Ballyhoo (1961)

Page scan 0002 from Ballyhoo

Record Details:

Title:
Ballyhoo
Date:
1961
Volume:
Time Out for Ticket Talk (1961, no date)
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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-2 Also, of the ten names drawn, the first five receive a new Silver Dollar and the last five each receive a double pass to the next Hamilton show. The idea of the "Cookie Coin" gimmick is that it gives all of the kiddies something to shoot for right to the end. They actually keep coming every Saturday and at the conclusion of the series the boys or girls with the’ most "Cookie Coins" are entitled to the following prizes. FIRST PRIZE KODAK MOVIE CAMERA AND PROJECTOR SECOND PRIZE ~ TRANSISTOR RADIO THIRD PRIZE 4 SPEED RECORD PLAYER FOURTH PRIZE ~ ELECTRIC HOCKEY GAME The entire series was handled by both Gerry Tipper and the radio station Production Manager, who was both the announcer at each broadcast, as well as being the Cookie Man in the clown suit. Hamilton's have spent over $2,000.00 on this particular promotion, paying for all prizes, broadcast time, even to the cost of the "Cookie Coins", and all Sait announcements during the week plugging the show. Total prizes given away by Hamilton's in the theatre are 10 weekly for 30 shows (300 total) plus the four big prizes at the conclusion of the series. Hamilton's are very happy with the promotion, as production is having difficulty keeping up with the demand for their products in the area. The results were as follows -30 consecutive Saturday matinees, had a total gross of $4,348.00, making an average of $145.00 per show. The theatre grossed $2,100.00 in the Candy Ber, an average of $70.00 per matinee. The promotion costs for the theatre were 78 Silver Dollars, plus 88 double passes, and the newspaper advertising, which they would normally have had.