Variety (Apr 1939)

8 VARIETY PICTURES Wedncsdiij, April 12, I939 FILM SHOWMANSHIP Patriotic Org's Dbmer Will Feature Chicago By John C Flinn The Neely bill is a stupid piece of proposed legisla- tion which seeks to abolish the practice of blockbooh- V«iini CalnmAil' PrAAm '"^ compelling producer-distributors to provide nayUl OalOUlim rrCCulj theatre-customers with a synopsis of each and every picture comprising a season's program. Chicago, April 11. In connection with the release of the Warner Bros, flicker on the "Life of Haym Salomon' and the unveiling of the statues of George Washington, Salomon and Robert Morris, a com- memorative dinner will be held at the Stevens hotel here on May 21 under the au^ices of the Patriotic Foundation of Ctucago, wliich is ac- tively beaded by Bamet Hbdes, cor- poration counsel of Chicago. Principal speaker at the dinner will be.. Cordell Hull, according to present indications. The Secre- tary of State has been asked to make the formal address and it appears he will accept the invitation. Other speakers will include George Car- dinal Mundelein and George Craig Stewart Louis D. Brandeis is ex- pected to greet the assemblage through the p. a. system from WaA- ington. George Jessel will be toast- master. Entire proceedings will be carried coast to coast by NBC and MutuaL On the board, along with Hodes, •re liester Amwur, Albert D. Lasher, A. A. Sprague and Maurice Roths- child. Hodes and his committee are also understood working on a cam- paign for the naming of some street or parkway - in Chicago after the Revolutionary War hero. THEAim COMPETE IN SHOWMANSHIP S1VNTS ' Syzacuse, April 11. liiew's and Schine-Kelth's have been running a dizzy race in ex- ploitation in the Syracuse field in the past few weeks, finding the local press highly cooperative and beating the seasonal b.o. dropoff with some neat stunts. Keith's bit the beU with a contest lor copies of old-time songs in con- nection with the 'Story of Irene and Verpon Castle' last week, drawing thousands of entries. This was promptly followed by an Easter egg bunt sponsored by Loew's in which some 51 cash prizes were 'offered by Jeanette MacDonald' in conjunction . with lowing of 'Broadway Seren- ade.' This drew some 3,000 kids ii^ a wild scramble which made swell art for the papers. Keith's has bounded back this week with a talent hunt which is getting a good play. Metro Offers |10,000 For Theatre Fihn Phgs Cash prizes totaling $10,000 will be awarded independent exhibitors in the Uriited States and Canada for tlie best campaigns on Metro-Gold- w:'n-Mayer pictures to be released between Sept. I, 1939, and Jan. 1, 1940. Exhibitors. may submit cam- paigns on one or more of these pic- tiires. There will be identical prizes for fli'St-run and subsequent-run ex- hibitors, with flr$t place in each category winning $2,500.00; second, i;7S0.00, and third, $500.00. There will also be 100 additional prizes of $25.00 each for runners-iip in both sections. Give Away Heralds Printed While You Wait Reading, Pa., April 11. Old-fashioned printing press, simi- lar to one in the picture, was set up on the pavement outside the Colonial theatre to plug 'Song of the Plains' (formerly ■ tabbed 'Let Freedom Ring'). George Peters, .manager of —the Trfiew hnusg..liad aJTOX-operatlng the hand press, .turning out heralds about the show. They were given to passersby who stopped to watch the ancient printing device in action.' Veterans of Foreign Wars were in- vited to attend the opening of the film. Their uniformed driim and bugle cofps marched to the theatre and played a concert outside. There are penalties, including a jail sentence (!) for failure to comply with the literary provisions of the bill. Theatres are given the right to cancel, without the payment of any rental, a film which varies from the .advance synopsis. A hearing on the bill is in prog- ress before a committee of senators. Considering that the 13. S. Supreme Court devotes a good deal of time interpreting, what these same sen- ators believe they were putting on paper, in the phras- ing of laws, the penalty provisions of the Neely bill seem unduly stiff. If applied to their own work, the chances are that half the members of the senate would by sitting in cells under the onus of splitting infinitives or mixing metaphors. It would seem only fair that the rules they would foist upon the film industry should apply also to their own activities. 