Variety (July 1954)

42 REVIEW-PREVIEW Wednesday July 28," 1954 Live or Sure It’s The Truth .By HERBERT SUSSAN. ( Director , -Coke Time ’) Herb Snssan During the McCarthy-Army hearings, the most difficult prob- lem seemed to be to get “a yes or a ncr answer.’’ Recently, in Hollywood, I was asked, “Wouldn’t tv musical series like Eddie Fish- er’s be better on film?’* We must admit “a yes or a no answer” is Impossible. There are important values gained in both techniques. On film, the possibility of a technically su- perior sound track made by the singer and or- chestra on a recording stage is the strong- est argument for filmed tv musical shows. The kind of music balance displayed o n the recording star’s records is more likely under t h e s e conditions than on -live tv. On film, the singer may enjoy the luxury of retakes. Live tv is a one-shot, hit-or-miss proposition. If a stagehand accidentally comes in front of your camera on air, or a camera “konks-out,” which does and has happened, there is no second chance. More than 15,- 000,000 people may be looking over your shoulder. The cutting room floor is a better place for such scenes, not the tv screen. The singer, as well, on film may divorce concentration on singing from his movements and action on camera. Working against a play- back, he is more relaxed, knowing that performance of the song itself is already completed. Technically, therefore, film is probably a more efficient medium for tv musical shows than the live; medium. Economically, as well, syndicated shows offer a more lucrative approach for the per- former and the packager. The values at stake rn the “live” tv series, however, should not be underestimated. First, the excite- ment element to an audience of an "in person” appearance of a top recording star is basic to the live show'. Eddie Fisher can draw thousands to any theatre personal appearance: on live tv, this situa- tion is multiplied by hundreds of thousands. ute he is singing, not several weeks behind. When Irving Berlin wrote “I'm' Not Afraid” based on a speech by President Eisenhower, we were able to introduce it on Eddie’s “Coke Time” show the very next evening, with a suitable setting and presentation. On film, we would have been weeks late. Much of the impact might have been lost Fourth, the spontaneity and in- formality onstage during live tv presentations sometimes create an atmosphere of added charm and warmth that may be lost on film. Live or film, the 15-minute mu- sical series offers a tremendous challenge to the producer-director, as well as the singer. During the past year, we have staged more than .500 songs on the Fisher series, aiming always at good taste and effectiveness. In a dramatic series, there is the script as a starting- point. In the musical series, it’s the songs, the lyrics, the person- ality of the singer. From these intangibles, situations with mean- ing and reality must be created. j As Long As It’s True Regardless of the technical me- dium, the main problem that should occupy the producer-direc- tor’s mind should always be to present the singer in “true” situ- ations. This may appear completely obvious. Yet, it is a main pitfall. What the singer says and does on his show must be true for him. First find the springboard; a situ- ation to live-in, one in which the singer can logically be presented. Make it true—make it a living situation in which the singer might really find himself, and make it if you can, a situation into which the audience can project itself. The tendency to feel that the singer alone can carry the song is not entirely true. There is no question that the recording artist has proven he. cap sing the song; his success attests to this. The next step*is to make the audience believe the song itself and the situation in which the singer is performing it. If, finally, these situations can be identified with the experience and personality of the singer him-; self, the audience will come to feel that they are “let-in” on things and develop a loyal, intimate attach- ment with the singer and his show. This, we always strive for with Eddie Fisher. Film or live, therefore, the key . i. 9 _ _ r DURWARD KIRBY GARRY MOORE SHOW CBS-TV GOODYEAR TV PLAYHOUSE NBC-TV JUSTICE—NBC-TV HILLTOP HOUSE—CBS RADIO ANN'C’R — M.C. — NARRATOR I've Got ;By MEL ALLENs Mel Allen timacy of the live medium adds to the impact of the singer’s per- formance. As he reacts to the presence of the audience in his Secondly, the immediacy and in- s * s , s ^ basically the star and his ' relationship with his audience. Our audience seems to love the “live” moments with Eddie; the feeling that they are a part of what he is theatre-studio, the audience at .