Variety (Nov 1933)

Tuesday, November 21, 193S PICT ES VARIETY Companions Help It has been 40 years' since con- cert parties, such . as f prjn . tlie basis of 'Good Companions' h^,ve been prevalent this, side of the water, and the new .eenerat'Ion probably never heiard of . thenv One 'manager, with plenty of feeder towns in. his. territory^ sent ou' a tfoupe of ..these smaller spots. They traveled in a: bus and. gave a sho.w on a .iflaf . truck which accom- panied the .outfit. Troupe was re- cruited, from the clever amateurs who supply the theatre with local talent from time to time. A thi'ow- away told abbut. -concert parties, working in to chait about .•Good Compan.i.o.i.i$,' and on a two-day run thero Was a good attehdanbe from the rural d.istrlcts, and they seenied to enjoy the. picture.' Not so good is the request from church s.ocitles iri.twoopf the towns for the troupe to feome back and give a full show.for charity funds. That will cut down the attendance on the nights they play, but still it's felt they Will be a big advertiser ment for the theatre/, si nee the lat- ter will get program credit; It might help sonie to-run. a con- test for rerrilnlscences about old concert parties such as the' Swiss bell ringers and others. Frame Suggestions Last year a number of theatres followed the suggestion in this de partment to visit the 10c stores and give a coupl^ of passes' for the broken Christmas tree ornaments, to be pounded Into a superior flit ter, but not as. many -bought in the artificial, snow for summer use, though many stores will sell at a discount to avoid storage for 11 months. Buy this up, too, and use it as smalt on igtill. frame backings and in othier ways. Try a very deep (mitlnlght) blue powdered with snow. You'll be pleased. Another good gag 1$ the use of a Jigsaw puzzle glued to: the frame of a set of mystery story stills with the intimation that a jig puzzle iis no more intricate than the plot .of the story being toutedv' . Another idea is to frame a blackboard on which has been.painted the. dlaigram of one of the croSs-wdrd. puzzles still found in some press books. Let anyone try to ^olve the' puzsile In the lobby, erasing their efforts when they either succeed or give up. If you want to Jazz this a bit offer prizes for the most speedy solutions, timing each contestant. This needs someone for the timing, but picl someone who can keep up a. run nln.q: ballyhoo. Getting back to the five, and 10 buy some of those small pumpkin lanterns they sold for Hallowe'en and use them on the Thanksgiving frames^ Try to make the frames different, it pays; Attention Getter better in these days of slow tax payments is a mailed piece with the only printing on . the envelope large 'Taxpayers' Final Notice.' Those who have not paid up will read to see what's waiting for. them, Those Who. .have will open to'con found the tax department, but they'll, all read the enclosure which runs to the. effect that whether oif not the recipient has paid , his taxes, he owes it to himself to see the pic ture being shown at the theatre on certain dates. This is always good for a smile, and smiles sell tickets Slmilair lines will prove almost equally good,, but right now the tax angle is the one which will get the most attention. Another good one timer is an envelope with 'Police Business' Streamed, with a small business card With an eight point •Police Department'and a;; flve-point town and state: other than that Iii which the envelope :ls circulated If possible the town in. which the story is Supposed to be located This type Is so small that It prob ably Will not be read until the big type.Jiaa. done its work, Biqi Stunts Enrique ; Baez, United Artists manager 'in Rio de Janeiro, shot over 'Samarang' at the Gloria thea tre there Nov. 9, From the press book; he got the Idea for the grass skirted native girl evidently, .sug- gested by 'The Blue Angel.' Tou blow up the skirt to learn about 'Samarang,' On his own he worked out an imitation pearl that was" supposed to be love charm. This carried =^no-house=name=or=diEeet^adv.eEtiafi^ ment for the picture,, but of course •was associated, with the showing by the fact It was a Samarang pearl. But the loud noise was a Sama rang Club having for its objective the acquirement of beauty and sun- tan through: going bire to the waist. Summer is., just starting in Brazil, whl.ch mado^the gag timely. Put the semi-scenic off to an important BtarU Cans 1 Cans! Cans! Omaha, Nov. 13i Stanley Brown, Orpheum managerj has to lay. iawake nights to keep , ahead of the entrants in his kiddie klub con- test, System iS; tie-up . with; local merchants, whereby kids are given votes in exchange for einpty coflfee: cans, break- fast food, cavtons; etc. • Already youngsters have been^ dragging cans in via wheelbarrows, gunny-sacks and coaster wag- ons. ■\yiieri. .<3tack of redeemed cans reached dray. load dimen- sions, Brown had them, carted to a nearby dump, .and first kick-back came next day when ambitious contestants brought in discarded cans for niore .votes. Manager protected himr. "self from a recurrence on this -by having this load and all subsequent hailed to privaite dump. Blow'Off came, when express cfDmpany called Brown with in- formation that youngster had hired them . to deliver 3,000 empties to. theatre. This. tlnie Brown, begged off on. receiving delivery until closing date Of contest, 'W'hene kid secured them Is a mystery, but. 3,000 cans at; 1,000 votes per can means 3,000,000 votes arid a cinch for .first prize—balloon- tired bicyc!el Check-up re- vealed kid wlthih rights as these cans pteviouisly l^ad not been redcemied. Free Heialds It's almost automatic procedure to get bcHOk marks, either In public or store circulating libraries for boolc- origih pictures, but there IS: one angle, that is seldom worked, though always useful: This Is selling oft ihe herald to a book store handling the repaints, store uslng^ the. space, to feature the 75c. edition t>f the story but adding otHer salies talk along the same, lines. Most heralds Carry a half page space, f or- the theatre Imprlht. It does, not really matter whether the theatre uses the space direct or gets mention of the fact the film is playing. On the other hand almost any book dealer can be talked . Into the advantaige of putting its ad oh a sheet which through its pictorial advantages will hold attention where a store's black, and white would go into th^ . basket unread. Sales talk Is that the heralds, are sold at cost and at a cost predicat- ed ^n production In million rather than thousand lots. The store gets rock bottom price and the. theatre cares for the distribution through the malls or otherwise, getting or- ganized handling Instead of slipshod small-boy delivery. Christmas Parade Manager who annually works the gift matinee shortly after Thanks giving, to get toys for poor chil- dren at Christmas time, has worked In a new slant.- This year the club members will make their own. distribution of the presents, Boys will bring their ex- press wagons to the theatre on Christmas morning, and ea:ch will take out a load of toys- to an ad- dress list supplied by members of the Parent-Teachers' /association. The girls will go along to .deliver. Idea behind it all is that the kids actually see the poverty and not only will appreciate their own gifts the n^oi'e, but will be more generous minded to the poor. Not too late to frame up a scheme that will do the house a lot of good It will serve to offset some of the acrid comment in a sector where that will do real good. New Yearns Pledge It may be a little early' to be thinking about 1934, but It's a,s good a time as any to . have printed up some New Year; resolutions which made good 10 years ago. A manager Had neatly printed a. one o ld strmt-^hafr-Haeema—■even- -Nev^r-^aris^resolutlOn.^^hich was. mailed to the head of each family Just after Christmas. It wai9 also given children who apjplied at the theatre for them. It made .qilit.e a hit and for a time, at any rate, it brought results.. Copy was headed 'My resolution, with the proper year datei and rah oh. 