Variety (Apr 1936)

* * * By Epes W. Sargent Stage Stunts ll Way be a straw pointing, the wa y tfc&t 8- chain with one theatre with five cash giveaways a week Is asking for contest stunts for ama- teur nigh 1 & t another spot, It has use-d pie eating, egg eating, money in the'flour barrel, • apple ducking and banana eating; but wants more. Possibly Others will be interested in similar gags. Some suggestions are: Money in soup dish filled . with molasses, first kid getting a coin permitted to keep it; apples hung by cords from a batten; which is towered, approximately to the level Of tire contestants' faces. Apple must be taten to get the prize; ice cream with plenty:.of chocolate can be substituted for pie; kids are lined tip with the audience permitted to matte funny craqks. Last kid to smile gets thejprlze; eat three soda crackers and whistle;. ; .klds.. hold qj^vip''1>etto&n>%lii9ltiH&ih with a raw egg; required to take off shoes on- onel'-^lSf-^rltbe^isititg'fr,' cross, to other vVside : und'^replace without drDPHi^-'effiri.'^^:fpke their'heads th^oeg^' a^ iovat xutv in. the screen. Wff nl^kfn^v.'the, best grimmace' • as^^d^>>iifke^ pici^f-'" .-Rick-- up coins, between'-'thelt fe&t without bendfhg krieesj'.iliias placed a^ahist ;; a drop and atij?: youngster bulging, the <irop tVfce^th© slapstick from, back-jof '; ga^vtag.' the- sluUAy bit-... non- splfa? a^songvis 1 $>ng .'b^;,thq -sound equipment kids supplying; appropri- ate gestures. ;wjfch; an unfamiliar sOn'g -?t"hi« ; .- can. pe ;;ftiade' a honey. KidsiB&^a well known sbng.in-.'uni- sofl. 3*Scs.t kid to'get through wins. Judge ."d^affualiflesi;: incorrect rendi- tionsi,;. lEapli-lcid to auction off two seats. for<a subsequent performance. One getting - .best: advance over pi|TOe&'.pXic& thie winner. V-B^ys .are : supplied with trimming mfttbrlat and a bat frame. Make up a -ha*Jaccocd|ng. to their own ideas. Boy#are .gathered.in a circle and avJba&.bf ma'ttblea.-is dropped in the C%ter. bf the ring*. Boy picking up. most 'marbles sets the prize. About . .^e. pld-battle royal, is always' a- wlfifierV Four or more boys are pro-; wfisa. with' very soft. boxing, gloves, blindfolded and turned loose, Last boy^upv wins. Rope ring should be form^-to prevent kids falling oft stflg*"Or into the wings. •' With a hunch; of • lively kids this -can be worked into a knockout stunt". In a Variant'^of this two bllndfoldc-d boys are put into the ring with a referee.- The'latter also wear's a glove and taps-'the kids to mislead them as to the location of'.the opponent. Freak stuff like .drinking. -, glass of water-white hangihg hy- the kne-es from- a k trapeze . bar is good for laughs. -It »can .'be done if the bov does not try to hurry,.- Another gag is a ojieMegged race, each boy hold- ing one,foot ln his hand hopping on the Other, with : or without: a low hurdle, wheelbarrow races, with one ppy^ his hands acting the bar- lw W a!1 rl£rht lf the sta K e ^ ^OwPPhdltion, but. beware splinters This^equires a fairly • larg'e stage. Eyea -iSo. .slight' a thing'as reciting the- alphabet • backward can. - be $Ji .ihto ah amusing period. paiMchlaHy if a couple of kids are Panted-in. the aiidienCe to helpful] v ' ftt^s.t;.th'e wrong:next letter. Biit stunt a; 'ffboa m'.c. is half the JWttltf, . which is something to be wnjentbered: Plenty on 'Desire' T . St. Louis. Luring 1,200 beauticians away from a planned dance for a preview or'Desire; at Warner Bros. Orpheum £ he f l \ Saturda y (21) a "d then ob- taining 100 per cent co-op from 1,054 beauty shops in town was the piece n a V«L S !i tance i of a k.o. exploitation campaign engineered by B. F. 'fcinty' S 0 ^^ Homer H. Harman, p.a. ffL W n, he . r V ln , behalf of the Mar- lene Dietrich-Gary Cooper screen opus. The beauty gals had a swell dance planned at a downtown hotel, but when they received invites to the preview they cancelled dance and thronged WB's downtown deluxer. ?£ nce =S!£ 8 moVe d back a fortnight after, ^differences with musicians' union for two bands that had been hired were settled. Exploiters assigned good-looking gals, displaying, lots of gam, in town offices distributing carnation's and roses,, with, small, calling cards, bearing theatre copy, attached. 