Ballyhoo (Apr 6, 1956)

Page scan 0006 from Ballyhoo

Record Details:

Title:
Ballyhoo
Date:
Apr 6, 1956
Volume:
Ballyhoo (Apr 6, 1956) National
Leaf #:
0006
Language:
English
Collection:
Canada, Global Cinema, 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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» INTERESTED IN SAVING A BUCK? It's a long time since we paid any particular attention to the conservation of hydro in our theatres, Maybe we've been too rich, I don't know. I do remember once, a long time ago, when bucks were hard to latch on to and we had to effect every possible saving just to stay in business, The money we saved in hydro alone at that time, and without affecting our normal operations, ran into fantastic figures, Les Mitchell of the Capitol in Welland knows where those hidden bucks are. When Les took over the theatre a few months ago he made a study of his hydro costs and wasn't very happy. He noticed that the staff left lights burning all over the place for no obvious reason ... The cleaners turned all the house lights on and left them on for hours ... People were just too lazy to turn off the juice. Les also studied his marquee schedule, and reduced wattages wherever a reduction was indicated. He then held a staff meeting and laid down the law. Know what happened? Well, let me show you. In November his hydro ran him $185.00. In December he was pleasantly surprised to note a drop of a couple of bucks, Came January and his bill came to $172.00 ... February $157.00, and in March, $148.00. How do you like that? In four months Les managed to cut his hydro consumption from $185.00 to $148.00 .., a cool saving of $37.00 per month on this one item, Doesn't seem like much did you say? O.K. fellow ... how fast can you multiply 37 by 300? Get the same answer I do? Does it come to $11,000.00? That's what we can save if every theatre on our circuit can do the same job Les did. Worth a try? You bet it is ... so, how about it, huh? eX eX XoXo WANNA SAVE ANOTHER BUCK? Check your cleaning supplies fellows ... and all other supplies that you use around the theatre, Check your supply of electric light bulbs, and keep a running inventory just to make sure they don't get up and walk away. Make sure that your ushers! flashlight. batteries are really exhausted before you issue new ones ... See that your staff uniforms are properly maintained ... pressed and cleaned when necessary, to prolong their usefulness, And how about your stationery? I've seen some pretty fancy samples of stationery in our theatres being used as scratch pads ... and the cost ... yipe ! Sure you like your printer ... but I saved one theatre $15.00 on a single order just because he checked with me and I was able to get him a better price. Do you make sure that your carpets are properly cleaned EVERY DAY, to remove all traces of sand and grime? It!1l prolang their life and save-you the cost of new ones, You'llbe surprised what a surprising number of bucks you can save by just exercising the same care in the handling of all these little details’as you do in your own home. We know you're good housekeepers. But ... prove it, huh?