'I resolve that, during the year 1934 I shall try and give my family some J.oy out of life, and to that end I ..am resolved to take them- all at least, once, a week .^o the Queen theatre, I shall take them more often If finances permit, but I shall make every effort to give them an outing a,t least once a week,' .There was spa.ce for the signature and two witnesses, generally the childreh, who used their best efforts to see that Dad kept his pledge, Just an inconsequential stunt, but for a time a real business hiaker. Two from Portland Portland, Ore, Homer Gill had the bright Idea, of replaclhg 100 feet of stores awning around the Liberty lobby, with new white canvas carrying the legenc 'I'm No Angel—Mae West,' It's an eye catcher and well worth the cost for a Pic likely to make a long run.. H.: H. S.- Kendrick hookied up. a mike directly in froht of his isCreen horns and then , by private wire to KOIN studios. ;iBroadca3t half hour of the plC dialog and got consider able attention from this tinusual tie-up with radio station. Sooms Bridge Short Rochester. Local InterestTh "Brlffgerncauses RKO-Palace to give, the Ely CJul bertson shorts a big play in tleup with the Democrat & Chronicle The newspaper prints the setup of hands the Sunday before screen showing In form of' conte.st with readers invited tO try to hit Cul l)ortson bid for prizes. Earl S Cobey givQH free instruction evtfi'y afternoon in the Palace lobby. Paid Prieiscriptions Imitation prescriptions have, been used many times, but they come in hi^ndy on "Dr, Bull,' particularly if they are Capsuled. This was done by the Academy. N. T., but the house thrlftly laid off the cost to a chain of drug stores, which took the back to suggest that a prescrip- tion was frequently a matter of life and death arid should be taken orily to some drug store of . repute, 'The thing was printed On a small size prescription blank with Dr. Bull's printed card and a written message done from a plate. This was folded and rolled until It could be slipped Into a No. 8 capsule, arid these were handed out. Many will take- a capsule who would wave away a handbill, and they will open and read out of curiosity. That Is the advantage ga,Ined by the addi- tional Investment. For a couple of dollars more the actual circulation is largely Increased. Hewitt. Homewreckeir Robinson, Hi. Nov. 20. Joe Hewitt had plenty to do when he Played 'I'm NO Angel' .lately. He sent out 3.50 Post- cards,, all hand written by. girl?, ■ with the. message. 'Dear Al, (or whate;ver the name might be) ' I'm cohiing to Robihsbh, Sun- day for a few days. IH be put- ting up at the t^incoln.. Come up ..and see hie sOhietlme, .'Aivy .. time; Mae. P. S.. You know I'm no angel.' . Gag was that Lincoln Is hot only, the' name of Hewitt'/ theatre but of a hotel. Be- ing on a postal,. WiyCs: got first look .ieit the message and Hewitt was kept busy ex- plaining.: . Hewitt has- beeh worklhg the stuht'.on lahd off, he says, the past 12 years, but he. hever got. a '■ break like this last ohe. Stocking Parade Tlioiigh It's a dozen years old, the stociclhs parade .. burned up Salt Lake City for 'Footlight Pa- rade* Ih spite of the fact the police had to shut. U dbwh because .It blocked traiflc. ' . Department store window Avas Tised with the curtain pulled down to a little' less thah: knee high, with the space lettered for the. picture; Six chorus -girls were ehiployed to sit In. the . window. For a time they would do a tap danc9 in unlsoii,- while seated. Then .one after the other they would:change stockings and model the new pair .until all six Were In motion. "A row of sniall bulbs gave, the footlights. Idea. After the parade the shade would be pulled all the -way 4own' until most of the crowd had dispersed.. The police stopped It at the end of the second . dt^y, but permitted a one-day . encore the opening day. Not only gave the theatre a new record, but the store got a lot more sales. Gag wa,s .first worked In Newark about 1920. Two: Puhlications Loftug> of |he Royalty cihehiici, IjbndOn, .sehds in tiie twQ publicatlohs