Ballyhoo (Oct 28, 1955)

Page scan 0004 from Ballyhoo

Record Details:

Title:
Ballyhoo
Date:
Oct 28, 1955
Volume:
Ballyhoo (Oct 28, 1955) Profit Blitz for 'Fitz'
Leaf #:
0004
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 17, 2025
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$10,000 IN CASH PRIZES pROFIT with ghowmansh!P SERVE with showmanship SA V, E with showmanship with showmanship SEPT. 5th TO DEC. 3rd 1955 HONOURING 25 YEARS OF INSPIRED LEADERSHIP IN FAMOUS PLAYERS DON'T BE A DEAD HERO National Drive Captain DAN KRENDEL Johnny Ferguson sends me an account of an attempted hold-up in one of his theatres. A gun was flashed ... the cashier sounded the alarm buzzer ... the gunman fled. That should have been the end of the episode ... the rest is up to the police, However, either from a distorted sense of loyalty, or just plain bravado, the assistant manager and doorman gave chase, cornered the bandit and were threatened with his gun, before he ducked down an alley. The police later caught up with hin. Fellows ... the company does not expect you to risk your life in the discharge of your duties. We pay out thousands of dollars every year to the insurance companies for just this sort of protection, We expect you to take every precaution to discourage attempts at theft, armed or otherwise ... by not leaving cash in plain view on the boxoffice counter ... by clearing your b.o, regularly, several times a day ... by LOCKING your safe every time you have occasion to use it. BUT ... we do not expect you to do the job your police department is paid to do. Please make sure that you instruct every member of your staff in the proper handling of funds and tickets ... but impress on them that they're not much good either to us, or their families, DEAD. A basket of flowers and a note of condolence isn't too great a comfort to the widow, Don't wind up being a DEAD HERO, eX XXX Xe TAKING "ASSIST ADVERTISING" CREDITS For as many years as I can remember we've made deals with the distributors to share in our advertising costs on certain pictures .,. and for just as many years, in spite of repeated instructions, many of our boys still don't seem to have the slightest idea as to the proper procedure to be used in recovering our share of the costs, Certain exchanges permit you to deduct their share from film rental .., others like you to bill them. In either case, a complete breakdown of your advertising expenditure, supported by tear sheets, duplicate invoices etc, is a MUST ... one set to the exchange ... the other to Al Troyer. If youtre still not too sure of how to handle "Assists ..." drop Norm Jackson a note he has a mimeographed set of instructions, which should be in every manager's file ... If you don't have them, Norm will send along a duplicate set,