Variety (Oct 1933)

Tuesday, October 31, 1933 P I C ¥ U R E S VARIETY Plugging ^Bowery' All over th6 country thtjy are gor fng tifter 'The Bowery' with about everything in use thus f?ir except the 'Na buir gag and that's liable to happen any moment;,. In Atr lanta Ijoew's Grand used the candle burning stunt that was originated tor Norma :TalmiLdge In 'The Eternal Plame^ some 15 years ago* This is the, largfe taper with the patrons trying to figure how Jong It Would bUrri. iTsed Irt the lobby the day before the opening; :with nards on Which to make estimates. The big noise, however, was the -parade of a. dossen pre-war .autos all bannered to the effect thdt the occupants dressed in old-time cos- tutiies, were oh their way to see the picture at the Grand. Papers were kind, and the press book ^welled. In Syracuse- Ijoew's State made the main hook to a brewery with ft bar in the lobby with free, drinks and ditto lunch, with 30 of the big beer trucks, bannered, making a parade the opening day. Students of the University were urged to participate in a Bowety costume contest and the student l^and .led the entrants from the campus to the theatre where .the decisions wei'e made and prizes .awkrded. A:nother gag waa t>,ooo irick cigars, banded 'Chuel? Cojihors Special,' with 200 window stream-r •rs used by soft drink dispenser: Stroii'g dn Streamers Elmer . Bryaiht, of Ldetv's;. Rich- mond, ya., went heavy. on wlndow- istreamers on .'FootUght Parade." Used other stunts, but concentra- tion oh; the window idea , brought 1,360' pasters. Of these' 400 were printed by the theatre fOr a newspaper drive,. Tirg- ing all to patronize advertisers in the 'News Leader* with additional .copy for the opening.' House paid for the printing but the neyirspaper did the placing. A like number of windows were sniped, for Lux soap, telling' that most .of the troUpe scrubbed with that brand, and 200 In another style!were used oii a fan magazine in stores, and on hews stands. The last batch of 350 touted a. brand of coffee carried by a chain of errocerlea. That doesn't count the taxi window streamers< A corset outfit di'iving on Its goods in a big. department store put out three girls in shorts . to play the plUgger record on the streets and there' was a dance hall hook-up on the cartoon strip.- There was also a throwoUt of 100 balloons each with a herald. . An nounced that 100 of these Would contain coins. Mostly pennies, but with a few nickels and dimes.. Cost only $3 In cash, which Was bettei* than giving away 100 passes. chance. In other .words, Intlmt^te; that if they, don't, swarm out it's a slap . at the town's reputation for Campaign ilong that line, but avoid giving offiense by speaking too plainly. Don't tell theih they're probably too dumb to ehJoy it. Exr preiss pleasure in your belief that here's a town with real apprefcla- tloft and culture; That •ought tO get theth.. ^- Piuggivg 'Keyhole' Newspaper man who happened to light In Syracuse was so Impressed with- a coup>le of stunts used. by. Manager Shaw, Of towe's State, that he shoots them in. Both are adaptations, but with new ahftles/ First was for 'Broadway Throuigh a Keyhole' tied into the NRA Buy Now drive; Dejpartment store was promoted for a 'keyhole: siatle', tak^ ing a page a-dvertlsement ..to, an^ hoUnce. that on the day befOre and on the opening day each. purchaset would receive a key. Soihe of these fitted a door set up in the lobby of the State. If they opened the door, they coUld enter the theatre a& a guest.- There were about 160: prac'- tleal keys which wer6 mixed With the other keys at Intervals. Coat of 4he^*0—admissions^was—far—beloi the'value'of the space given the at traction In the page display, not to mention . the word, of mouth pub Ucity. Other gag is iei regular. Monday stunt. Each of the city's 60 schools selects each .