'The roses were gifts to Women froth Cooper and carnations toi mcn : fronV Dietr eh. Theatre had no trouble distributing .2,000 flowers on two days before feature opened. Downtown retail women's apparel shops, jewelry stores co-oped in dis- playing Dietrich hats,: furs and jew- airy and men's department of Fam- 0.us-Barr, huge downtown depart- ment store, featured Cooper styles. A.blowup'of Cooperahd his'favOrite pipe was featured by'a tobacco com- pany that has. five stores in down- town sector. All window cards/etc.,' carried theatre copy. Moore and. -Harmon sponsored radio contest over WlL wtth idea for dialers to. write a letter concerning a true romance. These letters were read, via the ether, without divulg- ing name of authors, and cash prizes and guest tickets were awarded for the best. 5,000 candy kisses mounted oh a heart cutout with 'A Kiss For You From the Stars' and- cards carrying theatre copv. were, distributed all over town. Exploiteersalso-had'tie- ms with 27-.-Walgreen, drug stor<b; retail merchants and a whopper with Pontiac automobile dealers in town.' Automobile company paid for $500 worth,.-, of newspaper •advertising" distributed .lO.OOQ -Dietrich photos and staged » 20rcar parade on morn- ing pic opened. Am Advertisers Probably it will not cany along more than a couple of months, but a mid-westerner is cashing in on the amateur idea with amateur plugs for his shows. His advertis- ing space carries room for 25-35 words of sales talk and he pays two tickets to anyone whose copy he uses. Stipulates that ducats will be awarded only where servicable copy is .turned in, but, so far, he has "been able to keep up a pretty fair average. Bach space is prefaced with the name and address of the winner as evidence of good faith and a 'no winner today' when the copy is not up to standard. Press ^material on all coming plays is available for study in the lobby two or three weeks in advance. Working so well he is- considering an offer- of five Oakleys for copy for the Sunday paper covering three changes of bill. ' , Probably not goOd for! the larger spots but in a town of 10,000 or un* der it carries .a pull and has a lot of people working hard. Gets the stuff, read for everyone wants to know who the winner is, and , many, study; the spaces in ' an effort tO get; the Idea so. they can grind bet- ter copy. Prizes to members of journalism and English classes have. been of- fered in the past, but this,takes in the entire town oh the same gag, and so far the interest is hot. r Pulling so strong that he is figur- ing on using five Window, cards with each paying two tickets, and two extra to the card * getting the most votes,. Probably the. vote will, not be on.the level, but they'll all buy tickets in order 'to. cast a vote, which is plenty good enough. Ticket Drives Lately a manager noticed a pitch- man down in the business section selling 'spud scalpers,' a potato, par- ing device. He was a .glib talker and the manager asked him to drop around to the theatre. He made a deal with the man to sell tickets for a picture, that was coming the fol- lowing week,, offering him a 25 %, commission on all sales. :He gave the barker a press book and a roll of tickets and the following day the man made a pitch and. sold $60 worth of tickets. But the. take for that show was better than $100 over the average. Ticket holders sold others, It would not pay to,repeat the sale, but for just ortce the no - elty of buying tickets from a pitch- man sold the citizenry. In another town a deal was made with the Junior League and scores of. the league's prettiest members, invaded , the office buildings and stores and oversold the house. Probably a. lot of those wljo bought tickets would have come s anyhow, but there was still a margin of profit for the house in the number of' persons . who had .. dropped away from. pictures but who bought from the league. A theatre ordinarll/ doing two changes, a week wanted to keep what promised to be a big picture for a Week. There were about £ dozen •.large • manufacturing , con- cerns..located In the town.' These were canvassed for special nights. Slips giving a 10% discount if pre- sented before .7 ; 30 were-distributed tp. the" factories in such prbiSortlon that an approximately same num- ber of slips were 0"ut. Monday' to Friday. The picture held up for the full week." Now Billy Rose is using two for ones