Boxoffice-October.01.1955

That Extra Effort Pays,
Billy Clifford Affirms
Just ii sel lew posters and some iiewspiiper
advertising can't be expected tr,
bnns patrons out of their homes away from
their daily hves. No, it takes some mmniick.
some promotional idea to wake them
up. yet them out to the theatre boxoffice."
With this precept to go by, H. E. "Billy"
Clifford, manager of the Chakeres circuit's
Harrod in Harrodsburt;. Ky.. has for the
past three years promoted many top pictures
with more than just routine ballyhoo.
His recent efforts in behalf of "Strategic
Air Command," however, outdid any other
promotional endeavor, in his opinion, and
resulted in one of the largest grosses for his
theatre to date.
Breaking the picture at the same time
as National Air Force Week helped Clifford
set his record. In addition to his regular
ads and lobby displays, he arranged for
a parade of all the "top brass" of the
Strategic Air Command in Kentucky, whose
main office is in Louisville. Also taking
part in the parade, which stretched out
five blocks long, was the Harrodsburg band,
the top hiKh school band in Kentucky;
Mayor Dudley L. Lacefield: all the war
veteran groups, civic clubs, the PTA. the
Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts. From
convertible cars, three of the loveliest local
girls tossed miniature jet-bombers to the
crowds that lined the avenue of the parade.
The manager summed up his feelings
on his "extra" effort: "The money is
in every pocket, in every home, and it can
be diverted with some efforts upon the part
of theatremen into paid returns."
Books Cooking School
Iz Perlin of the Stanley Theatre in Camden,
N. J., has lined up a $500 Cooking
School program for his theatre, making
good use of the house when it would otherwise
be dark.
FEAT BY HYPNOTIST FOR SVENGALI
DRAWS CROWDS, MAKES EM GASP
Word of Mouth Publicity Builds Up as Girl
Is Put to Sleep in Window of Store
Object of all eyes in the crowd is Miss Trilby ot 1955,
to promote a word-of-mouth buildup of "Svcngoli."
The kind of stunt that's sure to drawbig
crowds and leave 'em gasping was engineered
by Maury Schwarz when "Svengah"
opened at his Rio Theatre. San Fi-ancisco.
Schwarz secured the services of Dr.
Zarro, a hypnotist, who made radio and
television appearances for three days before
the opening. He hypnotized volunteers
from the studio audience on Don
Sherwood's This is San Francisco TV show,
on Marjory Trumbull's Exclusively Yours
and on Sandy Spillman's KPIX show.
The hypnotist also performed for film
critics at their special screening.
ho is being hypnotized
The piece de resistance, however, came
out on the day of the premiere. Dr. Zarro
set up his act in the Market street window
of the Coronet Convert-a-Bed store, where
he put to sleep, in hypnotic trance, a girl
dubbed Miss Trilby of 1955. This occurred
at 11 ajn. with crowds outside informed
via loudspeaker as to what was going on.
She "slept" there all day until 7:30.
drawing thousands of curious viewers during
the day. Then, she was rushed by ambulance
to the Rio, and wheeled onto the
stage, where the hypnotist awakened her.
He followed this up by hypnotizing several
volunteers from the capacity audience.
The dimensional display is used successfully by Tom Daley, monagcr of the Uni»er$ity Theatre, Toronto. They arc designed by Ooley ond built by a
local studio Often, the troditionol accessories are used and adapted to the porticulor needs of the theatre, olthough frequently entirely new illu»troli»c
ideas arc developed. The disploys arc spotted in the foyer, but ore shifted to a huge picture window which faces Bloor street—Toronto's Fifth ovenue
during the run of the picture. For the "Eost of Eden" display, a color scheme of light ond dork blues; siUer and white wot used. For "Mombo," it woi
red, yellow, block ond white, while for "The Man Who Loved Redheads," o combmotion of pink, turquoise, dork blue and white was used.
.jl BOXOFFICE Showmandiser :: October 1, 1955 — 309 — 45