^(reek one pupil whose work the previous woek has been oUt^Tahdihg; These, with their pa- rents, are g:uests of the theatre witlt the winriera called to the stage to be presehted to the aUdience; Each receives an orchid supplied by a local flok-ist. Keeps interest alive in the schools. Flowers are promoted so the only cost Is the admissions, which generally are not missed on a Monday night. Blowing Up'Aim' For 'Ann Vlckers* . Richard L. Moss, abetted by Kenneth McGaffey, of the HiUstreet, lios Angeles, picked the three most absorbing Image's of the book and had. them blown up for a lobby display. It made a display that kept them sta,hdlng around &nid sent them away with a desire to see the rest. Radio station offered .prices for the best letteni on "Why I Believe Ann Vlckers Is a.- gpreat picture.' Three copies,of the book were prizeis with jpasses sent to. all who wrote above average comment. For the Culbertson short on tiie same, bill all,bridge clubs were con- tacted, and a bridge school con- ducted by a department store not ohiy gave ample, mention but sup- piled, some trick: hands for lobby displays, liocal shieet running the CulbertsOn dally article ran a bOx telling of the picture, but the knocker-oiit'er was a demonstration Of the hew bridge table which shUf.- fles and deals automatically. InTltalioii Ben M. Cohen, who's no-yv' at the Lenox theatrO, Hartfoird, put over 'She pohe WvOng* by having doorman and ushers . the cus irs^-*Mae--West-ia-heria-^«dnes day and . Thursday—Ksome up and see her sometime.' Cohen adds that the Leno^ has a hew idea for physlciahs who iare likely to be caused. QUite a clientele of'medicos. Each has his own fa- vorite seat, which.is saved for hloi when he phones he is coming. House, employees knOw these locay tlons and the dod can be yanked out without dlsttirbance; Drawing Contest Warner's press book on 'Ever in .My Heart' offers a couple of ready made ads which cah be made the basis of a slightly different draw- ing contest. These are the 21 and 23 cuts which offer the features and a bit of the coiffure of Barbara Stanwyk instead of the full face. Cut Is the same in both numbers. Rout away the two banks of type which Intrude, center the fragment oh a sheet of paper and offer prizes to those who make the best job of finishing off the portrait. This will attract many persons who would hot attempt to draw the complete face." Given the features for a starrer,- the remainder looks ea^y. They'll get interested, and they'll have- to look up other: advertising to use as a model, which will center attehtijbn on the title.: It's a good tie-in for a. newspaper and an easy way to snatch at least a double-column break. Start It a Week ahead of the picture and It will bring, better returns' than; any of the usual. straight drawinfj. con- tests. Also it will supply good ma- terial for. window work if the Hketches are placed around town. Sell Early With most theatre patroifts. fol- lowing the stars '. and Charles Laughton scarcely In that class through his Hollywood work, it is going, to take some selling to get the business that can be drawn to 'Henry VIII.' There seems -to. be small question as to its ability to please once they're In, but the com^- binatlon of a costunie play wjth English names is a problem where ^=the=stiir-^''st^m"^'prevaiisr==^''^^" ' Deferred dates should. gpt hdJd Of the pres!3 notices from ' the city dailies, If possible, and contact the editor on the idea that here is some- thing the public should not miss. Don't malce the generally fatal mis- take of overselling, but .make It patent that the picture is,, well worth while. Get the editor to start off with ah oditorl.al coni:ratu- latlng the town on getting , such a picture and expressing the hope that the attendance Will warrant the managerial action in taking a CurioBity To get attention for an attra,c tive title, a manager started early with a sign in' a store window in the same block with the .theatre. Sign-was a flap with the'flap down reading, -It you want to know what's -the next big feature com ing, to the Strand, pUll the cord.' Top...of the window was pierced a permit a cord and tassel to drop Invitingly. Pulling the coird raised the flap and gave the title and siales details. But that wasn't all. It rang a gong, changed the window lighting frOm red to white and started a jumping jack dangling. Light change was accomplished with a two-way switch attached to a spring. When