Variety (Nov 1935)

Wecinesctay, Novembei^ 6, 1935 P I C T E S VARIETY 27 V--'i By Epes W» Sargei&^ Plenty on Marxes St. Loulg. Most pretentious and spectacular cqmpaigh staged on world premiere Ih tliis 'burg was' deviled and- exc quted by staff of Loew's State the- atre for 'A Night at the Opera,' ■ivhlch opened engagement Friday (1). Stunts and gags manufactured by Jimmy Harris, p.a., 'Chick Evens, house/i mgr., and Claude Morris, MGM ' exploitation representative, tarncd--t-own upalde dowu._, The most dignified idea was per- siiadlng MGM to send Allen Jones, former Muny Opera favorite here and player in plx, to St. Xiouls for personal appearances, etc. Rest of stuff ranged from mild insanity to t^iat of violent nature. Some of them Included a Harpo stooge leading through downtown' streets, a cow decorated with a bla:nket on which ■Was painted 'A Night at the Opera. Funniest plcturie in 10 years. This ig. no bull.' Three Marx Bros, stooges tied up downtown traffic as they travei"sed busy streets and intei'sections on a tandem bike. Their efforts to keep on hats and wigs in high wind caused numerous spills. Three other stooges rode on a truck. piled high with peanuts which they distributed to pedesr ti'ians with a lavishness aLnd vio- lence that bord6ri5d on mayhem. Stooge dressed as Harpo electri- fied crowds as he chased blonde, ex- hibiting lots of gani, on downtown streets. Other stunts included a 12- foot stilt walker; an upside down mian, a midget, etc. Additional ones featured an Austin car towing a huge Greyhound bus around down- town streets, bus being plastered with 24s. An airplane lugging ban- ner 'Marx Bros. Loew's Now' hummed ovier downtown section opening day. Several vacant stores adjoining theatre were utilized tbr 24 sheets. Campaigners had tIeUps with newspapers, drug and depart- ment, clothing stores,^ radio sta- tions, distributed 60,000 circulars and heralds through variona agen- cies and wound up campaign by re- leasing 2,000, balloons, properly im- printed, from top window of high ofilce building during noon hour of opening day. Busts Frequently It happens that; ah Idea that looks great proves to be not so good when put into practice. Some busts can be guarded against, but not all. One of the original busts happened some years ago when a northwestern exhibitor offered ticket prizes to the grade school classes. The only ice dealer in town re- fused to deliver to the theatre be- cause his boy did not win any of the prizes. • Only recently another theatre lost a good hook up. with a confectioner becausfe the house staged a series of lessons on candy making as a variant to its usual cooking school. Confectioner contended that the home made candy was cutting his gross about 10%. Idea looked all right, but the manager forgot the store hookup, and he gets no more windows nor mirror signs. Another flopper, just after beer became legal, was the announce- ment that each child at the Satur- day matinee Would be given a glass of beer. It was months before some parents dl.scovered it was only root beer. In the meantime the; children and their parents, as well, stayed home. The laugh the manager counted upon never developed; Even more of a kick developed in another' town where riiiniature steins with rosin and paraffin foam were used. The kids took them home and the shocked mothers—some of them— took them away from the kids. Public reactions nre funny things, and sometimes difficult to figure. Moreover a stunt that will go oyer in one town will bust in another. "The wise m.inager kno^^.s—or should know—^the femper of his own town or neighbox'hood. But some never take'the trouble to study. Metro's Star Hunt Omaha. 'Traveling studio crew which M-G-M is sending cross country on a search for talent and for adver- tising purposes hit Omaha Oct. 18 for the preliminary set-up. . Tled-up here with the Blank-Tri-States or- Kani7>atlon which selected the Or- Dh'^um as the site.. Plans here call for preliminary trials and elimina- tions to be lield at the Orpheum on Nov. G with finals and actual takes on Nov. S. . Besides its ro.