Variety (Mar 1934)

Tuesday, March 6, 1^134 PIC¥URES VARIETY SS Silent Auotioit Exhibitor who believes that it nays to help church and other or- Sanizatlons, made a clean-Up re^ eently with a slldnt auction for a ^urch society. The members apr Sealed to him for help, but they Kid no Ideas to offer. Exhib told Mhem to go out and promote con- tolbutions from the jstprea, stress- tas the fact that they should be attractive in appearance. Society accumulated about. a dozen articles raneihg from a radio Jet to tt string of pearls. Each was on display for two weeks In the window of the donor, with a card stating that it was one of th6 ar- ticles to be silently auctioned by the theatre and the society. No further details, but a reference to the lobby of the theatre on certain dates. A we^l' before the auction the articles were brought: Into the lobby with a card explaining that these would pass to the highest bidders at an auction to be held the opening night of a picture that needed help. Each bid had to be placed In a sealed envelope and ^narked with the name of the article bid upon; If the bid was the hlgh- °Mt and the bidder in the house, that bid took the article. If the high bidder was not present It <«rent to the next highest Envelopes were opened on the stage oh the night ahndunced; and it nice sum was- realized by the co- «iety while the house had capacity for a second string attraction. With « glib talker to m:c., the event proved really exciting. Small, town •tuff, but good for the habes,. Stag Specials Exhibitor who htMS tried most •verything found he could not put over a midnight matinee in his town. Plenty of people to object to the girls: being out that late and the suggestion was frowned down. Then he came out with a little Idea of his own, a stag Saturday flight special. House regularly doses about 10:45, so th^ special was schemed to start at 11. Care- fully advertised that the show would be precisely the same as that offered ■ earlier in the evening, but the fact stressed that there would be no women present to bother the menfolk, who could sprawl, out to make themselves comfortable. Plenty took no stock in the same 'ahow announcement, feeling. that the manager had an ace lipi his ■leeve, and the house was well mied for the first stag. But the ohow was precisely the. siame, with no added attractions other than that oh the way out the men yrete offered hot dogs-and a choice of beer or coffee as a midnight snack, the show ending about 12:46, with the local restaurants closed by then. Mostly the older men came back for the second stag, but they like It mo well It seems to be> a permaU' ency. Now the woman Q.re. clamor Ing for a hen special and the man iager is trying to figure some scheme to reserve the last regular tthow for them one night a week, with tea and cakes Instead of dogs OJid beer. Cast letters Managers who like to get some- thing different for their llriiby dis- plays . could ' experiment with cast letters. Not as much tf ouble aa it sounds and with a little practice will produce unusual results. Essentials, are a large sheet of glass, some putty and something to chst Putty Is spread evenly on the glass to a thickness of aboijj: half ian inch, with the surface either smoothed, or left slightly rough. B.e.r fore the putty hardens the letters ai« cut Into the surface, but In ."re- verse. Excess putty Is removed and any fusible substance poured ln« .. The latter may be rOsln, paraffin, beeswax, printers' roller composi- tion, lead, cement or plaster of pttrls, and most of these substances can be glVen color by the addition of analln dyes or the .colors sold by hardware stores for cement.. , If a large plate Is not available the letters'can' be cast singly. If. the plate Is Targe enough for the entire title, the sign can be cast in a block by building a putty wall ai^ound the edge to permit pouring to the depth of about an inch. A' good effect can be had if the letters are poured in one cotbr and the base made of similar material, but of a different