Page 18 - CinemaRecord #83

Loan previews. The Regent registered a full
house from its first Austerity Loan ‘preview’
promotion in November 1942, donating
£195,000 in much needed funds for the war
effort. Another preview show in April 1943
netted £168,760 for the Third Liberty Loan.

During the war, popular promotions (certainly
with the troops) were beauty pageants and
actress look-alike contests. Hoyts ran a Betty
Grable look-alike contest with a dozen
finalists parading on stage to promote her
movie Pinup Girl in September and October
1945. The girl receiving the longest and
loudest applause won the competition and that
girl was Betty Appleby.
Throughout this time there was still plenty of

Following the outbreak of war in 1939, theatre
advertising soon diminished. Newspaper
promotions were reduced in size to make way
for more important news. Paper was also
rationed. The often outrageous and
flamboyant exploitation stunts had all but
ceased as the theatre advertising and staffing
numbers were reduced and funding withdrawn
by the theatre chains. Fortunately for them,
theatres were still as popular as ever and more
so, since there were now thousands of soldiers
in Brisbane who needed entertaining. Only
rarely would a large advertisement appear in
a newspaper when a movie worthy of such
publicity (such as Citizen Kane or Hunchback
of Notre Dame) was to be screened at the
Regent.
Hoyts’ management swung their publicity
department behind the War Bond and Liberty

18 CINEMARECORD # 83