Boxoffice-January.17.1953

Further Evidence:
Movies and TV Alliance
Gets the Kids for Both
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Sidney Lust Circuit Successfully
Uses TV to Sell a Weekly Serial
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by
LOU GERARD
In addition to the TV tie-ups, the Lust circuit also had local merchondise
promotions to boost the serial. Here is a bicycle contributed as a prize by a
neighborhood merchants for one ot the contests. Free candy also was a draw.
The following is a case history. It offers
additional evidence that movies and TV
can live together, not only as uneasy cousins
but as partners who can promote each
other's cause.
What happened in five theatres of the
Sidney Lust circuit of Washington, D. C,
illustrates in particular how the impact of
a TV subject can be transferred to the
screen, to the theatre and to the boxoffice.
What is more important, it reached out to
children and brought them into these theatres,
many for the first time.
In a sense, therefore, this delineation of
how Columbia's serial, "Captain Video,"
was thoroughly promoted and sold is a
continuation of the editorial coverage which
Promotion has been according this melding
of motion pictures and television. (See
Promotion, lead article, for May 1952,
showing Loew's New York theatres' approach.)
On An Experiment Basis
The effort was strictly an experiment, according
to circuit operator Sidney B. Lust.
He wanted to determine whether a show
like "Captain Video," popularized and presold
on TV to thousands of children in the
suburban Maryland areas adjacent to
Washington, could be sold as a theatre feature.
Says Lust, "Our organization decided to
shoot the works with an extensive and
spectacular promotion campaign. For the
test, we chose those theatres with a diversified
patronage, so that we could determine
whether this highly rated video show would
appeal to all or any of the kids in the various
neighborhoods. They were: the Allen
Theatre, Takoma Park; Bethesda in
Bethesda; Cheverly in Cheverly; Kaywood
in Mount Rainier, and the Viers Mill in
Viers Mill Village. All, as you may note,
are in Maryland, right outside of Washington,
an area with heavy TV coverage
which could rightly be called saturation.
That brought in an added factor, which
could possibly hurt us: Saturday is a big
TV day for the youngsters and the serial
was going to run on Saturdays.
"Incidentally, we decided at our meeting
that we were going to keep the exploitation
pressure on for every chapter of the show,
as long as the TV people and merchants
would go along with us."
After the serial was booked, Lust personally
contacted Washington TV station
WTTG, which carried "Captain Video."
He made a reciprocity deal with the station's
promotion man: the theatres would
run trailers announcing the daily Captain
Video show on WTTG, with a credit line
to General Foods, the show's sponsor. In
return, at the end of each show, the station
would use spot announcements giving theatres
and playdates for the movie.
Lust says that this
was "the most effective
bit of exploitation we did on the serial,
as it brought our opening dates direct to the
youngsters who had become avid Captain
Video fans." He continues:
"However, no stone was left unturned
to take advantage of every other possible
avenue of exploitation." Following are some
of these avenues:
NEWSPAPER PUBLICITY: Each of the
four Washington dailies was contacted and
informed of what was to the area a novel
tieup between movies and television. Each
one of the amusement editors ran one or
more stories on this tieup.
PRINTED MATERIAL: Twenty
thousand
handbills were turned over to General
Foods for distribution to food stores in the
neighborhoods served by the five theatres;
the stores in turn placed these in bags at
check-out counters. (Ed. Note: That General
Foods, sponsors of the TV show, would
cooperate, was pointed out in the short
CO-OP POSTERS USED
Heralds window cords and
streamers of this variety are available
for the "Captain Video" promotion.
General Foods posted
1,000 cards like the one at the
right in food stores throughout the
community. Over 46,000 pieces of
printed material were distributed
in the tie-up promotion.
subjects issue of Promotion, December 22,
19.51, some time before the serial was released.
)
Fifteen thousand exchange heralds, imprinted
with theatre and playdate, were distributed
house-to-house.
Ten tliousand special handbills were distributed
to school children.
Two hundred fifty jumbo window cards
were posted in store windows and on telephone
poles.
One thousand window streamers, 10x15
inches, with credits to playdates. General
Foods cereal products and the TV station,
were posted by General Foods in food
stores.
Special 6-Sheets Used
The theatres posted special 6-sheets in
lobbies and out front well in advance of
playdate, and used these intermittently
throughout the run of the serial.
SCREEN PROMOTION: Trailers
were
run two weeks in advance at each theatre,
with credit to the same cooperating triumvirate.
GIVEAWAYS: General Foods came
through with 6,500 boxes of Sugar Crispies
for free theatre distribution. Each theatre
manager then canvassed local merchants
for other items, and got such items as candy
and cookies for giveaways on opening day;
door prizes of various kinds, including
bikes, also were promoted by managers,
who at the same time arranged for addi-
Continiied on page 10
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BOXOFFICE :: January 17, 1953