Variety (July 1954)

Wetlneaday* July 2g,1954 REVIEW-PREVIEW 43 Pedals, By SAMMY KAYE _» Television has Invaded the home, theatre, nightclub and 'what have von But the aU-iTOPortant place television hasn't Invaded to gle an, tomobile. Now, ol what POSslble value can an automoblle be to an Entertainer, you asK. The .answer is simple—-take & peek at the car radio. Facts and figure* Trove more people listen te' the radios A1 their cars than they do to thi radios in their living ropm during the summer monthe. Makfes sense, too Those long, sometimes monotonous rides Ironf home to beach, to mountains or to summer resorts, are made easier with fnusic flowing from the maze of tubes and wires behind the dashboard. I know it gave me something to think about and other musicians, orchestra leaders . and^ singers should realize its import. When the average American spends an evening at home he seldom twists his radio dial for a night’s enter- tainment. He generally tunes in his favorite video show. But put the same guy in an automobile and he only has one friend to turn to when conversation starts to lag and grow dull, and that’s the car radio. That is why on my radio shows, both ABC and CBS, I usually slant some of my musical selections to the "carriage trade.” I realize only too well that these same people are tv fanatics and seldom listen to juke boxes. • ... T Like other recording artists I. realize the only way I can sell my records is to have them heard. I'd like to have the royalty on every record sold over the car radio. Believe me, it would amount to a tidy fortune. The car radio is here to stay. What can replace it? Television? I seriously doubt whether we will ever have legislation permitting television sets in automobiles. The distraction would prove too much. Cars would pile up on the nation’s highways. I’ll say the car radio is with us for a long time and if only a small segment of the motoring populace of this country hears my records or my orchestra over the air, then believe you me, I am reaching millions. That is why radio is still a mighty important medium to me. And for those who say, “Radio is dead!” start counting the “live” motorists on your nearest highway. Ottawa, July 27. Canadian Broadcasting Corp. and the Assn, of Radio and Television Employees of Canada have inked their first collective agreement. Ef- fective Aug. 1, it gives more than 1,300 office and studio workers a 6% pay boost, retroactive for Feb. 1 of this year. Pact was signed for CBC by J. A. Ouijmet, g.m., and for ARTEA by its executive secretary, E. F. Wilcox. By ROBERT E. KINTNER ; (President, ABC > ." When I was many years yotinger, in Stroudsburg. Pa., we used io go" down to the corner store and buy ice' cream—either chocolate or vanilla—for a nickel. As we grew a little older and more selective, we changed from the corner store to another ice creamparlor that- featured many flavors. Qur youthfur tastes became . jaded by a two-flavor choice. ' And so it Is in television. Despite the fact that Nielsen lists some, 25 different program types for : tv, it is essentially a chocolate and vanilla choice that most viewers have. And, as in the ice cream business it takes more than a limited selection to attract the broadest possible market. That corner store proprietor sold a good deal of ice cream, but the parlor in’ anotherpart of town sold far more. .. There, the chocolate and vanilla volume may not have been as high, but the total volume of aft flavors was substantially higher. Advertisers face the same problem today as the corner store proprietor. They may offer their viewers a very limited number of program types, and in so doing at- tract the bulk of their customers from the heavy volume tv viewers, who are essentially unselective. New Nielsen research shows that half Of all viewers spend twice as much time with tv as do the other half. This atrophy is not unusual—it applies equally to magazine and news- paper reading, to the beer business (I am told that 75% of all beer is consumed by 25% of its drinkers) and to almost any consumer product that you can name. What must be done to broaden the consumption of television is to offer the viewers a variety, of flavors—possibly not the 28 flavors that Howard Johnson features, but certainly far more than the drama, situation-comedy, panel show combination that comprises the vast bulk of tv programming. Bobt. Klntner ‘Pistachio, Burnt Almond & Peach’ The appetite for, and the consumption of, television should Increase Substantially when networks can offer advertisers, and advertisers can offer viewers the “pistachio, burnt almond and peach” program needed to afford the broadest appeal. In broadcasting such programs, not only will the chocolate and vanilla homes increase their tv consumption, but the homes which now do relatively little viewing—because of the dearth of “flavors”—will likewise become heavier consumers. We also feel that the super-duper black and white sundae—chocolate and Vanilla ice cream, marshmallow and chocolate sauce, crushed nuts •and a, maraschino cherry—can become a trifle palling after you’ve had two or three in a row. By that we mean that a spectacular can only be a spectacular by virtue of its scarcity. ABC-TV is adding new flavors to the television menu. “Disneyland,” which premieres over ABC-TV On Oct. 27 is, we believe, an entirely new television flavor.. Each week it will present a full-hour of ex- citing entertainment with such program drawing on four different con- cepts for its source material. In connection'With the award of the 1954 NCAA Football schedule, ABC has programmed complementary programming in both radio and television that will have definite appeal to both the heavy tv consumers and the light consumers as well. This programming stems from a con- cept of presenting college sports in the best possible light, and of dis- playing the many interesting and thrilling facets that are a part, of college life and sports. Additionally in the winter and spring, ABC-TV Will telecast a series of 26 collegiate events on Saturday afternoons to. give new appeal to the American sports appetite. Basketball