"OPPORTUNITY UNLIMITED" ESSO STANDARD OIL SERVICE STATION MANAGEMENT TRAINING FILM 87814
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- Опубліковано 27 січ 2022
- This color ESSO training film "Opportunity Unlimited" is about how to improve business at an Esso service station. It also shows some of the ESSO and ATLAS branded point of sale signage and advertising campaigns. Produced circa the mid 1950s, probably 1957. It was directed by Edward Seward and produced by John Bransby. Note: the film may have been shot at the Jackson Esso Service Station located at 328 Henderson Drive, Jacksonville, North Carolina.
The plot of the film consists of an "A" and "B" story, with Esso station owner Bill Jackson taking a long overdue cruise to Mexico with his wife, while his employees mind the station in his absence -- while getting coached by a visiting corporate sales manager.
Opening titles: Esso Standard Oil Company presents Opportunity Unlimited (:06-:36).The owner of Jackson's Esso Service Center, Bill Jackson, talks to a judge. He's driving a 1957 Buick Roadmaster. At home, Mrs. Jackson receives a phone call from a travel agent to pick up tickets for their cruise aboard a steamship. Bill checks the oil and works under the hood on the Belair. Mrs. Jackson calls the service station and leaves a message for her husband (:37-2:51). The judge and Bill discuss. Esso salesman discusses what is needed (2:52-4:35). The men discuss. Cars drive slowly down a suburban street past the Monroe Auto Mart used car lot in Monroe, North Carolina (5:36). City streets and the promise that more cars will soon be on the road. Bill talks with the salesman. Esso service station sign. Car at an Esso station (4:36-6:42). Bill closes his station at night. His station sits quiet when closed. Texaco station is open. Bill talks with a salesman about how to increase business (6:43-7:59). Bill gets home, talks with his wife. Bill didn't have time to grab the tickets, he's home for lunch (8:00-9:29). Cruise ship horn blows. People wave. Ship sails at sea. Bill and his wife on the beach. An Esso sales manager talks to the other workers at the service station, a truck is unloaded. The salesman goes through a binder to explain how to expand and improve business. Bill and his wife walk around a boat dock. They have the option to board a fishing boat and decide to go for $15 a person (9:30-12:23). Sales manager talks to the other workers at the service station about selling opportunities. An interesting looking coupe pulls up to an island at the service station. A man cleans the windows while someone checks under the hood. The oil stick is shown to the customer. Esso Salesman talks to the other worker at the service station (12:24-15:29). Car in service station lot vanishes. A man checks how much gas is still underground in the tank. Oil change. Tires being changed. Sales manager talks to the other worker at the service station. BIll gets a picture taken by his wife with a giant fish on vacation. Car pulls out of the station at night. Worker goes into the station and makes a call (15:30-17:57). Bill's wife seeks Bill as he sits on the beach. The coworker sent him a letter on vacation. His wife reads it to him. She pulls out an ad from the envelope. The two discuss, Bill stands up (17:58-21:25). Inside the Esso station, the coworker types another letter. Three workers look at a picture the boss sent of himself with a fish. The workers paint, fix up the station, put up an oil display. Esso handouts. Workers discuss their plan for better business
(21:26-23:17). Workers are nice to customers, clean windshields, and offer new services. A worker cleans the inside floor mats. Coworker types. A worker hands a woman a flyer that show what they offer (23:18-25:21). A board has all of the appointments listed. A new man was hired for the station as well. Bill and his wife read a letter at a table near the beach, they discuss what it says (25:22-27:40). Radiogram / telegram. Car is worked on at night at the service station. The worker talks to the Judge. Another worker talks to the judge after doing work on the car (27:41-29:24). A picture of Bill with his fish in the newspaper. Bill talks with his employees and they show him a clipboard that has the figures. Salesman comes in and talks with Bill. Bill takes off his jacket and heads for the judge. He holds a newspaper. He shakes the judge's hand and then
shows off the picture of him and the fish. The employees come and help out on the judge's car. Bill waves as the judge leaves (29:25-33:05). No end credits.
This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit www.PeriscopeFilm.com
Man, that Bill Jackson sure was lucky to have such ambitious employees. Something I haven't seen in a while.
Back when you got paid enough to support a family working in a gas station XD
@@judechauhan6715 They had to get paid because they all died early from lead poisoning.
