Variety (November 1954)

Wednesday, November 3, 1954 RADIO-TELEVISION 23 To hear the research experts tell it, practically everybody’s been reading, the wrong Nielsen figures in. sizing up accurately the popularity .of the new season’s programming (and particularly tire specs)., Furthermore, if you take the “average audience” (AA) Nielsen figures there's very little difference: between, that and Trendex. * v Thus, say the research boys, Trendex gave “Lady In the Dark,” a 25.$ rating. Nielsen's “average audience” rating was practically right on the Trendex button—25,3. But not the “Nielsen Rating” (NR) that shows Up in bigger, blacker type, and which, delivered a 39.1. Similarly on GBS-TV’s “Royal Family” (“Best of Broadway”) Trendex and Nielsen’s “average audience” hit it right on the nose— 24.2 arid 24.5. But Nielsen’s NR projected a 33,6. How come? Nielsen's bigger rating stems from the premise that if a viewer stays with show six minutes he’s seen it all. The longer the. show the bigger the rating, since a 90‘minute pro- gram gets full credit for the six minutes of viewing. But in striking minute-by-minute average, you come up with the Nielsen Average Audience ririeasurement. And that, say the research statisticians, is the one that counts. WCBS-TV Trots Out California’s Educator-Showman To Build Up a New Pubserv Series Using words and phrases as if he had a copyright on them and with a platform, style calculated to make latter-day Athenians relegate Domesthenes to an opening act, Dr. Frank C. Baxter was a smash hit in New York last week. Official, host at a Savoy-Plaza luncheon for the Professor of English Literature of the D. of Southern Cal. was WCBS-TV, although the educator is currently on a CBS-TV network kick with, his Sunday “Now and Then” culturama: A few months ago, however, it was Columbia flagship that offered him a. kine- scope forum, for his w.k. “Shake- speare on TV” series originally showcased live on KNXT, Los An- geles. Thus this looksee of the belletris- tic man in the flesh was by way of a “thank you” for past perfor- mances plus serving as a conveni- ent way for the station to draw at- tention to a new public service series while Dr. Baxter was in town also to attend the sessions of the National Assn, of Educational Broadcasters. But the web itself was well represented both on. the dais arid table d’bourgolsie, these including a brace of veepees in Merle Jones (stations) and Sig Mickelsons (news and public af- fairs); Craig Lawrence, ex-WCBS- TV, under whose general manager- ship, the Baxter kinnies.were dis- played, and the press info gang. Flagship was repped by its topper, (Continued on page 38) A $3,000,000 vidpix drama series based on Reader's Digest material has been wrapped up by the Ruth- rauff & Ryan ad agency and will be underwritten by the Stude- baker-Packard combine starting In January. It will be a half-hour (8 O’clock) Monday nighter on ABC- TV. - Y " Show is being filmed by the Bernard Prockter studio on tie Coast and production is under Chester Erskirie. Every story will be an adaptation treatment from the pages of the mag, with full credit to original sources. There’ll be a host, probably a name. It will be Reader’s Digest first network tv ■■program-.- The 8 p.m. spotting is calculated to strengthen. ABC’s Monday night bloc, with the Reader’s Digest show falling between “Name’s the Same” and “Voice of Firestone.” Jimmy Nelson is currently sustain- ing at 8 ,. but not known now where it will move iri January or whether it will be dropped. There’s double ad agency rep- resentation on the deal, with Studebaker’s erid being handled by Williams,' Roche & Cleary and acting for Packard, although latter agency is in the overall. Paley to the Rescue Hollywood, Nov. 2. Arrival this week of CBS board chairman William S. Paley and program chieftai Hubbel Robinson Jr. will see a series of program meetings that may settle the status of many network-produced shows at CBS Television City. Status of the Red Skelton show, for one, has been in the doubtful columns for weeks and. will be high .on the agenda. Number of new. “house” shows have been Completed and those in planning stage will be discussed along with stepped up production of col- orcasts. Johns Manvilie has decided to bow out of network radi giving up its cross-the-board Mutual news commentary. Sponsorship of the five-minute nighttime strip by Bill Henry *will terminate at the,end of the year when Johns Manvilie goes into tv. Relinquishing of the radio pro- gram is of more than passing sig- nificance. John Manvilie has been a year-ln-year-out news sponsor in AM from way back. During the. medium’s lush years, the client was spending upwards of $2,000,000 for a five-minute (8:55-9 p.m.) news strip- CBS, probably the most expensive program of its kind dur- ing any era of broadcasting. The shift to Mutual was made a few years back when Columbia, at the height of its SRO status, decided against breaking up half-hour seg- ments. Starting the -first of the year, Johns Manvilie will share in spori-. sorship of NBC-TV’s “Meet the Press” (see separate story), JOHNS MANVILLE TO SHARE‘PRESS’TAB With Revere Copper bowing out of sponsorship of the Sunday after- noon “Meet the Press” on NBC-TV, reportedly due to budgetary .prob- lems, Johns Manvilie is stepping .’ into the breach and joins as alter- nate week bankroller after the first of the yean Pan American Airways will con- tinue as Johns Manvilie’s “other week” client. Both are J. Walter Thompson accounts. f THI$ IS OBLIVION? tiy GEORGE ROSEN The ’54-’55 ty season is well uri- der way, with attention now direct- ed to option time And program renewals. The patterns .have been established, and the major-budget- ed entries haye had time to shape themselves into a for-better-or- worse status with, for the. most part, an awareness; of whether they’re going to make it or drop by the wayside, A capsule night-by-night apprais- al of the good and the bad would indicates Monday—Despite NBC-TV’s des- perate bid to set its Monday night house in order in an effort to cut down the longtime CBS-TV supre- macy, resulting in the present Sid Caesar-“Medic” 90-minute parlay (with the one-a-month color spec- taculars thrown in for. good meas- ure), there is little likelihood that the “Lucy” audience domination will be disturbed this seasori. Nor, for that matter, does the Burris & Alien-Talent Scouts 8 to 9 CBS bracketing'appear to be in. danger. For, on the basis of his last few: shows, Caesar has been a keen disappointment, even , to diehard Caesar fans, And he has still to prove that he can make it on his own. in . the present hour-long framework. And while the “Medic” dramatic series has been hailed for its honest, forthright approach, it's evident by now that, as all-round family entertainment it's another., story, offering limited appeal hard- ly calculated to make too much of a dent in' the Lucy rating pull. Spec Ambitions Rate Nod For its introduction of the every^ fourth-week “Producers Showcase” color spec, NBC deserves nothing but praise, even though it may fall short of topflight standards (and the same must be said of. the Saturday and Sunday night Max Liebman- produced spectaculars)/ But the infrequent exposure, as opposed to the habit-forming “same time-same station” viewing, militates against its success in knocking off the com- petition. Where it stands in the fating sweepstakes depends pretty much on whether you champion Nielsen or Trendex; - Tuesday—Just as its always been, the Tuesday, night at 8 Milton Berle NBC show (with. Martha Raye and Bob Hope periodically alter- nating) remains the pivotal point of popularity ' the Tuesday night competition, its ’54-’55 success al- ready in the bag; CBS hardly gets a look-in until Ed Murrow comes on at 10:30 with “See It Now.” Red Skelton in the opposite r Befle slot , has beeri going nowhere; ditto “Life With Father” in the 10 o’clock period (with CBS convert- ing it to film in December in the hopes that it might help matters.) Otherwise the posb-Berle quality stanzas project ABC. into the lime- light with Danny Thomas’ “Make Room For Daddy” and the alternat- ing-week “U. S. Steel Hour” dra- matics. (Elgin hour is still , wait- and-see.) Most Promising Wednesday —. Not much on this night, any network, to provoke shouting, With ABC’s “Disneyland” holding forth the most promise for the season, Unfortunately, it’s the one showcase that cries out for color, but ABC’s still in a. 100% black-and-white status. Designed for: both kid and adult appeal, “Dis- neyland” is. perfectly slotted—7:30 to 8:30. CBS has its own Variation on a color spec theme riding once- a-month in the 10 to 11 period for Westinghouse Via “Best of Broad- way? (while Pabst takes a breather on the' bouts), but. thus far they’ve suffered the same Trendex humilia- tion as the NBC specs; Thursday—“Dragnet” and Grou- cho Marx make this NBC’s night, same as last. year. “Lux Video.The- atre” is. NBC’s 10 to 11 attraction this season, but the Coast-originat- ing dramatics have beeri anything; but a credit to the network or the sponsor. Also found wanting have been the Chrysler-sponspred “Cli- (Continued on page 38) Fred Allen’s Treadmill Heads TV’s Way; NBC’s News Format " Don’t look now, but Fred Allen rivay wind up as one of tv’s busiest “non-contract” players this season, going from “Treadmill to Ob- livion” (his Little, Brown book) to “Treadmill to Television.” The corhedian’s tome had its visual pre- view on the preem of “Omnibus” this month and he's scheduled for a number of other appearances on the, CBS-TV Sunday afternoon show. , Now comes, a rival network (NBC-TV). with; a “bright idea” for the author-wit. Barry Wood, NBC’s lately installed special everits chief, is dreaming up a format that would set Allen, into a news stanza that takes the stuffed shirtism out of a roundup of public happenings. That’s how matters stood as of last week-^-with no further speci- fications as to where the “kidding the .news” session would be slotted or in what frequency. Actually, such