'nie Neely. 4111 attempts the regulation of a trade practice which is rapidly disappearing under the neces- sities of ordinary commerce as conducted in the film industry. If the proposed trade practice code, recently completed, is adopted by exhibitor bodies, including the organizations that have fostered' the Neely meas- ure, blockbooking as at present conducted will be vir- tually ended. Cancellations amounting to as high as 20% of all films purchased under $100 automatically will give theatres a wider selection of product than they have at present. BLOCKBOOKHG OLDEST SALES PLAH Blockbooking is the oldest known sales practice and goes back to the earliest days of the General Film Co., when programs of 28 reels weekly were furnished to houses. There was a short period when longer features first became popular during which they were sold indi- vidually by territorial distributors. But the crying need of theatres for consistent supply of product brought about program releases. Distributing com- panies first released 52 annually; then 104, at the rate of two pictures each week. Paramount, in 1917, sold a program of three' features weekly, or ISA in the year. It is one of those strange paradoxes which now finds certain exhibitor interests battling against blockbook- ing whereas throu^ the years the fight against group selling has been carried on almost exclusively by pro- ducers. The causes of dissatisfaction against the sys- tem are different Theatre men say they are compelled to show undesirable films; producers declare their film rentals are held down because of block sales. The revolt against program selUng took tangible form when Adolph Zukor, while still releasing the majority of Famous Players pictures through Para- mount, organized a separate distributing company called Artcraft The express purpose of this was to handle individually the productions of Mary Fickford. Previously,' Lewis J. Selznick had sold on the open market the Clara Kimball Young film,- 'The Common liaw,' which held the record gross film rental for many years. Formation of the United Artists distributing organ- ization came as a result of the determination of a small group—Mary Plckford, Douglas Fairbanks, D. W. Grif- fith and Charles Chaplin—to market their films indi- vidually. While others talked about the ethics of blockbooking (or program selling as it was known then), the UA group went ahead and founded an or- ganization that has continued as one of the strongest trade factors for 20 years without deviating from orig- inal policies. J. J. UcCASIHT'S SHOWHANSHIF Film industry has been mllestoned by broken prece- dents rather.than routine operations.. Blockbooking is a leveling force, useful only in the commercial han- dling of quantities of films, but a practice which op- poses the proper merchandizing, and therefore the production, of outstanding attractions. Blockbooking would have stifled an effort such as 'The Birth of a Nation,' which was handled As a roadshow attraction by the late J. J. McCarthy, who, for years, never per- mitted it to be shown at reduced prices from the legiti- mate scale, or at continuous performances. McCarthy's peculiar methods of showmanship resulted in record earnings for 'The Covered Wagon,' 'Ben Hur,' "The Big Parade,' The Ten Commandments' and other films. It was he who developed the roadshowing system to its highest point of financial returns before sound films brought radical changes in exhibiting policies. After a season of roadshowing, and at the end'of a . substantial period of price protection, the roadshow films which McCarthy handled were sold to film thC' atres in program grotips. The heavy advance road' showing exploitation consistently made them the highest grossing films of their respective seasons, and the favorites at theatres. DIETZ AND EDIEELD'S VHOOP-DE-DO Legislation against blockbooking is not the remedy for the current lethargic condition of the American boxoffice.. Rather it . is the need for an exploitation substitute equal in effectiveness to the roadshowing formula which