Radio daily (Oct-Dec 1949)

t Section of RADIO DAILY, Thursday. October 27, 1949 — TELEVISION DAILY is fully protected by register and copyright COURT VOIDS STATE CENSORSHIP TELE TOPICS TV PROGRAMMING took another great ■ stride forward Tuesday nite when WNBT aired "City At Midnight," a bold, exciting experiment in documentary drama. Aired live, beginning at 11 p.m., from Rivington Street on Manhattan's teeming lower east side, the program brought the stark reality of life in a human jungle into the homes of its viewers. The atmosphere of the neighborhood became alive and so pervaded the hour-long program that its many faults were all but overlooked. A story about Col. David Marcus, West Point graduate who was killed in the war in Israel, the show opened in a synagogue during a memorial service for the Jewish hero. Through a flashback, it then unfolded an account of Marcus' last visit to the neighborhood, where he was born and raised. Unable to make up his mind about a Haganah request that he return to Palestine, Marcus roams the street. He meets old friends, thrashes a racketeer who has been terrorizing the merchants, awakens the residents to their collective ability to defeat the gangster and his henchmen and decides to go back to the war. • THE SPRAWLING, disjointed script ' would have been far more effective if it had been shortened considerably. Considering the enormous obstacles inherent in the nature of the show, the four-camera production was commendable, indeed, but there were many bugs that will have to be ironed out in future stanzas. Action occurred mainly at three points — the synagogue, a saloon and the depressing, raindampened streets. . . . Outstanding in the rather large cast was Wolfe Barzell, who was superb as an aged shopkeeper. Others, all fine, were David Kerman, as Marcus; Greg Robbins, as his rabbi friend; Lewis Charles, as the racketeer, and Lee Rhodes, as a wayward youth. Program is a Sheck, Dahlman and Black package, with Lou Dahlman, executive director, and Doug Rogers, director for WNBT. Alfred Jackson was technical supervisor. Sponsors are Bedford Stores and Stromberg-Carlson. • DECAUSE RCA Victor and Sealtest want " to make a pitch for summer sales, "Kukla, Fran & Ollie" will take an eightweek hiatus Dec. 30 and will continue on the air through the summer. . . . The proposed AFM scale for TV films will be discussed tonite at the monthly meeting of National Television Film Council at the Fifth Ave. Brass Rail. . . . Milton Berle will present a check for $10,000 from the Damon Runyon Memorial Cancer Fund to the Jewish Hospital, Brooklyn, today. . . . Jack Carter, emcee of DuMont's "Cavalcade of Stars," has been signed for a December stint at the Paramount Theater, and is huddling with Ray Golden about a lead in "Alive and Kicking," upcoming B'way musical. DuMont "Spinning Wheel" And 5 H. P. Motor Not Funny, Says Chairman Coy, And Leaves Washington — The FCC angrily walked out on a DuMont color demonstration yesterday, with Chairman Wayne Coy showing more color in his face than DuMont put on its screen. DuMont unveiled a four-foot spinning wheel for a 20-inch deluxe TV sel. intending to ridicule the CBS color system. The converter, which carried a five horsepower motor driving the wheel at a speed up to 210 miles per hour, promptly blew a fuse. A new line was rigged and DuMont's research director Dr. T. T. Goldsmith, suggested the Commissioners move back in case anything went wrong. Angrily Coy snapped "We are not in the side-show business. We call this demonstration off." Flicker-less Color TV Now Near; Goldsmith Washington Bureau of RADIO DAILY Washington — A new technic to reduce flicker in color TV systems now before the FCC is nearing perfection in the DuMont Laboratories, Dr. T. T. Goldsmith, research director, told the FCC yesterday. Principles used in the continuous motion picture projector offer "high promise" he said. The DuMont presentation, which included the unveiling of a kingsize converter, was greeted by many as a further effort at delay. The FCC will meet in executive session today to decide what to do on the pending RCA motion for a two-month delay in the comparative demonstrations of the CBS and RCA color systems and DuMont black and white. The demonstration currently is slated for November 14. Dr. Goldsmith said the equipment to be used in his suggested system includes storage tubes to store energy and release it as needed. To eliminate flicker, line interlocking probably would be used, he said. 4A Postpones Vole On Tele Authority (Continued from Pa<»e 1) before the Board until its meeting of Nov. 16. Representatives of Screen Actors Guild and Screen Extras Guild voted for the resolution along with representatives 'of Actors Equity, Chorus Equity, AFRA, AGVA and AGMA. According to the resolution, this action was taken "to preserve continued unity among 4A unions in the interests of the public and of our entertainment profession." Board also decided that during the three weeks' postponement of action on TVA, membership meetings of all 4A unions will be called in 12 key cities to afford a forum for full discussion by all sides of the current issues, and to educate all 4A members on the problems and methods of organization in video. Meetings will be held in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Detroit, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Pittsburgh and Seattle. Miss Hennock Aid For Jones In Color TV Bout With Smith ( Continued minced no words in saying they think Philco and other manufacturers prefer to see color delayed. Jones said he wants "to hasten the day when the pocketbook will lie where the conversation lies" — meaning the day when the manufacturers will put all their resources behind a real drive to bring color into TV. Miss Hennock said she had come to the hearings with an impression that the manufacturers do not want color soon, and that has not been dispelled. Of the three systems ad from Page 1 ) vanced, she said the CBS and CTI systems are not offered by radio manufacturers. RMA attorney, Edward Wheeler, asked Smith if he thought it proper to encourage the public to buy converters for CBS color while a trichromatic tube which would eliminate the need for converters is being developed. Immediately FCC Chairman Wayne Coy asked if it were proper for manufacturers to seek to sell 16-inch TV sets with the prospect of 22-inch sets next year. Pa. Rule Violates Federal Policy, Court States Philadelphia— United States District Court yesterday ruled that television programs are interstate commerce and therefore not subject to state censorship. In deciding a suit brought by five Pennsylvania stations, the Court held that the State Board of Censors does not have the power to regulate TV films. State regulation that all films aired by stations in the state must be submitted to the censorship board is an infringement of "a field of interstate commerce which Congress has preempted and is inconsistent with the statutes and the national policy adopted by Congress for the regulation and control of radio and television," Judge William H. Kirkpatrick ruled. Adopted Jan. 24 of this year, the state regulation held that all TV films originating within the state must be submitted to censorship three days before airing, and that films distributed outside the state must be shown to the board five days before air time. NBC And French Radio To Exchange Newsreels A new agreement for the exchange of television newsreel films between NBC and Radiodiffusion Francaise, the French broadcasting system, was announced by the network in New York yesterday. The entire newsreel supply of French Television, which produces a 15-minute daily program, has been made available to NBC, which in turn will make its staff newsreel coverage available to the French system. The deal was concluded in Paris on Tuesday by William F. Brooks, NBC vice-president in charge of news and international relations, and Wladimir Porche, director general of Radiodiffusion Francaise. During his stay abroad. Brooks has also had talks with officials of the BBC, with whom NBC has had a long-standing TV newsreel reciprocal agreement and with representatives of Dutch, Swiss, and Spanish companies which supply film for the "Camel News Caravan." Con Ed Buys WNBT Seg Consolidated Edison Co. of New York has signed a 52-week contract for sponsorship of the "WNBT Weatherman" series across the board, beginning Nov. 8.