Ballyhoo (Oct 28, 1955)

Page scan 0006 from Ballyhoo

Record Details:

Title:
Ballyhoo
Date:
Oct 28, 1955
Volume:
Ballyhoo (Oct 28, 1955) Profit Blitz for 'Fitz'
Leaf #:
0006
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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$10,060 IN CASH PRIZES hi PROFIT with showmans P SERVE with showmanship SAVE with SEPT. 5th TO DEC. 3rd 1955 showmanship anship HONOURING 25 YEARS OF INSPIRED LEADERSHIP IN FAMOUS PLAYERS THEATRE FRONTS (cont'd. National Drive Captain DOAN KRENDEL 6. Whole panes of opal glass in marquee missing ... some broken, 7. Entire front fully lighted from 15 to 30 minutes after the box-office closed. 8, Titles of attraction misspelled on the attraction board, 9. Advertising in outside wall-frames carrying copy on the previous attraction ,.. Somebody just forgot. 10. No sign of feature title on the marquee ,,. only names of the stars, BOX OFFICE 1. Box office opened from 2 to 15 minutes later than the time advertisied on card in the window. 2. Box office closed, and front darkened 20 minutes before hae) Grays Cur “leney ake Sy eh 5 AIO) Je aI 3. Student prices not included on the admission price card, 4, Admission prices not displayed in the box office, 5. In a non-continuous house, the matinee admission prices were left in the box office after it closed, and were not changed until it re-opened in the evening. 6. Newspaper ad advertised opening time as 6,00 o'clock .., while sign at box office read "Open at 6.30," 7. Feature times not displayed in box office or on front, Cashier spent half her time supplying this information. eXeXoXoXiXe Any of the ahove sound familiar? I'll bet they do, and it shouldn't take an investigator to remind us of it. How often do you take a real good look at your front? How often do you do something about it? Don't leave it for tomorrow fellows ,., DO IT TODAY. We'll have something to say about your cashiers, doormen etc. in our next issue.