Variety (Mar 1936)

Wednesday, March 25,1936 PICTURES J— : = : . VARIETY 23 * * By Epes W. SctYgent Blowing the, Works ■■■■■'tai'vb'e 'Worth Bay'. Opt,, 1b not a '^ V^St sDot but John Nelson, of •rr Sltoi; a Famous Players- SS house, is .riding the waves °% n if the ble&st exploitation for Gentry Doctor- yet to be re- In times past he, has-col- SSSff&d Vh the Nugget, the local, naner, on special sections, so he foifnd it easy to-tie the paper, to a 5 Sase supplement on the picture, ind the quints. About half in read- /•^matter on the children and the hift^fnd a lot ot if4 B -.cJ.early fdSill^written- to supplement the S book material. In-addition-to • ?le full section; other advertisers snot the picture in their displays in , the main sheet. There is- so much original matter that exhibitors with • ■Subsequent dates plight find it prof- nable to ask for a, copy. An inter- national reply coupon would prob- • ably bring a. copy, Address the " Nugget and not the theatre. . 'The News, a weekly (the..N\Ugget Is i'H-weekly), also came in for. a CO North B P a a y ge is close to Callender, and local pride probably- helped a ■ loti but Nelson could, see the oppor- tunity, and make the best use of it Personally. Reserved ilaiiager who tried out ..the' plan *of • ■■reserving - seats in .the evening had to boost the admission a dime •to -pay: for ticket printing, extra ,'ushers and incidentals. Business promptly dropped, but there-.. were nearly , 50 who told him they would riot attend where seats were not re- served. They would gladly pay the ' additional price to be assured their favoiitfe seats, ' ,"• . MSfiager tried the. experiment of ■ chaining the seats to be held, -but - that got him in hot water with other palrons who claimed the right -to i-any unoccupied seat, . To beat that, be conceived the scheme of getting ' some young men ,to . hold down the 'seats until wanted. Boys.' just be.- yond school age, come in before seven, take designated seats and hold them • until the reserved seat ■ holder .comeB along. M they, have not iseen the. show through,' they. . move to some other seat; No pa-y- ' ment, but they get free admission '"' and now arid then " the manager hands Out a. pair so the boy can bring his best girl. . ' Reserved seats are printed in bulk with Hoes for the date and. seat lo- cation. They are sold still at. the advanced price, and hold some busi- ness that might otherwise be lost. Boys are glad to work for the free admission, and there's a-waitln-.tr list to provide against. an enlargement of the reserves. Boys work in ro- , tation. so they, all get a chance.- Very Exclusive San Francisco. A new wrinkle in exploiting class .attractions being successfully intro- duced by FWC managers in these here parts, 'Life 'of Louis Pasteur' was the flhn and Al Wasliauer, Pavamount manager, was the instigator. Pulled high-hat preview for col- lege profs and made private show- ing so exclusive that even owner of preview room was bounced out when caught trying to sneak peek at feature. Profs and high rank- lug medicos liked idea and poured out no end of praise which press • hereabouts bit at with rare avidity. Two. Builders Spartanburg, S. C. Criterion, opposed to trio of chain houses here, is going.. places with two neat good will buildups. One is an attractive throwaway which is placed with all deliveries of local cleaning house. Throw- away splits publicity 50-50 with cleaners and cleaners' deliver the publicity along with- suits, coats and dresses, assuring city-wide, cov- erage- Further teaser i's : issuing of number lucky ' numbers with throwa\yay. Numbers correspond- In ..with arbitrary selection posted in the lobby .draw ducats; . . Mgr. .Pat McSwairi 'has lined up an- arrangement with .morning apd evening, papers whereby- two C'ri-* terjon ducats go to finders - of lost articles; rovlsion being that finder return' to ; owner, then have owner phone papers to verify. Theatre gets ;a boxed publicity spread. ^ Something New Teletypes in" the lobby is getting a bit passe as an aid to a picture, so Loew's State, Cleveland, branched out for 'Wife vs.. Secretary* and iv-ide an office setup in the. lobby with a pretty girl in charge. Gag