^iil.ar crew of twelve men working with the truck. Claude Morris of the M-G-M exploitation office in K;inK(is City joined the boy.s liero for local work. Ho went on to St. Loui.s to work on the pre- miere ot 'Night at the Opera." Thus far in. its trip across the country the crew )iii,s located: some dozen g.ilg and .seven kids judged to have definite screen pos.qlbilities. Manager Bill Miskeli of the Or- pheum and Charlio Schalifer of the rl-States advertising department ■will handle the local possibilities of the project. Marx' at Concert Baltimore! Normaii Pyle, Metro avant cour- ier In town whooping it up for pre- miere heri^ next week of iNight at the Opera' (MG), and Herb Mor- gan, p.a„ at Loew'a Century,, worked up a ballyhoo stunt for 'OpcTft' which very nearly resulted in. chain of events occurring when idea went somewhat awry that would on surface look akin to the stuff the Marx Bros, indulge In in their f»ix". - ' - - Understood there is a sequence in 'Opera' in which the Marx boys sit in on an opera and turn, the house Into .an uproar at conclusion by their terrific applauding.: So' the p.a.'s working on advance for pic here figured since no opera was in town .they could utilize the concert'given here last Sunday (27) by Lawrence Tlbbett at the Lyric. Dressed three guys as the Marx Bros., bought a downstairs box: for the, concert, and when it was under way,,slipped the Marxian imper.son- ators into the front seats in box. At first Intermission when- lights went up and- larffe audience was solidly applauding Tlbbett, the cos- tumed lads went to work by stand- ing up and vociferously yelling alid palm-pouhdin;f In manner whltjh put to shame most rabid gallery god that ever shouted approval in. the Scala, Milan. The lad who was togged as a counterfeit of the panto Harpo Marx kept . in character, incident- ally, but made plenty noise by pumping an old-fashioned autb horn of the type affected by the comic In his stage and screen work. Lyric management hid hot'knbwii of presence in house of the stooges, and when spotted 'em sent a detail of ushers, plus cordon of cops .off pavement and traffic duty outside; after the uproarei-s. The 'Marxes' saw house-law and John Law com- ing and took fright, hopping- right- over the rail of their box and scampering up an ppen aisle. Thie ushers and cops backtracked and gave chase, with the trio streaking for.balcony where they slipped but a window onto fire-escape and down into side street. No. vocal or written suggestion used in the gag which might iden- tify the 'Marxes' with the pic com- ing Into the XJentury, but crowd in the Lyric recognized the getups and actions of the stooges, and judjglng from lobby chatter later many present among the lalty seemed- to think it might have been the Marx- Bros, in person. Incidentally, as yet the Lyric, has lodged no protest with the Loew oiffice here. iVee Chi Space Chicago. Niftiest space-snatching job turned in around this town in years is being accomplished by Sam Clark, midwest publicity chief for Warner Bros., on his pre-campaign for , 'Midsummer Night's Dream.' Clark secured a total of 37,306 lines of free space in the five Chicago dailies, the Abenpost, and the week- ly tab, Movienewsj in a period of seven weeks. Hearst morning Herald-and-Ex- amlner leads the list with 18.958 lines, the Hearst Evening American second with 7,049 lines, the Daily News with 5,225, Movlenews with 1,765, Tribune at 1,685, Dally Times with 1,484, and the Abenpost with 1,140 lines. Figuring the total value of the 37,300 lines at the individual news- paper's rate, it amounts to a sum of $23,797.98. Got Ethiop Duo Portland, Ore. Andy Saso snapped up a great chance to exploit 'Wings Over Ethiopia' (Par) for the Hamrick- Evergreen Orpheum. Local dally had dug up a dusky Ethiopian resi- dent of. the burg named Toby John- son who was worlfing at odd jobs to collect carfare to join Halle Selassie's army. Story broite just as Saso was planning.an Ethiopian lobby for the Par pic. Andy hired Johnson, who also brought his friend, A. P. Willdns, another Ethiopian, to three-3hc«t In the front of the house.. Dres.sed the two up as itmperor Halle Selas.sle and an Abyssinian warrior, the latter beating, a tom-tom. Stunt clicked for lot of attention and boosted the b.o. takings consider-, ably. Nig^ht for