Back in the 1950s and 60s my dad had the Mobilgas station in our small town. He was also the only
mechanic in town. When I was 10 years old, I was pumping gas as we were a full service station. I
was too small to reach all the windshield and back window, but if the customer was getting a fill up I
had time to clean all the side windows. It's too bad we don't have service stations any more. Remember
the promotions in the 1960s and 70s? For every fill up you got a glass? I remember when you got the whole
set, normally 6, the dealer would toss in a new washrag or something like that. Those days are gone.
Back in the 60's my family owned a Standard Oil (Chevron logo) gas station in So. California. This brought back a lot of memories.
Glad you enjoyed it! Subscribe and consider becoming a channel member ua-cam.com/video/ODBW3pVahUE/v-deo.html
You should see the other film on this channel specifically about training at chevron logo stand oil stations
Same here. After my dad opened a Hancock service station I started working for him when I was 14. I had a great time and I learned a lot about business, customer service and working with people. We had gas wars where the lowest price we had our gas was just 16¢! Sometimes if the price was 19¢ a customer would come in, get one gallon, then drive across town to get gas for 18¢. I told them they would burn more gas than they would save by driving across town but they did it anyway. How long did your family have a service station?
That's a time when we were considered as "Customers" back then, as opposed to being classed as "Consumers" nowadays.
Took decades to figure out there was little profit in service. The big money was in snacks and drinks. At least Bill was on the right track with that nice rack of sun glasses.
It's a different business model today. Cars require much less in the way of regular maintenance. Electronic ignitions, synthetic lubricants, sealed batteries, permanently lubed drivetrain, radiators have overflow tanks, very rarely does it ever need attention. Tires seldom wear out before 60k miles.. When's the last time any of you had a flat tire or blowout while driving? ..
Very few stations bother with full service except where required by state law, (NJ & OR).. And those mostly just pump the gas.. No lifting the hood and taking a look. I was born about the time this film was made, but my memory only goes back to the early 1960s.. I don't think I ever saw a gas station attendant wearing a bow tie and a hat like that. Typically, it was just a company shirt and ball cap style hat. The main improvements have been full canopies over the pumps and massive lighting.
I remember when the guys at the service station wore peaked caps and bow ties. Seems like a long time ago.
It was...
10:55- At the time, various local radio and TV stations featured newscasts sponsored by Esso as "YOUR ESSO REPORTER".
Ward: Wally, you and the Beaver take the Desoto down to the Esso station.
Wally: Gosh dad does the beav have to go ?
Ward: Yes of course wally.
Beaver: Gee dad, I always liked going to the Esso station
Wally: Boy you would!
Ward: Wally, here's 50 cents. I want you to fill the Desoto with hi test Esso and bring back the change
Beaver: Gee dad, can't we get a coke and stuff?
Wally: Gee Beav, we gotta bring back the change like dad said.
Ward: Now wally, the beaver has been extra good this week. He drank his milt with dinner, brushed his teeth and went to bed on time. I think we can let him have a soft drink now can't we.
Wally: Aw gee dad, you always give into the beaver.
ua-cam.com/video/F9x8PBc1G8E/v-deo.html A ford commercial Wally and the Beaver did.
Beave...you went to the Shell station??...boy! Dad's gonna really flip!
@@djavidianmx1832 I've seen June...can you blame Ward, I mean...WOW!
I own a Family own Outdoor Power Equipment and Generator Dealership in the New Orleans area. Our dealership goes back since the 1950’s . We still believe in Customer Service. But this yr has been the worst ever. The cost of running our business has gone up 30% .We not sure if we are going to make in the future. God Bless Us.
I learned a lot about customer service and people working at my dad’s Hancock service station. I started when I was in the 10th grade. My dad just made a few cents per gallon of gas sold plus a cut for oil, transmission fluid and tires. He was able to support our family of 5 and I earned enough to pay for the first few years of my college education. But in the 1980s states began losing subsidies so college began to skyrocket especially in the later 1980s when politicians began defunding education after taxes were slashed in half in 1982.
I hope your business is doing ok.
What does all this have to with de price of ethyl in the 60’s…
@@mickeybitsko1676 , Nothing, I was just making a comment , Just like you was are doing.
@@borod5571 your honor, I object. The comment is irrelevant, incompetent and lacking foundation. 😺
Nobody in the comment section cares about your outdoor power equipment business or your problems. Get a clue. This is a vintage video about ESSO stations for people to watch.
"Why there's 6 new families right in our own block and we don't even know one of them" - Me just now realizing I have neighbors in the houses next to mine.
