Boxoffice-November.24.1951

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CHESTER FRIEDMAN
EDITOR
MOfFIC
^HUGH E. FRA^E
Associate Editor
SECTION
PRACTICAL IDEAS FOR SELLING SEATS BY PRACTICAL SHOWMEN
Bill
1)!'
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nnwerAcLifu
— Chester Friedman
Prerelease 'Quo Vadis
Pattern Local Sales Formulas
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's reported .sevenmillion-dollar
inve.stment in "Quo Vadis" is
getting local exploitation commen.surate with Vadis "
the big budget production in key towns where
the feature is playing prerelea.se bookings.
The campaigns are as elaborate and ostentatious
as the film itself.
In Pittsburgh, the ballyhoo started .several
months prior to the booking when William
Elder, manager of the Penn, set up dred cards were
announcing the
new.spaper stories, cross trailers at affiliated
theatre.s, poster displays, lobby setpieces and
many other eye-catching stimulants.
The outdoor campaign represented a fullscale
circus .showing. Five hundred teaser
one-.sheets with copy, "This is the year of
'Quo Vadis,' " were posted in the metropolitan
area eight weeks prior to opening. One
hundred six-.sheets. 250 three-sheets and 1,000
one-sheets in full color were posted over
an area of 50 miles.
Five hundred tack cards tied in with the
December issue of Screen Stories magazine
were distributed to news dealers and newsstands
by the Pittsburgh News Co. Supplementing
this, 16 branches of the Carnegie
library distributed 10,000 bookmarks, and
downtown shops and offices were saturated
with 10,000 blotters. In doctors and dentists
reading rooms and in hotels, more than
2,000 booklets of the story behind "Quo months in advance
Vadis" were left as "pick-me-ups"
MGM exploitation
FOSTERS IN LIBRARY
The downtown branch of the Carnegie
library was filled with colorful posters advertising
the picture through a tie-in with
literature concerning ancient Rome. Colored
blowups of the stars on merchandising hookups
produced a bevy of windows with florists,
men's shops, women's specialty stores, camera
shops, sporting goods firms, music stores and
travel agencies. A co-op ad campaign yielded
three quarter-page newspaper ads with the
Roberts Jewelry Co. These were spaced to
hit on three successive days prior to opening.
The Pittsburgh Art institute aided in promoting
a contest among art students for the
best reproductions from scene-stills displayed
at the theatre. The Post Gazette sponsored cabs throughout
a six-day classified contest with cash prizes
for the winners a week before opening. To
capture the attention of the juvenile trade.
a coloring contest was planted with the Seek
Hawkins club, a feature of the Pittsburgh
Press.
nouncing this
Three months prior to opening, all outgoing
rubber-stamped
with teaser copy. At the same
Bookings
theatre playdates.
displayed in
of opening.
department.
the city.
offer.
The 25'.h anniversary of the Paramount
Theatre at the Crossroads of
the Wor!d reminds us that tempus is
fugitinR. About three months after
this guttering palace of crystal and
marble opened, we were sauntering
along 43rd street when sheer pressure
from a pack of huskies crowding the
sidewalk carried us into the lobby.
Our momentary surprise was brightened
at the prospect of thus getting
into the show for free.
Moments later, drawn up, military
style, in the lobby, we were listening
to an inspirational talk from a man
later identified as Steve Barutio.
His sales pitch convinced the writer
there was a future in theatre business.
There was the implication
also that all of us would become theatre
managers in three months if we
had what it takes and what Publix
needed to fulfill its expansion aims.
Actually, it took 16 months before
we were able even to shed our Eton
jacket for the coveted white flannels
and blue coat with the embroidered
letters, "Chief Usher." Those 16
months embraced all the heartaches,
frustrations and disappointments so
familiar to all who aspired to
come up from the ranks—promotions
which pissed by because of favoritism,
and demotions sometimes based
on prejudice and petty jealousies.
Often the temptation to quit succumbed
to an 11th hour inspirational
talk from one of the friendlier executives.
And inwardly there was a
growing determination to make the
grade in spi'e of the obstacles and
because show business had already
gotten into our blood.
Looking back, it is easy to recognize
how the influence of those
friendly e'ecutives helped to shape
our destinir^s and those of so many
who wore Publix uniforms at that
time. From all of us, there's a long
list of thank-yous due. To Steve
Barutio, W. McEachron, Ted Leaper,
Chester Stoddard, Frank Biba, Ben
Rosenber»—and to many who have
passed from the scene, among them
John Wright and Major Jones.
Thank you, gentlemen—25 years of
thanksl
time, theatre employf- bf-'aii wearing celluloid
buttons with tea.'-er ropy, and "Quo
were w'orn to school by
parttime theatre employes.
One hundreds cards were placed in Greyhound
bus terminals within a 100-mile radius
of Pittsburgh, and a fleet of 20 Pittsburgh
News Co. trucks were bannered with sigas
Two hun-
Blue Ridge bus
terminals throughout western Penn.sylvania.
HOOKED TO LUX DEAL
One thousand posters hooked to the Lux
tieup were displayed in grocery stores, and
an equal number of posters tied in with
Whitman's chocolates were distributed to
candy and confectionery shops. Sets of colored
llxl4s were exhibited in parochial high
schools, and 10,000 reprints of Peter's speech
were distributed through the Council of
Churches.
Radio promotion included daily spot plugs
over stations WPGH, KQV and WHOD. In
addition, the Jane Gibson show. KQV. sponsored
a jingle contest with cash and record
album awards. Menus and tent cards in
downtown restaurants carried plugs for the
picture. All this was exclusive of unusual
newspaper cooperation beginning many
Working with
Elder was J. E. Watson, representing the
At the Grand in Atlanta. Manager Boyd
Fry and MGM exploiteer Emery Austin practically
duplicated the Pittsburgh campaign.
The most spectacular front ever used in
Atlanta, topping even the one used for
"Gone With the Wind." presented a Roman
atmospheric appearance highlighted by a
giant medallion 13 feet in diameter which
was mounted on the facade of the building.
STREET BANNER HUNG
A street banner, 50 feet long and four feet
high, was stretched across Peachtree street
in the heart of the city. Illuminated signs
on the backs of 50 Yellow cabs advertised the
picture for two weeks. In addition, bumper
strips were used on more than 100 Yellow
Railroad executives tied in by offering an
excursion trip to residents within a 100-mile
radius of Atlanta, including admission to the
Grand to see "Quo Vadis." Signs were
posted on trains and in railroad depots an-
Working with the Atlanta censor, arrangements
were made to post notices and art
displays on school bulletin boards.
BOXOFFICE Showmandiser :
:
Nov.
24. 1951 — 263 — 25