was, that patrons could speak briefly into, a^ dictaphone and then»!ltsten to their voice reproductions. Slip? posed to be the same dictaphone' Used' in the picture. j . Made for- a bright spot in the lobby and fitted in with the picture On the Job Under date of.. March 10 the Motion .Picture .Theatre Owners of Eastern Pa.. Southern New Jersey and. Delaware sent a form letter urging all members, to contact the local ' Red Cross and arrange for benefits and other co-operation, for the relief of the flood sufferers. Probably there were many who did net wait for this urge in the face of the widespread calamity, but the ■action was timely. Plenty of Ideas ■retaining the best of earlier ex- ploitation stunts, the new Film uaiiy Years Book lias added the illinium of sales ideas right up lo ine moment and of sufficient covcr- u?.nn° SUppIy au idca to lit on prac- tically any flipp, L Is presently the only live 'K on exploiting ihiit should be evi-ry theatre. Legit Raffles ' Chicago. Publicity tie-up arranged by Hal Over and Beauvais Fox for 'Boy Meets Girl- at' the Selwyn in Chi- cago with the. Hearst evening. Amer- ican. It's called a 'Boy Meets Girl' contest, wi i a $50 award" for the 1 identification'of a-girl" by any -'boy' from. 16 to 60 years Of age... Boy must have copy of Chicago American In his hand when he ap- proaches girl who walks on a stated itinerary each day. Included in the itinerary are two stops at the Seir W.vn theati*e entrance: one at 1:30 p.m. and the other at 8 p.m. * , Buildups Years before the .Hollywood opening was invented the late Ralp Ruffner, then managing a theatre iri San Francisco,. stretched a red carpet from, the curb to the box office. No particular reason, but he figured the carpet would make people think. It did. Ruff put the lobby porter, a huge Negro on the broom squad to keep the •carpet clean and just to give him an excuse for being busy' he sprinkled a couple of cans of talcum powder on either side of the runner; Just the carpet might have .turned the-' trick, but the. build'up. Jtiiade it certain. Another manager •used "cutouts from the small paper to make new three sheets. Instead of tacking them flat, he raised them on inch blocks. That looked better, so he put a small, bulb under the blocks, using a showcase, lamp, the only thing that would -fit under the raised figures. That was still better, but he put a final touch by pasting tinsel to the flat board to reflect the "light. Each successive stage built up the idea until he had a sign that stopped everybody. He did not rest content until he had built up to the last degree. A theatre which put in an air conditioner blew the chilled air into the lobby during.the hot weather as an at-tractor. Then one day, out for a drive, the manager passed through a pine barren. The slightly aromatic air gave him ah idea. He got a preparation initially intended to be used in lieu of bath salts and put a solution in the duct. The faintly pine scented cold blast seemed to be twice as inviting. Not used for the house supply, since it might be tiresome, but the lobby whifi! got them in to a marked in r creased in bu iness. Just another buildup. A stunt is never finished until nothing more can be done. Cripples' Matinee Because one of the business lunch clubs have taken the crippled under their care, a theatre man .gives- a cripple matinee each hursday afterrion to a;bout 60 unfortunates dug up by the club. The members bring the guests in their cars, either in person or by proxy, and call for them after the show. Aisle seats are reserved, so that they will ex- perience no trouble in getting in or out of their seats and an effort is made, through the co-operation of the merchants, to present some lit- tle gift; a small bag of candy, a roll of life savers with now and then a star picture presented by the man- agement. Only those are selected who are unable to come, to the theatre with the aid of their friends, and this very real charity has -brought the house much praise. No direct ticket sales, but it all helps. Ams Need Pushi Indianapolis. Ted Nicholas, manager of the Lyric, theatre, went gunning for ex- ploitation honors this week with both barrels loaded