distributed. ;on the same idea '-for 'Jumbo.' It's still gOod. Graduation Stunts It is not so far to June and gradu- ation, and time to dust off the bl istandbys or create new ones. Prob- ably the best gag is the congratu- latory letter to each pupil,, with or without a pass for an early show. This has been standard for yearsj and in many towns has become ah Institution.: The names and possibly the hOme addresses, can probably be secured from the principal or his clerk. In Some Instances where the addresses- are'.riot given the letters can, by arrangement,: be. sent to the school In bulk. The letters should congratulate the recipient, express good wishes for the future' and mention, the ticket, if one is sent. Another good idea is to sell the graduates the idea of a party fol- lowing the night performance, either the week before commencement or a day or two after graduation. If the class is. not. too large, refreshments can be promoted. After the night performance the. regular audience is played out and the stage, turned over to the students Who can stage their own performance, which has been put Oh. by a committee se- lected by .themselves. The theatre provides .only the stage, the lights and perhaps a pianist. The young- sters put oh their own show. 1 If a. news "camera is available, ,fi motion picture -of the -class should pay for itself jit it can be shown before Interest dies down. It should be sealed tct be. run again in 1941. If a motion camera is not available a still plcturev should be made and a slide provided, which can ^ also go into the file. It all works out to the angle that to ' make a definite Impression * at ah important point In the adolescent's career ig) .to ^make a permanent patron, Start early; work up'a good' idea and play It to the lirtlit; ' BEHIND ^ KEYS Good Radio Tie Big Store •Manager of a theatre With four stores on the : street end seldom HH hior& than two of the quartet ^l? f ^ ents were not lai-ge, but established stores were already set- tled .ana. did , not want to change locations, so he had to take in the gambling Ventures of small mer- chants; He decldod he would keep one stOro permanently rented by turning it into , a bus stop. But tne bus people would not pay, as 1 ew> so he m *te Jt o- sort of department stora . ti,J lle i' e was a refreshment stand at Ml L end - 'dispensing coXCee, tea. -soft drinks and light foods. fi^Vu a : s a candv Stand and along:- s « that a newspapers and niaga- fn L, C ? unter - the J atter specializing m taking subscriptions., Beside the <£vL Was a parcel checking stand. Several settees, were provided for Waiting patrons, and a radio gen- a i ly i , waa tuned in. Tdea got off !tli a ,. a 0W start ' but - the bus people moSiv ^" ere .. thl ' ee llne3 > s ^ nt trt\ ?n a ^ V f, rtisin - the spot, town- f£ «■ J ed , t,le idea ° r dropping in fvl L, Snack ' and flle other stands "s thini"" ' S0 V' e11 t,1at the manager \Vhn of raIsin « ventP. drl Vo „ a bl « P^ture is coming a ah f M^-W 3 t0 hand out lieralds Siti 11 2 iat about the piclure tn at tS? , 1)a ' SE & n eers, ana 'mer-t mo most n b " s 1 st ,° n ' has become al- , a iocal slogan. the sSf'f to It. that all o£ a »e stands are kept up to the mark i>fonoinr.» c lh : {, ° ,1 «idpring- the IS ° C throwing two stores (V->r , s . ,'?' * ot more room. It all Place 1im« !) "'P.^nv it's dune. The 6 to be kept invitln , ,Mart u Goldenberg,. Keith's, of Philadelphia; a Warner house, plays moveovers from the Warner hrst runs and' has to Scratch to get a ne%v exploitation slants Recentlv he hit .upon an idea to 'make his best radio, contact a permariencv and at -the sanie time give it char- acter. Should be useful In a town of any sizs&boasti broadcasting station. ? ■ instead .;of merely .going on the air, he lia'a made it a definite pro- duction- period through a tie-in to a well known, group of local 'amateurs, the -Walleii Players. They work from a radio ' script, take tlie text off a disc or in a pinch use the censor dialog sheet, but they are On the air every week over WDAS, advertised as 'Keith The-a- tre.on the Air. presenting the Wal-, len playei\s through the courtesy of WDAS every Sunday at 6. Holly- wood comes to Philadelphia.' It has been clicking nicely in spite of the fact the shows are all second run. Will probably be ev§n better where it's a first time showing. ie there's no local dramatic club it is generally pretty easy to form one. Canton, O. Charles Schweitzer, manager of •the •Paramount, Akron, recently ac- duir.