hei. gets out for' his house.. One Is the Royalty tiieatr* magazine, a I6-pager with tw<* pages for each of the month's dou« bie. features. The other is-the iPllni Coux'ier. and. is a four pagef With a front star portrait, the inside td the current offering , and thie back ,fpi* thel • underlihe, . very orderly In presentation, shiartly written, w;lth an economy of words iaihd with bet* ter cuts than would be Used" .''over .here,. Paper permits the Use of 12i screen and probably could jgo to 149 In a pinch. Some SO^^screeh cuts are slipped iri, but they .are so well printed they do not.puli the appear- ance down much, Mr, . L'Oftus also slips' ih an idea Which originated over hiere st dozen" years ago, the multiple folder. . It's a strip of papei*, 21x2% . Inches, First fold is slightly less than tWo inches. With, the rest of the streamer fold-, ed oyer and over In a wrap around Instead of .accordion ^tyle. Each sheet discloses a pair of new teaser messages until the Inside pages, are finally reached, with an advertlse- meht fOr the house's crazy show. This Used to be populiair ovei:, here,, but none .has come In; for ||i long time. Perhaps this will bring a re- vival; it should. Point is that the English Show- man Is. Just as alert as his Yankee brother; general belief to the coh- trary. Shine ifditlw Macon, Ga. Forrest T. Coker, managet* of the Capitol, succeeding Hudson Ed" wards, who goes to the Rialto. Birmingham. On warrant by N. H, Waters of 'Waters chain of nabes, Mr. ° and Mrs. H. S. Gilmer of Talrfleld were arrested In connection with a iflare bohib in the Fairfield theatre Oct. -2g._-^ater s-chain la non-u nion. Newburgh, N. Y. Supreme Court Justice Morsch- auser has referred to Justice "Wlt- scblef the further hearing on con-r flrmatlon of a referee's report In connection with the mortgage fore- closure sale of three MIddletown theatres. Justice Witschlefi Is 111, but Justice Morschaiier indicated that the former, before whOm all previous hearings have taken place, should conclude the case. The prop- erties are the Show Shop, State, and Straton theatres, which recently were hid In for $150,000. ' Creston, la,- (Glenn W. Dickinson Theatre Co., Lawrence, Kan., has leased, the Iowa and will, k^eopen after com.pletely re- decorated and new equlpmeht In- stalled. Eller Metzger. to manage. Lester Zimmerman temporarily In charge of publicity ahd advertising at the Fox, Brooklyn... Arthur Hous- man, who resigned to join. National Screen, Is still doing aids and trail-, era. Zimmerman wa.s assistant to Housmari. Syracuse. Refunds totalling $3,007 to the i^ellevue-RiCh Corp., owner., of the Riviera, ■will be made by the city pursuant to orders in certiorari 9^- sessMent cases signed by Supreme Court Justice Franlt J. Criegg. San Francisco. Following changes In Ownership In this territory: Rex, Clovls, from John- Hucknall to^^J"Kcnirea3terv-~^Llbertyr>May,H- ville, from Tom Bellisls to Morgan Walsh aind George Mann (Midland Theatres); New Regent, San Mateo, from W. C Poole of Regent Theatre Corp. to P. Kyprlos. Name, changes Include: New Turlock, Turlock, to Broadway; Mt; 'View, Mt. View', to Blanco's; Setab, Portola, to Gllda; Gaiety, Frl.«co,.to lloxie. Milwaukee. D. E. Weshher how zone manager for the 21 Warner houses In Wis- consin. Recently advertising. - and publicity, director for. the Stanley Fabian and national Warneir the- atres. . Charlotte, N. C. Renovation and construction pro- gram launched . by Criterion here^ with two shifts of 26 men working 24 hours.a. day to keep hoiise closed as ishort as possible^ Chahges'in- cTude Ibwerlttg^l.tlHniyr'ln^ of new seats) hew and elaborate lounge with new furnishings, re- building office floor under balcohy, and painting. No special connection between *After Tonight* and a nail polish .by Kenneth McGaffey knew .where he Could do a tie-In, so he sold his boss, Richard L. MosS, the idea oif. a man- icurist Ih the lobby of the Hlllstreet, Los Angeles,, to demonstrate one of thoisei pink pastes, which Is. manu- factured by the owners of a