Sponsor (July-Dec 1953)

UllllUU a No. 7 in a series / Why Song-Ads . sell • Because the words and j music fit the Product a 9 When you buy a Song-Ad, you inherit • all of our experience gained from crcat j ing more than 250 successful jingles A f] for clients coast to coast. We give you 'I M a song commercial that is truly blended "• with the product so the main sales a points will stick lastingly in the con A (j sumer's mind. f I It You. too. can sell your client on radio • or TV by offering him a Song-Ads audij tion presentation record, created espe (1 cially for his product. For just A X *75M \ you get three complete jingles — three j, individual sets of words and music, re n corded in Hollywood by top-flight artists A L and musicians. ' I Call, write, or wire today! • 1 C O M P A H Tji 59J7 Sunut Blvd. Hollywood 28, Colli. GLodHono 6181 llllllllll let Us dramatize i\ your sales story... for Television spots, Minute Movies, local dealer films or long length industrial motion pictures. J\eid J4. d^ay, FILM INDUSTRIES, Inc. 2269 Ford Parkway, St. Paul 1, Minn. 208 So. LaSalle St., Chicago 4, III. TV COSTS GOT YOU DOWN? The Sportsman's Club 52 popular, well rated, 15 minute hunting, fishing and outdoor shows featuring Dave Newell and panel of experts. Write for audition prints. SYNDICATED FILMS 1022 Forbes Street Phone: Express 1-1355 Pittsburgh 19, Pa. m° duii N it" rails a Film problem: TV film syndicators are rapidly propelling themselves into an era of "bargain basement" selling. That's the opinion of a spokesman for one of the top TV film distributors, who told sponsor: "Most distributors today are taking any packages the) can get their hands on because of the great demand for filmed programing. When that happens, some of these films are bound to be second rate." The danger inherent in this practice, according to this distributor, is that it leads to placing films into "Class A" and "Class B" categories. For example, if a given station complains that the distributor's top products are priced too high, the syndicator's salesman pulls the "bargain" package out of his traveling bag to make the sale. This practice can be harmful for three reasons, film executives feel : I 1 I While inferior programing does draw audiences today, particularly in new TV areas, this situation will change in a year or so. It's bad policy for a TV station in a one-station market to be indiscriminate in programing. (2) Superabundance of filmed product can lead to price-cutting by distributors. Station which has been approached by reps of 10 syndicators tells the distributor of top product, "I've nine other half-hour shows I can buy at half your price. How about dropping the price for your package?" (3| With syndicators handling large variety of film fare, sale of each individual package is apt to be infrequent. Producers therefore won't get good return on original investment, will be forced to go out of business. Musical library boom: Among the fastest-selling TV films today are the musical film libraries. Reason: These shorts are comparatively inexpensive, are a good way to draw local businessmen into TV. From the station's viewpoint, musical films are a natural to fill in gaps between regular prograin *5ee New TV Films chart, page 46. ing, and to help build up a local d.j. personality. New TV stations are among the best prospects for this type of film fare. They can lease a library of about 500 shorts for roughly SB per short for a \ear, use the films as often as the\ want. Among the biggest in the musical short field are United Television Programs and Official Films, both New York firms. LTP offers two libraries of 550 films each, sold separately or together. To date the units have been sold in 94 markets and to as man; as three stations in the same market. The Studio Telescription library includes artists like (Jinny Simms, June Hutton. Cab Calloway. Connie Haines. Official's Music Hall Varieties library consists of 1.400 three-minute shorts. It's now running in about 90 markets. Among the artists: Vincent Lopez, Spike Jones, Nat King Cole. Among the smaller, more specialized libraries are Screen Gems' TV DiskJockey Films and Music to Remember, RCA Recorded Program Services' hoy Willing and the Riders of the Purple Sage, (all New York), and TeleArtists Treasure, distributed by McConke\ Artists Corp.. Hollywood. The TV Disk Jockey unit contains 60 three-minute silent films plus 60 accompanying records. It's now being shown in 20 markets. Recording stars include Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, Mindy Carson. Music to Remember consists of 13 symphonies ranging in length from 16 to 24 minutes. It includes works by Tschaikowskv. Grieg. Beethoven, and Wagner. The Foy Willing collection contains 100 five-minute Western tunes. Filmed sequences include Willing and the Riders of the Purple Sage, scenic shots. The Tele-Artists Treasure, McConkey's library, contains 350 shorts including popular tunes and Westerns. In addition to the musical short libraries, there are other short filmed products available in library form. Many of these films fall into the quiz category, often combining music with the quiz angle. Example: Spin-a-Tune. distributed bv Videopix, Pittsburgh. Videopix also handles another quiz collection. J iz Quiz. Among other distributors of quiz films are Movie Quick Quiz i Walter Schwimmer. Chicago) : What's Playing, (Dembv Productions. New York). • • • 48 SPONSOR