Variety (Sep 1935)

Wednesdaff Septendier lit 1935 PICT E S VARIETY 25 EXPLOITATION By Epes W Sargent - ——-^-gee ping Th ea^-Wiw—— Edward Selette,, of the Albany theatre, a Warner Albtiny house, —tras'wnietiilnB--which- •vsenis-io be new. It seems to be a Workover of the old Idea of giving but Calendars handing out ah admission at the end of the month if the calendar Is turned In. The Idea was to keep the calendar, in mind., Sometlmes^th.e^qalen^ars wefe"'~fliui»g'. up. Sometimes" tliey -Bgalirst-ioss;- In-SBlette's'veraioir lf runs only a week and It does a Job of iselUng every day. It's a 4x12 card with spalces for each day, for 'he name and address and the regular house card With 'Movie calendar. Guest ticket fdr you if you read the following direc- tions.' Direction Is to cut out the Albany ad fr.om any newspaper each day and paste on the card, present- ing the filled card for a ticket. Color and date are changed weekly, since the stunt is In for a run. Value of the gag lies In the fact that the ads must bo clipped each day, which brings the current day's attraction to attention while it's still hot. Best for sniall liouses, since; the ad has to be pasted up, and also because they make more frequent, change. But It's good for that type of house and even the donation of a ticket is probably a two-for-one at worst. Selette sends along a big package' of stuff. Mostly workovers, but one new gag Is the offer of a birthday, cake to patrons. The cake is given out Saturday night... There's only one cake a week not a cake to every celebrant. I£ more than one apiplles it's, drawn. for. Cake • Is promoted, of course. -JftllHStllff- Just S^i Small time house manager picked tip a drum when the village band decided it had outlived Its useful- ness and suggested he might be able to do something with It. Man- ager braced up the shell and put paper heads on the barrel with copy leading oft 'We can beat the drum about- .' Seemed to hit the fancy of the crowd, so now he uses it for all big shows, but only for the ones he Is certain they are going to like. Knows the first time he stings them with the drum and a poor picture he might as well throw away th^ drum. Another manager worked an old idea In a new way for a comedy. He made a peep hole In the top of a barrel, mounted, a sigh inside and hung it In the lobby, down front. Barrel was painted 'If you wanr to have a barrel of fun, look inside.' Inside merely told them to see the picture if they wanted a barrel of laughs. More" effective, for one time, than the sign In the barrel on the sidewalk. An effective shadow box was made with a front of broiize wire screening back of which a bright poster or any other advertising could be placed. Screen was remov- able and could be laid flat and a lettering done" In a thin solution of glue, after which colored sand was sprinkled on, adhering only to the glued portions. Resf was clear to permit the back sign to be seen. Glue and adherent sand could be washed off and now lettering put on it In short order. -Worked so well he was asked to fix up tlie screen doors for a couple of small stoi-es, with a window sign the pay- off. Where a more permanent sign Is desired, shellack should be used in place of glue, with alcohol used for removal. Digging an old set of frames out of the stock room, a manager had •'th^m Yieatly pafntiEid to match the . general color scheme of his lounge and then listdd the stars In the dom- One frame Is dedicated to each of the more prominent players, with the name neatly lettered ietnd a photograph centeredi The space around is l?ft for chat about the particular- player, the items being 't>afken-:frr^r the-'-ftm "lfl&ief4«ftlSS'l<lt^ VxiUBtY;" "'One "or'lHe girl'usTiers does the clipping In her spare time and lets nothing get by her. Itenis are mounted on light card- board and thumb-tacked to. the frame, which is backed by soft pine and covered, with glass. Gives the fans a chance to follow their fa- vorites closely and often a patron, particularly among the younger set. will spend from half an hour to an hour looking the frames over. In the center of the frame is a tablet ahhouncing the player's coming pic- tures, -with dates added as soon as they become