28 Facts About Kroger Babb

Howard W "Kroger" Babb was an American film producer and showman.

Kroger Babb held a number of jobs during his youth, gaining a mention in Ripley's Believe It Or Not for refereeing a record number of youth sports games.

Kroger Babb went on the road with a Cox and Underwood concoction titled Dust to Dust, a reworking of High School Girl with a childbirth scene added to the end.

Kroger Babb opened it near his childhood home in Wilmington, Ohio, and hired booking agents and advance salesmen along with out-of-work actors and comedians to present repackaged films and new features.

Kroger Babb is best known for his presentation of exploitation films, a term many in the business would embrace.

Kroger Babb headed the promotion of this film following its premiere in early 1945, often going on the road with it himself.

The third highest-grossing film of its decade, Mom and Dad was claimed by Kroger Babb to have made $63,000 for every $1,000 the original investors contributed, and the Los Angeles Times estimated that it grossed anywhere from $40 million to $100 million.

Kroger Babb made sure that each showing of the film followed a similar format: adults-only screenings segregated by gender, and live lectures by "Fearless Hygiene Commentator Elliot Forbes" during an intermission.

Mom and Dad's distributor Modern Film Distributors sold over 45,000 copies of Man and Boy and Woman and Girl, written by Kroger Babb's wife, netting an estimated $31,000.

David F Friedman, another successful exploitation filmmaker of the era, has attributed the "one-time-only" distribution to a quality so low that Babb wanted to cash in and move to his next stop as fast as possible.

Kroger Babb's associates agreed with his belief that "Nothing's hopeless if it's advertised right", stating that he "could take any piece of junk and sell it".

One film Kroger Babb presented in the 1950s was centered on an annual passion play and the story behind putting it on, filmed in 1948 in Lawton, Oklahoma.

Kroger Babb never repeated the overwhelming success of Mom and Dad, and he followed much of the exploitation industry in turning to burlesque features in an attempt to make more money.

Kroger Babb called it "the best 'snow-job' of my life", and it has been speculated that he never intended to make it, despite the trade ads that appeared for years.

Kroger Babb was involved with many film production companies along with his own, including Southwestern Productions.

Kroger Babb advocated the use of the hard-selling technique he had perfected as a presenter: "selling the sizzle instead of the steak", according to an interview.

Kroger Babb wrote a column for BoxOffice at the same time.

Kroger Babb noted that there were "over 30,000 women's clubs", and that "practically every women's club has a 16mm projector".

Kroger Babb acted as a showman for hire, promoting others' films when not working on his own.

Kroger Babb dabbled in other areas, writing tirades against pay television and creating a pyramid scheme titled "The Idea Factory".

One of his schemes was the "Astounding Swedish Ice Cream Diet": overweight throughout his life, Kroger Babb claimed to have eaten ice cream three times a day, yet to have lost 100 pounds in 45 days.

Kroger Babb met Mildred Horn in 1944 during a showing of Dust to Dust in Indianapolis, where she was working as a movie critic; her review of the film called it a "cheap, mislabeled morality play", but the two struck up a conversation about it.

In November 1953 Kroger Babb was arrested on a drunk-driving charge after running a red traffic light and refusing a sobriety test.

Kroger Babb had tax troubles in the years after his success with Mom and Dad.

Kroger Babb suffered from various ailments toward the end of his life, including a stroke.

Kroger Babb retired in 1977, at 70, and died of heart failure on January 29,1980, in Palm Springs, California.

Kroger Babb worked in various areas of the entertainment industry, in both traditional and exploitation genres.

Kroger Babb claimed to have made twenty films, and produced for television, radio, and even the stage.