color. Where wax or sim- ilar material is used, it is possible to sprinkle colpr on after the: sign has been rembyed from the m.ould. Sign Material Neighborhood V & X storei re- cently created a neat^ sign for a gumdrop sale utilizing letters of the tiandy Itself against a backing of •llvered ollclbth. Drops were rather large and with their sugar covering suggested jewels rather than gum- drops. Pinned to the ground cloth With the evident idea of putting the . goods.back in. stock. For a theatre display it would need a glass pro- tection, but it makes an effective Aign if dark colored candy is used. Another home-made effect was Obtained with the granulated cork In which Spanish grapes Cpme packed. Sieved to remove the fine "liusl'amr gbiie"dv^n'0 removenptcces^ of elccessive . size. Remainder was sprinkled on a varnished surface on Whieh-the-varnlsh had almbst dried. When completely dry it was. sprayed With gold or silver painti. Lettered With cardboard cutouts done in a deep blue for "the silver and emerald *reen for the gold. Highly effective Under the spot. Second use of bilcloth. was a jglossy black with letters cut from Similar material, but dead whlt6. liooked more like patent leather and k banner style sign drew much ap " reciativp comment. Blowing for Kate Indianapolis; were startled last week to hear the i9trains of 'When the Moon Comes Over the Mountains' coming down but of the sky. Trumpeteers were bn top of downtown office buildings lustily blowing the familiar theme song in connection with the per- sonal appearance of Kate Smith at the Indiana tbeati-e. Idea was Tom IjOng'H, [ndiana publicity agent. Looks like a Contest Wliere contests have nbt been dbnd,to death, Paramount's 'Strange Holiday* ofiters a good contact point for a contest on the strangest vaca^ tlon the entrant has ever spent. Can be worked as an ad lib or. the con- testant can be required to be pre- pared to authenticate the writing in the events of a win. From another slant the contest catt be on the sort of novel vaca-- tlon the contestant would like to enjoy. "This gives more room for he imagination and may pbsslbly ead to a hook-In with railroads, bus lines and other forms of travel, advertising that strange vacations may be reached through the medium of the transportiatlon service. Oeherally a contest - requires a newspaper co-operation, but a sinall house can work It solo If there is room to post the most likely en- tries. A committeo weeds out the Impossibles and the others are af- fixed on the wallis with votes given with each ticket, or the judging cah be done and the winners then posted. If there's a vacant store nearby^ so much the better. Use the window and get a wider circulation. Saves Space Lobby or window sign that gets plenty of attention and carries a double message is made in a box fronted with a sheet of sign paper on which is painted a sales message in light transparent colors. Back of this is . another sheet of paper glass on which Is painted in black opaque letters the. title of the play the sales copy seeks to put over. Slow fiasher button with a strong light throws the solid letter into relief when the Ught is on. When it's off the sales copy Is easily read. Simple to make and maintain, and decidedly effective. Another adaptation of the idea is good for crlhne plays and mys- teries. Here the outside sheet shows a window or door. When the back light is on the figure of the culprit is strongly silhouetted. This-calls for a nice adjustment of the sblld figure so that it is in exiact register. A variant is merely to. show a brick wall, with the crime .enacted oh the second shiset. In a, third treatment the message can be written as a whole, with the title or star dropped out in the front sheet. Here the entire mes- sage should be in opaque. AH three are useful. Baseball Kext Next on this regular program Is the baseball season, and it's up to the theatre to make as much ais It can out of the game while permits, ting the baseballers to take as little as possible from the theatreu