i want I HURST fSVJ Theatre Construction, Openings and Sales CONSTRUCTION: Barstow, Calif. — Ground broken for 1,000-seat house by Western Amusement Co., Ted Jones, president. Camp Wood, Tex.—Ground broken for new theatre to replace the present Dixie by L. J. Dean, owner. Charlemont, Mass.— Drive-in under way for Carl H. Nilman of Buckland, Mass. Compton, Calif.—Compton Drive-In, 1,200 cars, under way for Dave Rector. Corpus Christi, Tex.—New drive-in platined by Arnulfo Gonzales of Laredo on Port drive. Architects: Spillman
CHESTER FRIEDMAN EDITOR HUGH E. FRAZE Associate Editor nmm SECTION PRACTICAL IDEAS FOR SELLING SEATS BY PRACTICAL SHOWMEN uafcartM^air* * «»* DVd^o^e^ The difference between an optimist and a pessimist is that the optimist looks at his house with assurance and says, "It's half full." The pessimist looks at the same house and says, "It's half empty." Having worked for so many theatre owners who were pessimistic at heart, perhaps it is only natural that we have developed a pessimistic outlook, particularly whenever we see empty theatre seats. Of course, during the war years and in the period immediately following, even the most pessimistic exhibitors came to change their viewpoints. Many changed radically and became outright optimists. Not having been an exhibitor at that time, we were never able to change our own habits and so have remained a pessimist right up to now. We read in the tradepapers the other day that business is improving. Optimists will say: "That's fine. Great. Glad to hear it." But being a pessimist, and having visited a number of theatres lately where we saw a surprising number of empty seats, we believe that the prosperity mentioned in the trade reports must be confined to areas outside the geographic limitations of New York City. We took the trouble to check with a few exhibitors and circuit o^vners around here. The most important revelation is that theatres in Manhattan and the Bronx are not suffering as much as those in Brooklyn and Queens. We believe there is an obvious reason for this. Apartment dwellers in Manhattan and the Bronx do not find it easy getting their landlord's permission to rig TV aerials on rooftops. Brooklyn and Queens residents are mostly home owners or tenants of two and four-family domiciles and do not encounter so much landlord resistance. We haven't seen a breakdown of the 550,000 home TV sets in the New York area, but it is just possible—and highly probable—that a large percentage of the total are installed in Brooklyn and Queens. That would make the drop in theatre business in those boroughs more than a mere coincidence. It might also shed some light on TV com- ( Continued on page 30) Civic, Merchant Aid Given 'Neptune in So. Carolina A saturation campaign which covered Columbia, S. C, and communities In a 50- mile area, presaged the southern premiere of "Neptune's Daughter" at the Carolina Theatre. National tieups for the picture played a major role in one of the most comprehensive campaigns ever undertaken in that part of the country. The campaign was planned and executed by Dave Garvin, manager of the Carolina, the entire theatre staff, and Tom Baldridge, MGM exploiteer. Every phase of the campaign was prepared well in advance and was completed down to the minutest detail. BATHING BEAUTY CONTEST A "Neptune's Daughter" contest sponsored by the city recreation and parks department, a Neptune water pageant, a bathing beauty street parade and a proclamation by the mayor of Columbia were among the highlights. Radio stations and newspapers thi-oughout the area outdid themselves with publicity for the premiere. National tieups produced record plugs through ads, promoted radio time and dealer cooperation. The Lux soap hookup yielded co-op space in all local and out-of-town papers, 1,000 Lux Journal giveaways for distribution, 200 Esther Williams counter cards imprinted with playdates for display by retail outlets, several hundred black-white and color ad reprints for house-to-house distribution, 100 giant Esther Williams cutouts for display by grocers and drug stores, 5,000 dealer broadcasts for distribution to store customers and a carton of .soap for giveaway on a disk jockey radio program. HEAVY TIEUPS HELP Representatives of Cole swim suits were contacted in Florida and Los Angeles for the following cooperation: Newspaper and radio advertising placed locally by retail dealers, 5,000 reprints of a national magazine ad for distribution with theatre imprint, 2,000 color photos of Esther Williams in a Cole swim suit as a theatre giveaway prior to opening, 50 full color counter cards and an equal number of blowups for display at stores handling the Cole product and 12 swim suits for giveaway via radio contests. The Cugat jacket tieup, represented by Sherman Shirts, helped to exploit the open- —159— ing by reaching additional people through store displays, ads and radio plugs. Cugat jackets were promoted and given as prizes by disk jockeys on tune identifying contests through which the picture received continuous breaks. Eight prominent music stores were brought in on the campaign through Columbia and MGM record tieups with co-op ads and lavish window displays. The Palmetto studio sponsored a "Neptune's Daughter" photo contest offering cash and camera prizes with the picture and theatre dates dominating the promotion. Belk's department store ran a full-page new.spaper ad welcoming the southern premiere, the Tapp Co. took a half-page ad to promote Cole swim suits and the opening, and several other leading merchants came through with ads, windows, and other forms of cooperative advertising which helped to keep the picture title on the lips of the public. Each of 14 city parks conducted eliminations to select the most attractive bathing beauty representatives who appeared on the Carolina stage opening night. The premiere opening was ballyhooed in typical Hollywood style. The Chamber of Commerce sponsored the opening show which was preceded by the Neptime parade and lobby interviews broadcast by all radio stations as a distinguished audience arrived. Book Ballyhoo Boosts Dayton 'Little Women' Bill Reisinger, manager of Loew's Theatre, Dayton, Ohio, used a perambulating book ballyhoo built by the theatre sign shop to exploit "Little Women." The book was placed on a flat truck built with casters and was moved around the downtown shopping area by two uniformed ushers. Hallmark Aids "Women Bob Carney, manager of the Poll Theatre, Waterbury, Conn., made effective use of the Hallmark tieup to exploit "Little Women." The Hallmark distributor arranged for window displays, and Carney set up signs in the windows of local book shops handling the pocket size edition of the book. 29
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