Variety (Jun 1934)

TtiesdAjr, June 26* 1934 PICTVRES VARIETY 27 Camera Contests ; Theatre is hanging up $25 in prizes for the best pictures made by its patrons during the summer; Top is ?10 for the best set of 10 or more prints, with $5 for the best single print, another $5 for the best enlargement and the remainder for the most unique photograph re- gardless of technical excellence. It's the second year of the contest, being repeated by request. All entries must be mounted so as to .permit exhibition, with the Show for one weelc in the mezza- nine, but the-judging is done by the head of a local camera club, the town's one . accepted, artist and the editor of the local paper, and not by vote. . . . Last year there, were more than 200'entrants and it w.as figured that, each entry brought in an. average of 10 persons, some of whom doubt- less would have- bought in anyway, but. enough of the others to cover, the prizes and perhaps morel with the exhibit getting general atten- tion and certainly not hurting busi- ness any. In towns where there are a num- ber of photo dealers it is practical to enlarge the Hat of prizes with cameras . or equipment offered by these dealers, each offered as the John Q. Johes Prize or whatever the name of the concern may hap- pen to be. By-product is that it Keeps the houue in the minds of those - who may be vacationing, and brings them back promptly. Contest should end about Sept 30, with de : clsion In a couple of weeks and then the display, in order that the prlno' winners may be properly, carded. Summer .Treats About this time of year the wise manager "effects tie-ups with ice cream concerns and soft drink makers to provide patrons with an occasional, treat. If he is wise enough, the manager keeps the stuff out of the 1 carpeted spades, To this end the ice cream is proffered on exit instead of handing it out as they enter and letting the stuff drip all over the seats and carpets. In the same way the drinks are dis>- pensed where there is a floor that will: not be hurt by slopped fluid. All of which goes double in spades for juvenile patronage. No matter how careful the pa- trons, it is almost impossible to keep the cream from running, arid people who come later dislike the feel of sticky seats and resent dam- age to clothing from candy soaked upholstery. Just as easy to hand it out properly and a better advertise- ment, since it is then where the public can see it. Keep an eye out for new brands of ice .cream and soft drinks. If there are no new ones, go after the concern doing the most newspaper and window advertising. If it is blind to opportunity, set after the opposition and point out the ad- vertising value. It make3. a good talking point and the co-operating company will help boost up the ad- vertising through window work and distribution .wagon signs. Fighting the Beaches Seattle. With a dozen popular beaches near here, Seattle, noted for its World champ swimmers and miles of waterfront, gives the showmen plenty to worry about when the warm . weather comes along. Vic Gauntiett, adv. mgr of Evergreen, -has-flgured a way to profit some by going to the beaches with bally for attractions at Evergreen theatres. To do so a sound truck is being used, to go\out on Sundays to the beaches hither and yon, thus con- tacting about 100,000 people. Usually there is no music at the beaches. The, truck brings music and also plugs for whatever attract- ions are current. Records are Played of sound plctu es and results are noted, in that . Monday and Tuesday biz has upped perceptibly. Cost of the truck is only $25, with two men to man it. Thus it is cheap advertising to reach 100,000 circulation. Other dav when truck played 'Flying Trapeze' at Alkl beach some 400 joined In the chorus and made a song fest of it. Interests trying, to got> signatures for legalization of dog rac> betting using attention-getting stunts of having one of the greyhounds 6n : leash with attendant in uniform, and gal spielers asking for the sign- era Qn the streets. . j during the last 12 months has built: the kids party .to where it now has a membership of around 4/006. Dur- ing the last . 62 weeks a total of 78,107 10-cent tickets have been sold to kids. .No record. of adult.. tickets sold was kept, but on the basis of. this kids total it shows ah increase of an average of 862 a week during the 52-week period. During the anniversary program. Nealans secured - merchandise, from merchants, as prizes and had the merchants in person 'o give the goods away* The city commissioner was also present! Walt Disney wired Nealans his congratulations and sent .three autographed draw- ings of Mickey Mouse.. Two local papers the day bef' e the celebra- tion carried a page add with space divided up among, merchants. The lobby was filled with displays from commercial houses, and cakes, drinks, gum and candy: were given each kid. Overflow Meeting Itirmingham. The Mickey Mouse Club of the Alabama theatre last week cele- brated its first anniversary, and so many kids attended the morning matinee that the Alabama was packed, and about 400 had to be carried to the Ritz, a block away, where makeshift entertainment was Provided for