Atlas Champion Spark plugs on the shelf next to all the other Atlas products. That place looks like a palace for sure a really nice station even though they I’m sure made it spotless for the film still had to be clean and neat to start with
This story took a very sad turn. Shortly after it was filmed, the station was robbed by the town hood, Big Harvey Slocum. Ironically, Slocum's use of Esso Extra gasoline enabled him to outrace the police and make his escape.
I think the film dates to 1954, since the salesman quotes the auto sales forecast for model year 1955. It was an accurate forecast, too; the biggest sales year in U.S. auto history to that point.
Esso = SO = Standard Oil of New Jersey .
The play was on the word "essence" which was the definition of "petrol" (essense of petroleum).
@@Geardrive427-ip8vj Well, now, aren't you special? You can google. Yes, that is also true. But if you understood English, you would know both are. Where do you think the ES part of that came from? Dips # * t.
How I miss the good old days of when Esso full service stations were still in existence. ⛽
And now the oil companies are decidedly out of the retail business and don't really care what the dealers do
That Esso salesman is slicker than a mayonnaise sandwich. 😂
What made you estimate the shooting of the film at 1957? The salesman says " *will* be sold in 1955". Would they have set the time of the film in the past? 5:33
Yes! This was filmed in 1954- as "Charlie", Bill's Esso supplier of oil, tires and other "Atlas" products, indeed mentions the fact that *"Auto manufacturers predict more than 5 1/2 million new cars will be sold in 1955".*
After watching this I’m going to have the wife and boy call me boss.
I’m a divorce attorney if you need one. 🤣
Guy has early version of the urban sombrero 😺
Oddly enough after all the harping on service in 10 to 20 years the push would be on to drop full service and all mechanical work and to start selling food & drink.
Mainly Beer Nowdays
Bill Jackson seems like a cheap SOB lol
The very point of the film is to show why that doesn't work.
@9:50 They vacationed on the windward side of the island.
Windwardside is actually the name of a town on the tiny island of Saba in the Dutch Caribbean. They speak English and use the US $.
Knoe how I know this is fake...there's not one bottle of booze and his wife talks back...haha jokes
ESSO dealers, agents and distributors. Can foster Hewitt be far behind? The end blues
Would the workers earn commission on add on sales?
They were paid a flat hourly wage. And maybe an 'attaboy'..
Some did. That would have been up to the owner. It's a pretty good way to increase income on both sides.
Back on those days they probably sold a quart of oil with every fill up at a minimum
Yes, because cars of that era burned a lot more oil than cars of today.
I own a 1953 Hudson and I seldom need more than a quart of oil after driving around 4000 miles. So, motor oil sales weren't quite that common though probably more so than for today's cars.
@@WAL_DC-6B my modern car burns less than a qt in 5000 mi. Can't imagine how older cars were!
We sold oil and transmission fluids. After putting oil in customer’s cars we put the oil can with the spout still on it upside down so the oil left in the cans would drain out into a larger can below. We sold that as ‘drip oil’ for a discount. It was the first ‘multi-weight’ motor oil.
@@sd31263That’s true. I had customers who needed 2-3 quarts at a time. There was a Fred Fincher Auto Sales a block away and they didn’t often drove their used cars to get gas. They never wanted more than a gallon of gas. When I checked the oil in those cars a lot of them had sawdust in the oil to slow down burning oil and reduce leaking (some). I told people to never buy from them.
& Bill never went on another holiday again
Nobody else has said it, but the last 10 minutes or so the sound and picture were way out of sync.
That man needs his vacation
How on earth are they getting so many letters back and forth from afar so quickly? My suspension of disbelief regarding this film is ruined by this.
It must have been a long holiday.
Wasn’t the gas guy in west side story
It was typical to use paid professional actors in these films. McLean Stevenson (from MASH) was in one for Gulf in the early 60s.
Shell less expensive than Standard and clean gas station restrooms?
HA! HA!
I worked at my dad’s service station. Our restrooms were behind the office. I remember several couples over the years who would get out of their cars and walk to the back to use the restrooms. But they stayed in the back for 15 minutes. When I went to check to see if they were ok I heard them both in one small restroom making very ‘distinct’ sounds. I just waited and they’d pay me when they came out.
Bill is far too comfortable...
He's probably not worried about it cause he ain't getting no bonus or commissions
ronaldo or Messi I pick SUI