Kays

Here’s a post that came into existence due to a small jog of my memory cells, this time in the form of an advert for one of many new online mail-order catalogues that seem to be appearing in adverts on the TV. It’s something that probably only a handful will know about, unless they had a parent, relative or girlfriend who ran a mail-order catalogue. At some point during the late 70’s or early 80’s and after a long series of meetings Derek managed to get a selection of our 400′ titles into Kays mail-order catalogue. As far as I can recall they were only listed in the Autumn/Winter editions and there were just 12 titles, with a new selection the following year. Kays had their head office in Worcester, so it was understandable that we should think that we would be asked to supply stock and then just replenish, as and when required. However it turned out that Kays didn’t stock anything and it would be up to us to dispatch the orders. Each day we would receive the orders through the post, excluding Sunday and we would  dispatch direct to the Kays’ customer. The paperwork for what would seem a relatively easy task was phenomenal and proved so time consuming that Derek took on a new member of staff to handle the dispatch and keep on top of the paperwork. To begin with Barry Ison was perhaps not the most confident member of staff we had employed, he was constantly seeking advise, regarding some matter or other, but he was diligent and methodical and soon rallied round. The orders were very slow to begin with, but built up over the weeks and was enough to keep him occupied. Kays also had several other mail-order catalogues under their wings and we were surprised to find that we had orders coming in from those too. Naturally we had returns, and we could not quibble with anything the customer might say, which would often mean that we would receive a totally ruined film with a note saying it hadn’t run through the projector well or it wasn’t the film they thought they were buying. All Barry had to do was make sure that the paperwork balanced, debits and credits, so we could receive our monthly payment from Kays’ main office. It lasted for just two or perhaps three years and then they decided that the catalogue space could be better used. Barry was then put to work in the video sales area of the business. He left the company after just a few years to marry and help his future wife, in an enterprise that was something to do with the Dana Fan Club, we never heard from him again. I can’t even recall which 8mm titles Kays eventually decided on, but I believe that they all had the new moulded plastic cases we’d introduced for the United Artists package, but I can recall ‘Carry On Matron’. Around two thirds through composing this post, (that’s around four years ago now), Mark Williams posted a page of film titles from a Kays catalogue, not Deranns’ films, I hasten to add. It is that image which is reproduced with this post.