Ballyhoo (Apr 20, 1956)

Record Details:

Title:
Ballyhoo
Date:
Apr 20, 1956
Volume:
Ballyhoo (Apr 20, 1956) National
Leaf #:
0001
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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YOUR ANNUAL REPORT Last week you received a copy of Famous Players! 36th Annual Report. You should read it carefully, and just as carefully digest every word you read, and the meaning behind the words. Whether you do or do not own shares in your company, this is indeed YOUR. report. It is a report in fact of YOUR contribution to the good and welfare of your company during the past year, and a forecast of what may lie in store for YOU in the future. Mr. Fitzgibbons in his address to the shareholders makes no bones about what has been happening to our business, He freely admits that a lesser number of good box office hits plus the expansion of T.V. facilities across our country have combined to cause a drop in our theatre revenues during 1955. But, it is an exhilerating and optimistic report too ,.. and should certainly serve to stimulate the interest of shareholders and employees alike, and create new confidence in our company and the great industry of which we are an important part. Read carefully the report on our financial position ... Read the up-to-date resume of the product situation ... If you haven't already read it in the trade press, read what Barney Balaban had to say at a recent conference, It all spells OPTIMISM, and optimism at this time means a better and brighter future for all of us who are members of the Famous Family. Turn ts the back of the folder and take a glance at some of the pictures you will be playing ... TEN COMMANDMENTS ... WAR AND PEAGE ... MEET ME IN LAS VEGAS ... SERENADE ... THE CONQUEROR, and others too numerous to mention, Hollywood is certainly coming through for us ... the rest is up to each one of us as individuals. If we start spreading enthusiasm ... and we must get the feel of it ourselves first ... If we do our job as though we really meant it, and enjoyed doing it ... If we approach such problems as may crop up from time to time with honesty and sincerity of purpose, then I dare say all of us will be around, and happy for a long long time to come, So ... read your report again fellows, and if you really follow the words you'll see bright rays of sunshine dispelling the gloom of those dark clouds, many of which, consciously or unconsciously we ourselves helped to create. okoKenore THERE'S ROOM FOR BOTE Business during the past month or so has been good ,., and quoting Mr, Fitzgibbons ... "This is a clear indication that there definitely is plenty of room in the field of entertainment for both television and motion pictures, While each in its own way serves a desire for entertainment, nevertheless no medium can be quite as satisfying as that of the motion picture screen in a well conducted theatre, where people are not only free from the many distractions encountered in their own homes, but they are in comfortable, safe surroundings where they can relax completely and forget their momentary troubles,"