* n f * the faux-paS that reveal the home feels an undefinable part of j slr ”P e , * ac * ^Imt none of us is his personal audience. The simple, \ P ertec t. and the excitement of “in theatrical situation of a live singer j P e ^son shows, singing to live people definitely ** yes or a no answer”—film comes over the screen arid projects ! <>r we do n °t have it. But, Fads Gome And Go, But • • • By GENE AUTRY into the living room. Give Flexibility Thirdly, the live medium pro- vides greater production flexibility. The singer can capitalize on the audience’s interest in topical events. His songs can be of the moment; the hits at the very min- ANTHONY ROSS Now .Starring In "THE TELLTALE CLUE” for PHILIP MORRIS CBS TV—Thursdays at 10 PM EDT regardless of the medium, the weekly challenge to the star and the producer and the director con- tinues. How we meet that chal- lenge is certainly the full test of our talents. I run a race between radio and television. The first three innings of the ball games’that I do from Yankee Stadium are directed at the radio audience who 'get a clear view of the play - by - ; play through** the word pic- tures sent their way over the Micro- phones. Comes the fourth inning, ho w e v e r, I lean back, do a Jekyll-Hyde trans formation and start mj television stint from the fifth inning until the end of the game. This transformation is a bit more involved than you might imagine. With the aid of some mental hocus pocus I’ve got to change my entire approach from one that deals ex- clusively with creating an imagi- nary picture for the listener, to one that merely serves to clarify and color the actual picture that is be- ing sent to the tv viewer. In that fourth inning breather between radio and television, I've got to place a rheostat on the de- scriptive phrases. The amount of talking that is done on video has to be less than on radio because we’re no longer telling the fans at home of what is happening, they now can see that for themselves, so the approach" must be changed. The job now becomes more of a color commentary than a straight factual narration. Now that the fan sees the plays as they occur we’ve got to help him understand the more complicated ones and “color” the routine plays with relevant facts. Vitamin Corp. Seeking ’Goldbergs’ Go-Sponsor To release more coin for radio and tv spot campaigns and to al- low holding onto the “Goldbergs” via DuMont on Tuesdays, Vitamin Corp. of America is seeking a co- sponsor for the hajf-hour situation comedy. Show has been costing company, advertising its Rybutol, somewhere tinder $18,000 for tal- ent on the stanza and perhaps that on more for time costs on a 167 station lineup, and for fall season cost IS to go up. All 167 stations,. th<} lineup given as part of Bishop Sheen summer heritage, was an experiment for Rybutol. The sponsor normally pitches in about 30 prime tele mar- kets, but since the additional'sta- tions came at purportedly such a good price, it was felt that the Du- Mont casing might provide a chance for expansion. Whether agency for Rybutol, BBD&O, holds onto as much of that enlarged' chain as possible, should depend largely on the results of sales in undeveloped areas and on the Niel- sen marketing reports next mqnth.; Yon Got A Hep Audience In video the sportscaster takes on the task of an entertainer. He’s got to supply the commentary with a certain amount of anecdotal ma- terial, background and the like that adds to the viewer’s enjoyment and would make a limited viewer’s game (as it is in tv) less enjoyable without it. He’s got to revert to radio tech- nique once in ■ awhile because it can’t be forgotten that not. every- one watching the game is a com- plete scholar of the game. There are some people who watch base- ball only occassionally and sports- casters would lose them forever if it were not for certain explanatory comments accompanying some plays. Now when we tend to go into detail about a specific play jjome oldtime fan might think we’re “talking down” or telling him of some unnecessary data. All we’re doing is considering the novice viewer, the less seasoned rooter and the lady viewer. If it were not for a thorough explana- tion of some plays on television I doubt if the number of women baseball fans would have increased as sharply as they have in the last few years. For the overall task, however, (Continued on page 88) There was a brief period a’while back when it seemed that when- ever you tuned in, the home screen resembled nothing so much as a black and white kaleidescope. Strange and wonderful shapes ap- peared and with them weird sounds that prompted more than one of us to clamber to the roof to check the aerial; But it was only tv discovering Outer- Space. At that time a number of people asked me if I wasn’t worried. May- be Gene Autry should put Champi- on out to pasture and mount a rocket ship—-before it w a .s too late Westerns, it was not too darkly hinted, were belhg supplanted in the kids’ affections. I suppose I might have given all this a second thought had I not been able to reach back in memory to my first motion picture. This was a mild cliff-hanger in 13 parts called “Phantom Empire.” The Em pire of the title was an inter- planetary never never land where the villain pursued me with a ray gun and the dotty queen of the piece kept track of her subjects by spying on .them through a tv screen. The year we made this opus was 1932! After that I stuck to the wide open spaces terra firma variety and I know that’s why I’m around to ride