Variety (Apr 1949)

34 IIADIO-TELKVISIOiy Wednesdlay, April 6, 1949 Major Leagues Reject Ford Dealers Plan for Chi BaU Nighttime Pix Cliicago, April 5. + Ford Dealers plans to sponsor TV baseball hitjlilights on film for 1 late p.m. viewing apparently has been nixed by ma,ior league refu- sal to allow any films under com- tn-M'cial sponsorship. Ford Dealers had been working oul" arrangements with J. Walter ATLANTIC, SEALTEST TO REPEAT WITH PIRATES Pittsburgh. April 5. :■■ AtliaBtle Hefitiing Coi; and Seal- test will again pick up the tab on Thompson agency to kinescope full j the Pirates' baseball broadcasts this daytime games of Cubs and Sox, ' season. Two bankrollers will take alternate dates to put their spiel On, just as they did a year ago. Home games are to be aired from booih at Forbes Field, with the road clashes being recreated from telegraph accounts. ■ Rosey Rovvswell, who ■ has been Radio's Gamut In a striking coincidence, tiiesper Warren Parker will be heard simultaneously on two' stations Sunday (10), playing Christ on one airer and Pilate on the other. Parker will be featured as Jesus during the live broad- cast of "Greatest .Stol-y" over ABC and will play the part of Pilate, His judge, during the tran.scribed "Ave Maria Hour" oil WMCA, N. y. Both shows, will be aired at 6:30 p.m. on Palm Sunday. In»de Televi^cn MITs Video innovation For rush through an editing job. and , present a 15-minute package over ' a Chi tele outlet at 11 p. ni. : ,:' Scheme ran into a snag vi'hen Am'^rican and National League of-1 fices balked at commercial angle, i Both Cubs and Sox have already ; inked contracts for television cov-: erage, and apparently feel p. m. i showing would conflict with day- i time contracts. I Sox prexy Chuck Comiskey, mindful of the current Danny Gardella court case, said that com- niercial sponsorship other than di^]^„, .^ J „ rect video viewing from ball park „,,,i,.,,„^„,. taking the ac- address its mid-century convoca would put ball club under Inter-: whichevei daj it is, laKmg tne ac state Commerce Commission laws. sairth^t undel^Snt ^etup'uS ' P-^ed to_beinere^ could not allow kinescoping, news-! Sam Levene's obvious antagonism to dramatic critics at least made his and Moss Hart's guest stint with John Chapman's WPIX video show sparkle. The N. Y. News' drama critic handled it well, and with good humor. The playwright seemed a little worried about his star ("Light Up the Sky") but Levene pautioned Hart not to worry about his up- coming "Miss Liberty" (which he is staging and co-producing with Robert SherwOod and Irving Berlin, who authored). Unlike Levene's frankness and open captiousness with the critical craft, he seemed inclined to logroll his currently favorite author-producer (Hart). By and large it wa6 a good teevee stint, so good that the 15 minutes fled too fast. .Levene's cracks at "the nine old men," meaning the critics- the actor's expressed exaggerated concern whether Chapman ever wrote, directed, produced or acted in a. play—which he felt should alone qualify Chapman or anybody else to be an "expert" critic; coupled ' with an authoritative histrionic ability certainly made the quarter-hour flash and gleam. • Levene quite obviously gives vent to a long nur- tured gripe -among Sctor.'i and others in the theatre about the nine; critics who can make or break a show and their alleged lack of qualiflv cation. He even revived the. one about inviting the critics a week after a show opeiied, so as to minimize that first-night nervousness. - Most optimjsiic picture in Chi of tele set manufacturers' 1949 pro- ■ll PL^.M^UJll I ''"ct'O" is a target goal of 3,000,000 set up by Edgar Greenebaum, Jr ifll vnUrvlllll' Television Shares Management Co. This total breaks into ' calling the play-by-plays ever since ' the first baseball broadcast locally, I has been signed for another year, ! with Bob Prince as his assistant. I WWSW will be the key station I again, with flock of district outlets^ i. , , _... ; ,, _^,.,„ ».^„+ I banded together as the Atlantic nolog.v, scoring a world neu's beat Sealtest Network, i by getting Winston Churchill to it Is, taking the ac-; . ... < a A k i n counts, too. Last season ,,there j tw"; ^il^em on the event i ^ew technique eliminating sets and slashing costs is being used on dozen, but that s ex- ?r.V"l..VP/?