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Movie' Campaign
Even the 'real' Mayor Joe Quimby couldn't bring home bragging rights to Massachusetts
July 11, 2007


Mayor Joe Quimby, 'The Simpsons'A small city in Vermont has declared victory in a race against 13 other cities, despite impassioned campaigns by the likes of skateboarder Tony Hawk and Senator Ted Kennedy.

Springfield, Vt., population 9,300, has been named the "official" Springfield, which has the honor of hosting the world premiere of "The Simpsons Movie" on Saturday, July 21, reports USA Today. Springfield is the name of the fictional town where the animated Simpsons family and their wacky neighbors reside.

As part of a promotional stunt by Twentieth Century Fox Studios, "Simpsons" fans were urged to cast their vote online for one of 14 Springfields, each of which submitted a video stating why they were most like the imaginary Springfield.

"We're so excited," says Patricia Chaffee, VP of the Springfield Regional Chamber of Commerce. "We came in at the last minute, and for us to win, we feel like the underdogs, which makes this so big and so great for us."

The Vermont town won with 15,367 votes, just pulling ahead of Springfield, Ill., which had 14,634. Sad Springfield, Fla., brought up the rear with just 1,386 votes.

Many of the other video entries pointed out the similarities between the real-life locations and people to the fictional locations and characters in "The Simpsons." The Massachusetts entry featured Senator Ted Kennedy, on whom "The Simpsons" Mayor Joe Quimby character is supposedly based, while Oregon's entry had a cameo by Tony Hawk. Illinois showed parallels between their own citizens and Chief Wiggum, Moe, Apu, Marge, Kent Brockman and Comic Book Guy, among others.

In contrast, Vermont's entry, which took two days to film, was set up like a mini "Simpsons" episode with Tim Kavanaugh playing Homer, who chases a large pink donut (a specially designed inner tube) throughout the town, enraging the residents of Springfield whereever the goes.

"Today, I congratulate the entire community of Springfield for their Herculean efforts to overcome tremendous odds and bring 'The Simpsons Movie' world premiere to Vermont," Vermont Gov. James Douglas said in a statement. "This is an exciting, exhilarating moment for Vermonters. Perhaps more importantly, it proves there's really nothing a giant donut can't do."

The premiere will include a yellow carpet at the entrance of the 100-seat Springfield Movie Theatre as well as a host of celebrities. The 13 other Springfields will get to host special sneak preview screenings the night before the film officially opens on Friday, July 27.

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Michael Hurley
Impresario

I caught up with the owners of the Springfield Movie Theatre http://www.springfieldtheatervt.com/ in Springfield Vermont for a quick e mail interview.


BSB: Hello Steve and Bryana: Congratulations!!!!!!! How about we do an e mail interview? I'll ask questions and you answer as short or as long as you like. I'll edit it up and post it @ bigscreenbiz.com.

BSB: Have you visited [url=http://www.bigscreenbiz.com?]www.bigscreenbiz.com?[/url] (doh. you should!

SMT: Yes, I checked it out briefly!

BSB: Tell us a little about Springfield: size-near-etc.

SMT: Springfield is relatively large, for Vermont, about 9300 people. We have a lot
of State of Vermont offices in town, and a new Regional prison. Springfield
developed as an industrial town due to the abundant water power on the Black
River. The machine tool industries have mostly left the area now. Wikipedia
has a good page about Springfield: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springfield,_Vermont. Also see the Chamber of
Commerce page: http://www.springfieldvt.com/

BSB: Are you excited?

SMT: We are thrilled and overwhelmed to have all this excitement in town.

BSB: How long have you had/run/owned the theatre?

SMT: We began working for the previous owners a little over 2 years ago, and took
over completely in March of 2007, with Bryana as the official owner.

BSB: How many seats do you have?

SMT: We had 370 seats when there was one auditorium, now we have two auditoriums -
212 seats, and 64 seats.

BSB: How will you decide who goes in?

SMT: 20th Century Fox will have one show for their VIP's, and the tickets for the
other 3 showings will be by lottery of the Chamber of Commerce.

BSB: How many screens is your theatre?

SMT: Two screens.

BSB: Are you the owner operators?

SMT: Yes.

BSB: What jobs do you do at the theatre?

SMT: We do anything and everything. The whole family gets involved.

BSB: Will you serve pink donuts?

SMT: I'm sure there will be a lot of pink donuts in town - we do have a Dunkin Donuts
store.

BSB: Has your town gone nuts with excitement?

SMT: Pretty much.

BSB: What other activities will you do to promote the film?

SMT: The Chamber of Commerce is spearheading the promotions.

BSB: What kind of projector, platter, sound system will you use to show the film?

SMT: Fox will be using our Century Model H projector and our Dolby Digital sound.
They will bring in a special reel system and play the movie from big reels.

BSB: Finish this sentence: we have not had as much excitement in Springfield since.........
SMT: Charles Lindberg came to town in 1927 - 30,000 people met him at the airport.

BSB: Thanks again and have a great time! Mike Hurley www.bigscreenbiz.com

SMT: Thank you Mike,

Steve and Bryana http://www.springfieldtheatervt.com/

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Michael Hurley
Impresario