Ballyhoo (Sep 23, 1955)

Page scan 0000 from Ballyhoo

Record Details:

Title:
Ballyhoo
Date:
Sep 23, 1955
Volume:
Ballyhoo (Sep 23, 1955) Profit Blitz for 'Fitz'
Leaf #:
0000
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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\ \ s y $10,000 IN CASH PRIZES man ship © oft lle e@ sot, de Pade” 1955 FIT with show SERVE with showmanship showmanship : h showmanship PRO SAV E with HONOURING 25 YEARS OF INSPIRED LEADERSHIP IN FAMOUS PLAYERS National Drive Captain DAN KRENDEL September 23, 1955 GREETINGS MEN I am honored and flattered at having been selected to head up our PROFIT BLITZ FOR FITZ. I have written the Boss Man, and have pledged your word and mine that this will be the greatest demonstration of showmanship that this circuit has ever exper ienced, I have promised that we will make him prouder than he has ever been, of his Canadian showmen and our brand of Ganadian showmanship. I meant every word of it, and I know that I spoke for every manager on this «reat circuit of ours. We are paying tribute to our Boss Man, Mr. Fitzgibbons. It is now our turn to honor a man who has had honors heaped on him by Kings, Presidents and Statesmen in Britain, Canada and the United States. We are honoring a man who has raised the status of our industry from that of something less than a respectable business to an honored and respected profession. We are honoring Fitzgibbons the man ... a man whose humanitarian principles have become a by-word in and outside of our industry. We are honoring Fitzgibbons our president ... whose inspiration, wisdom and genius have made Famous Players the envy of every theatre circuit the world over, and his managers probably the best known and most publicized showmen in the business. We have a debt to pay fellows ... a debt of honor. We must prove to our Boss Man that we know, we realize, and we appreciate what his twenty five years of service to Famous Players have meant in our own lives. You know and I know ... Now it is up to us to get that message across to him ... in concrete form ... in practical form. PROFIT BLITZ FOR FITZ is our answer. With our hearts and with our minds we must concentrate to make this the very greatest Showmanship Extravaganza of all time. We can do it if we join forces ... if we work as a team ... all of us from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from the far North to the international boundary. Let's make that our ‘thank you" message to eee ee Man. Let it be our battle ery for the next thirteen weeks, Let's PROFIT BLITZ FOR FITZ.