a. format would be an up- dated, extended version of the old “Allen’s Alley;” Tootsie Rolls is sweetening up the NBC-TV coffers to the tune of more than $1,000,000, giving the network a sponsorship assist in the launching of the new Saturday morning program lineup and get- ting the web off the one-shot hook Nov, 9. Latter date', originally set for Bob Hope’s regular Tuesday 8 to 9 showcasing, was cancelled out by General Foods because it didn’t want to get involved in added costs entailed in filming Hope’s show in England, . leaving NBC saddled with a.full hour of sustaining time, Tootsie. Rolls, however, earne to the rescue over the weekend and bought the time for a variety stanza starring Steve . Allen and. Paul Winchell. Actually, it Will serve as a Wirichell “trailer” for; his forthcoming Saturday morning 10:30 to 11 juve-slanted show, tee- ing off Nov. 20, which the candy outfit, is bankrolling on a full sea- son basis. New Saturday morning lineup, which will find the . 10 to noon seg- ments undergoing a complete re- shuffle, will spot Happy Felton from 10 to 10:30 (featuring circus acts which NBC filmed in Europe 1 some tirrie ago); Winchell-Jerry Mahoney 10:30 to li, with the like- lihood of a full hour rodeo show from 11 to noon. Latter is slated, to originate from the Trenton,' N; J„ Fair Grounds as an Adrian Samish package. As an alterna- tive, the rodeo show may be cut down to a half-hour with Dun- ninger getting the other 30-minute slot. Kraft meanwhile has expressed some interest in buying “Space Cadets” for 11:30 .A, m," (to plug caramels) and this: would occasion a reshuffle of the planned schedule;. ‘LET’S FACE IT’ RIGHTS TO TV ‘COMEDY HOUR’ Television rights to ‘‘Let’s Face. It,” which originally starred Danriy Kaye on Broadway and later (1943) served as a Bob Hope vehi- cle at Paramount, have beeri ac- quired for the ’ “Colgate Comedy Houir” show over NBC-TV on Nov. 21.. Richard Krakeur, who co-pro- duced comedy on Broadway with Vincent Freedley, will serve As as- sociate producer for the tv outing. Robert Welch will both produce and direct from the Coast. Lester Gottlieb, CBS Radio pro- gramming veepee, has moved , in where others feared to tr^ad, grab- bing off Bing Crosby for a five- riight-a-week radio showcasing executing the major network radi coup of the year. What makes it all the more standout is that Gott- lieb convinced The Bing to reverse hiiriself, for i signing off at th end of last seasdri Crosby more or less renounced radio along y witli tv. Crosby : tees off on Nov. 22 in the 9:15 to 9:30 slot, Monday-thru- Fri- day, ‘ a taped show that will pretty much conform to the usual Bingle variety format, with guests, etc. Initially it was Gottlieb’s aim to bring Crosby back into radio with a continuing . biographical theme based ori the . Crosby “Call Me Lucky” life story, but the singer vetoed the idea, feeling he could bring more entertainment’ '.elements ■. with the . conventional format/. As In the past, Bill Mor- row will produce. Joh Scott. Trotter, after a many-year associ tion with Crosby, will be missing this time up, with a more intimate instrumental combo going in. Crosby will be slotted back-to- back With Amos A' Andy, who have also entered the cross-the-board 25 minute sweepstakes with their 9:30 to 9:55 p.m. CBS show. (Fib- ber & MOlly have dittoed on NBC in. what shapes up as the new program pattern on network radio based on the premise that slotting the Same major per- sonalities at the same time every, night will invite habit-forming listening.) Kenyon & Eckhardt falls heir to $3,000,000 irt new billings starting Jan. 1 when the Schick Electric Razor actount shifts over from the Kudrier agency, where it was long- time entrenched. About half of the $3,000,000 bill- ings is currently being channelled into tv, chiefly via a one-third sponsorship on the Saturday night Jackie Gleason show on CBS-TV. Schick also has a DuMont pro foot- ball pickup. Chrysler’s ‘Drop Dead’ As Lanza Aftermath Pittsburgh, Nov. 2. Although nobody on the inside will either affirm or deny it, news- paper circles locally are buzzing with the report that a recent mad- on by Fred Remington, Press radio- tv editor following the Mari Lanza fuss on the .first “Shower Of Stars,” has cost his sheet, Scripps-Howard afternoon daily, all of Chrysler’s national advertisings Normally that, could be ascertained at once by checking automobile, linage in the three dailies, but since new Chrysler line .won’t be out for two weeks, when the ad splurge Will take place, confirma- tion of the pretty well-founded ru- mor will have to wait until ..then. After boiling over for several paragraphs, Remington, wound up saying that as far as he was con- cerned “Chrysler could go over Niagara Falls in a Buick.” That was the sentence, which broke all hell loose in the advertising coun- cils, they say/. Understood that local Chrysle.r- Plyinouth dealers were going to follow the parent company’s lead and drop the Press dead, too, bitt that they were talked out of it.