Chances ; . Charlotte, N. C. The Carolina tlicatre, at Grccn.s- boro. di'l well with its second ah- niial 'tak(? .'i. chance' Halloween •show, whi(:lt started at midnight on Halloween day. With the old North C.iroliha cus- tom of getting in costume and. pa- rading the .s.trect.s on Ilallowocn night, there was a good potential audience from which to draw. The show was merely advertised, with appropriate Halloween motif, as 'one of the new seasons biggest features, and three short subject.s.' The admission was 40 cents. Consolation Omaha. Work of the advertising: depart- inent of the Omaha Blank-Tri- States theatres has .been bringing some extra notice of late. This de- partment is concerned mostly with making and placing the daily ads and other printed space displays, but when the opportunity offers makes tie-ups to enhance the ads and benefit the theatres of the or- ganizatloh. -Rosenyy. vhen >tlie».att'vnt)^.,.Qf, the week was focused .on the .Ne-. bvaska-Mlnnesota football Ix at Lincoln, the department slugged the theatre ads with notices to. the ef- fect that whoever won the ball game the fan still had a good bet by at- tending the theatre. . On top of this the department got out a banner and strung it across the highway which carried fans from this area to Lincoln, and hung it at a spot where it caught the bulk of high- way and rail traffic and where it was lighted after dark. Last Week on the opening of 'Barbary Coast' at the Orpheum the department got together with the United Artists office and planted colored ads In both dallies, first time this stunt had been tried here and worth plenty In returned no- tices. Being Different Herman Bamberger, of the Vic- tory, Holyoke, Mass,, got a good scream line lately in 'I wrote this ad .at, two o'clock in the morning.' Went on tq say that It was late and he was tired, but still able to en- thuse about two headline pictures on a dual bill. No verbal pyrotechnics, but copy written sincerely and with the right touch of enthusiasm without exag- geration, and it put the duo oyer as itro'"mai'e*ailiHi*ivtisi- Gouiai-hi>vc>-d3r.&; It sdunded human, rather than press agenty, and It convlhced, but the copy itself would not haye gotten as much attention without the smash line. Hook to 'Tipie' San Antonio Current* 'March of Time' release garnered extra space in dailies when Aztec worked a special advance screening for traffic cops, the town's T-Man organization of traffic vigil- antes and others int^riested In safety. Angle was to emphasize 'sudden death' clip Inspired by the J. C. Furnas article. in 'Reader's Digest.' Hown cur-rently Is in raid- die of traffic safety drive; BEHIND ihe KEYS Canton, O. Work, on the. construction of the new Majestic, Crooksvllle, O., has been, started. New house will be ready for operation about Jan; 1. Construction has been started by the ivewly formed . Akron Falls Theatre Co. on a modern theatre on State road in Cuyahoga Falls. House will have a seating capacity of 826.. Thie late Wi J. Dusenbury, amuse- ment promoter and for many years Identified with theatres in Colum- bus,-left an estate of 123,795, accord- ing to an Inventory filed with th& probate pourt. Purchase of the Lincoln theatre, Dennison, O., by the Twin City Theatre Company, of Uhrlchsvllle, operators of two theatries there, has been announced, Harry Bickel and Nlles • Krlch- baum, Akron exhibitors, have re- turned from, a trip, to Florida where Krlchbaum went to recuperate after the death of his wife. Joe Bell, veteran Fayette City, Pa., exhibitor, has won the Demo- cratic nomination for a seat in the local council. . Ellsworth, Ellsworth, Pa., will be opened in about two weeks under the management of J. M. Booth. Olympic, Finleyvllle, Pa., operated for the past several years by Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Christy, has closed. M. Proctor has closed the. Proctor theatre at Lyndora, Pa., and has re- opened the Chlcora theatre at Chicora, Pa. Wellsburg, W. Va. Construction of. a new 600-seat theatre will be started here shortly by the Alpine Theatre Circuit which operates out of Terra Alta, W. Va., according to announcement by Charles Anderson, general manager, and W. B. Urling, president of the company. Circuit now operate 30 show houses in 27 different towns in West Virginia. Portsmouth, O.