known. Old items are replaced by newer after thie frame is filled, the guide being dated credit to the paper from which the item Is clipped. Manager figures it must be tak- ing hold since patrons are more particular in their queries. Thev no longer ask him when a certain star will be seen again, but when this or that title will be played. Idea grew out of & column of fan news the manager supplied, the paper with each. week. Figured that concentrating the items' on each player a greater Interest could be worked lip. When an Item men- tions two or mpr'e players a neatly typewritten card repeats the item for the other frames. Doesn't require more than three or four hours each week and work- ing so well the manager already is figuring on frames for the minori but well-liked players. Plugs OIL Tonth Baltimore. Although the pic, 'Accent oh Ifouth' (Par), won't come into his house for fortnlte yet, George Browning, pa. for Warners' Stan- ley, started last week getting ad- vance build-up for film by tying In stores neatly on the accent-on- youth angle Itself. Kids and collegians are heading back to classrooms and every store over country at this time of year features youthful stuff in sales and displays; Browning took the idea of stressing tb'^ 'Accent on Youth' slo- gan, which Is, in most instances in this town, cat'chler than anything ever conceived by shopkeepers or their ad men. One large loop store took sugges- tion-and Is using the film title for captioning all newspaper ads and window displays. Great many other retailers also grabbed idea and slo- gan, and even in instances where the theatre got no direct tie-in and pic consequently got no mention at all, the slogan. will have been Imr pressed on public mind plenty when the film gets its release locally. 'Scotland' on tbe Map New Haven. Ben Cohen going to town with a flock of Scotch gags on 'Bonnie Scotland' at the College. Has a couple of bagpipers touring central streets bearing signs. Also, dug up a team of .Laurel and Hardy doubles and tied them In with an ice creani manufacturer. " Pair niak the rounds of refreshment .parlors, asks patrons If they're eating 's ice cream, and if they are, patrons get Oakleys to picture. Ice cream company getting behind the 'gae heavily with 400 Laurel and Hardy blowups, truck and window displays. Preview, plus some stage stuff by comic pair, Is another feature, and the topper Is an opening day street parade to theatre marquee where comics .scatter a 'pot of gold' (gilded pennies). Tagging Onto Tab Hollywood. Warnc-r.s studio and Coa.st theatre press agents teamed to grab half of lUo Grande gaspline conipahy'.'^ 'CalUng All Ce.-:;,' monthly l':-pao;o tabloid with circulation of GoO.OOO frv.0 copies to Coast motori.sts. Spot- ted was front page smash on 'Page MLss Glory,' plus y.arns and illUK- tmlions over five more page.'^ on current 'Warner films. Similar .«;ma.sh Is sot next i.^fue. Tab is tied in wit'i oil company'.s tru". poller- story broadca.sts over; Coast network and is passed out at company .station.'*. Baltimore. .Last month Metro, presented-Pi-ea^' Ident Roosevelt at the White House with an encased model of H;M.S. Bounty, the brig upon wiiich trans- 'WT'€a--'Tft^^m'\'rs "TTpristrig' in Hsi which inspired the recent NOrdhoff- Hall novel, 'Mutiny on the Bounty,' which MG has picturized for near-- future release. This month MG publicity dept berwwed -the -^fft'Wd^T '■ifi£ia^'S"'&V -;rir,5t»0,--froHr "tRe~"Fre5rdent. -with promises to . take extreme care of and return it. Dept. is sending it around key cities for exhibition in lobby of each first-run theatre slated to play 'Mutiny/. Today (Tuesday) it is on view at Loew's Century here, tomorrow will be shown to Phllly fans, and so on. 