If there Is material handy a hoiise team Is a good bet, , either in the twilight league -or a Sunday afternoon aggregatlbni A losing team Is worse than hothltig, .so Un- less a. reasonably good nine' can >e picked it Is better to lay off. With sbme good boys it's worth while making a noi le. People, are boun<l to see ball games. If they can be reminded of tho theatre, they may come to the shows, too. . ^ Broadening the Idea, It should be possible to form a .league of six or eight teams to play through the season. Each team ishould repre- sent a section, ., trade other Identt fylhg connection, and with the in terest worked up the league games c&a be built Into a. real Issue with, the theatre capitalizing the players through their evening visits and special events. It is even pbssible to sell tickets for the games. One house. sold a dbuble ticket' for the game and show ahd made money; It does no gbod to start out, with a whoop, and fold in the. middle of the season.: The reaction will, be against the house,, no matter how profitable the early games inay have plroven. If nothing else is done, there can at least be ^ league started in the kid club. Trick Letters . Manager who had a lot of colored foil for his lobby signs got tired of seeing it look the same eveiy week. He had a chat with his sign writer and they worked put an Idea, .liet- ters were cut from the. foil of the proper height, but twice the width of the letter. Only the edges of the foil were. pasted down, the. surpluis being arched, and when diry the foil was pinched and crumpled. The result was a letter that caught the light from a dozen angles. Much more effective- than the slickly glued foil, and worth the ex tra trouble for a change. Another effective letter was made by cutting them from odd bits of compoboard, giving thjem .a. coat of .varnish and theh sprinkling with pounded glass, when the varnish was tacky but. not quite dry. If put on too soon the varnish will cover the smalt and duU the reflecting surface, so it pays to take, a little time. Colored glass will not work, since the cPlor is mostly on the surface, but it can be colored by lights concealed in the frame. All of the card will take some color, but the glass will reflect more than the dead white surface. In making these letters sprlhkle the edge as well as the top. The thicker the card the bette^ the result. Hew XdMitification Usual identification contests with picture stars had gone over so well a smiall towner was moved to try a local identification.: It wbrk^ even better, as it should In any town up to 10,060. * * ^ * liocal photog was contacted to make up a set of 20 prints of .rea- sonably well-known localltes, 10 each men: and women. When the idea boss got the set it looked too easy# sp he cut out Just the heads, excluding any sugnrestlon of cos- tuming, and the-gallery looked yery different. ^ . He advertised the stunt in the newspaper and In the lobby, but the frame containing the outputs was placed in the foyer and a card was given each patron. Assurance was given tlutt all of the pictures were those of local people* and all made within the past 24 months, but even at thAt they looked so different that the mtmager added the photogra- pher's assurance to his own; Three or four shots were quickly spotted by almost everyone, but the winner paid off on 17 Identifications, since no one hit all 20. . - When the prizes were awarded, the originals of the pictures were all introduced, and that in itself made a big drawing card. Chaplin in Japan ^ Tokyo. That Japan is up there; in front when it . comes to . up-to-date ex- ploitation can be seen in the new circuffy gadget used by ace theatres here. Por special exploitation ^on openings one theatre- Is using an 80- fpot high figure of Charlie Chaplin, the idol of Japan, fashioned as a balloon and floated high above the low housetops of tWs city, . .. ' The eyes are real lights and bumc while the mouth is hooked UP to a high-powered pa. system which keeps spouting fast and furloufi bopy anent