Variety (November 1954)

Television Chatter New York Warren Hull replaced Randy Merriman as emcee of ''Big Fay-: ofT' last week while the latter bat- tled a virus . , Eric Fleming into DuMont's “The Stranger” Friday- (5 j Lee Richardson into a. lead on ''Studio:, One’s.” production of. “Ballad for Americans” < 81 . Daiia Hardwick into “Justice” cast . A. Gifford Eager’Jr., .formerly with WFTL-TV in Ft. Lauderdale, joined the N.Y. sales staiT. of. the '■’■George P. Hollingberry station rep outfit . .. Cyrilla Dorn doing Bromp-Scltzer : coriimercials on “Janet Dean” Th.c Chordettes to guest on to- ight’s (Wed.) Ferry .Como, stanza . . Martin M. Colby; former WOR- t TV-salesman, Tori ing his own out- fit, Allied Television Productions. He's- working on both a web kiddie casing and an afternoon variety showm. Prestone has for the third year straight pencilled for WPIX election coverage. Mark down Nov. 5 as Ed HerlL hy’s 20th ahrii as an NBC radio and tv announcer . . Jane MacArthur rind Marcie Hubert, both iri : the B’way Chapel Players’. production of ''Noah." ■ appearing . tonight (Wed;> on Kraft .“Television. The- atre” in “Full of the Old. Harry,” 'Will Ldrin original starring Dougv lass Montgomery and featuring Leora Dana, Edith King, Louis iletcor and Fritz Weaver . CBS- TV Press Info (Mike Foster, Hank Warner, Jim Kane, et al.) moved lock, stock and barrel of blurbs over to 483 Madison Ave. head- quarters in (he after-hours of last Friday (29) to be ship-shape for a Monday 'start on the refurbished fourth floor without losing m- riumique.- Nat Curtis says “not guilty” in getting Variety review credit as scriptcr for Stu Erwin show , CBS-TV “Danger” on Nov. 9 .will be a two-character play. “Pad- locks,” by Louis Peterson, featur- ing Mildred Dunnock and James Dean with David Heilwcil produc- ing . . Bob Brown, with a load of. ■pub-relations credits, joined NBC’s information dept, headed by Mike Horton Hamilton Shea, WRCA- p'.us-TV gen. mgr,, cited by Catho- lic Youth Organization for. .“Jr. Champions” done will CYO co-op. Manager Ernest de la Ossa lining up guests for N. Y;. Rotary Clubs’ annual . youth committee shindig at Commodore Hotel tomorrow (Thurs.) . Gene Sultan cast for ‘'Studio One” next Monday (8) Peter Fernandez added to thesping contingent of Maurice Evans’ pro- duction of “Macbeth” on 'NBC-TV Nov, 28 . . Naiicy Andrews. to;play her .first, noh-musical role, cast, for load in Robert Emmett’s “The Day the Diner. Closed” an, ABC-TV’s “Kraft TV Theatre” tomorrow (Thurs.) .. Ben Grauer and, wife (Melanie . Kahane) returned from European honeymoon . . NBC’s “T - H - T” (“Today”-“Home”-“To- nighl”) shows, out of web’s Partic- ipating Programs Dept, pulling big party at Toots Shor’s this after- nooh (WedJ . . . Knickerbocker Beer, walks out on WCBS-TV’s Bill Leonard capsuler. of crossboard “Six O f Clock Report” .Nov. .12, but walking- in pronto will be Ben-Gay for the even days. Incidentally, the station gets Y &• R’s syndicated sports vidpixer, “Call the Play,” ’With Mel Alien, starling Nov. 20 in the 6:15-30 p.m. slot with Gen- eral Cigar (White Owl) sponsoring. Chicago Chi NBC-TV producer. Reinald Wefrenrath Jr., with such shows as “Zoo’.Parade” and “Ding Dong School” on : his- credit list, has re- signed: the web berth to-set up his own tv and tv. film package shop ... Latest Electric .Assn, tally shows 24,935 sets installed during September, bringing, the overall total to 1,740,205 units . Robert Foster switched from Kling Studios to Sarra’s Chi plant wherehe was added to sales and film planning staff . . John Neilson resigned his CBS-TY sales berth to join Screen* Gems . . Jim Stirton, ex-director of ABC^TV’s chi operations who joined MCA Monday (D,- was feted by his network associates Friday (29) . . Edith DeSprt added to Don Herbert’s office staff as as- sistant, to Maraleita Dutton on pub- licity arid promotion . . Ray Ray- ner hosting WBBM-TV’s new Tues- day eve “Night Out” party. First , half of the; 11. p.m. to midnight- dis- play is ; bankrolled by Clair Pon- tiac With Danny O’Neil and spouse vacafioning in Las Vegas, Claude Klrchner is pinctihitting' as emcee of O’Neirs morning WBKB crossboarder.. . Charlotte Russell upped from Chi' NBC secretarial post to become WNBQ script ■■girh Educ’l B’caslers Continued, from page 24 failures: (1) By 1925, nearly 200 educational groups held AM li- censes, but “for. various reasons” most were off. the air when FCC started in 1934; (2) only few edu- cational bodies took advantage of certain AM channels Set aside for them in ’38; (3) .“educational re- sponse to FM’s Opportunities has been disappointing,” with “less than 120 such stations on the air”; (4) “since the noncommercial edu- cational tv service was established in mid-1952, the- Commission has been able to make only 33 non- commercial educational tv grants as compared, to hundreds of new commercial tv authorizations.” There were other unfavorable com- parisons made with commercial successes. The list of McCori- naughey’s “did nots” Were all ac- companied by. mention that the SUPERPOWER WGALTV LANCASTER, PENNSYLVANIA ErI f 3' L;'JvO f -’ FCC did a great deal to make mat- ters “more attractive to educators.” The chiding riled educators. “At the present time,” McCon- naughey noted, “only 16 applica- tions for additional educational tv stations are pending in. comparison, with more, than 160 applications for commercial tv stations.” He warned educators of the financial pitfalls in video, declaring that “the FCC'cannot help raises, money for educational tv stations; it can- not pressure legislatures, school- boards . . to guarantee--funds; Being a licensing, authority, the Commission must follow Certain, •mandates and.procedures and .the applicant, must .meet certain engi- neering,. legal' and financial re- quirements before he can be pei’- mitte.d to iise the public airwaves.” This was taken by NA.EB members as a definite, threat to the security of the 252- channels, reserved for educational use, many of which are VHFers and thereby desirable to' commercial telecasters.. One of the sorest , spots touched by the new FCC chairman 'and a; point later sharply lashed out at by Comr. Hennock was the advice that educators might take fuller advantage of closed circuitry that does “not cause interference to regular communication services. McConnaughey said that he only described this “out” to. “test the ia- genuity of educators who are con- cerned with, harnessing radio in its various forms for educational pur-, pqses without undue, drain on the public." private organizational pocketbook.” llennock in ‘Fighting Mood* Many of the speech undertones would have gone unnoticed to some educational broadcasters were it not for the later remarks of Comr. Hennock. She said she was in “a fighting mood,” implying that com- mercial broadcasters were chal- lenging educational videos raison d’etre'; The comr. further said that, what is happening now in educa- tional cii-cles is the “culmination of a 30-year fight,” With mounting anger, she .flung a challenge at tradesters to argue against her re the need, for educational video. During one portion of his talk, McConnaughey pointed to the nu- merical failure of NAEBers to uti- lize .the 252 grants, ‘ saying that commercial broadcasters did much better. Miss Hennock countered that commercial telecasters had failed in nearly as many instances proportionately to fully utilize video grants. ■Pointing; to the history of AM, she accused some broadcasters of Willingness to spend, coin iii an ef- fort to keep educators out of that .portion of the spectrum, “False- hoods,” she^said, were being spread about educational video. She said that educators were her “heroes.” » » » » » » ♦ 4 4 4-4444 444 4 4444-4 4 4 44 44 4 4 »♦»»♦» > ^ 444 + 4444444444444444444444444444444 4+44 . 