'Majrlxifr Booms an Opening ^, Birmingham. Realizirtg that the opening night goes a long way toward selling a new house to the public the Wllby interests really ,;Sold the opening night of the Marengo at Demopblis., First of all the mayor of the town talked with Jean Harlow by tele- phone. The mayor was on the stage and the conversation, was carried to the audience by means of a loud- speaker. Gov. Bibb Graves autograplied a copy of the book 'So Red the Pvose' which was given away. Every theatre manager of the Wllby chain in Alabama was inr vited to be present. Good for 'Bed Heads' Indianapolis. During the showirtg of 'Redheads oh Parade,' Lyric theatre had a blonde picketing one side of the sidewalk in front of tlie .bbxofflce wearing a placard announcing 'This Theatre Is Unfair to Blondes,' and a brunette on the other sidf. witn a card which read, 'This Theatre Is Unfair to Brunettes.' Stunt attracted plenty of-atten- tion, especially from the men, who promised to be fair to the girls, but the femmes remained oh duty until their hiking had assured a good opening for the theatre. . Good* as Ever Old Doc. Joe Lee, of the Brooklyn Paramount dug into the aroliivos for 'Pa.ijp :Miss Ol.ory' .and took the Ijtst part of II liibioiil colu n. for an i-pologj- to the piitronr, who had to he tunvt'il away tho opening day. Also announced an additional mor- nlnn'. shiMv for the i-omainder .of the week. As.sui-od cveryono thoro wf>uld i)p, a olianco to pot in. .T'scd to 1)0 done oft'.Mi hv the nood old d.'iys. but Iphs froriupnt now sinco there are so few tui-n.i,ways. "' Into TJepTr^Stofes Tacoma. .-.BUJ.-Qoinor,. .managec.-ojf. .Muslr-. Box, tied lip With largest loc, de- partment store with gtve-away tickets to first 2,000 people Who fcoMgSit febfR-e • a-t'ciclfe" ■ In' • oveiittrg- new department. This Is the first time in local his- tory that depairtment store has tied "Into ahy ticket give-away and is the Ijeginning of other ticket tie-in!? A^.c£rtaJLn..xia&s. .u>t. women—buyer-fr went for the first giveaway in a big ;way but the purchdses were sRialL Local press played tip the free ticket gag through layouts ahxl publicity while department store used plenty of space In telling the story, Connor .made money on the deal as he has a big house with plenty of seats. the KEYS Middletowh, O. Sorg Oper-a House, said to be the oldest theatre In southern Ohio, will reopen Sept. 16, exactly 44 years to the day since it opened brlgihally. House recently leased by the Gordon Theatre Co., Is being completely re- modeled following fire several months ago. Policy will be stage shows and pictures. Robert Gibbs will manage. Lessees also operate the Gordon here. t. John, N. B. Eastern Filni co. has organized to operate filtn exchange in . St. John, Xew .Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, and part of tho province of Quebec, and the Island colonies of Newfoundland, Bei-muda and the British West Indies. Partners in new firm are Samuel .Tacobs, Ronald Kerr and Gerald M. Hoyt, all active as film salesmen and exchange managers in St. John. Hoyt is present manager of United Artists: exchange in St; John. Dallas. Interstate has acquired three more nabes in Dallas. With newly named managers, they are Dal-Sec, Cecil Barham; Forest, Leroy Beavers; White, Joe E. Luckctt, who will also be In general charge of "the three. Walter Henshell will manage the re- modelled Capitol when It opens soon. Los Angeles. Construction started on new llOOiOOO theatre and store building in Compton, (suburb) by Al Han- son, to replace house destroyed b^ earthquake two years ago. House will be ready in three months. Principal Theatres reopening its Lyric, Yuma, Ariz., Sept. 13 as second run house. Independent Theatre Owners lay- ing plans for second annual mid- night show at Pantagcs, Hollywood, early in October. Amateur nights are being worked one night c week in three local Pox West Coast houses. They are the Boulevard, Belmont and Westlake. Bill Knotts, veteran cxhib, plans to reopen his Coviha, (Calif) the- atre Oct. 1. House went dark six' weeks ago for general overhauling Vt orcester. Admission, prices in two houses hero cut a liickul. Caj)ltol reduced from 40 to 3Bc at night with mat- inee admissions continuing ,at two bits. Regent, Just acquired by Gal- lahad Amus. Co.; dropped from 25 to 20 and I5c at night ith all sieats a dlnie until 6 o'clock. New York City. . Complete reorgdnizallion of Belle- Theatres circuit, comprising , 14 houses, in Greater New York, has been completed. Lewis Schneider, formerly of the Mc-ycr &. Schneider, chain, is the new president anil managing director. Benjamin Sher- man named chief buyer. Max Cohen assistant. D. J. Lustig appointed publicity- exploitation director for the circuit; Louis Fischler stays as booker. ittsburgh. Retrenchment policy of Loew's- UA Perm, following con.summatlon of Loew-WB pool, find.