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I<br />
Patrons Participate in Air Quiz Teaser Campaign Pays<br />
Ray Conner, manager of the Palace in New York, is presenting a radio quiz show<br />
called Movie Matinee from the theatre stage five days a week. 3 to 3:30 p. m. Besides<br />
boosting business, the stunt is helping to stimulate interest in motion pictures generally.<br />
The program is aired over WOR and is presided over by Johnny Olsen. star of<br />
"Ladies Be Seated." The theatre audience is scanned for contestants during a<br />
10-minute warmup period. All questions pertain to motion pictures and valuable<br />
prizes such as watches, vacuum cleaners, etc., are given for correct<br />
i^ Feather Giveaways<br />
Tickle Recipients<br />
Inexpensive stunts which have helped<br />
Ralph Tiede promote his attractions at the<br />
Granada in Napanee, Ont., have been paying<br />
off at the boxoffice and in comment<br />
from theatre patrons.<br />
To exploit the Hal Roach "Comedy Carnival,"<br />
Tiede promoted a thousand safety<br />
pins from a local druggist and affixed them<br />
to cards with this copy: "Use this pin to<br />
replace the buttons you'll pop off laughing,<br />
etc., etc." These were distributed in homes,<br />
offices and shops.<br />
Prior to the engagement of "Welcome<br />
Stranger," cards were tacked up at the city<br />
outskirts adjacent to the service clubs' directory<br />
boards, with copy: "'Welcome<br />
Stranger.' Rotary Club meets every Tuesday.<br />
See 'Welcome Stranger' at the Granada<br />
Theatre."<br />
For "Cross My Heart," a wholesale poultry<br />
plant delivered several thousand chicken<br />
feathers. These were inserted in shipping<br />
tags imprinted with copy: "If you think this<br />
tickles you, wait till you see, etc., etc."<br />
Free Heralds Obtained<br />
For Tampa 'Out of Blue'<br />
IQ<br />
Curt Miller, manager of the State. Tampa,<br />
Fla., tied up with the Airco Airplane Corp.<br />
which paid for special heralds on "Out of the<br />
Blue."<br />
Miller also promoted several co-op ads with<br />
a Royal Crown cola dealer which ran in both<br />
newspapers.<br />
Gags in Lobby Point Out<br />
Coming Attractions<br />
Lobby displays recently helped to focus<br />
attention on attractions dated at the College<br />
Theatre, College Point. N. Y., for Manager<br />
James Pisapia.<br />
For "My Wild Irish Rose," sheet music<br />
covers were pasted to large lobby board<br />
a<br />
surrounded with metallic frames, while<br />
catch copy called attention to the great song<br />
hits heard in the film production.<br />
To build advance interest in "Singapore,"<br />
Pisapia used a large photograph of Ava<br />
Gardner under the announcement, "Amnesia<br />
victim. Does anyone know this woman?"<br />
Additional copy brought to the readers'<br />
attention the fact that they could fill<br />
in missing data by seeing "Singapore."<br />
Free guest tickets to "see "Desert Fury"<br />
were offered for the best colorings submitted<br />
thi'ough a herald on which a two-column<br />
sketch illustrated a scene from the picture.<br />
Circulars were distributed in homes and at<br />
schools.<br />
Co-Op Ad Promoted<br />
A two-thirds page co-oi) ad plugging<br />
"Good News'" was one of the first tieups Bob<br />
Wade made, shortly after taking up a newassignment<br />
as manager of the Playhouse in<br />
Canandaigua, N. Y.<br />
Wade sold five merchants on the idea of<br />
using the "Good News" slug to head their<br />
daily advertisements, reserved the center<br />
spread for his own display ad and ran a<br />
banner headline across the page reading:<br />
"Good News to the Shoppers of Canandaigiia."<br />
Besides providing the theatre with a flash<br />
selling message, Wade had the satisfaction<br />
of showing a saving on his ad budget.<br />
Excellent Returns<br />
On 'Narcissus'<br />
Playing on the curiosity of patrons, S. R.<br />
McManus, manager of the Odeon in Kingston,<br />
Ont„ put on a campaign for "Black<br />
Narcissus" which was dominated throughout<br />
by teaser advertising.<br />
Individual letters were mailed to leading<br />
merchants in 16 communities surrounding<br />
Kingston with teaser cards. The cards announced<br />
on one side: "The picture that<br />
caused country wide discussion." The reverse<br />
side carried a simple announcement of<br />
the theatre playdates and endorsing the picture<br />
as adult entertainment.<br />
On CKWS, spot announcements breaking<br />
in regularly with the simple statement,<br />
"Coming . . . 'Black Narcissus,' " helped provoke<br />
curiosity among radio listeners. Beginning<br />
on opening day, the radio annoimcements<br />
were changed to include theatre<br />
mention.<br />
A display was set up in the foyer featuring<br />
daffodils dipped in black paint, and the<br />
entire outer lobby was covered with circular<br />
pasteboards bearing copy, "The much<br />
discus.sed 'Black Narcissus.' "<br />
In 20 prominent locations, special window<br />
cards were displayed with stills and this<br />
is copy: "Tliis only one of two 'Black Narcissus'<br />
to be seen in the district. The other<br />
is at the Odeon Theatre."<br />
McManus circularized his mailing list with<br />
postal cards. In addition, 3,000 teaser calling<br />
cards were placed in cafes, hotels, meeting<br />
places and at cash registers of all local<br />
shops.<br />
An outstanding newspaper campaign was<br />
supplemented by special readers and art.<br />
McManus credits the campaign with the<br />
responsibility for an extra two-day engagement<br />
beyond the regular booking.<br />
Cooking School Session<br />
Is Valentine Day Hypo<br />
A morning cooking school session at which<br />
more than 300 prizes were offered to patrons<br />
was promoted by Gil Green, manager<br />
of the Michigan Theatre in Detroit as added<br />
entertainment and diversion for Valentine's<br />
day.<br />
Green hooked up with WXYZ, bringing<br />
Edythe Fern Melrose, whose Lady of Charm<br />
program is one of the topflight shows in that<br />
area, to the theatre stage. The program's<br />
sponsor provided the 300 gifts, 200 of which<br />
were food baskets, as door prizes.<br />
Comedy relief was provided by having two<br />
male announcers participate in baking contest.<br />
The cooking session took place before<br />
the screen show with everyone paying full<br />
admission price.<br />
Pages 'The Killer<br />
Fred Greenway. manager of the Palace,<br />
Hartford. Conn., used three effective gags to<br />
publicize "Killei- McCoy." He had the<br />
"Killer" paged at local sports events and<br />
gave out teaser cards offering $100 "if you<br />
last one round with 'Killer McCoy.'" Tying<br />
up with the Hartford Times, readers of the<br />
sports pages were asked to name the ten alltime<br />
fight chamipions. Best answers were<br />
rewarded with theatre tickets.<br />
BOXOFFICE Showmandiser :: Mar. 20, 1948 —423— 37