Boxoffice-April.07.1958

chuckled, "by firing Explorer I into orbit
on the night before our testing began."
The cost of the buttons is $4.50 per
thousand, available from the Green Duck
Metal Stamping Co. The helmets were paid
for by the individual theatres at $1.50 each.
Pepsi-Cola and Theatre Confections absorbed
the balance of the cost.
Pepsi-Cola derives its benefit from the
promotion entirely from the sale of additional
syrup; each theatre benefits both
from increased admissions and a sharp
rise in theatre concessions sales.
Although previously planned, Theatre Confections, Ltd., happily launched its outer space promotion the
day after Explorer I shot into orbit. This display was furnished to each theatre participating.
SPUTNIK BUnONS ORBIT SALES
OF DRINKS TO NEW HEIGHTS
By PHIL HANNUM
For six weeks after February 1,
the happiest youngsters in Toronto each
Saturday afternoon were the 12 winners of
satellite space helmets in a Pepsi-Cola
Sputnik Button Promotion being tested by
Theatre Confections, Ltd.. prior to launching
it on a coast-to-coast basis. Twelve
Famous Players and B&F theatres in Toronto
served as test situations, each giving
away a space helmet each Saturday matinee
during the six-week period.
'"It is our opinion that it is one of the
best promotions we have ever had," J. J.
Fitzgibbons jr.. president of Theatre Confections,
Ltd., declared. "Not only do the
kids go after Pepsi-Cola for the buttons.
but the parents buy Pepsi-Cola for the purpose
of turning the buttons over to their
children, who are making a collection."
For the kickoff Saturday, Febi-uary 1,
each of the dozen Toronto test theatres
was supplied with a plastic bag containing
1,000 Sputnik buttons, a Sputnik button
concessions display card and one of the
space helmets decorated with 12 Sputnik
buttons and an assortment of antennae
necessary to the well-dressed spaceboy or
girl. One Sputnik button was given out by
concessions attendants to each buyer of a
small Pepsi-Cola cup, two buttons to a purchaser
of a large one. This was a giveaway
the youngsters loved and sales of the beverage
soared in all twelve theatres.
The space helmet giveaway during the
Saturday matinee was worked in two ways.
In some theatres, a Pepsi-Cola container
cup had been marked with a star prior to
the start of the afternoon drink sales. The
youngster who had bought a Pepsi served
in the starred cup received the helmet. In
most of the 12 theatres, however, the manager,
on the stage, turned his back to the
audience and commanded an usher to start
walking down an aisle. Then the usher
was told to stop where he was, face right
or left and count in two or three seats of
the row he was nearest. The boy or girl
occupying the seat where- the count stopped
received the space helmet.
"The U. S. obligingly helped cm- Toronto
promotion off to a good start," Fitzgibbons
NAC Midwest Regional Clinic
Slated for May 5 in Chicago
Ideas for operating concessions in both
indoor and outdoor theatres will be the
major attraction at the annual midwestem
regional conference of the National Ass'n
of Concessionaires, Monday, May 5. at
Hotel Sherman, Chicago.
The single-day clinic coincides with the
opening date of the five-day National Restaurant
Show at Navy Pier. NAC members
thus will be able to view displays of new
food and beverage service equipment in
addition to picking up profitable concessions
operating plans and practices at their
own meeting.
Eleven more firms, including one in Canada,
became members of the National Ass'n
of Concessionaires in the first two months
of this year, according to Philip L. Lowe,
Lowe Concessions, Inc., general membership
chairman.
The new Canadian member is R. E.
Stone, Trail Memorial Centre, Trail, B.C.
U. S. firms joining the association are
Maui-ice Glockner, Automatic Canteen Co.
of America, Chicago; J. C. Kennedy, Kennedy
Theatres, Akron, Iowa; Joe Kucler,
Kucler Concessions. Sioux Falls, S. D.; S. H.
Bakarich. Lone Star Theatres, Inc., Dallas;
V. W. Murphy, Murphy-Nace Enterprises,
Phoenix; Floyd Bennett, Tarkio Popcorn
Co., Tarkio, Mo.; James V. Blevins, Blevins
Popcorn Co., Popcorn Village, Nasliville;
Robert E. Freed, Lagoon Corp., Salt Lake
City; Anthony J. FiUti, Delco Quality
Foods, Philadelphia, and H. J. Foster, National
Vendors, Inc., St. Louis.
Big Candy Year Ahead
Theatre candy counters are headed for
another big year. Victor H. Gies, chairman
of the National Confectioners' Ass'n,
has predicted that national sales and consumption
of candy this year should exceed
the record figures of last year by 3 to 5
per cent. More than 3,000.000,000 pounds of
candy were sold and consumed in the U. S.
last year. That figui'ed out at 17% pounds
per capita.
A Pepsi toast to a happy winner of a space helmet
at the Parliament Theatre, Toronto, Canada. That's
Art Graver, manager, in the background. The theatre
is a B&F house.
Outdoor theatre owners should begin
promotion as soon as construction begins.
One of the most effective ways to get the
public interested in the project is a contest
to select a name for the new drive-in.
30 The MODERN THEATRE SECTION