« that hbusc. without an assistant manager and publicity man. l>. .. Gcnc Murphy, h.i.g^ returned to. Now York for as- signment in home o ce under Oscar Doob, witl) pross-work bc-Jng h:in- dled tlirouf-Mi WJi olJico under .loo T<'eldni-in. Jiob Son.ft, a.'^iiislant rtian- .'i.£(or, with Warnors. di.spatchod to I 'ihc of clrc: ' Johnstown (X'u.) ' Uoy liowo, Hf'voral years anager t)f .dii\\ jilown 'Warnor and lator '-Ity manager■ wlih Wfi ln VVashirlgt'in, ['a., n'i-.iKnf.'l • to .return to his tlic- .'itro intcrr-sts In North Carolina. If'-'s t-'ikon oyer the nr-w IVndor in JliMv^aw, ' ('., and plans to shape an indie chain, there with this site as a nucleus. Pitt will have an airty. flicker site again this season when 290-seat house on Liberty avenue, fprmierly known as Avenue Cinema,: reopens next Monday (16) as Art Cinema. Opening attraction will be 'Constant Nymph' and foreign, films exclusive- ly win bQ booked. House has a flock of local backers, with Manhie Greeiiwald, freerlance 'publicity man in the background, and Sam Honig- bcrg, one-time Pia. for Pitt, serving as manager. Lincoln. The following marriages to come have been announced:. Leona Mc- (irapken to WiUard Kramer, cash- ier and doorman. Varsity; Ena. Ray nor and Henry Zelg, latter a Klva usher; Berenice Clark to Wal- ter Huber, doorman, Klva, and Lor- raine Stephens to - Bill Lindeman, house manager, Colonial. Clarence M. Lay, Dodge, Neb., has bought the Dodge formerly managed by Frank Beal. At Wake- field, the Wakefield changed hands with P. J. Held now the boss. Bob Freed was In before. WrinideB Manager, who likes to., keep his .house, filled- has-a new idea. U;p to. two o'clock all women ,who enter are given a card reading: 'If you like this show and sell it to two or more mtfmUti-B iff your , "fiarrfily', this "card will entitle you to a free admission fgr yourself if you accompany them/ Marked 'Not transferable' in large typiSi but manager flgure.s that half or more of the cards will be pre- ,. 9SJ:\tftii.. •jKv.oth.e.f ,.,t.haii.. t he •".•cma.n -who-s&w—the-tnatlneer—Reg-a^s—it'- aS a three-for-two, which at any rate is better than the tw6-for-orie. Cards are not handed out Saturday or Sunday, and so stated on the card. ' '■- In another house cards are handed out the first of the month to all who attend. Printed with the names and dates of the attractions for that month! Those who desire fill in the cards with their estimates of each sho\y, marking in percent- age. Manager marks the shows from a combination of film Value and boxofficV. Those coming closest to his own estimates bh the month are given a pair of tickets. Only requirenaent is that at least 12 of the 16 shows be marked. So far it iias been helping; business through the summer and looked, for better results for the fall, when everyone is back home. SiAall towner mikes Thursday, his dead night, 'Surprise Night,' When something Is added to the last night Bhbw. Never the same twice and never announced in advance. May be a pie eating contest one week and a hat trimming contest for men the next, with now and then a couple of acts of vaudeville. If it's a contest those in the.audience are invited to contend. Plenty of people come every .week, regardless of the pictures. Just .to see what's going to happen. Takes an Inventive mind, but It is worth the trouble. Lincoln. John Quihn has bought the Pil- ger, Pllger, Neb. He's In the deal with Ernie Jones. Two vaude houses operating here now with dual opening last week (30) of Varsity and Orpheum. Both houses listed to sell wares at two bit top. C Zulaus, Wilcox, Neb. has open- ed the theatre there after several months darkness, Jerry Zigmond, City manager for Lincoln Theatres Corp. here, has gone to Chi for a weekend with Louis J; Flnskc, division head of the J. H. Cooper enterprises, of which LTC is one. ' , Merchants in Loup City, Neb. use the Liberty theatre there and spon- sor a full day of shows each Wed- nesday afternoon. Run twu pictures and have six actis of vaudeville starting at 3 p.m. and