£d by B. Rose of. Cleveland. Cleaning equipment Valued at ap- proximately $150 was stolen recently from' the Strand theater Alliance by- thieves who gained entrance to the' .building through a rear door. , Pes Moines, With' the closing of the Grand, Ottumw.a, Eddie Dunn was trans- ferred", by. Trl-States to- manager of the Strand, Waterloo, replacing Joe. Stewart , , Jackson, Miss. , Capitol is to - reopen within the next' few weeks and will be op; erated'by an independent Co; . • . > "•" Birmingham; D. .Cowarti'-. of Donaldsonville, Ga.~, has purchased the Tavern at Georgiana from Mrs. A. B. Mc Gowin. tres now being reported cold oh. It; It's a 550-seat action and western house.. V Hollywood. Lloyd.Perth. for years with-Alex- ander Pantages in Memphis and Se- attle, and more recently operating number of houses for Famous Play- ers of Canada out of. "Vancouver, comes .here to manage ' Hollywood Pantages. Principal Theatres will, erect new 500-seat grind house on main, stem Brawley, Calif. Will continue to op- erate its Brawley as first .run out* let. Costume Party Fort Wayne. Ralph Fisher of the Maumee,. has taken over management of Strand. Filtti : policy /in effect, with occasional stage shows. RemnisCent Ballyhoo New York City. Advance ballyhoo on 'The Great Ziegfeld' (MGM) included a radio series over WHN with Bernard Sobel, former Ziegfeld press agent. Instead Of the usual glorification chatter,. Sobel delved into intimate' slants on the late director, biuhgirtg out as much fresh material as pos- sible. Lost Sunday (22) he;, had Evelyn Laye as a guest, using her appearance af? a highlight to accent Ziegfeld's flair for importing new stars. It was carefully concocted, start- ing off first with Anna Held's debut, and continuing through Chevalier's introduction at the Ziegfeld Mid- night Frolic; and closing with Miss Laye's debut in 'Bitter Sweet.' The actress herself aired a few minutes', -telling of her. first meeting with Ziegfeld. and other casual squibs on their association. Program was clipped in the middle of Sobel's closing remarks, so as to carry over for some special news at next broadcast. For Honeymooners Warner's Strand. X. Y., plugged 'Brides are Like That' by inviting all leap year brides to be guests of the management. Only requirement was the production of some evidence that the applicant had made the hitch not laler than Jan. 1, Houston, . Interstate Amus. Co. has closed with I. B. Adelman of Fort Worth owner of " the Delman theatre here and the Tivoll, Fort Worth, hoth suburban houses, whereby Inter- state takes Over and operates both as part of the circuit effective April 1. This brings, the Interstate string here to four suburban houses and three downtown, houses. Property adjoining the Deiman owned by In- terstate will be operated as a the- atre parking lot. Lincoln. Western Theatre Enterprises, the new name for Bill Youngclaus' oper- ations out of- its hOme office in Grand Island, Neb,, will be incor- porated soon for $199,999 and his partner in the business will be Lloydl Thompson, son of Senator and Mrs.' W. H. Thompson. Present holdings are three - houses, the Empress, Grand Island: the State, Central City; and the Shelton, Sheltqn; Youngclaus, a fighting indie exhib who got the protection suit across to a $25,000 settlement about three years ago,, has long wanted to build an independent chain. Pawnee, Aurora, Neb., is being re- opened .soon to take care of .the extra business expected in the area by the Start of spring highway work in the territory;' Operated by Harold Schoonovcr. The first Sunday show vote ever taken in Edgar, Neb., is cording up soon and Bruce Merrill, manager of the Lyric and in the film game 27 years, Is looking forward to the first Sunday shows in his town. Petitions are being circulated in North Platte. Neb., for the ihentrn* to stop dual featui'es. Jerry Zigmond, city manager of the Lincoln theatres Corp., aCtor conference with the head of the or- ganization, J. H. Cooper, who \\as in over the weekend from N. Y., so id the Colonial will be dropped after clof-'e of business C29>. Tt'« then open to anybody* We.xtland Thea- Charlotte, N.. C. The New Imperial at GreensbOro has opened. Warren Irvin, manager of the Palmetto .theatres, Columbia, S. 