the current attraction. Is particularly effective since, be- cause of low buildings of this city, the balldon man can be seen from any part of town. Warners Denies W/trner Brothers has sent out <a letter denying any mutual tie-up with the makers of COca Cola. The denial is occasioned by the sending of a charge to the newspapers that Warnerfi has contracted to swap publicity with the soft drink firm. Warners publicity recently air- ranged a tie-U]j» with the drink people Whereby, In returh for perr mlsslPn to use star cuts/the picture concern was assured sufilcient ad>- Vertislhg publicity to pay it for the privilege. It lis denied that the {ar- rangement is reciprocal in the sense that the W-B and First National pictures will employ the screen in behalf of the. fountain fluid. In other wofrds, Warners merely arranged to take advertising in lieu of cash for the advertising use of Its stars'pictures. Additional explanation Is hiade that the . recent use of Cbla In 'Heat Lightning' fPllPws the play In which mention is. made merely for local color. -Paris'in-eieveland-—— One of the Loew theatres in Cleveland (the press department does not indicate which: one) made a display 120 feet long for 'Moulin Rouge' recently. This was a profile of a Paris street against what ap pears to be a sky drop; and appar ently back lighted. All In minia ture, which makes a nice perspec tive. Topped by the picture's title In five-foot cutout letters. Extends the entire length of the lobby on one side.. On the other .is a line of French shoppes, but no detail as to whether or nbt they were stocked with goods; ^ in the center is a. Moulin Rouge shop in which was dispensed malted milk and toasted cheese sandwiches JjiX a tie-un_ with a milk concern. Place^^was kept fliTed'all dify'a^ show times. , ; Too elaborate for most places, but the street idea can be cut down to fit any lobby ten teet wjde or more, and the effect can be heightened by cutting, out and illuminating the windows. Can be used for the lobby, but pvph hetl<»r for (h<» marquee. In Society Lincoln^ Neb.- ly Culbertson's bridge shprtis were given a society sehdofl at the liincoln theatre here, when. .Pat Patchen,* house manager, acted as Sost to a niatinee party opening ay. Had the local Culbertson o«r pert on hand, to deal out some tech- nique ahd tied up with the local sheets Which have been running the Culbertson syndicated materlaL Patchen also drew considerable comment at the Stuart with the paistlng of a Garbo 24-sheet to the lobby floor plugging 'Christina.' Se- lecting a paint Job which was a dis- tinct clash with all surrroundlngs In color scheme, it caught the eye of 1 every patron going in and out to see Cantor's 'Scandals.' the lios Angeles. Simon Lazarus now sole operator of the Mirror, Hollywood, having takPri o /er the interest of his part- ner. Harry Vinecoff. George L. Sanders has taken over the Colonial (plx), I* A„ from Peterson &_ Moore. Detroit. Price war pn between the Madi- son and the Adams, each offering double bills for 16c. The Adams Is an Indie house owned by Harry Balaban, and the Miadisbn is op- erated by Par. War includes a cam- paign to buy all available product with the competition getting hot. Both 8ire. downtown grind hPuses. ■ . ■. ■ NpriMeldi..Vt__ Norwlih University is conBlderlng operating a public film theatre In the college Armory. Building needs only sound squlpmieht Installatlpn; Chicago.. Ray' Thompson goes over from the Bi & Ki Oriental to the loop Mc- Vickers. as treasurer, making the shift as Ben Bloomfield switches as manager from the Oriental to Mc- .Vlckers. Dyersville, la. H. v. Lippert has the Plaza and will continue its opera.tlpn, Joseph Heirlng to retire. C. L, Spencer.D^s Molries, has ac- -quiredf=the--Palacei~ExiraT.<Ja,,^E^ Le«! McAnhihch, bringing house Up to date for modern operation. Rochester. Fareweli dinner for Manager Harry Royster of the Century Tuesday (6). He has been in Roch- •.eter for the past five years, as p.a. and district manacrer for Pubtix. Syracuse. 