Ballyhoo (Feb 25, 1955)

Page scan 0000 from Ballyhoo

Record Details:

Title:
Ballyhoo
Date:
Feb 25, 1955
Volume:
Ballyhoo (Feb 25, 1955) Ontario 'B' District
Leaf #:
0000
Language:
English
Collection:
Hollywood Studio System, Global Cinema, and Canada
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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VOLUME _&) \ is = FEBRUARY 2 1955 SHGWMANSHIP CLINEE ®his week I was privileged ... and If do mean privileged, to attend the Mo.G.M. TICGKET-SELLING WORKSHOP in Detroit. Seldom have I been so impresacd. ff wiinessed practical shewmanship at werk coo. showmanship prasented by showmen who know thoir business well, and ara anxieus to share their knowledge with anybody in our industsy interested enough to want to stay in business. Their main, perhaps their only objective is to help #411 those empty seats in our theatres. Noe more ... no legs. Dean's be misled by the title "M.G.M." Workshop oo. frue,. it de sponsored by Loo the Lion, but you'd hardly knew %. Ne pitch was made for Metro product, and there were no salesmen elrevlating with order books and contraets under their arms. They are interested in filling seats, and their philosophy is a sound one ... If they can help us to get more custemoers into our theatres, seme of that added revenue is bouna to find ite way inbe Metro's coffers ag well as the other distributers® ... and as a natural sensequence, inte our ow. Sort of nakes sense, doesn't 2b? Nothing that was said was now ooo it waan't a short course in how to turn a quick buek ... rather it was a refresher course in the art and practical applications of showmanship as practiced by successful showmern ... and let's not minimize the need of a refresher course in our business. Take a good, long Look at your boxoffice statistics o.0 1 think you"ll agree. I cen't bogin te teal you in the time and space at my disposal all that I heard and saw at this meeting. I will try, hevever, in this and subsequent issues to pinpoint some ef the things that impressed me most. There are going to be other "vexskshops" in other loeations o.oo. I hope that we will be abie te make 1% pessible for every ene of you to attend at Least one, so that you may soak up seme of the enthusiasm I brought baek with me £frem Detroit. “There's mo business like showbusiness ..."% You know &% and I knew 2t oo. Now 3s the time to make a real effort ta toll our tickat-buying publie through the medium of sane, sensible and progressive SHOWMANSHIP. D.E.K.