with Major Bowes, Previous booking of unit number three proved that grosses depend plenty on boost, so unit, number'one, opening Thursday (20), was given ample attention: In addi- tion of a healthy advance cam- paign, Nicholas arranged .for a trip through lock's Department Store for Sara Berher, accompanied by Marsh Bostwick, Star feature writ- er. Fritzi Bobbins, former, model, was taken to Ayres- for fashion photos with a big. spread of the pics in the News,.' The Star also contributed a classified ad tie-up with slugs in all the ads for one ' day. Ah air story was carried In the paper covering flight of amateurs from Jacksonville,. Fla.. to replace Youman Brothers, hospitaled at De- troit. A special irorit was built, and a .large flag- hUng in front of the building. Revolving Ams Sparta'nbur , With 29 large textile plants, each with a village, in the county, Strand lias inauguratc-d a new amateur night'feature that is calculated to ring in. a cargo of coin at the box office! This time, instead of taking 'em as they come, units'..are being booked entirely from a village at a time, With no comp permitted from anywhere else. The. neat part of it all is that some villages have around 3,000. pop. and the sho'w is a sellout With lines at the door . Waiting for pasteboards on amateur nights. Mgr. D. B. Austell plans to hold a contest every' four' weeks for the winners from the four villages, - one set of winners from a village per week, and that one is calculated- to bring 'em in from four villages to- watch their favorites perform. Contests can run several months, once a week, on .basis' set up, since there are 29 mills and. there must be seven' contests of four roups each at" the end of--every four weeks-, In addition.to the' 29 "individual-, vil- lage contests. It i« iiik hi Quashing the Quints fluff a In Unique reason is being attributed Tor failure <;C "Country Doctor' to hold up to high estimates herd For over a fortnight before the showing the Buffalo Times rah a serializa- tion of the story. Inhibitors slate that, result was that public got wise lhat the quints were used only for a few shots at the end t»( the roat'ure and Hint the! story and film was really about the doctor. ■ St. Louig. I Circuit Judge Frank C. O'Malley has granted General Theatrical En- terprises, Inc., Warner Bros. Pic- tures, Inc., subsidiary, owner of Hi- Pointe theatre, nabe, right to can- cel lease on theatre in which Will- iam Lyris; L6> Angeles, claims to have ; an Interest.-" ' Lyris, dist. mgr. for St; Louis Amuse; Co., another WB subsidiary, until 1929 owned 49% interest in Hi-Point theatre, which, was acquired-, by: General Theatrical Enterprises in 1935 from the A. Jay Kuhs Realty & Invest- ment Co. Ben Reingold, local mgr. 20th> Fox back from Ashing trip at Flor- ida Keys. Max Sanowsky, owner of Fairy Theatre, habe house, sporting sum- mer tan acquired at Miami. '• Fred 'Wehrenberg, pres. MPTO of St. Louis, Eastern Mo. and Southern 111; back from meeting of national board of body in Miami, Fla; Interstate Film Delivery Co., Kansas City, Mb. has received in- corporation .papers from Secretary of State. Newark. Charges have been made against some independent theatres that they are cutting wages, contrary to the agreement with the union. M. Cas- well Heine, receiver for the union, has made these charges before Vice- Chancellor Berry, Israel B. Greene, who represented several of the the- atres accused, challenged the juris- diction of the Court of Chancery to enforce the contract. He stated the remiedv for any breach was in an action at. law. The vice-chancellor took the case under advisement and reserved decision until this week. Among the houses cited by Heine are Palace and Colonial, of Orange; Libertv. of Irvington; Essex, Con- gress. National, Garden, New Mar- ket. Newark. None of tin* houses are chain-operated. Spartanburg, S. C. Employes of the State, one of Wilby-Kineey chain's local units, pulled surprise party for Mgr. Andy Hutchinson, transferred to. chain's two Lenoir. N. C. houses. Erwine Stone, new mgr. and Mrs. Stone, plus Bob Talbert, chain's local city manager, among guests, Fred Reid of State introduced and Judy John- son of regional