^f A.L!! i DuMont'i " Boston, April 5. Massachusetts In.stitute of Tech- I 1,000,000 sets by RCA and t>hileo together; 400,000 by Admiral, 260,000 1 by Motorola, 200,000 apiece by Crosley and Emerson, and 1.00iooo I shared among the other manufacturing conjpanies, \ Greenebaum believes that the present tube shortage may reverse i itself in two months, with the output so great that set manufacturers ' will have a struggle to keep up with the tube output, were an even reels and short subjects, unless policy is changed "in very near future." Major League film director Lew^ Fonseca's office- revealed that un- der prevailing rules, no kinescop- ing program would be allowed unr less "it was carried out on a sus- taining basis." Until current snags developed, JWT execs and Ford Dealers be- lieved they would have little .trouble working out a deal where- by a second sponsor would bank-1 roll the direct pickups from the i game in conjunction with the later , Ford package. Package would run almost night- ly during baseball season, since Gubs and Sox alternate Chi stays ' in their ball parks. . Chi Columnists Awake to TV Chicago, April 5. i Chi radio columnists trying to ' keep pace with the public demand I for televi.'sion news are. devoting nearly 50% of their space to video doings. Startling fact about sur- 1 vey is that compared to latest Chi j area tele set figures of 115,503, I there are nearly 3,500,000 radio I homes in this TV service area. I Columnists thnV'nafked'thp'Boston Garden to I -l^u^lont's "Doorway to Fame." Called "Super-Image" by its de- '1 linnn r«n-,P^v <^aiaen to i ^^j^p^j, Dahlman.of United Productions, method has performers a ii,uuu capauiy. ^^^^.j^ ^ special all-black set while a miniature backdrop is shot on I MIT engineers invented a new an easel, both images blended in control room. Dahlman savs that the lighting system for the occasion "black magic" technique requires special lighting, makeup'! costumes , that provided a brilliant cold : paint, but no additional rehearsal time, and "sets" can be changed light from a series of special lamps ! jn iq seconds. "Doorway" telecast Monday (4) was produced entireiv hanging from the ceiling 20 teet | without sets, commercials also getting "Super-Image" treatment. Dahl- . over the speaker s head. Idea was i ,„an adds that a patent has been applied for and it will soon be possible ' to try to eliminate the glare and I heat that makes video hot work. I System is claimed to be an import- ; ant technical advance in video. . MIT, to handle the 4.500 con- ! vocationei-s who couldn't get seats, , also set up a lO-by-13-foot video ; screen in its. Cambridge gym t6 I project the biggest image so far 1 seen hereabouts. Meantime Churchill, who men^ to achieve the effect by electronic. Ineans, eliminating need for the black set Usual network ban against recognizing the existence ojF'others oii the air was bypassed last Wednesday night (30^ wheJi '"Kukla, Frari -and' Olliej" moppet show on NBC-TV, devoted its eritire Half-hour to "Holly^ wood Screen Test." aired regularly by ABC-TV, ■ ; ": Neil Hamilton, emcee of "Test,'' had. invited pUie, the dragon,' to iie screened for a part in a remake of "Reluctant Dragon." Throughout Wednesday night's program, producer; Burr;TiUstrom had the dragoii _ rehearsing for the test, only to tm-n it down at the last minute in order tioned the Garden speech was his , to stay in Chicago, from which city "Kukla" originates. pxDlain Dpreentaee ' ^^^ut. expressed interest in | explain percentage ^ looked. MIT officials men- Coast Yidstations Nix Upped Asking Price For Grid Game Ri Rights ... , , 1 i.uvY lie luun.™. i.iij. ujn^ioio Miv...-1 AH Hollywood stations turned down telecast of Easter Sunrise Ser-i equality, ""i on'y on a recent up- jjo^g^ ^ wilbur Swartley, man- , vices in Hollywood Bowl when demand was made for split of lighting ^^^A^^ f %,«f ,M,il„ H» ager of WBZ. who passed the word \ costs. Overall tab would run around $1,000 and station heads figured v'eSnts'are ifewsworthy^Uems; ' Result was that the \ too costly, comidering early hour of U,e event, whereas radio news is the "same I videoed speech was filmed in Radio ' old stuff we've be*i writing about i for years." I Sun-Times columnist Don Fos-i ter (Bill lrwin) believes that while I radio news is of paramount im-1 portance to a majority of homes, i television is making such rapid | strides that it Is difficult for him City and a print rushed to the Queen Mary for Clvurchill to ogle enroute. i . WBKB MULTISCOPE ON DISPLAY AT NAB MEET Hollywood, Aprtl 5. Asking prices on this season's football games are bounding to greater heights than those of last . . .. , --i,* j teason, but' television outlets say j » "^eep his column space weighted ^ ^^.