Boxoffice-April.07.1958

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• ALPHABETICAL INDEX
• ADLINES & EXPLOITIPS
• BOXOFFICE BAROMETER
• EXHIBITOR HAS HIS SAV
• FEATURE RELEASE CHART
• FEATURE REVIEW DIGEST
• REVIEWS OF FEATURES
• SHORTS RELEASE CHART
• SHORT SUBJECT REVIEWS
• SHOWMANDISING IDEAS
THE GUIDE TO j BETTER BOOKING AND B U S I N E S S - B U I L D I N G
What Does It
Take to Boost Boxoffice? Here's One Answer
Month-Long Campaign by Alliance Manager Packs 'em in at Grand in Terre Haute, Ind.
"D
What does it take to boost business
make it blossom where little or none
existed before? Pete
Panagos and other
^^^^ executives of the Al-
liance circuit in In-
t
o^kmR
Lj -^ '^Ti diana and Illinois
threw this challenging
question at its
showmen the first of
this year, and came
up with some clearcut
answers.
The theme of Alliance's
annual January
showmanship drive was Boost Our
Boxoffice, B.O.B.O. for short. Finishing
well on top was Ed Kennelly, Terre Haute,
Ind., district manager who headquarters
at the Grand there.
Panagos cites Kennelly's success in
"boosting his boxoffice" as an example
of "our upbeat thinking and methods in
combating TV."
The showmanship activities put across
by Kennelly and his staff at the Grand
during the month-long drive varied from
a Mealtime U.S.A. cooking school, a campaign
against TV-itis, an opening night
variety show by college students to a staffinspired
Question Box and a Hot Dog
Week promotion at the concession stand.
No single promotion was outstanding;
there were many, each one well-planned
and aggressively carried through.
A cooking school sponsored by the Terre
Haute Tribune-Star drew SRO for one
week, "spiced up" as it was with many
donated prizes from local merchants, each
of whom presented his gift to the winner
in a stage ceremony. The theatre received
a rental, and the staff used the occasion
to extend courteous service, etc.
Of course, the Tribune-Star used plenty
of publicity, including a page in its rotogravure
section.
With this auspicious start, the threads
of promotion started to intertwine—Saturday
morning matinees, a midnight chiU
special with a two-for-one pass gimmick,
a grocery giveaway, several card and ad
activities emphasizing that theatre business
is good because of great motion pictures
and their great entertainment su-
Sevcral selections taken at random from Ed Kennelly's scrapbook. The girls ore two Hawailans,
Diane Yawata and Eleanor Domingo, headliners in a stage show. At lower right, a group of teenagers
on stage for some tricks and fun at a special by Dr. Satan and a "Shriek" show. Other illustrations
ore displays and copy on a couple of cards.
periority over television offerings—these
and other stunts, all began to weave lines
of appeal leading to the boxoffice.
A climax was reached with "Old Yeller"
and a ten-act vaudeville show staged
one night during its run. A weekend attendance
for "Yeller" at the 1,000-seat
Grand totaled 13,850 and set an alltime
record. The ten-act live show, at 8:30 Friday
night, with the film on that break,
grossed $1,014, all going to the theatre.
The vaudeville was staged by students
from Indiana State Teachers College at
Terre Haute, produced by Archileen Chambers.
Titled "Varieties of 1958," the stage
program not only filled eveiy seat but all
standing room.
The next day, Saturday, the first show
was sold out at 2 p.m.. and lines continued
through that day and Sunday. Local theatre
managers said they had never seen
BOXOFFICE Showmandiser April 7, 1958 — 79 —
anything hke it. For his holdover ad, Kennelly
featured this copy;
•13,850 People Can't Be Wrong . . . We
Apologize to All Who Could Not See 'Old
Yeller' Over the Weekend. This Picture
Will Be Held Over TiU Thursday. I Still
Can Say Business Is Good. You Can't See
This Type of Entertainment on Television.
I
signed) Ed Kennelly."
The same copy was used in a 2-col.
11-inch ad on a bill of "Baby Face Nelson"
and "The Dalton Girls" with this prolog:
"To All Our Patrons—I Say Thanks.
Operation iB.O.B.O.) Was a Success
Boost Our Boxoffice—And You, the Theatregoing
Public Did It . . . Why? Because
We Have Good Pictm-es. There Is Nothing
Wrong With Our Business. It Is Good."
A tent distributed at all local restaurants
(Continued
on next page)