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Animation in Display<br />
Gives Xiltle Egypt'<br />
Publicity Shakes<br />
An animated lobby display helped to<br />
stimulate<br />
advance interest in "Little Egypt" for<br />
Fred Godwin, manager of the Wellston, Warner<br />
Robins, Ga.<br />
With posters and attractive signs, the<br />
theatre's limited lobby space was converted<br />
into a carnival midway. The figure of the<br />
dancing girl from the three-sheet was<br />
mounted on compo board and covered with a<br />
skirt made from a colored scarf. An electric<br />
contraption with a coil and circuit breaker<br />
made the figure wiggle, and a spotlight<br />
placed on the figure provided added attention<br />
value.<br />
Godwin's recent ballyhoo ideas have been<br />
instrumental in stimulating advance interest<br />
in his coming shows. For "Francis Goes to<br />
the Races," a man led a pony through the<br />
streets with signs on each side reading, "This<br />
ain't Francis but you can see "Francis Goes<br />
to the Races' at your Wellston Theatre, etc."<br />
For "Show Boat," jewelry and record shops<br />
displayed picture and theatre advertising<br />
tieing in with record albums. "Alice in<br />
Wonderland" was exploited in drugstores and<br />
on newsstands by tieing in with pocket-size<br />
books based on the film production.<br />
To kick off the Movietime U.S.A. campaign,<br />
the mayor was persuaded to issue a<br />
proclamation which appeared in two local<br />
newspapers.<br />
Godwin, who also manages the Martin &<br />
Thompson drive-in at Warner Robins, created<br />
advance word-of-mouth advertising for<br />
"Two Flags West" by announcing that Confederate<br />
money was good for admission to<br />
the first ten persons on opening night. The<br />
stunt attracted attention in the local pre.ss<br />
as<br />
well.<br />
Supreme Court Judge<br />
Is Guest at 'O'Hara'<br />
Extra publicity was garnered for "The<br />
People Against O'Hara" when it played the<br />
Colonia in Norwich, N. Y., when Manager<br />
Bill Connolly invited the state supreme court<br />
judge and the district attorney and his staff<br />
to be guests on opening night. Connolly also<br />
mailed letters to every lawyer in the area,<br />
explaining they had a natural interest in the<br />
picture and urging them to see it.<br />
Connolly erected a replica of a judge's<br />
bench in the lobby and had an usher garbed<br />
in black robe make a personal pitch for the<br />
picture by '-'sentencing" incoming patrons to<br />
"see 'The People Against O'Hara.' next<br />
Colonia attraction."<br />
Dance Students Attend<br />
Opening of 'American'<br />
Lou Hart, district manager of the Schine<br />
circuit, tied up with two large dance schools<br />
to have the entire student body attend the<br />
opening of "An American in Paris" at the<br />
Avon in Watertown, N. Y. The group attended<br />
in a body and paid regular admission<br />
scale.<br />
Hart arranged window tieups with department<br />
stores and record shops on the music<br />
angle and promoted a tune identification contest<br />
with a local disk jockey program.<br />
BOXOFFICE ShowmandJser : : Nov. 24, 1951<br />
Goodwill Promotions<br />
Forestall<br />
Trouble With the Small Fry<br />
Sam Greisman, manager of the Jefferson<br />
Theatre, Fort Wayne, Ind., makes a<br />
special effort to create goodwill among<br />
his juvenile patrons, and through this<br />
policy has helped to reduce vandalism<br />
while the kids are inside the theatre.<br />
The third annual free show for members<br />
of the Schoolboys Safety patrols indicate<br />
the extent of cooperation he receives from<br />
•school officials and the police department.<br />
The .school safety patrol, covering<br />
public and parochial schools, is directly<br />
under the supervision of the police traffic<br />
division.<br />
For three years, Greisman has arranged<br />
a special free show as a reward for the<br />
youngsters for their work on the patrols.<br />
This year the show was staged on November<br />