^^^^ ^^^^ they can't afford upped payment ' - WBKB will show off its improved for vid rights. Station execs don't | .Tribune radioed Larry Wolters , Multiscope (time-weather-news ma- feel they want to pay even last; said the same thing pointing up, ^hine) by appointment at the NAB year's prices. Top coin last year ' the news angle of tele develop- , management convention April 11- Marshall GrantrRealm has guaranteed video film thesps up to $1,.500 per week if television series is converted for use in motion picture houses. Firm is paying thesps « straight $S5 per day for chores in TV series for Lucky Strike cigarets. Films, under sponsor-producer pact, revert to producer one year after date of delivery. If Grant-Realm converts pix for theatre consumption, players will be paid up to $li500 per week, depending on the nuiqber of days they spent in initial shooting. was cornered by UCLA and USC. , ments. Wolters reported some . Pahst Brewing Co recently Two universities pocketed a $'75 - j reader complaints on lack of radio , ^o^ght approximatelv 10 hours a 2?*' S*'"^* r^'"'' ^^^"^ week time on Multiscope, and will XC -rv telensed I treme mmonty. ' ^^^^^ ba.seball news, highlights of C L.\ and UbC have not yet de- i The Herald-American carries no day's game next day lineups hews cU[u\ on what course will be | daily column, but radio ed Bill i and recipes' taken this season; Teams may sell' McHugh reported^^ ^^^^^ separately. Trade feeling is that ■ ^ews was about evenly split. New no matter how the deal is set up, | Sunday columnist Quin Ryan, One- I Earl "Madman" Muntz entered the Chi tele set field last week with I newspaper spreads advertising his three-knob control table model, re- , tailing for $269. Muntz has leased the Howard Radio Co. plant for Chi manufacturing operations. Trav-Ler Radio Corp. introduced its ] new line of tele receivers in Chi with promises of April delivery. t.Trav-Ler features four console models, two 10-inch arid two 12-inch 1 tubes, ranging from $250 to $350. ! Because of multitudinous editorial problems raised by the video I boom, NBC is sending Stockton Hellfrich, manager of continuity ac- I ceptance, on a cross-counto" tour for parleys in Hollywood. Chicago, I Cleveland and Washington. Hellfrlch will leave April 16, and will al.so have talks with editors in the asking price will be upped due to the increase in receivers in this area. ■ Professional L.A. Rams are not inteiTested in. television unless-team receives a financial offer which it feels can't be turned down. Pres- ent plan being mulled by Rams is a straight film deal. Team would film home and out of town games in slow motion and offer highlights of each game for videoing. Home games would be beamed during the week so there could be no inter- ference with gate receipts. ; ■ XTLA has first option on the L .\. Dons grid battles this season. Si.;ilion reportedly paid $17,000 for ri"hts to last year's Dons games. Ml 11 i mu m price acceptable to Dons for this season runs well above the $75 000 received by USC and UCLA last year. It is entirely pos- sible that *igure has been upped as a simple means of getting KTLA to drop first option and thus allow Dons to keep teevee cameras off gri'diroti this year. time radio exec, places emphasis on video, however. i Daily News splits its chores with ' Sam Lesner writing a radio col- umn twice weekly, and Jack Mabley taking tele stint once. I News imports N. Y. Heralad-Trib-1 une columnist John Crosby three ! times a week, with Crosby playing' up TV programs at least; once weekly. ' i WBKB has inked a contract with fel^to^pl^' a™und'the'"clocr'o"n ' San Francisco and De nver, where NBC "does not have TV outlets, the Multiscope. Acme is expected f to offer sam,e service: to other scope users, of which 10 have been lined so far. ^ y. Libby 'True Story' Cut May 5 Takeoff For ; Hub Sets Talent Staff ABC's Frisco TV'er For Sponsored AM-TY Sox, Braves Ballcasts Paul Hollywood. April 5. Mowrey, ABC television KJR Bigtime Sunday lausmfi; ABt Hurry a"S""i of the net s kgo tv in «-hi,..>«„ K San Francisco. First program will T -i K H4 ^T S ,^ T ' h i a pickup of the S.F -Oakland L.bby. McNeill & Libby's de- baseball gam. cision to cut-''My True Story"' to three-a?week;fi'oiti its present C J C C ^^^^^ ^'"^ network dpread tor ueattle salesmen scurrying to round up a ■ non-competitive sponsor to bank- roll the Tuesday and 'Thursday air- ings. Libby owns the. flve-year-old tiombardo's P.A. Turns ' Airer Into Jock Stint Becau.