the tv range today. Matter of fact, Tm now into my fifth year on the newest medium. | —But The Westerns Stay 1 My point is obvious. Fads in entertainment come, they go. The western remains. For many years the so-called “oaters” or “horse operas” provided a boxoffice back- bone for motion pictures. Through its short history they have been and continue to be a source of tv’s richest revenues. I’m aware some may consider me a mite prejudiced, but my long personal experience bears me out. I have staked considerable on my belief in the western on tv. Early in 1950, with my partners, Armand Schaefer and Mitchell Hamilburg, I formed Flying*A Pic- tures. When we’d completed my initial 26 half-hour films especially for home screens, we began to branch out. Since, we have com- pleted 260 movies for tv. We have made 78 “Range Rider” pictures. For this series we de- veloped a youngster whom I sin- cerely believe to be the best of the new western stars, former stunt man and the first true action cow boy since Tom Mix, Jack Mahoney. Next we completed 52 “Annie Oak- leys.” Again we chose to gamble with a new star personality, Gall Davis. I might say this gamble has paid pff handsomely. “Annie Oakley” is currently sponsored by Canada Dry Ginger Ale in 80- odd markets on an alternate week basis and we recently sold the series to the B & B Popcorn Com pany in Chicago in a. deal which involves over * $1,000,000. Gene Autry, “Range Rider,” and “Annie Oakley” are all syndicated by CBS- TV Film Sales. We also made a number of filrris for the Pacific Borax Company’s “Death Valley Days” and for the “Cavalcade of Bill, Jr.” with pilot film already completed. This will star Dick Jones who’s been so successful as the youthful sidekick for “the Range Rider.” In July I began an additional group of 26 more films to add to the Gene Autry series. Completion of these win bring my total of tv films to 104. Many of these last' 26 were made in color. Keeping abreast of tv’s progress our guess is that within two years, color tubes Will he in enough home sets to make this a highly profitable series. I believe that’s true despite the fact that what with color prices plus rising union scales and raw materials,'the price per film will amount to more than $3,000 more than each picture in our initial group. | The Answer Is Obvious I don’t think it’s difficult to explain the hold of the western on American audiences. For one thing* any youngster, six to 60, has little trouble identifying himself with .his cowboy hero who accom- plishes his feats ? of derring do with the most natural kind of ma- terials at hand—his fists, his horse, his rope. These ingredients are readily available to almost any one. The cowboy’s clothes are comfort- able and hardy and for the most part the kind of thing any kid wears for active play. The cow- boy is always a* good guy—-who doesn’t want to be? Above all he is a truly American hero. His origin is in our own great plains and they are his habitat. He is a sportsman in the most romantic sense. He embodies all the vir- tues which we have been taught to emulate from earliest childhood. Today’s cowboys owe much to the original western stars like Buf- falo Bill, Bill Hart and Tom Mix. These men; their names and their exploits have become such a glori- ous and timeless tradition that, their aura still surrounds today’s purveyors and will doubtless con- tinue to do so as long as there is a man to ride the range and a child to see him. Like his milieu the cowboy star enjoys exceptional longevity in a business noted for the quick turn- over in its heroes. I’ll confess this factor influenced my own entrance into tv. I believe that many young- sters who are still too young to go out to the neighborhood movie house can see Gene Autry, yes, and Roy Rogers and Hopalong Cassidy oh their home screens and conceivably form a viewing habit which would "assure an audience for many more generations. It’s a comforting idea and 1 hope it doesn’t sound complacent. Tjie fact is that we at Flying A are constantly seeking improvements and variations for the tried and true themes. Long ago I introduced the sing- ing cowboy and though the desir- ability of this innovation has been debated the public has seemed to like it. In our “Annie Oakley” series the girl rescues the boy, out- wits the villian and rides off into the sunset, a twist which has gone over big where we hoped It would —with distaff western fans—But basically, we keep ’em western. As I said, fads come and go— but those dogies git along, git along. z America” programs, As we li creased our output we expanded our facilities. At Flying A we now‘ have our own sound stages and completely equipped studios and executive offices in our own building on Sun- set Boulevard in Hollywood. Last year I bought the Monogram Ranch ip Placeritas Canyon to handle some of our location work. This has been completely refurbished to include all the most modern facili- ties for tv filming. Incidentally my first tenant was my esteemed co- hort, Hopalong Cassidy. We now have in preparation yet another western series, “Buffalo MAGGI McNELLIS