^ Two men received burns and two firemen were overcome by smoke in a fire in the Empress, downtown. More than 250, many of them chil- dren, were forced, to leave the theatre when fiames broke out In the projection booth,- Dafnage, several hundred dollars. Harold Moore, 23, picture operator, and his brother, James, were burned. Lone Beach. Cal. Dissolution of V-S-A Corn., em- bracing Milton Arthur's State thea- tre, Harry Vinnicof's. Strand and Arnold Achaak's Long Beach, was effected la.st week, with houses in pool reverting to original owners for operation. Splitup. came through alleged re- fusal of Paramount to sell film to Arthur for the three houses. Strand and Long Beach revert to third run, with State continuing first run. Detroit. (ion.s-tructlon .started on new Uni- versity tiieatre, a 2,000-seatcr, in U. of Detroit district on northwest edge. Costing $2fi0.000, will be a socond-runner with double features likely. Sana Brown, vot theatre manager' here, to owvhIk )h;\v house; also, operates five other the-- alre.M, Woodward •■■Grand, Dcxtor, Kenkel, Belmont and AmViaHsador. y\bout $.'?0,000 was spent r»cf'ntly on' remodeling the Woodward-Grand. Burlington, Vt, Joseph Matthews, of Wichendon. Ma.ss., take."* over State tl>catre, Burlington; Vt. Now operating two' others in state and one in home- town. Incoln. Soniebody Is trying to put over a q-t deal fbr the Auditorium, Exeter, Neb., it was learned here this week. The present owner is Anice Yates, and the deal Is an out and out sale handled through the local-bank, Paul Spor, once producing for the Varsity stage shows here, now has an ork in the Trpplcal rooni of the Hotel Ft. Des Moines. Des Moines, •la. New trial was granted In the Au- gusta Paper suit against the Lincoln Theatres Corp. for alleged breach of contract between LTC and her hus- band, Nick Paper. Recently the court awarded her $11,754. out of the orlglna:! $31,190 action. Defense attomey;s claimed new evidence was entered In the case after the lury had been dismissed, hiience the .iudg- ment was la error. Trial will come up soon without a Jury, by agree- ment from attorneys. Phil March, Wayne, Neb. exhib has expanded his small town chain so far to include two houses in Ver- million, S. D.; one In Waynes one In Haywarden, la., arid two in Le- Mars, la. Oley Bennett, of the Auburn, Auburn, Neb. celebrates his twen- tieth-year in the same house. He used to call it the Bennett. Harry Weinberg, General Thea- tres, Inc., biggie, this week picked up ,the Sun and Rlalto, Holdrege, Neb. from C. C. Porter. New York City. Nat Waller, formerly manager of the Harlem Opera House, now man- aging Palestine, on the lower East Side, for Belle Theatres, A. Silvers managing the Monroe, succeeding Bill Patton, who has returned t» his home town of Richmond, Va., to take charge of a house there. Morris Sussman has left the Apollo to take up more Important dutifes in the Sydney Cohen honie offices. A. Lewi.s. formerly manager of the Mount Eden theatre, Bronx, placed in charge of the Fenway, Jackie Sherman transferred from Leff's Freeman to Radio theatre, with Murry Pe.arl succeeding as manager of the Freeman. Conway, Fire damaged the Grand recently breaking out in the booth. Total damage was about $900. Milwaukee, Because of booking arrangement with Warner oircult horfe, Saxc Theaterij forced to withdraw from the Independent Theater Owners' association. Only non-chain aflllia-: tlons. permitted to join the indie outfit. Booking agreement by v/hlch Saxe gets first call on F. M. Warner and KKO which has fii'.st run .at the downtown Warner, looked upon as tie to circuit.^. Philadelphia; Warrior has three years' Ic'ase on the Oxford, Inrgc. indie hou.so in the northeast section of Philly.. Rental sao.ooo annually. Oxford Co., in 'financial difncul- tles, IS sf'f'kihi; reorganization under, the National Itaiikrupt-cy Act. .C'om- mittcf; of stockhoUler.s. hid $18,000 yearly; A. II. Boyd hid $20,000 fiA- five y>-'.r.s, ,and Mayfair ThcatrCH Corp. offered $19,100. Attorney.s of all partie.H sat with Judge' Klrk- patrlck in private chambers when he announced lease awarded Slan- loy-Wanier company. Yearly rental includes ciitire property. 