Ballyhoo (Apr 6, 1956)

Page scan 0009 from Ballyhoo

Record Details:

Title:
Ballyhoo
Date:
Apr 6, 1956
Volume:
Ballyhoo (Apr 6, 1956) National
Leaf #:
0009
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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SELLING BOOKS OF F.P. TICKETS? How're your books of tickets moving ... huh? Sales slow down a little following the Christmas splurge? That's natural 7+. and they're not going to pick up unless YOU do something about it, Bill Cullum of the Regent in Ottawa did... and his sales are good. Bill heard that the Ottawa Citizen was interested in picking up some inexpensive but effective gimmick as an incentive for their carriers, He suggested the use of books of tickets ... The paper accepted his suggestion, and it has proven to be the most popular deal they have ever had, Since the first of the year Bill has sold them a total of 180 books, with a net value of $360.00. Their last order called for delivery of one hundred books. This is good business ,.. and just goes to prove that if you're interested and explore every possible sales avenue ... you MUST come out ahead, Nice going Bill, oXeKeoXoke FOTO-NITE Some of our theatres are still using Foto-Nite to try and build up their weak nights. In some situations it has reached the point where it doesn't seem to be doing too much good, Sometimes there's a reason for that. You know, any gimmick can go stale if you don't on occasion inject a little life into it, If you use a dart game, or balloon blowing, or pie-eating, week after week after week, the customers are bound to get fed up on it. They expect something different, something novel ... something to maintain their interest, and if you won't give it to them ... they'll shop elsewhere. Charlie Bahrynowski of the Royal in Fort William doesn't pass up too many opportunities, Fort William was planning a winter carnival, with queens and all the trimmings, Charlie made arrangements to introduce the comely contestants for the title of Queen, one week in advance of the voting, from the stage of his theatre .., on Foto Nite, The house was jammed ... the newspaper sent down a photog who shot off a few bulbs, and the following day a four column spread appeared in the press. This is one example of alert showmanship, And what have you done lately to make you eligible for the traditional top hat? oXeX. XX, NATIONAL MOVIE WEEK? Jim Gow, out in Vancouver suggests that we designate one week in the year as NATIONAL MOVIE WEEK. And why not? Of course we hope that EVERY week is movie week ... but why not pick one particular week and really dress it up as this industry certainly should know how. There are cheese weeks and hot dog weeks, Visit-your-tavern weeks and Be Kind to Your Mother-in-Law weeks .., so, what more natural than a NATIONAL MOVIE WEEK? It's an interesting idea and can stand further study.