the cord was .pulled it cut out the red circuit and threw in the white, tho lights going, red when the string Was released. . It all looked so mysterious, and intriguing that it surrounded the play title . with glamour,, and' the picture was more than half sold be fore the regular campaign com menced. . Follows the Films Edward Stephenson of the Cros- by . Galge office got to work on his current productlohj 'Ten ;^IInute Alibi,' in pretty nearly picture .faah ion. He arranged for tieups with various manufacturing concerns, picking, on just about every article connected with the time element, such as clocks, etc. i^ven gOt a tieup with some radio announcers to. the effect 'so many minutes for this broadcast. In that mUch time a'perfect alibi can be prepared—roi" can it?' Lifting the Curse .. Advertising a musical. which stressed .Its nUdl'ty, the. manager Of a family house used, a board made of cutouts from the pressbook to frame the legendi .:'Ortiy mlldliy: shocking.' TO carry. Out the idea two handles •from a ntcdlcal battery. were at- tached with a very mild current Most, womeh'.were 'afraid.to tackle the stunt, fearing the.-strength of the current' until the men tried it^ but it- put the big Idea over in an emphatic fashion.' iDemonstrative stuff has mUch more value than mere istatement, arid this gag was worth real money .at.the.b, 0. .Sbmie Idea wasi.used fOr another picture, with -Ahei-caption- *A Live W:ire comedy.' In this case, half a do3en,spark plugs Were wired In from- a. Jump coil and*' act^d, out theJs.lQga n. ^ . : ■ Students' Plug New iiaven. At the College, Robert Burns got 'Saturday's Millions' off to a flying start by some exploitation along the athletic angle. Opening night of run, Burns invited local high schoo' football isquad .and topp the event off with a talk on '1933 Football' by Sports Editor Dah Mulvcy of town's leading dally. Other school squads were guests on following nights. used, as being least apt to go wrong, and old peris are dropped Into the ink supply'; Not generally known that most irtka contain free add which hastens,, corrosion. Acid, spends Itself on the throwaways and reduces the damage to the public pens. Planning now to extend the. scr.r vice to the local bank,, though there have: been .no.klcks,from this So.\irce. , Two for .'Pai^de^ TWO exceptional .stunts are re- porttid On 'Footlight Parade', the best cOmirig. from Indianapolis Where Ace Berry, of the Circle, bor- rowed 50 cars for an auto, parade. Junior. Chamber of Commerce rode in. the. first two cars, which Were "bannered as l»avlrig the Cham- ber welcoming tbc picture to the city; Next three cars had show- girls riding: on the folded tops of touring cars. At Occasional halts tiftey would stand up and give the gaping crowds a better chance, to look, at the same time handing out heralds. Layout , also included two sound truOks. Other stunt comes from Pitts- burgh where Harry. Kalmine> 'VV;arr. ner zone manager^ 'built, a wdterfall for the lobby Of the Stanley with five streams of . real waten Rocks were dotted with snowgiri cutoWtH Made a real flash. ^ Mae at the Game Seattle. Heavy, advertising guns.. in the papers, radio and billboards for Mae. West in 'I'm No Angel' for run at Fifth Avenue, with banners across highways at four main roads Intq the town. Oke stunt was appearance of Tiannasee Federll, head of personnel for Evergreen theatreis, at football rally as a Mae West.. She- did it well iand gave a little talk. Pablio Service Small towner heard a lot of kicks about the pens In the post -office. That's standard cOmpIaint in most small towns where the. postmaster makes the pens last as-long as pos- sible. Gave the manager an idea' ^d he arranged to keep the inkwells full and supply new pens In return for a card stating that he provided the writing material. So far ho post office Inspector has noticed, the modest, sign, and the theatre boss feels that It well repays the trouble involved. , Each morning the lohe usher is sent over to fill the two inkwells and see that the pens are in work- ing order. Ball pointed, pens, are Played Bace and Won ■Washington. Faci&d with