'C, for a number of years, has been' promoted to the post of supervisor of Palmetto theatres in several South' v Carolina cities. Francis S. Falkenburg, late of Hickory, is the new manager of the Carolina at Columbia. Dick Wright, W-B 2onovmanag in Cleveland, sent this 'to- his man- agers for the Easter vacation! when schools are closed, but it's good any time and plenty colorful. Ht< wcrked it; himself when 'ie was 'al Akron/ so he knows, it's good. Just 'a kid impersonation contest With children to impersonate any cartoon character from the local sheets or cartoon series regularly used by the theatre. Newspapers running the comic strips will co- operate with mention and possibly contribute a prize for the best im- personation of one of' their cartoon characters, with a general prize for the-over all best. Can, be whooped upr into some- , thing; really .big, v wlth the! children in costume acting as advertisements all the way from the home to the theatre; Give It the works for two or three weeks in advance to give the parents a chance to prepare cosr fumes,, and be sure the news pho- togs come. And there's food for thought in another, of Wright's bulletins wherein he asks: 'Does your spring selling activity include tie-ups of genuine merit or are they ju<st no much eye-wash for the boss?' Deep stuff, that. Miniature Fleet Bucyrus. O. Bucyrus Opera House, swept by fire two months ago was sold this week -at public auction to the Standard Oil Company of Ohio for $16,200. The building had been ap- praised at $21,000. Yuma, Ariz, rlncipal Theatres' Yuma, theatre, destroyed by fire in January, will be reopened Aprjl 11 at cost of around $5o;oqx Louis Long, who operated pic house in Stafford, Ariz., for a num- ber, of year.-, bought George Maulk circuit, embracing houses in May- den, Florence, Shepard and Ojal, Ariz. Charlotte, N. C. Carolina Theatres, Inc., of Char- lotte, announce alterations at the Carolina, in Lexington, to cost $30.- 000. The same company has altera- tions underway at the Granada, also at Lexington, costing $3,500. The Pharr building in the. Biddle- Ville negro residential section of Charlotte, has been leased by Sam E, lievlns. of AshevilJe, for the opening there of a negro theatre. Kevins operates a chain of negro houses in North Carolina. Luzerne. N. Y. Will of Myron Bert Riddcll. local theatre operator, killed with three companions In an automobile crash at East GrerMibush. March Hi, as filed in Warren. County Surrogate's office, showed that ho left an estate valued at nicltre than $10,000. The theatre, and business ]i\\\UT-n< £ hold- (Continucd on page 33) Montreal The largest privately operated concern in Canada, the Canadian Pacific Railway, was an important factor in the exploitation of 'Follow the Fleet' by George Rotsky, mana- ger of the Palace, currently when six models of the c.mpany's Em- press fleet, electrically illuminated, were exhibited in the lobby of the theatre with v the legend in huge .streamers 'Follow the Fleet' poi. t- lng to the lined-up models. The exhibit was so attractive that fans crowded the lobbies to look and had to be politely moved on by ushers, Mlnjaturos of officers and men of the ships operating the models added to the ..attraction. With the ocean-travel season coming on. stuni gave useful publicity to the company and around town talk did plenty to help theatre to top main stem grosses fbr the week. $25 Per Baby Jay Golden., new manager of RKQ Schine Keith's, exploiting 'Th© Country Doctor.' conceived a stunt that induced the Herald, closc-d to theatrical. promotion tteups for sev- eral years, to open its columns for news and pictures. Keith's tying up with John Wil- son, Syracuse jeweler, offered a $25 bank account in the Lincoln Na- tional Bank and Trust company to the first baby born in Syracuse dur- ing the engagement of the picture who was named after one of the Dionne qulnfl. Provision was made to increase this at the rate Of $S5 per baby to cover twins, triplets, quadruplets and quintuplets.' . 'First baby under the wire to fuallfy was Mari*- Dionne Annette Pllgor born just four hours and 50 minutes after'the midnight opening of the picture*