Boxoffice-March.04.1950

CHESTER FRIEDMAN
EDITOR
HUGH E. FRAZE
Associate Editor
SECTION
PRACTICAL IDEAS FOR SELLING SEATS BY PRACTICAL SHOWMEN
)
Jdod ^6ieh
12 O'clock' Promotions
Given Top Military Aid
It frequently has been pointed out
that theatremen fail to capitalize on
any but the most obvious sales promotion
angles of their attractions
such as the title and stars, and occasionally
the director or producer.
sand heralds were dropped by CAP planes
publicity of national proportions.
hanging sign suspended from the ceiling represented
an airplane in diving position, let-
If the industry is to benefit from
Co-Op on Vaudeville
this experience, distributors and exhibitors
must learn to appraise each
the principal players.
the Capitol Theatre, Miami, Fla.. Manager
tered with the title, stars and star heads of To proclaim the return of vaudeville at
picture by its separate, and sometimes
unanticipated, merits. They
advertising channels and in the theatre pro-
in the Miami Daily News. Spradley worked
The picture was well played up in regular Gordon Spradley promoted a full-page Co-op
must also make the effort to bring
gram which has a wide readership in the with the advertising department of the newspaper
and closed the deal with 22 merchants
outstanding production values to the
territory.
attention of the public as effectively
Thomas Leonard, manager of the State. in seven hours. The theatre received a fivecolumn
by half-page announcement on the
as they now do the title and the
Rhinelander. Wis., worked with the Civil Air
stars.
patrol in his district and recommends the new theatre policy, including cuts of some
— promotion for exhibitors located in communities
where this service is active. Several thou-
show.
of the headline acts booked on the opening
Chester Friedman
Motion pictures long ago reached
a
Following
war
in the
background,
wake of
military
pictures having
cooperation is over Rhinelander at 12 o'clock noon. The
the grownup stage. So has the public
the strongest tieup factor in promoting cu'culars were also dropped over adjacent
so far as entertainment is con-
"Twelve O'clock High" for exhibitors.
towns. The entire cost of the stunt to the
cerned. The regular theatre patron
In Washington, a premiere with plush festivities
theatre was for the heralds, the CAP pro-
sitting through the credit titles on
and high ranking government and viding the planes and pilots gratis.
the picture leader is as much interested
army officials on hand heralded the opening For the picture opening at Hartford, Conn.,
in the costumer, the music di-
at the Palace. The local campaign was Fred Greenway, acting manager of the Loew
rector, scenic artist, set designer,
handled by Jack Foxe, publicity director for Poli, arranged to have a Congressional Medal
cameraman and other technical experts
as he is in the featured players,
ing night. A 50-piece band from the air
Loew's Theatres in the capital.
of Honor winner appear on the stage open-
the producer and the distributor. If ON RADIO PROGRAM
station at Westover Field and a 30-minute
any exhibitor doubts this, let him sit
Sy Bartlett, who collaborated in writing the broadcast from in front of the theatre were
among his audience with ear alert to
screen play, was in Washington and Foxe some of the premiere highlights. Newspapers
catch the comments of the regular
took advantage of this fact to have the treated the occasion with special splurges of
motion picture devotees.
visitor interviewed on the nationwide Department
publicity.
If a direct effort were made to
of Defense Time for Defense program The faces of five clocks in the city were
reach people with more than a cursory
interest in motion pictures, an What is believed to be a record amount of picture title and playdates. Army officials
over the ABC network and other programs. covered with new ones bearing copy on the
extra 50 or 100 patrons might come
promoted radio time for the capital was authorized the posting of recruiting boards
to the theatre to see an especially
garnered in connection with the picture. with posters advertising the picture booking,
brilliant bit of photography. Another
50 whose vocation or hobby WWDC. WEAM, WTNX and WTOP literally to plug the tieup.
Announcements over WMAL, WRC, WOL, and used a sound truck bannered with signs
runs to art might come just to see
saturated the air waves for days prior to In the lobby, an exhibit was arranged
some unusual sets.
opening. The premiere was covered by the showing a cutaway section of a jet engine
More and more, the merchandising
of motion pictures is becoming a
vision station, WTTG.
suits.
CBS outlet, WTOP. and by the Dumont tele-
and several manikins dressed in army flying
problem of establishing production
All Washington daily papers gave photos Windows were obtained for special displays:
values and selling all of them to the
and publicity stories.
a contest was promoted over WTIC, and
public. Everything which might attract
Duke Stalcup. manager of the Martin time was promoted on two other stations.
patronage must be exploited.
Theatre in Opelika. Ala., landed two excel-
Four weeks ago, "The Third Man"
lent newspaper breaks through personal interce.ssion
with the publishers. One story ap-
Country Store Nights
made its bow on Broadway. Today
the picture is one of the principal
peared in Town Topics, written by the publisher
of the Opelika Eagle; the other made Vic Wintle, manager of the Manring Tlie-
Started by Vic Wintle
topics of conversation in New York
because of the novelty and appeal of
the About Town column on the editorial page atre. Middlesboro, Ky.. is presenting a series
the background music consisting of
of the Opelika Daily News. This was in of Country Store nights under the sponsorship
one melody played on a zither
addition to the usual picture publicity on
of local merchants. In conjunction with
throughout the film.
the amusement pages.
the basket giveaways, Wintle sold the Cumberland
Barn Dancers on the idea of present-
It is to be noted that the distributor's
reaction to this was to make
DIVING PLANE DISPLAY
ing weekly exhibitions on the stage. The
capital of the situation. The zither
Two novel display pieces were created in double promotion is drawing increasingly
and the unique melody from the
the lobby. A setpiece was made from litho large crowds each week.
picture have already attained stellar
cutouts and more than 20 scene stills. A
BOXOFFICE Showmandiser :: March 4. 1950 — 81 — 29