"We're not sure what was more unbelievable when brothers Joyce and Rollie Hall got into the stationery business more than a century ago-that their company would later run one of the most-watched TV channels in the US, or that it would be responsible for so many Christmas movies starring DJ from Full House. Either way, the company's origins were so humble that they could've inspired...their own Hallmark Channel movie."
"In the ensuing decades, the Hall brothers invented modern wrapping paper, struck partnerships with Disney and artist Norman Rockwell, and hosted some radio shows before wading deeper into showbiz. "Dear Fellows: We're going to try our hand at television," Joyce Hall wrote to his sales team in 1951, according to the New Yorker. Hallmark sponsored the world's first written-for-TV opera that year and never looked back:"
"After sponsoring other people's productions for a few decades, Hallmark formed an entertainment arm in 1991 and later bought a stake in the religious cable network Odyssey. Hallmark absorbed Odyssey in 2001 and renamed it the Hallmark Channel, a new frontier for church-friendly family dramas. Upon the smash success of its 2006 flick The Christmas Card, Hallmark went full Yuletide mode and launched its annual "Countdown to Christmas" event in 2009."
"Its 2014 movie Christmas Under Wraps, starring former Full House star Candace Cameron Bure, was another "breakthrough" for the Hallmark Channel, former CEO Bill Abbott told the New Yorker in 2019. The company continued to cast former teen icons, including 2000s heartthrobs Chad Michael Murray and Jesse Metcalfe, to draw in younger viewers."
Joyce and Rollie Hall began selling greeting cards in Kansas City in the 1910s, with strong demand from World War I servicemen and families. The Hall brothers later invented modern wrapping paper, partnered with Disney and Norman Rockwell, and hosted radio shows before entering television. Joyce Hall committed to television in 1951, and Hallmark sponsored the first written-for-TV opera. The company formed an entertainment division in 1991, acquired Odyssey, and rebranded it as the Hallmark Channel in 2001, emphasizing church-friendly family dramas. Breakthrough holiday films and a growing catalog of 300+ Christmas movies established a competitive edge as cable viewership shifted.
Read at Fortune
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