FILMLAND STUNTS

Opotiki News, Volume X, Issue 1053, 9 December 1947, Page 4

FILMLAND STUNTS

SUPER PUBLICITY V NOVELTY KEYNOTE • ' ■ EXPENSE' NO LIMIT If a giant octopus slithered out .of a manhole in the middle of Hollywood, snatched a beautiful girl and dragged her screaming into the depths below, the passer-by would probably shrug his shoulders and walk on, muttering “Probably just a stunt to advertise vacuum cup tyres.” That’s the way the Hollywood correspondent of the United Press sums'ui) hie reactions to the film

city." - He says: “The sale of a hot dog, an ice cream sundae 'or a used car in Hollywood is accompanied by so much ballyhoo that the buyer often doesn’t figure out what has happened until he gets home and works it all out. “They really do Open hot dog stands with searchlights of eight million candlcpower. In fact, the release' of war surplus searchlights has brought such Hood lighting to business places that the Civil Aeronautics Board has had to tell the owners to stopi shining them on planes flying overhead, because the pilots are becoming dizzy. “In some cases ' 30 searchlights are used for the opening' of a business, including coloured lights to give a night-time .rainbow effect.

Baby Tending De Luxe j “Hollywood’s version of an icecream sundae at one establishment is called Moron’s ecstacy, consisting of a quart of eight different icecreams interspersed with eight different kinds of fruit and huts. The cost is a dollar’(6s 3d) apiece, j “At a nearby super-market free baby-tending by registered nurses is provided for customers with young children, and a notice reads: “Leave your dog in our sterilised kennels.’ *. “The parking lot at the market holds 1800 cars, with each parking space double size, for the convenience, of erratic women drivers. ' | “'When the market was officially , opened, a four-day celebration was | hejd, with,, continuous entertain- I ment by radio and screen stars. I

Customers drove for miles around to sec what amounted to a. combination of a carnival, a medicine show and a plain grocery. “One man reported that he only came for a box of matches, but stayed two days; but didn’t expect to be able to take the'-snake, charmer home with him. “For one Hollywood shop a private aeroplane tours the country, scouting for rare foods to tickle the appetites of customers. One line, on sale is rattlesnake meat.’’