theni. George Nealans. assistant manager of the Alabama, Used the Idea Some weeks ago a comedian asked for. jokes for his act. The Joke had to be told a cigar dealer ;in • the theatrical district. , if he liked it, he handed out a cigar, but he seldom laughed, "and a lot of the joke offerers bought their, own cigars... Small towner ran across, the item the other day and worked it over for his' own benefit. Announced that anyone making a certain* cigar dealer laugh got the cigar. Man has good -control of. his facial muscles and seldom has to shovel out a smoke, but it has helped busi- ness a lot;, and he pays for the cigars he dbes lose. Makes plenty of talk around, town, and seems to be good for a run of Several weeks. Now the headacher. i3 considering the'same gag for the girls, with a soda fountain dishing out- drinks. Trouble is to find a soda jerker who won't laugh too ; much. Several have used much the same gag, offering tickets' for each joke -used In the program, but the cooperative stunt seems to-., find greater favor. Probably it would be a buildup if the names of all the Winners were posted in the win- dow. Frequently these purely local gags do the house more good than more ambitious plans. Batoff Will ffelp Gregory Ratoff has been fn enough pictures to enjoy some reputation in that hinterland which knows nothing pf his Broadway reputation- and cares. less. You. can get some extra prfess work for 'The Great Flirtation' out of the fact that he wrote the original play. Actors who can also Write are more or less scarce and most picture editors will fall for a story about the picture actor who has turned out a ra.tt.ling comedy. Plenty to talk about In 'Flirta- tion' and probably it will need the chatter, for the title is non-commit- tal. It might be any sort of a story, but it happens to be a smart turning of the tables with a famous foreign star out .of the running in New York while his wife, whom he has. always looked upon as a the- atrical nonentity, blazes into the stellar flrrattment. Play it up as a. different sort of stage story from the usual, tell enough to get interest aroused, but do not carry the synopsis to the point where the reader feels he knows all about it. Hook into the scarcity of equally illustrious theatrical couples with Lunt and . Fontanne the outstand- ing ;pair, Offer prizes for the long- est list of theatrical, pairs, working, if . possible, through the dramatic page • of the newspaper. There's material here for some interesting stories, not forgetting . the recent split between Sacha Gultry and Yvonne Printemps. If you can get them in, they'll'like tbe picture. Gets Aussie Kids Sydney. Plaza. Sydney, .put over the big- 1 gest' kiddie trade ever experienced since the talkers first hit these shores. The Walt Disney Silly Sym- phonys and \Mickey Mouse shorts did the trick. Charles Munro, together with Jack Musgrove. decided to run a series of five shorts together with 'Flying Down to Rio' over the school vacation. To boost the show a miriiatuz*e revue and lobby novel- ties were thrown In for good meas- ure. But the kids just raved about J;hQ = J^iifiy^shoi^-s^.and^essionfHiad= ■ to . be. given.; each morning at 9 o'clock. To Help a Symphony Exhibitors who have yet to play 'The Flying Mouse,', a Silly Sym- phony, should get hold of a couple of copies of the July Good House- keeping, which has a page, in color, devoted to a jingle ba?ed on this release. Good for the lobby when it comes along. Pretty Poor Idea One Brooklyn theatre's latest stunt is as- wet as a cloudburst. It not only violates the.URA conven- tions and the lottery law, but it of- fends many possible patrons, Recently the neighborhood has been flooded with cards, serially numbered and with a detachable coupon which is to be dropped into a box in. the theatre lobby. Each Saturday night 15. bottles of.wine and liquor .are allotted the custom- ers whose numbers, are spotted* and who are in the theatre at the time. Requiring, the presence of the winners. clinches the lottery angle, since this is held to be the 'valu- able consideration.' Probably the method pf determining the winners also is. a lottery. And it does not help that the liquor dealers who supply the stuff are given half the card space for an advertisement and the. stunt . is announced as theirs, rather than that of the the- atre; which seems to be an effort to beat the NRA ruling against giveaways. There is a* statement that chil- dren under 18 are not eligible to receive prizes, but no mother wants to see her son who may be over that age come home with a bottle pf liquor. .. '.j.. Several schemes tying in'to ciga- rettes have flopped elaborately in the past, but this seems to be even more offensive, .It-will leave a bad impression even with those who do not, per se, object to repeal. Lucky 13 United Artists' foreign publicity, department got an unusual. hook- up .for 'Roman Scandals* through 11 advertisers in a special 12 page ad section in - Cine Mundial, Spanish language fan* mag. There was a page contributed by the magazine to knit the rest together, so it made excellent publicity, since the Mun- dial is widely circulated in the Latin