«ie of Guy Lombardo's per- sonal appearance at the New York Strand, his MBS airer, "Lombardo Land, USA." has been turned into Seattle, April 5. K.IR is' trying a new: Sunday strip of public interest shows, titled "Community Interest Series." be- ginning at 11 a.m. and carrying through until 12:30 p ro. Hour and a half .segment is held together with opening announcement call- ing attention to all SIX quarter- hour program.s and connectives also emphasize continuity of the series. ABC network "Child's World" leads off, followed by a local panel forum discussing, the children's re- in Takeoff of ABC's Hollywood sta- tion, KECA-TV, is scheduled for 30 days after construction of its Tele- vision Center, which should fall in mid-June. Hookup of the two cities by microwave as the nucleus of a coast network is scheduled for late in the year. -show, but wants to ease its radio .budget without entirely dropping the 6.2 Ilooperated program. c<i. W ' Burke Herrick, of J. Walter otorc Patrons Share In Thompson, indicated several JWT clients were'interested in the two segments, but were nixed by Libby on basis of being too competitive. If no sponsor is found, Libby will continue spon.sorship of the entire strip. However, network execs want to keep the client happy, and Jersey 'Guess It' Quizzer "Guess It and Gel It," new quiz i show, teed off Monday (4) on WPAT, Paterson, N. J., under sponsorship ot Packard Depart- ment Store, Hackensack, N. J. It ■ u... ...„^„oo,i.6 ...^ ^.„iv.i^..o IV- W'H go on daily, emanating from arks; next are two university of staging an intensive hunt for 1 *J>« *t«>''e' "'""K Monday through Washington shows, "Science Head- lines" and "University Guest." At 12 (noon) is "Art foi' Your Sake' another advertiser. a disk^ jockey stint for the April j from the Seattle Art Museum, and | " ' " ' -<---! " '■' - ' • blinding up the scries is the week- 2 and 9 broadcasts, with the band- leader spinning his own platters. When the orch goes on the road fol owing the theatre engagement, the live format: will be resumed. Mutual may send producer-an-r no"ncer Jack O'Reilly to supervise the remotes. Ed Brainard will Friday, 12a5 to 12:30. Store patrons provide the con- testants on the program, winners being awarded packages* when Boston, April 5.. Irving "Bump" Hadley, former major league pitcher and WBZ- WBZ-TV sportscaster, has been added to the talent staff of an- nouncers covering home games of the Boston Red Sox and Boston Braves. Others are Jim Britt, Tom Hussey and Leo Egan. All games from both parks will be aii-ed both by radio and video this season, with the Narragansett: Brewing Co., and the Atlantic Re- fining Co.. continuing , as co-spom sors. Local Chevrolet Dealers Assn. will be video sponsor on da.vs that Atlantic Is on the radio side. For the telecasts of both day and night - games WBZ-TV and WNAC-TV will operate on an al- ternating schedule, with WHDH airing all games. Tom Moore's 'Ladies' Chicago, Api il S.; Tom Moore Productions, new package outfit, has taken over pro- ly book-review program, "Speak-; gets a bankroller starting tomor- ecr ing ot Books." Feeling is that sub-, row .ificts covered are of wide enough i the interest to appeal to many listen-1 has bought tlie sho w "on a five-yeai ers and that those who are in-1 deal. Eigen's foimat will continue with name perlbrmer aiid a N. Y. Eigen'* TV BahkrdUfer ,.u . _ . _ „ . Jack Eieen show mi nnMnni ' .-^ contents, packages duction chores on "Ladies Be Scat- is a ^fZuZZ.^LJ''!^.?^! I'^inK items sold at Packards. Show ed." ABC-owned audience pariici- produeed by Ted Webbe, of (71. Doeskin Tissues through ' wPAfr,n7ni»7».,o„7. ^"''"J?"' 1' Federal Advertising -Sen^y I ^^f.^L'SleTured'^^^^^^^^^^ I terested in educational, sociological: j and cultural sub,iccts will be able 1 _ , to,get,goo^ C(^verage.ii},ppe chunk. i glarngti: «i^;f-8uiH*n^Ji patiort show. Airer exited Feature Productibus last week. - v_ .. "Ladles," now heard oh a'uesd^y and Thursday at 2 p. m, ' CSl < Cleveland Al Henderson will continue on that basis umM stepped out as president of AFRA i June, when the sponsor. Quaker to become flack at WTAM. John I Oats, will probably take the Mon- Rose, WHK, is new pfexy, 1 day through Friday web slots. i