50,000 Holies Francis Lang, who gets oiit the Movie .Guide for the Shea oubiica- tions, is In with another, THi^^ time It's doughnuts; He gave out ^$0,000 of them Halloween at the' tw<> first run and six nabe Shea thet^t'res in Buffalo. And got them W^'^^mon- strating he could make It'-'pay the bakery. " . * Lang's bakery craved more ':0ales. Lang (no relation) sold them the l-'ea of .nuking a big enough noise .about-the,djoiig,buuJL)i. tjc y^s. ipipjiffnx^ slye.- T-ho-;bakery, put 20,000 .tarda in as many deliveries of the ijake^, urging the recipient to visit a Shea theatre Halloween night. It-^iised 50,000 cards to go witlv the dough- nuts, lialf being a reply , paid fpost- card ordering a house dellverj^ Had BOO cards on the delivery fie« and took a quarter page in tlje, ilews- paper that was 70% theatr* asj'd the rest doughnu t. There was a 'similar display m a hoiise organ .fpis^ food stores and sold a full cage £dr six weeks in Moyie Guide. For the milk cofnoanv }i« tot them to take a ' three column .]&bace for a picture of Jackie Cobof-'^ tak- ing milk from a delivery wagbii. and got 30 inches in each of three riews- papers.- With Charles "Tavlor riding herd on' the Ideas, Lang gets rtlenty through the simple formula of get- ting the most for the coonerators. He does not mferely ask for an ad' for the: paper. He gives an Idea for the space that should make it profitable. ' 'Tunnel' in Tunnel Stunt that fitted like a glove :tvea worked by G-B . films for 'Trans- atlantic Tunnel,' in its second-week at tlie Roxy. Port Authority pf New York; which cbhtrols the inter-state transportation, was persuaded to permit a showing of "Tran^tlantlc Turtnel' at the New Jersey end of the 38th Street, project Monday afternoon. !. Portable machine was taken Into the hole and the feature run: oft for the sand hogs and engineers for their critical comment. Gag got plenty of newspaper p.ubllclty. It also adds a. new stunt, to thei list of train, airplane and other sb6wings. 6-B seema to be getting on Its'toes,. Not So Good Lincoln. A grisly stunt for 'Crime»of Dr. Crespi' was cooked by Colonial h.m. Bill LIndeman. He kidded an un- dertaker friend out of a steel burial vault, brought the thing, into the lobby and put a dummy in it. He tagged Jt with a big placard saying 'The Most Hideous Crimor. Ever Committed:' that of being - buried alive.' Only used It one day, how- ever, since he found the nelghhors as a whole shied away from the thing Jllid the boxoffice. In good horrortowns, the idea shoUld do oke. I Good Gagging Press material Issued in obnnec- tlon with the delays at the Hippo- drome on 'Jumbo' have packed a laugh that helps. Card telling of the postponement set in the lobby last Saturday reminded the reader of the difficulty of teaching an eler phant to forget Its old tricks and stressed the trouble of educating lions to respond to music cues. Not figured there would be many who might show up, unaware of the change, but it niade brisk read- ing for the passers-by. Leon Lee takes the nods, apparently. "' New Idea Astor theatre, N. Y., Introduces the first new note In cloth signs for a long time. Most of these barinern consist of a groundwork of one color and cutout letters of contrasting tint. They all look pretty much alike. Astor u.ses a blue. ground with 'The Case of the Lucky Leg' in light yellow and sales copy in white. But mindful of the chief appeal of the picture's title the 'legs' has an in- line in bright red. Gives a .surpris- ing emphasis and probably makes some extra, tra.dc-i Pup for Poem l^irmlncfharti. Limerick contest was woi'ked i. co-operation With one of tho .daily papers for 'Bonn;j Scotland' at tho Kilz. A four-month-old Scotch terrier was given to the. person who wrote the last lin'! to four llmerlcltH run on i;i:cce.ii!iyo '.i-iyx in the. paper, It's a Pencil In spe'iklnf.' of a ■novelty .sent out by riKU the .siiggestUvi that it was expectr-d to slioot paper bullets. Leon J. Bamberger, sale.s promo- tir)n manage •, e;:plalns It's a pencil and the spring l.s to propel the lead carrier. Just happened that the one re- ceived was a, k. No lead.