radio faine was nt;-c. First genuine strip tease act caught in a CaVolinas house within a decade! so far as reviewers can determine,, was pulled by Dan Fitch minstrels at State here. Fans saw more, for fewer kopecks than did multitudes who journeyed TO miles to see Salty Rand and her fans and IVloons in Asheville the week pre- viously. Tve Sanders, Universal News- reel, routed into Carolina mount- ains- for March blizzard seenesr Ar- rived in Asheville airplan'ing. since roads tied up by drifts. Strand has added a 1: -".0 p.m. Satti show to catch, big em- ployees, turnout as stores and shops close, plus dance .crowds. House packed', balcony and all. Feature with one short usual fare, with .showing closing at U' p.m. sharp to keep under Sunday curfew. to Coliseum,. Seattle; . Don Ge.dded from Paramount, Seattle, to Or- pheum, Seattle; Bill Hamrick from assistant mgr., to manager of Para- mount,'. Seattle; Ronald Kelly frpn? the door-to assistant .mgr., Para- mount, -, Seattle; Jack • Rosenberg from Coliseum, Seattle, to Mount Bak Bellingham* ' Denver, Santa v Jewel and Cameron theattres have been taken over from the W. J. Carter estate by the Atoz Amusements, Inc., of which Charles (Bank Night) Yaeger is president. Three new theatres are tinder construction In New Mexico. Arch Hurley is building a 500-seat house In TucUmcari, to be bpehed about May 1. He also owns the-Princess there. J. B. McMahart is replacing his Palace which was destroyed by fire, by a 350-seat house, at Hatch, and .will open it .near May i. . J. R. Foss is building in Socorro. It will be a 400-seat house, to open about Julv 1, - ■ W. K. Van Sant... formerly con- nected with the • Washington Park theatre," lias taken over the Ma jestic. *lll reopen as Amusu. Played Up Vest St. LouiH. With the story set hi "the l}eart of Missouri the boys, at Loew's took advantage of the local angle to sell 'The Voice of Bugle Ann-' A spe- cial screening was held for Sena- tor Vest's grandson, nosy one of the city's most prominent judges. Event was covered by all local rags which carried feature stories on game and editorials . on pix. Jimmy Harris, p.a., and Harold 'Chick' Evans, mgr. of Loew's, ar- ranged thegag. .The hoys also- imr ported some of the dogs used in the pic (they were owned by a sheriff, in Kansas City), and exhibited them in a large window next to the thea- tre; They tied up with local, gro- cery chain to offer a- special series of ads featuring' specials, oh dog food and playing up feature. Book stores and department stores used window and. counter displays on book arid passed out book marks; with theatre copy' printing oh'them. In addition,' ( the exploiteers had a tie in :with.a 5 arid'10 cent.' store that distributed 25.-000 herald ,jand pasted two 24's In vacant store win- dow .in heart of ^downtown business section. ■ Several nice co-op . ,adis were promoted . out' of department stores which 'gave "screen 'attrac- tions and theatre a nice plug. Caro- Tiaign- was topped off with a huge Greyhound bus, plastered with two 24's and parading through down- town sector in advance of Opening, of program and during first, few days bf run. I Charlotte, N. C C. " orvine Stone, manager of tbe Imperial, Charlotte, since its open ing a year ago, has b6en trans ferred to the managership of the State,. Spartanburg. .' Succeeding Stone- in Charlotte is Bernal Lewis, who comes from Palm Beach. Fla. Ben V. May.: of Burlington-, has purchased the Graham . theatre building. GraUam. from the United National bank. There will be no interruption of the lease held by Allen Thompson. Personality Cards: One'to'f the best'continuous stunts for sniall town '"stuff has 'freen. worked for-several years by.:a,,sniaU town man with , a large rural draw. He has hald the same. house for. a number of years and is known/, to pretty , much everyone in th'e sec-.. tion.; H«i uses go.vernment postals for stock ' and leads off with; a thumbnail portrait in line cut. The rest is all solid six-on-severi point, a chatty running, story of the weeVs bill (three changes) including the shorts, arid - often something from the .newsreelr He does hot blow' up the weak ones beyond their value; hu.t- slides with some appeal such as: 'This is not up to top mark, but it offers two favorite players in a pretty fair story about 'salmo'n fishing. You'll enjoy the scenery. And there's a corking short with; it, J Players are named and.