'Prince' Michael Romanoff turned up in Syracuse to exploit 'Catherine the Great' (UA), opening iat Keith's Friday. 'His Highness' is booked solid for luncheon plub appiearances.- Bicihingham. The Martin circuit in Alabama and Georgia is buildllng a new house seating 800 at Sylacauga. The Amusu, at'MudQ» Miss., has been reopened by Calvin and Claude McGehee. Meihphis. Three Little Rock theatres, the News, ROxy ahd Prospect changed Ownership. T. W. Sharp, who op- erated the houses for 12 years, sold them to S. E. Brady, Henry Sanders -an*"Joseph-!B.~Wheelerrall-of-Cape Giradeau, Md. Los Angeles. Now reconstructed, the Sunbeam, nabe, destroyed in the March 10 earthquake, will reopen week March 19. House is operated by Renlo, Inc., under supervision of' Ben N. Berinsteln: . . San Francisco. Fox Virginia, ValleJo, will darken end of month for 30 days to allow remodeling. Fort Wayne. Family theatre, which had a fire arbund the holidays, reopened with films, and vaudeville in for three days a week. Fred Tangeman's band^in^pl t r^^— ^ Denver. Cost of doing business will be in- creased for exchanges if the pro- posed increase in license fees iu 'passed by the city coUncii. Fee is how $10 a quarter, and pro- posed ordinance would mako it $100 a year. Esies Cops $100 The south copped Par's $100 prize tor the best house' front, fashioned from a group of 15 selected stills, on 'Cradle Song,' kward golhg to Joe M. Estes, mahajger of the Tudor, New Orleansi.' Studio Placements Hollywood, March 5. Ann Bonnell,' Writing musical numbers and score, 'Down to Their Last* yacht,' Radio. Cliff Thompson^ 'Twehtleth Cen- tury,' Col. Eugene Pallette, Kathryn Ser^r gava, 'Friends of Mr. Sweeney/ WB. Gene Markey, adapting .tiost Lady,' WB, wit!. Kay Francis probability for titlP spot. Earl Dancer's negro chorus, "Mur- der at .the Vanities,' Par. Ted Healy and stoojgreiB, 'The Big Idea,' MG. short.. Sam. Berwltz pro- duces. Joe Mianklewlcz checked in Metro .writing dept. No assignment yet. PortPr HaU, 'Thin Man,' MG. Belle Daube, 'Operator 13/-MG. Charles Levlnson, 'Twentieth Cen- tury,' Cbl. Donald Reed, 'Uncertain Lady,' V. Warren Hymer, Sam Hardy, John Kelly, 'Little Miss JMarker/ Par. John MilJan, 'It Ain't No Sin,' Par. Ann Revere, Colin Tapley. 'Double Door,' Par, Grant Mitchell, George Baxter, 'Thirty-Day Princess,' Par. Sidney Blackmer, Sidney Foxe,, 'Down to Their lisuit Yacht,' R adio . Rlcardo Cortez, 'Dark TowerV WB, John Eldredge, 'Dark Tower*, WB. Jean Arthur, Donald Cook, Dick Cromwell, 'Most Precious Think In Life', CoL WiUiam Collier, Sr., 'Thirty Day Princess', Par.. Schtilberg.. George Irving, 'World Moves On*, Fox. Clarence Hummell Wilson, 'Now ril Tell', Fox. Luis Albeml, "Black Cat', Unl-<- versal. William AugustiD) Frank CPnroy. 'Too Many Women', Fox. Tom Dugan, 'Sawdust', Warhcrs. Russell Hardle, 'Operator 13', Metro. Robert GeCkler, 'Now I'U Fox. . John Meehan, Jr., scripting B. F. Zeldman's 'Love Life of a Sailor', U. Frank Conroy, 'Too Many Women', Pox. Harry Holman, 'Malibu', MG- John Swift, scripting 'Sea Girl', Radio. BiUle Seward, 'Twentieth Cen- tury', Col, Al Rogell, directs 'Hell Cat', CoL Fred Nlblo, Jr.,, Adele Bufllngton. scripting'Hell Cat', GoL Clark Gable, 'Manhattan Melo- drama', MGi Qena-Auetin,. .'Candy:. And_-Cocft!^ Lou Brock short. Radio. FranPls Faragoh, stays on Radio, scripting untitled yam. Ii;ylng Plchel, 'Too Many Women*, Fox, and 'Cleopatra', Pskr. Maureen O'Sulllvan; Isabel Jewel, 'Thin Man', MG.' Otto Kruger, 'Treasure Island', MG. Russ Powell, 'Firebrand', Cent. Clifford Jones, 'Mulder Studio', Col. Ralph Remley, 'Double Door', Par. Shirley GrCy, Ward Bond, Bradley Page, Clifford Jones, Vincent Sher- man, Kane- Richmond, LUcien Prl , val,' Ed King, Alden Chase, Frank Mills. Helen Bby Rock, 'Murder in the Studio', Col. . iBobby^WatsDn,.^trlatly.=J5yn*.^ mite,' Radio. - Kay Johnson, 'Of Human dage,' Radio. George Renavent, Rolf Sedan, •Stingaree,' Radio. Mary Korhman, Bobby Watson, 'Strictly Dynamite,' Radio. Rl(!hard Allen, 'Murder at the Vaniilps/ Par.