Ballyhoo (Oct 19, 1956)

Page scan 0002 from Ballyhoo

Record Details:

Title:
Ballyhoo
Date:
Oct 19, 1956
Volume:
Ballyhoo (Oct 19, 1956) National
Leaf #:
0002
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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REPLACEMENT FEATURES There still seems to be a lot of confusion as to what is meant by a Saturday matinee replacement feature, and just what our responsibility is in connection with the showing of pictures tagged ‘Adult! to juve audiences. Let me try to clarify the situation so that our managers and bookers will not be working at cross purposes any more. It is not our job to act as self-appointed censors oee and to tell folks what they may or may not see. When one of our attractions comes to us classified as 'Adult!' it is up to us to conform with existing regulations by clearly marking it as such, strictly for the information of the parents. Then it is entirely up to them whether or not they wish their children to see it. We have no right to refuse admission to any of the small fry who wish to purchase a ticket. Of course if a picture is clearly marked ‘Restricted! ... then it's a different story, and under the act we may not sell tickets to anyone under a specified age limit. When an attraction is so adult in theme that we feel it may hurt our boxoffice ... then it is up to us to demand a replacement feature for the Saturday matinee performance ... to keep faith with parents and children alike ... but let's not standardize this procedure and demand such replacement features EVERY Saturday. For instance ... it's utterly ridiculous to pull a picture like HIGH SOCIETY off, and replace it with some second rate Western. We know what kind of business this one is doing, and we know that we!1l lose a lot of dollars by leaving it in the can. If you have an attraction booked on a week-end which you feel is not quite suitable for your kid trade ... then ask your booker to supply a COMPANION FEATURE for the young 'Tuns, and SHOW THEM BOTH. We must assume that you do get a few adults in for the Saturday matinee ... Let's not drive them away. And fellows ... don't do what one manager used to do ae. simply refuse to admit any youngsters to your Satmat. That ain't good business ... and certainly doesn't make you any friends. Hope I've managed to make myself clear ... Now it's up to you.e oXeXeXoXeoXeo THE CASHIER ... YOUR HOSTESS The first person a patron meets is your cashier. She is in effect your hostess and can do much to inject a frame of mind that can add much to a customer's enjoyment of your offering A gum-chewing, magazine reading person in the box-office a: a telephone-gabbing character who shows her annoyance at bed interrupted to punch out a ticket ...a surly, smart-aleck a attitude ..,. all these will DRIVE CUSTOMERS AWAY and Be they won't come back. Before you appoint a girl oud ee eee job, make sure that she knows exactly what is ex ect ares heal and ask yourself if YOU would buy a ticket from f ao should be neat, courteous and obliging, Is pees A hostess