5, a Monday, between 3 and 6 p. m.<br />
Greisman booked a program especially<br />
suitable for youngsters, headed by "Santa<br />
Fe" and "Sunny Side of the Street."<br />
The principals at grade and parochial<br />
schools received notice of the .show and<br />
they, in turn, were asked to notify patrol<br />
Radio Program Reaches<br />
Stay-at-Home Patrons<br />
Fred Leavens, manager of the Elmdale, Ottawa,<br />
Ont., promoted a weekly radio show<br />
called "Tunes 'n' Titles" which is aimed<br />
at exploiting current and coming screen attractions<br />
when people are at home relaxing<br />
on Sunday evening. The radio show is presented<br />
at 10 p. m. on Sundays.<br />
The 15-minute show enables the station to<br />
use four tunes tied in with four pictures. As<br />
an example, to promote "Storm Warning,"<br />
"Stormy Weather" was used as the tie-in<br />
tune. For musical pictures, title tie-ins are<br />
effective.<br />
According to Leavens, the program is a<br />
polished, well-written show which has been<br />
growing in popularity.<br />
Newspaper Name Tie-In<br />
Sells 'Close to Heart'<br />
Russ Barrett, manager of the Capitol. Willimantic.<br />
Conn., tied up with the Willimantic<br />
Chronicle for a free ad on "Close to My<br />
Heart." The newspaper published the names<br />
of five local residents in advertisements on<br />
one page. At the top of the layout was an<br />
announcement that persons whose names appeared<br />
on the page could call at the Chronicle<br />
office and, upon proper identification, receive<br />
free tickets to the Capitol for "Close to My<br />
Heart."<br />
Man on Street Hookup<br />
Now in Its<br />
Sixth Year<br />
Joe Borenstein. manager of the Strand in<br />
New Britain, Conn., reports he is observing<br />
the sixth consecutive year of a permanent tiein<br />
with the Man on the Street broadcast on<br />
KND. The station gives theatre tickets to<br />
program participants<br />
adequate attraction plugs.<br />
— 267 —<br />
each day and provides<br />
members that their Identification cards<br />
would admit them to the Jefferson. These<br />
bulletins included a note to every principal<br />
to Instruct his respective patrol to conduct<br />
them.selves in an orderly manner<br />
while at the Jefferson as an appreciative<br />
gesture to the manager for his civic interest<br />
in arranging the show.<br />
Another recent tieup which did an excellent<br />
job of public relations was a sixweek<br />
tieup with two Fort Wayne newspapers,<br />
the Journal-Gazette and the News-<br />
Sentinel. Carriers were i.s.sued tickets by<br />
their re.spective circulation departments<br />
for meeting weekly quotas. The tickets<br />
are valid at the Jefferson boxoffice for<br />
regular admission tickets which are redeemed<br />
at regular prices by the newspaper.<br />
According to Greisman. the tieup not<br />
only helped to increa.se theatre attendance<br />
but proved a boon to the candy stand<br />
due to the fact that most of the carriers<br />
came to the theatre right after completing<br />
their daily chores and brought a healthy<br />
appetite along with them.<br />
Papers So Tough, He<br />
Writes Own Column<br />
Outside of an occasional scene mat which<br />
the Reading (Pa.) newspapers publish for<br />
the theatres, free publicity is something the<br />
local managers don't get much of. Larry<br />
Levy, manager of the Colonial there, recently<br />
instituted a new gimmick designed to provide<br />
newspaper readers with bits of Hollywood<br />
news, studio gossip and information on coming<br />
and current film shows. The deal is a<br />
column especially written by Levy under his<br />
byline, and runs as a paid advertisement in<br />
the Sunday Reading Eagle.<br />
The paper's 50,000 circulation is considered<br />
an effective medium for promoting the theatre<br />
attractions.<br />
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f^^^ RADIO COWORATIOH of AMtRICA<br />
^ BNGINCCmNG PRODUCTS DtPT. CAMDEN, N.J.<br />
29
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