string of beauty shoppes, Not Only gave the demonstration, but he planted In the dressing room of each shop a blurb about, the. pic- ture^ On the proposition that the girls would talk about. It ias they worked oven, their clients. Word, of mouth. W;a3 perhaps even better thah the lobby work, since it reached . . persons" who were not around the theatre, but the lobby got a. ballyhoo that helped, and the theatre customers were appreciative of something for nothing. Hlllstreet always takes a small as in a Mex paper when It has Gil- bert Roland on the screen.. He has a big. following among the Latins, and It pays to tell them where and when he Is. This foreign angle) Is belhg used more geheraliy, but lots oif towns still ignore this help when Oppor- tunity affords. Los AngeleSr Following chahges have . been made ih. Fox West Coast theatre and managerial setups In the.South- ern California district. San Bernardlne, Burton Jones re- places Gerald Gallagher as manager of the West Coast, Gallagher goes to San Diego territory, with definite placehvent to be announced later. Redlands, Edward Penn replaces Burton Jones as nriahager at the Redlahds.. HermoSa: H.er mosa Closed Indefinitely. Manager . Rob- ert Sprowl ..temporarily; unasslgned, Sah Pedro: J. D. L, ESperance re- places C, S. Ci'ews as manager at the Cabrlllo, with Robert T. Smith going, into spot, vacated . by L'l^s- perance at the Florence in Los An- geles. Santa Monica: John Hall re-^ places Robert Smith as manager of the .Criterion. Oceon Park: Louis 'Vega who was skeded to'gp to the Golden :Gate.. .as. assistant .zhaihage.r to Peskay, will act as house man ager at the Dome, ..Chicago..., . Chicago Title 'and Trust last week filed suit to. foreclose on Pickwick Theatre building, owned by Bill Ma- lohe. . Follows default of July Interest on 1350,000' bond issue. Bill charges di- version of. rental coin frOm bond payment. ■yendome theatre reopcntjd by John KCmp, leasing spot frorn re- ceivers. Business "Written during Para- mount. Week in September has re-' HUlted In award of prizes to ex-' changes, salesmen. a,hd booker.s par- tlcIpatinfT. Branch Which did the best business v,-a.H Seattle, Ncal East grabbing the $750 first prize. John Howard, branch chieftain at Pfirt- land. Me..., No. 2,.copping $.")0(i, arid (Continued oh page 26) Taking the Cake Most theatres have annlversajies iq'"xa3cc3~tor°marfc the'- event. Generally the cakes are iced With plaster of parls over a paste* board frame and sometimes It goes down cellar to be dusted off the next year with another candle added. Where real cake Is used,. It may. be tied ih to an estlniate contest as to the weight of the cake, but that'n about .as far as It go^s. One theatre Varied the stunt one year with a parade of -children with a slice of the cake promised each paradei'. Kids marched half a mile to the house, where the parade was dismissed, with each child given a coupon good for a «llce. Cake, Which was pure fake, was taken in- to the theiatre "to be cut" and after a, 10 minute wait trays of slices were brought out to: be exchanged for the coupons.' Saved mess, saved the extra trouble involved in baking the' gUint, and gave the youngsters; fresh cake, It's a irbod way to get a parade; .for a small investment, and it can make plenty of noise even in slzer able places. Idea From Press Book . Salt Lake City.. L. Marcus theatres—^Japltol,. Par- amouht and yictory.T^uppOrtlng non-advertlslng raid lb gossip' broad- cast pattcirned, after .Wihchell. George ProVol, selected after nriany tryouts. for . spieler spot because Of perfect doubling of W. W, Phony name of. "Wauer wind used to put oyer movie .goSsipi Idea' originated with DIv. Mgr. Harry. David after heaHng one-time shot put oh by KDTL as bulld-up fOr 'Broadway Through Keyhole' from script fur-' . nl3hed»wlth=^iaMmJ^ Ghasing tie Duck Fort Worth, Bob Donohue, Pftlace publicity agent, had two boys, dressed like Grouchb and Harpo, lead four ducks around to-wn to advertise ^Duck Soup.| A rcnot In ».;indow also was - '(Continued on page 48).