doubtful race reaction to 'EmperOr Jones', Keith's,. lOcal RKO house, jumped right into mid die of question w^th heayy exploita tion openly playing up Negro angle. And it worked. Biggest stunt,wa:s putting well- known, local colored raidlo quartet on marqUee; Loudspeakers blared iip and down, street for a block. Even got some customers .off street cars as they passed by. ' Four Weeks* Supply Birmingham. A special tabloid supplement ap- peared here as a section of the 'Post' devoted to amusements for the next four weeks. Section was a financial success for the paper and editorial contents was along the lines of the monthly national fan magazines. The bulk .of the advertising Was obtained from the atres but a number of department stores and specialty' shops placed copy, too. Plays Up Vande Sid Scott who recently took up the reins at the Capitol, Windsor, Can., splashed the Henry Santrey band all over a generous space in the local paper. About five-sixths Of the space was given .:the..eight acts in what must be a home-made display, but which .Would look all right in a city paper. First flesh show of the season and off -with a .whoop. Feature, 'Torch Singer,' was merely Stripped across the bot- tom, but they have film every week. Montreal. . Shake-up in main stem houses hSre following stage shows at Loew's and straight vaude current Week gives Cajpltol one big feature and stage show In place of .two features and replaces J?alace sin- gle features' program with double feature bill. George Rotsky» for many years manager of the Palace, beoomes manager of the Capitol under the new scheme aUd Gene Curtis, for- merly manager Of Capitol, before he Was transferred to Halifax, is recalled from the Nova iScotla cap- ital to take over the, management of -the Palace^ from Rotgky. Changes are In accordance with new policy under the presidency of N. L. Nathanson, Famous Players Corporation of Canada, who .Oper- ate the big three theatres in this city. Indianapolis. I. M, Halperln replaces. Eddie Welsfeidt at the Indiana. Eddie to Milwaukee.. Montgoriiery, Ala. Deiter, Montgomery, opens Dec 1. Ike KatZ; manager of the Alabu- iria AmuSi^ Co;.,_ will operate^^ Los Anoreles. Al Hanson, F-WC district man- ager, Is building the^ Symphony, Compton, Calif. His o;ld house was shaken, down, in March;carthquake. (»ore Bros., "who announced they Would build in Compton, have with- drawn. syndicate operating Coliseum in Mansfield. Lou Golden reopened RKO- Keith's. 105th St. With second-run films week days and vaudeville revues, last ' three dayis. Ted Leary m.c'ing shows arid Bebe' Bafri Stag- ing choruses. Harry Wareham as assistant manager. Wirid.^ a,- Meer,., a . l.OOO-seater lea:scd by Augustas GreenWald -to Windermere-Cleveland Company for ten years at $75,000-foir.period. Music Pulls Value of a musicals,.§tunt :in tlio lobhyi Wias again domonstrat(?i.V » couple of weeks ago when Loew'd State, New York, had 'Too Much. Harmony' and sold it with Blng Crosbylg.. records . through a loud*' speaker. • From 25 to.. lOO personS congi*egated in front of the display stand, tho centra,! .panel Of . whlcU: was: a, gauze masking the speaker; ■While they listened they were con- fi-onted with brief sales copy and thte Thoat interesting^ of the" Stills;" It was a combination difficult, to beat. The setup was placed in front of the box office, where tickets were! handy^ but it should be understood that: 'loudspeaker' did not mean that the pcwrer was full oh and th©, , house was seeking to .ad-yertlse. to ' the man across the istreet. The" vol- ume was kept, io-w, so thiey had: to stand,close in, arid, did not attract those who stood at the ciirb, which probiably -was the only reason why there was rOoni for the ,usual street traffic,, heavy at this strategical point. The day of this top volume repr6»" ductioh- is about gone. It. belonged iri the class -with the mecliariica] plairio of this very early days,v Now! it's , soft arid low if It'^ to. sen. It seUs—on-^muslcal—quality—a,nd—not— riiercly on vOluriae Of sound. Made to Fzploit From reports it is .evident that first runs everywhere are keenly alive to the eicploitation