running until 1 a.m. C. Prasler, Joyo, and Roy Head- rich, Lyric, In suburban Havclock here, have Jacked up prices a nickel to 15c. which shows It's still pos- sible to be competitors and be smart. Klamath Falls, Ore. Purchase of the Vox here by group of California theatre owners announced by Jack Heacox who has owned and operated the house for six years. George M. Mann of San Francisco heads purchasing fir Ivan McCIain new manager. Seattle. Kerb Sobottka, with Bob Williams as asai.staht, transferred from man- agement of Paramount to Orpheum, both Hamrick-Evcrgrecn Situations; with Don (3eddes and his assistant, Bill Hamrick, from Orpheum to Paramount. Orpheum slated to get the big pixes, under new setup, along, with Fifth Avenue, also In the combo. Lukan suburban houses have merged with Sterling Chain (Jolin Danz) after close affiliation for some months. L, O. Lukan removes office to Rex; Bill Forman into main of- fice at Roosevelt as booker,- suc- ceeding Rex Stevenson, who will manage one of the houses. Roy Cooper is gen. mgr. Birmingham. .> Marengo,,a new theatre, has been opened at. I.)ejn6polis by the Wllby chain. It .seats' 750, including a nogrf) halcr)Tiy with a side entrance., .JImtnip. J'ejjppi,', manager of the liido, will be- •n:jn.)gor. Lido is be- ing (larken-.-il. Canton. O. Now Boxlpy, Bexlcy, O., will be ready for o.poning about Oct. ].■;. Henry Strawinsky, who for sov- oral years lias bO'-n head usher at (roTillnuert on page 31) Boosting Sept. Omaha. Louise Cotter of the Brandela the« atre publicity and advertising de- partment got herself off to a good start on an intensive campaign for the month of September. Using the slogan, 'Remember September,' the theatre is working: out the campaign on the basis of covering every pos- sible angle and giving each show a little extra. First big attraction of the month, 'Top Hat,' lent itaelf easily to carry out the idea. On this super Miss Cotter began by setting art breaks weeks ahead, far enough to get a rotogravure flash in the Sunday World Herald, a tough spot to crack anytime. Besides this there were the regular advances and numerous fa>- shlon breaks. Ih line of fashions a local department store was tlcd-up to feature the hats from the film. Large angle on this flicker is the muslc-radio-balli'oom slant; Instruc- tional one sheets displayed, in all local ballrooms as well as muslo frori> the film featured by tho dance bands simply accomplished and very effective. Fred Astalre's guesting on the national network programs makes radio plugs and local pro- grams naturals and all Omaha; radio stations were enlisted. All in all gives widespread, cover- age oh most effective angles and nothing very costly about any of it. 'Remember September' campaign will follow through on 'She Married Her Boss' and two more programs; Building Up Basing his campaign on the na- tional contest on 'China Seas,' Shea's theatre, Bradford, Pa., went the distance, starting off with a co- op page with the cover line 'You don't have to go across China Seas to get the values offered by our leading merchants.' Nine in the co- op with a star cut in each and. tickets to , 26 who named them all correctly. The Chinese bank notes, strip tickets and the booklet on the na- tional prizes were used. There were 4.500 of the booklets witli a round trip to Buffalo by a coach lin,-, $1 worth of bun tokens and 10 tickets as the local prizes. Lobby used boat bangers, stills and the 40x60 display and there was a parade with a sound truck'^nd a special trailer for the new season, leading off with 'Seas' as the first to come. All put over by Jack Hyncs, Pennsy's 'Jim' Tieup Altoona; Pa. The- Str.'ind, .Slivermaa Bros. In-, dependent, had the cpoperatli.n of the. Pennsylvania Railroad last week in advprfl.sing 'Di.amond Ji .' The .company i(>ancd two small, exhii'l- tlon frcM 'i'. c:;ir.M and si.-veral model; traih.s V hicl) were dl.sjjl.'iyed In front- of the tlie.'itre, taking up,a stjuare f r pfirlclnif space cm the principal iliorouThfarp, a real conco.s.slon on the part of the city. Other busl- np.ss e.'Uabli.'-ihmpnts within the lil'jc-k-«ol- frop jillvortlsini? .si)ace he lov.- (lie display and on a trailer hh'Avn w.'iUi the picture.