and baseball will definitely be on this “post-football” schedule, but for the first time we hope to bring into the nation’s living rooms the telecasts of such “exotic” sports as rugby and lacrosse, and never-befofe-hetworked events, in gymnastics, College wrestling and swimming, fencing and a host of others. Here are extra flavors that will pique the-appetite of sports fans, and create an appetite among non-fans. To sum up: Today, even the chocolate and vanilla customers are ^be- ginning to tire of the chocolate and vanilla diet that tv offers. The consumption rate of television is gradually, but surely, declining . . . in the average minute of nighttime viewing a smaller percent of tv homes are tuned in this year than last, and last year was down from the year before. . What the industry needs badly is new flavors—not the old ones in new packaging. The public wants to choose from many kinds of pro? grams. This is the great creative challenge—to devise programs that will increase both the general appetite for and consumption of tele- vision among all tv homes, the heavy and the light viewers alike. ABC-TV is working hard to create and develop new television flavors. Advertisers can look forward to buying them by the cone, cup, quart or gallon. • - A TV Producer’s Only / As Good s As His Crew In the early days of television, a producer would invariably rush out of the control room after a broadcast and congratulate the per- forming art- ists on their exemplary showing. Just like on Broad- way or in Hollywood. But today, the chaneeS are that when he dashes out on the studio floor he makes a. beeline for the floor man- ChaS. Martin ager, the cameramen and the other technicians who have helped to put his show together. And that’s the way it should be. You’ve heard the expression, “An actor is as good as his script.” By CHARLES MARTIN (Producer, *The Telltale Clue’) Well, In television production there’s another—far more im- portant—to wit, “A producer is as good as his crew.” I think it should' get wider recognition in our burgeoning medium. For it’s true* Let’s take the average public watching tv at home. At the tail- end of a broadcast the balops name the stars and featured players, and, if time alldws, the producer, -the director, the writer and the musi- cal conductor. The inescapable conclusion, in the whirl of shows, is that they alone were responsible for the production. What about the '40 or 50 others — the nameless crew — without whose teamwork, each and every one of them, the program couldn’t have gone on; without whom there would have been the difference of a good or bad show? They are the forgotten ones . . . but not to the producer. It’s a shrewd producer who molds his production crew into a crack team. If he inherits such a team he counts himself lucky. If he has to build it, he builds care- fully, though usually he must dp it in a hurry. Sure, the big name artists are important, but the pro- ducer knows better than ayone else that it is the boys and girls behind the stars in the production setup that make them important in any given broadcast. For 30 minutes, every second is crucial. The margin of error is frightening. A dozen persons are blending their efforts in the con- trol room, and out in the studio there are two dozen more trying to follow through, , trying to an- ticipate, watching for the unex- pected, on the qui viva to cover for any flaw or error. HOLLIS IRVING Lexington 2-1100 That Esprit de Corps You, as producer, have that won- derful sense of security, a deeply conscious feeling of crew esprit de corps—the spirit of devotion, pride and self-confidence on the part of your team. » But, oh boy* if you haven't got it, you’re licked. Their standards —the technicians, the prop 'men, the lighting experts, * the camera- men, et al.—are very high, as they've got to be top professionals to hold their jobs, and if you don’t click they can (and will) lower the boom on you, so to speak. When they work with you smoothly and whole-heartedly, they want your gratitude, your respect for a job well done. Believe me, they sweat out their particular chores when the chips are down during the air show; and, believe me, you show them your unstinting thanks. No producer can operate otherwise, week in and week out on a top series. director, he. cued the commercial announcer and the cam eraman as * signed to him, to be on the ready for an emergency. In an instant, the switch was made, and ft . turned out that an embarrassing situa- tion was avoided. We once had a script with the action taking place around 1900 and it mentioned a railroad stream- Naturally, it’s the little things} liner. It wasn’t until air day that a sharp-eyed secretary spotted the obvious incongruousness, and thus a show that show up saved us from a flock of letters i from critical fans. Aiiother time. that count most with such a team —just as the little things that go wrong in biggest. I’d like to name a few There was the time when an audio [I wa s ready to highball a show boom, swinging iii a 180 degrees j into action when suddenly I look angle with split-second speed, got fouled with a cable. The stage manager, though it wasn’t his func- tion, dashed over and untangled the cable. If he hadn’t done so, the star would have mouthed silent words on the screen. Another time, near the commer- cial at the close of the first act, the stage or floor manager sensed something was wrong with the lady star and flashed the control room. It seemed to him she was going to faint. While he conveyed this information to the producer and 1 for my marked script. As I was looking, my script girl, who’d been at my side constantly, sped into the control room like a comet flash- ing the script in her hand. She’d noticed it was missing and with- out a thought scampered out onto the studio floor to look for it. I could go on with scores of such incidents to show how a big tele- vision crew can work to the ad- vantage of a producer or director. But I think there’s no question that crew teamwork makes or breaks a tv show. ’ V. JOHN TILLMAN YOUR CON EDISON REPORTER On-the-Scene, On-the-Screen WPIX