McCarthy used so effectively. Day-and date releasing of films in first-run houses from coast to coast creates a heavy handicap against good eX' ploitation, which, best expresses itself by intensive bal- lyhoo in a few select places in order to create the values of accumulative word-of-mouth advertising. Such a method has been used most successfully this season in the handling of 'Pygmalion' (MG) by Howard Dietz. Also-effective has been the special hip-hip-hooraying such as used by .S. Charles Einfeld in the launching of 'Dodge City,' which last week attracted to the Kan- sas town of tiie same name a crowd of 50,000 persons drawn from miles around. These successful campaigns likely will be repeated by Paramount in handling the premiere of Cecil B. DeMille's Union Pacific' at Omaha. A special train will carry the Hollywood contingent to Omaha for the festivities and celebrations incident to the opening of the film. These examples of distributor enterprise offer more boxoffice values to exhibitors than a-score of Neely bills, the only effect of which would be to tie up dis tribution routine with red tape. DE MHIE FHJI TIES IN WITH COMMERCIAL ADS Cecil B. DeMille's Paramount film. Union Pacific,' will be ushered in at theatres throujghout the coimby with an appropriate $SMIO,(KXI . national newspaper and magazine campaign, Robert M. GUlham, Paramount di- rector of advertising and publicity, announced today (Wednesday). The greater portion of tSbis sum will be spent in newspapers. In ad- dition to a $65,000 newspaper appro- priation. Paramount will spend $15,- 000 in national magazines. Supplementing Paramount's ap- propriation the Union Pacific Rail- road wiU get behind the film with a $50,000 national magazine cam- paign. The railroad's campaign will hit "the newsstands during April, May and June with ads ranging from half to full pages. Caisde Fibn Ties In Styles and Fashions Seattle, April 11. For 'Irene and Vernon C^tle' (BKO), next at Fifth Avenue (Ham- rick-Evergreen), Vic Guantlett ar- ranged tieup with every beauty shop in town (around 150) and with the wholesaler, Berliner's, to ' display cards and heralds telling how the 'bob' fad started with Mrs. Castle. Through Berliner's a local dept store beauty parlor went to town with a <CastIe Bob,' running ads in the papers. With Bon Marche, dept store tieup for free ads and window displays along the main stem, on Pine st., was arranged. This includes nine huge windows. The full line of cos- tumes worn by Ginger Rogers is be- ing shown. The store is tielng in modern styles that grew out of the wardrobe shown, ^l^ringing out con- tinuity, f Evergreen Theatres In Showmanship DrWe SeatUe, AprU 11, Archie M. Bowles, San Francisco; Eddie Zabel (N.Y.) and Andy Krapp- man (L. A.), alt with Skouras or- ganization, were here last week con- ferring with Frank Newman, John Hamrick and other executives. Managers of the 44 Evergreen houses in Oregon and Washington were called to SeatUe for the meet- ing, to steam up for a showmanship and salesmanship drive. Einfeld's 3 Exploitation Fix Keep Him East 3 Wks. East on a three-week trip, Charlie Einfeld. is supervising the launching of three Warner pictures ..before he returns west on May 1. 'Dark Vic tory' opens at Radio City Music HaU April 20; 'Juarez' reopens the War- ner Hollywood, two-a-day, on AprU 25, and 'Confessions of a Nazi Spy' gets under way April 28 at the Strand. Latter film will be day-and- dated simultaneously in 400 keys spots throughout the country around May 1. Einfeld is concentrating on the 'Confessions' picture, as this presents the topmost in exploitation possibili- Ues. ladden' TeDs 'Em Philadelphia, April 11 Tie-in with a local safety week campaign was very effective in tilt- ing business for 'Sergeant Madden' (MG) at the Colonial, Allentown, last week. Charles Bierbaud^r, man- ager of the house, had several hun- dred cards printed reading: 'Walk Carefully, Prive Carefully— Sereesnt Msdrien • TRIPTON.Y.FAK IS 'SBtENADF PRBE Atlanta, April 11. With round-trip ticket to N. Y. World's Fair as bait, Eddie Pente- cost, manager of Loew's Grand the atre, planted a daily space-grabbing contest with the AUanta Georgian and Sunday American on Metro's 'Broadway Serenade.' Rules of contest call