Boxoffice-March.20.1948

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