possibilities of 'The Bowery' arid are going the distance with the picture: It was made for'the press-agents, and they have not been slow to fOlloW it up, tJnhke 'Lady for a Day,' which, had one outstanding contact, 'Tho Bowery' offers as many angles aa there are to a well cut diamond, and the campaigns offer a variety of stunts rather than one particular gag> which fits the picture like tho skin off its back. A number of the stunts already have been reported, but so far there has been ho report .of the kiddie lm» , personation of Chuck Connors, though this could be made a knock- oMU TM dance hall tie-up seems almost inevitablei, and a variety of street workers havp been .pUt out in costumes of the period. But th« danee halls seem to have forgotten that the Bowery of that period Was given over to the 'Rag,' forerunner of a long list of name dances. The rag was- a slow waltz with.cooch variations, and it used to draw peo.- ple down to Little Buck's, Paresis Hall and similar resorts until it was ' brought uptown by Oscar Hammer- stein and. staged by ChUck and hiji girl on the Olympla rOof. Fioflsy Howard Waugh, of Warher^s theatre, Memphis, put on the frills for 'Footlight Parade,' He pro- moted a free trip by plane to Holly- wood for the. Winner of an iden- tification contest, tieing it In to the 'Press-Scimitar.' Used the masked star angle, with six two-column cuts printed, on each day, for the week. Players had masks over th6 eyeia, and con- testants were required to identify the half dozen and add. a letter : on •Why I would' like to visit Holly- wood,' keeping insldei 100 words. Included was a week's entertain- ment in Hollywood by the Warner .studio. Got off to .a. threercol. front-page break, with a six-day follow-up and the final .annountemcnt, all of, which helped to" stimulate b^uslhess at the boxofflce and helped the paper soil more copies, too. Saji Francisco; : Charles A'. Leonard put of United Artist)}- as p..a'., succeeded by : Emil Bondesoh, who has been Henry DufCy's .man here .for some years, managing the Alcazar.- Sam Levin of Levin Thfiiatre.^ On Mexican, trip with Samuel iX Steinr berg. ' *- Jamaicfi, Ij. It^~ K. M. Glucksman, Myron Robin- son and Arnold Ulttenbcr':? haye taken over the Carlton, $850,000 de luxer, whih went through every pol- icy, including Corse Paytori cprifiblT. nation stock anrl boor garden. Trl- wcekly straight pix now. John Hhoridan, houHC niahager. Billy lirandt/jfijin bnyoi' foi^tjlio' liou.ge. (eve. Theatre Syndicate Cleveland, Oct. 31. Fx'ed Clary resigning from Allen as manager to organize Cleveland Denver. I'allfif's: aii'l p'"i'''*"-tf^t the Rex and Kiva .'it Oj'folo.v Jiavc been switched, boooiiies ih-i^l run at-SSjc.'Rex ^jor-s urin'l,' 13<". Howard Trumbo m;(n?i«irij,' thtt, I'alm, Pueblo, a Coop- or-rubli.K theatre, Fl. Wayfi . I,(»ir^' coiitrovoi'By bftwoori opora- t'lrs' union Xo. 4Cf) and Tony Nollc- fiou, proprietor of Cielghton and (Continued on page 26) Free !Eats Sectional" house lately had a neat tie-in that .cost nothing and brought lots,: .. Nearby restaurant was try- ing to push the idea of something' to eat after the show. - Manager got- five, pairs of orders for eats. Not used sis a prize con- test. He just stood in the lobby and gave out the orders as the pa*- trona. left." H6 • took care ^ not tp make; the same handout., twice, and In five weeks he gave out nearly 200 orders. Then the restaurant de.- cided it had about all the business it could get and dropped out. Point of the story is that tho quiet distribution had much , more effect. than the usual plan of .such handouts, it might be adapted-to other sampling schemes. ' Lacks hurrah, but- carries the impresslpn of a personal courtesy instead 6t .d istribution ., -.since- -the--manag er.^- Ju-st-luck. Al.sb it inwureij a better pick.s tlie reoiplont.s. Wearing Out Ft.'Wayrio. i''ii-.«t-run lu)UHf'S are expcrienfilng Hoirin funny busincKs when it coriies to mii.s-ic. tift-ujKS on lUm.s, .Dime Htoro.s and Other .shops are getting indiffei'en't to window displays ^nd: fonntor layouts fooling that this particular medium for exploitation (Continued on pagfe 25)