for readers to select from advertisements an appro- priate gift for either Jeanette Mac- Donald or Lew Ayres and write let- ter of not more than 100 words ex- plaining choice of gift Ad from which gift selection is made had to accompany letter. Contest drew a neat response, and there were 25 pairs of ducats as con- solation awards. OnuAa Is Ready For Pacific Kick-Off _ Omaha, Aprjl 11. Complete program for four-day celebration. Golden Spike Days, with world premiere of "Union Pacific' as chief attraction, has been announced. Festivities will open Wednesday (26), with early west exposition at city auditorium, unveiling of street decorations and revealing of Union Station as an 1869 stockade. Interior of station will be decorated in true Holljrwood style. Cecil B. DeMlUe and players arrive following, day. Premiere is scheduled for Friday (28), to be shown simultaneously in city's three big theatres, Omaha, Or- pheum ancl Paramount Gilling Up the Guard Hollywood, April 11. Edward Ludwig directs 'Coast Guard,' rolling at Columbia April 24 with Fred Kohlmar producing. Randolph Scott and Ralph Bel- 6 WnmeFs In M-G's lane' Contest Gettmg Rood Trips to Paris The six winners in Metro's 'Marie Antoinette' contest, including two theatre managers and foiir patrons^ whose prizes will be all-expenst round trips to France, have been se- lected. More than 10,000 entries were submitted from the U.. S. and Canada. Theatre men selected for their campaigns on the Norma Shearer- Tyrone Power film are Frank Weatherford, of the Worth theatre (Interstate), Ft Worth, Tex., and Ray Bell, of I^oew's, Washing- ton. D. G. Winning picturegoers, who sub- mitted the best 3(K>-word essays on the subject, 'Why I Should Like to Visit the Country of Marie Antoin- ette,' are Mary M. Canak, Mount Mary Collet Milwaukee; Helen Virginia King, Denver; ESie Burk- halter, AmariUo, Tex., and Mrs, Helen Szold, Chicago. The six win- ners will sail from New York on the Norinandie, on May 3. The contest, which started last fall, was conducted with the co- operation of both the French gov- ernment and the French Line. 'GULLIVER'RECEIVES EARLY CAMPAIGN Miami, April 11. Though the release date for Max Fleisdier's 'Gulliver's Travels' fea- ture cartoon in color is still far in the future, already plans have been set for the coiqidete exploitation and promotion of all angles regarding this flicker. . Hany Royster has been placed in charge of handling special commer- cial tie-ups on the cartoon, such as toys, merchandising stunts, chil- dren's costumes, books, cartoon books, candy, etc Fleischer studio here which was built at cost of nearly $2,000,000 long ago proved too small for the huge staff which is working on this full- length cartoon. Sam Buchwald, general manager, has more than 1400 employees on the staff and it appears that even more will be added before the flicker is com- pleted. Hampton Howard is general pub- licity director in Florida for the cartoon. Hieatre and Merchants Job in Promotion Idea Mt Vernon, O., April 11. A 24-page tabloid newspaper—the largest special edition ever published here, was distributed to 10,000 homes by Schine's Vernon theatre. Publication was under the super- vision of Kroger Babb, Schine's ad man, who was assisted by James Piatt, manager of the Vernon the- atre, and Ronald Sturgess, manager of Schine's Vine theatre. Advertisements of 25 leading mer- chants, were carried in the edition, which Included mor« than 20 scenes from forthcoming pictures, and con- siderable art on the New York World's FWr. Special edition, announced. 10 free all-expense World's Fair tours for Vernon theatre patrons. Cooperat- ing merchants.'are giving coupons and underwriting the expenses of the promotion. Go to the Pictures Arid Learn About New Books (Heveland, April 11. Sid Dannenberg, Warner's publi- cizer, capitalized book-reviewing fad in a neat stunt with literary flavor for Colony's Wednesday matinees. He persuaded nearly half-dozen of town's leading lecturers to give gratis talks on 'best-selling novels from theatre's stage, and they jumped at the offer to grab some free, publicity. Initial lecture was put across last week by Dr. Joseph Rcmenyi, for- eign literature prof from Cleveland (Allege, who reviewed Georees Du-