countries. Inside' gag is that advertisers' want snappy girl pictures for at- tractdrs in their ads. Plenty of material in 'Scandals/ so by merely lumping the various- ads a present- able section was arrived at, which hot only sells the beauty products advertised, but helps to interest in the picture. Beauty products were hooked in to the song 'Keep Young and Beau- tiful.' " Neatly Done With so. many year books float ■? irig around; Lou GuimbnoV of Gau- mont-British worked out an an- nouncement for the attractions which have recently been released or are about .to be uncovered. Makes a sightly product, mostly in blue and silver,, but -with a few pages in brown instead. Plenty of art work and a temperate plug; for the pic- tures which permits the 1 exhibitor; reader to put. the book down with> out the feeling that'.'another .at- tempt has been made to high-pres- sure him. : " Sound and creditable work. Explaining the Preem William Leggiero, of Warner's Ritz-, San Bernardino, Call, adapted the see-inside idea to the recent argument between. Baer and Car- nera. .= T ; he fight occurred on a Thursday, and Friday he' was out .with a four-pager with 'Sensational Expose-^v/hy Camera Lost' on the front cover, with directions to look inside. Every one knew it was a phoney, but it was current , talk and they all looked, to discover that Garnera Jhiad seert 'The Merry Frinks' on the eve: of battle and had laughed himself weak. Of course, that was the next picture at the Ritz:. Old idea, but smartly handled to get in on all the talk. Switched the Barker LoeWs New York theatre had 'The Prizefighter and the Lady' to cash in on the Baer publicity, using an elongated barker in training togs to bally the show. When Barney Ross opened at the State, on the block above, barker Went up there to help along. Soap Babbles Hustler who prides himself oh Die novelty of his displays wanted a soap bubble fountain. He. tried a soap solution, blowing a small stream of air ^through a small pipe in the bottom of the basin of a small fountai It worked after a fashion, but. either made too many bubbles or too few. It seemed impossible to control the flow of air to an exact point. At the suggestion of. the property man, he sent over to .a grocery for a package of ready gelatine dessert and dissolved that according to di- rections, but using just a trifle less water. When almost cool this was placed in. the fountain basin and the air turned on* The result was.- a cascade of bubbles which hard- ened when the liquid was reduced to a thin film, arid piled high in the. pari; Has to be done over each morn- ing because, the. bubbles get dusty, but the -display looks fine when spotlighted,; and the youngsters ar$ all demanding a- similar result from their clay , pipes at; home. : Bubbles were not germane to the title. Just ,a gag to get attention for the back of the lobby, arid now the' manager is trying to figure out a way to use gas, blow single bub- bles from a clap pipe, toss them, oft the marquee and. offer prizes to the. kids who can catch them and return them to the lobby before they burst. Wants to try it out first and . see if they will burst easily enough; BEHIND m KEYS New York. > Bob Rosen, manager of Lo.ew's Orpheum, started on a vacatiori- relief swing of Loew's New York deluxers last week. Will replace the managers at the Paradise, Va- lencia, etc., who are on vacash, re- turning to the Orph in about eight Weeks. Hamilton, O. Marc J. Wolf, general manager Taft circuit, operating the Para- mount, Palace and Rialto here and the Paramount and Strand, Middle- town, O.,- has resigned to become managing director of Theatrical Managers, Inc., Indianapolis, of which V. U. Young is executive head. Wolf succeeded here by George Fettig, formerly assistant manager Paramount, Middletown. ■ Chicago. Myles Concannon returns to the Balaban & Katz fold to manage the loop McVlckers. He was previously at the United Artists. Ben. Bloomfleld takes over the new Garrick for B.&K. ' -. ^ :, - Seattle. Joseph Rosenfleld, manager of Music Hall (Hamrlck), is new ad- vertising manager for the Hamrlck circuit, replacing Ted Champion. Rosenfleld has on his staff: Chester Cobb, ad artist; Sammy Selgel and Jack Sampson, publicity men, and Stanley Gottstein, legger.. Boh Moore is assistant manager to Harry Woodln at Paramount (Evergreen), while Morrle Nimmer is in southj vacationing. Vic Gauntiett, ad. mgr. of Ever- green circuit, back on job, after ap- pendix op. Feeling great. Spokane. H. D. McBride is city manager for Evergreen, operating all first runs here. Ernest Rose handles Orpheum, stage and pix; Al Baker, the Fox, ace spot; Russell Brown, the State, and Chuck Charles, Lib- erty, second-run spot. Frank L. Newman has resigned, going to the Coast. i ^ =i= a»== J ==«=i=w===== CharIotte;=N^Gr— Criterion' Amusement Company, operating movie houses here, at Durham, Greensboro, and Mount Holly, has negotiated lease with Hickory city aldermen for muni- cipal auditorium. Sound equipment to be installed and stage altered to care for road shows. Paul Covington, Paul Kersey and W. E. White, all of Greensboro; are back from Louisville, Ky., arid the annual convention of the