Ballyhoo (Mar 23, 1956)

Record Details:

Title:
Ballyhoo
Date:
Mar 23, 1956
Volume:
Ballyhoo (Mar 23, 1956) National
Leaf #:
0006
Language:
English
Collection:
Global Cinema, Canada, and Hollywood Studio System
Format:
Periodicals
Contributor:
Media History Digital Library, Greig Dymond in memory of David Dymond, Paul Moore and Jessica Whitehead
Coordinator:
Media History Digital Library
Description:

Ballyhoo

  • Ontario 'B' District Ballyhoo, editor: Dan Krendel (1952-55)
  • Profit Blitz for ‘Fitz’, editor: Dan Krendel (1955)
  • National Ballyhoo, editor: Dan Krendel (1956-57)
  • Time Out for Ticket Talk, editor: Norman Barker (1960-61)

Ballyhoo (1952-61) was published by Famous Players Canadian Corporation as a mimeographed internal sales and theatre managers’ newsletter. Editor, Dan Krendel, had been division manager of the Ontario ‘B’ District since 1942, and initially created Ballyhoo in 1952 to circulate weekly updates for a regional sales contest. Ontario ‘B’ District Ballyhoo continued until 1955 as a tool for sharing and incentivizing new sales techniques and publicity methods as the movie business declined in the face of television and the baby boom.

In Fall 1955, Profit Blitz for ‘Fitz’ was a nationwide sales contest, named for Famous Players’ president J. J. Fitzgibbons, honouring his 25th year as head of the business. Dan Krendel was made National Drive Captain and edited a weekly newsletter for the campaign.

From 1956 until at least 1957, National Ballyhoo was published weekly with Krendel as editor. He continued the style and content developed earlier for his Ontario ‘B’ District, but now extended vastly for a chain-wide coast to coast scale. Ballyhoo’s sharing promotional tools came at a time of contracting box office as television and automobile ownership became prevalent in the mid-1950s.

By 1960 until at least 1961, Time Out for Ticket Talk continued as a mimeographed newsletter, edited by Norman Barker of the head office publicity department. Time Out was compiled on a less ambitious scale than Ballyhoo. Compared to the earlier national compilation of local publicity gimmicks, Time Out often contained only a single memo or reproduced local story, and was often undated and only informally edited.

– Paul Moore, March 2024

Date Added:
April 11, 2024
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HOW'RE YOUR SEATS? How often have we said that today we are not only competing with all the new mediums of entertainment which have opened up during the past few years ... but also with your customers! living room comfort? Remember? The trade journals are full of it. Your responsibility doesn't end when you sell a patron a ticket. That!s just the beginning. That's when you have to begin competing with his ... or her living room, The first point of contact ... even before the picture hits the screen ... is the seat you make available to him, Make sure that your seats are always in good repair ... Sure ... we get the odd delinquent in on a Saturday matinee who delights in carving up the leatherette, Can't always catch him, but that's no reasonwhy someone else should suffer. Do YOU check the seats in your theatre every morning? Yes ... I said EVERY morning. And, do you do ar *thing about repairing or replacing damaged seats? I don't mean this to be the signal for a mass . shipment of hundreds of seats to your nearest upholsterer, You have a caretaker or porter in your theatre who can do the job. By doing one or two a day he can keep up with them, and not have to neglect his regular duties. Watch your seats fellows ... that's the first point of patron comfort ... and can make or kill an enjoyable show for your customers, oXeKeXoXe eee a In the last issue of cur BALLYHOO, I made mention of using glassine to cover your date strips on the display frames in your theatre. I have a note from Murray Sweigman of Theatre Posters, with sample of plastic daters which are now available at a nominal cost. "They last forever" sez Murr2y. I don't know about that ... but it may be worth investigating. eX eXsXoXo SPECIAL ATTRACTIONS Tommy Callendar has asked me to remind you to exercise a little more care in the handling of your advertising accounts on such attractions as we have distrioutor "assists" on. First of all ... it is absolutely essential that you obtain duplicate invoices ccvering your total expenditures, Then prepare a brief break-down of your expenses, listing in detail newspaper, radio and miscellaneous. Include newspaper tear-sheets in support of your claim. The final step ... Hark all this material to Tom Callendar's attention, and enclose in the same weekly envelope that you send your REPORTS ir. Don't *ocs it in with your weekly supply of tear sheets, which ge second class mail and don't reach Tommy for days on end, Got it? Good,