 tele- phone 'inquiries a day regarding pictures playing at t'ublix theatres here. They give each inquirer brief siales talk, extolling the vir- tues Of; the attra-tlOn or bringing but a sellirig point In,a sentence Or twO. Cp-operatipn Postal Telegraph is using a four- page envelope,gtuffer In all wire en- velopes deliveried around New York. Fi't.nt: page shows Bing Crosby's pi as star of 'Too Much Harmony'. BacK page gives the; dIspTay ad for the showing at the N. :Y,. Para- mount. Most of the inside. Ls a'plug for Postal , service, harping oh thP- harriiony irialnt'alned by--. mes.sage3. Mlight be a heavy duplication were it not that riiopt bulk me.s.sages are now shot info. ces.direct. -^?==^Eoxy-ftnd-Gimbel= iudio City ,Mnsi'o .tied fiimbel's dept.. .store to a plug In for l.>iKn'?y'.'i 'J.,illlaby Land' c'.-irtoon. .Store made a full window display of riur.sery goods and drawings front tiu' rarlooiKsV- with, a colored -blow- up In the renter. Theatre.showed a few of. tjio briglnals with a card tcx tV'lI (if'tlie fuller display dt the store/ l''ir.st tirn*^ tin* biK lv)U.<<e has made* •L 'lirect li'fi.»lc to a store for lobby -.vorlc