IATSE, where they were delegates. M. B. Smith and John A. Barn- well, constructing' new theatre building in Burlington. Plan .to open'the'house late in the summer. Will seat 600. Washington, Pa. Chalmer Cupler, son of the late B. E.; Cupler, is now managing the Court theatre here. He succeeds Bob Higglns. who recently resigned- Lorain, O. Ben Wallerstein, who has been managing the Palace here for sev- eral years, has been transferred- to San Pedro, Cal. Oklahoma City, Okla, With financial backing of ari un- disclosed group of. Texas movie house arid Oklahoma capitalists, the Western. States Theatres, Inc.,, has been incorporated in Delaware to build and operate a $1,OQO,000 .the- atre in Oklahoma City, -with 8,000 seating capacity. Incorpo rato rs are Foster McSwain. Ada, as president; W. T. Spears, secretary-treasurer, Altus; A. R. Powell, vice-president, Guthrie, and directors composed of Harry M. Lowenstcih, Ardmore, and _M.. _(-Ish). Clark, Oklahoma. City, general manager for Griffith Amuse- ment Co. '-" .Albany.. Alcide LaFlamme, manager of the Madison, Albany, won first place in the. Managers' Popularity Contest coirducted . in. Warners' theatres in Albany, Troy and Utica. under di- rection of Charles Smakwitz, div.' mgr. Ben Stern, manager of the Albany 'theatre, Albany, was second, and Garry Lassman, mgr. pf the Avon, Utica, was third. Harry! Black, city mgr. of Schine^ theatres in Glens Falls, Was head man in the chain's recent promo- tion drive. Al Grasgrin, mgr. of the Olympic, Watertown, was sec- ond. Winners were decided on the increase of gross biz. Victor Burns, mgr. of the' Casino theatre, Watervliet,. won a cash prize as a star bowler and donated the money to a cnildreri's milk fund. Moe Grassgreen, from Boston, has succeeded Tony Ryrtn as. mgr. of .the . Fox E xchange. u:. Fort Wayne.' Strand, originally a vaude house, and later turned into a flicker grind, now relights after three years' dark- ness for hurley. Both Emboyd and Paramount discard those long Saturday mid- night shows for the summer. Plugging the Cooler Anticipating a hot summer, a theatre has arranged with the local hospital * to. receive as guests , those who are. brought in by the ambu- lances suffering from heat stroke.' Idea is to keep the patients where it is cool until they recuperate. Can. watch, the-show or lounge in the mezzanine as they elect/ Meantime the. theatre has built qp a lot. of press work and is using a standing reference in all ads, . Another theatre has a sign In all butcher shops announcing that meat can be bought and taken to the theatre without danger of sp6il- lng. No reason why anyone should want to sit through, a show with a pound of pork chops in the lap, but ■it gets some attention. Third house is distributing fans through • the business . district. Stated in the text that the fan can be checked with the doorman if the theatre is visited. In another house a lobby display offers a bunch of fans and several overcoats with', the statement that neither are neces- sary when the theatre is visited. That , is a particularly good Idea since it blanks the idea the the- atre may be too cold. Another good line recently worked was a sale of, summer suits, with •as cool as the Criterion theatre' the selling line. Merchant liked it so well that he paid for all the space he took, and also gave a large window display. Just as gootf for summer dresses If you cater to the softer sex. Mellowed the Boar Al Sherman, of Mascot pictures, reports that the State, Youngstown, used an old pickle barrel for its lion roar and got a mellower tone than can be collected, from a pail. Care should be taken to obtain a tight barrel. Loose staves will de- feat the aim. State used this on a perambulator with a boy dressed as Clyde Beatty, who shot off a toy pistol while he brandished, a chair. Pistol. was the: sort that uses a tape of caps arid will shoot 100 times without a. re- load. For the lobby the theatre had a mechanical elephant with rolling eyes, movable trunk and wagging tail. Los Angeles. ■Saero & Mc-tzger Saturday (23) sold the Wll.shlre theatre, Santa (Continued on page 38) Cheap Tie-In Red stars in a food market's hand bills provide. Ray O'Connell, man-, ager of Warner Bros.' Grand the- atre with a very efficient, and very inexpensive piece of advertising. The market runs out 30,000 pieces: of paper/ size of newspaper double truck, each week, covering the city 100 per cent. Each week the flyer carries a large ad for O'Connell, occupying the top center of the In- side. All this costs the theatre is 50 passes, for 50 of the circulars are stamped with.little red stars. People getting a circular -with a star bring it to the iriarket and get one free pass to the Grand.. Better Than a Circus Hartford. Harry Watts, of the Poll theatre, scored a scoop on the rest of the town when ushers toted a huge banner displaying the showing of 'The Thin Man' in the annual con- vention parade of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of New England, held in this city. It Is believed that more than 300,000 saw the parade, which held more than 15,000 march- ers, and the Poll banner was the only piece of advertising permitted.