- the short given its -title and ; piayers: • Manager has found that if, he tells the. truth they are more apt to accept the picture than if lie stressed it too heavily. Card goes into the mail' dri Sat- urday, for'MOriday delivery, and.fre- cjuently some pafron .phones in- if the card does pot arrive oil tinie. All built on personality and confi- dence, but it is.a steady seller.. It will take a couple of months, to get the idea planted, but after, that: it is a feature. Lincoln. Ernie. Llndeman has joined forces with Cal Bard, the 5^,000,000 film peddler. Covering the state with sOme: indie product. The worst exhibition situation in Nebraska is agreed to be in -Grand Island, a town of 17,000" people' and with five .operating pic houses: Jim Schoonover, who, .)jes_ides owning the- Mazda and -Pawnee, Aurora, Neb., is the mayor of ■ the town, is vacationing iri' California, His son Harold is handling the show, business. Bob Brown, the Erpl guy-.in this territory, has been sent to Kaycee and his place was taken by J. L. Phelps, late of Omaha. L. ,T. Finske. J. H. Cooper divi- sion head, was here from Denver this week arid, spending some time with City Manager jerry- Zlgmond. irmingriam. Cluntersville, where- the Tennessee Vallev Authority is building a new dam. wants Sunday shows. A bill has been introduced in the legis- lature' legalizing Sabbath shows there. Ainory. Miss. M. L. RosenWel? of 'Columbus has tp-ken over th.e MiMKo from J. A. Owen-. I tost on. VicLfir .1. Morris; .manager of lhr- ; Orpheuni theatre for the past LJf* j vears, was honored at a surprise, limeheon hf'-e Tuesday (I7r by aj ui r,u jj of 'J7 frl'-nds and associates.: Seattle. .Managerial changes for llamrlck- Evergn-en circuit in Norllisvest e|'- feclive tliis week; l-'rank Newmaii. ,lr.. froin nth Ave,, Seattle, lo Or- pheuni. Portland; Andrew Saso frohi Orpluium, F'ortla.utl to ."th Ave.. Seattle; Herb Solcollka roni Orimeiiin, Seattle to .i'.lue Mouse. Music J-iri.x and T'laylutl^e. I'urt- lan ; COoigo Appleby from tlu.s Hi T-.ov; Anjri'l.es. i Ki"d Tlapoort. U"\\ uvina'ii g| Arrii.v.i lor Fox West > Coast. )Vns roiT'ier!" liianati'-r at ciri-uil's We.-l- u (.r«'d \'il!a^i tln-ri; -, e. | Just Diffetent A nifty for lobby display where space permits is' the intermittent portrait sheet; A one sheet is built up with a fairly large sheet of ground glass set In, the gilt mould- ing used to retain the glass.being used for a frame, though any mould- ing will serve. ,Back of the display Is a small magic lantern w|th A a mazda lamp- on./a slow flasher as the Jlluminant. The copy'iir wrlttfen around the frame and-is preferably in strong- dark letters against- a light ground, since the sheet should be In a dark spot. A colored lan- tern slide of. the star is placed in the lantern and flashes on and iOff as the flasher- button acts. When the light is On. the picture is bright enough to attract attention In its own right. By using Oil cloth and water color paint the sign can be used repeatedly with a change of slides* Another good eye-catcher Is to make a glass tank, lighted from be- hind and with a perforated tube at the bottom. Air bubbles moving up from the pipe through the water are eye-catching. . It soda water, js used (buv a tank, hot -siphons);, mothballs' can . be dropped in. These Will acquire- gas, be buoyed to the surface and drop to the bot- tom when the bubbles burst. One in action, it gives practically a con- tinuous performance. Best effect i« to mask off top and bottom, of the tank. Tank can be ade from strips of nalntrd wood, with th •;l."'s set in wllh a marine unity. Latter Is crftial parts of en mon imttv and wl-.ite l"a>l. poundM to- uethei' and permitted to cret llior- riii'elijy dry. Novelty Pram , About a year auo a manager put ' oiM a iwo-nrin elenhant to adver- ■iso 'ii«.e a picture, blanketing the sld'-s |„y i with banners for the attractk-ii. Tt 7.7;niiir 1 iroi lot of attention,, but the hind 1 (Continued on page SI)