4 '., 4 44-rt Brit. Gomm’l TV ; Continued from page 31 ; 316,000-WATTS ✓ ANIA ATTSJ Covers d vasty prosperous territory—a rich target your advertising dollar for Steinman Slati Clair McCollough, President Leslie Grade, Phil.and Sid Hyams, Harry Alan Towers and Suzanne Warner. It is possible that these companies will be mentibned in a subsequent announcement. The formal announcement from the Independent Television Au- thority said that, contracts were being offered to the companies named but it is understood that the contractors have not, .'so far, been given any indication of their finan- cial commitments, nor of potential revenue. At a recent advertising conference, a spokesman suggested that the commercial time would cost around $1,500 a minute plus- production costs; but inside, the in- dustry it is reckoned that the ad- vertiser will have to pay consider- ably more for his time. As much as $5,000 a minute has been men- tioned in some quarters. With the news of the program contractors, comes reports of an at- tempt to speed up the start. The IT A is now hoping to get the first three stations in London, Biiming- ham and Manchester operating by next: August. The three program contractors have* between them, companies with ani authorized capital exceed- ing $25,000,000. Broadcast Relay Service has a capital of $8,960,- 000; Associated Newspapers have $11,480,000; and Granada Theatres, $5,880,000. YOUR HITS OF THE WEEK With Phil Goulding Producer-Director: Mickey Wallacli 115 Mins;, Mon.-thru-Fri., 1 p.m. Participating WMGM, N. Y. A welNestablished proposition for successful local radio is based, on limitation of dbejay stanzas to the playing of only the top platters per the popularity polls. Not just a few stanzas carry the top tunes, but in. N. Y., for instance, a couple of stations allow only top numbers on any of their shows. ( This has taken the choice of musical selec- tions out. of the gabbers’ hands for. the most part, and placed them with the ..station program chiefs, arm'ed with all-powerful charts. WMGkt, since Art. Tblchini’s recent ascension as managerial factotum, has come around to that way 61 deejay programming, There are flaws in . the new. Tol- chiri musical setup, personified; only in the Phil Goulding midday “Your Hits of the Week” so far. The show, launched last Saturday (30), used ari overly broad base for choosing the disks that people might most. want to hear. The Mon.-thru-Fri. stanza depends for its stuff on the. top 100 records per retail lists (not identified), leaving a wide margin for misses during the two-hour daily stint. That’s merely ah assumption, but it’s based on the observation that the Saturday three-hour stanza, em- ploying only the top 50 disks in. the operational scheme (half the number used to fill the five week- days) have several duds.. It seems that some of the records slipped onto the popularity charts by a hair’s breadth due perhaps to the personal fame of the etching: artist,: who alone is not good enough to keep the record from falling off in sales after a week or two be- fore the discerning, public. For ex- ample, from down at the bottom of the heap were Kay Starr’s “Am I a Toy?” and Tony Bennett’s “Su- gar Cream,” both on the so-so side. For all the faults in the.-latest WMGM program format, the polls have naturally provided some: fa- vorable, elements. Denise Lot’s “1 Give My Heart To You,” Sammy Davis* “Hey There” and lots of others were sharp listening. Pro- gram arrangement, however—and this is pointing out another pos- sible drawback— fails in elasticity. If following carefully current pre- cepts laid.down’.for 'it; “Your Hits of the Week” will hot .have time to repeat often enough the records most popular with listeners. They’ll instead share the same amount of time, weekly as No. 70 or No. 100. Phil Goulding, emceeing the show, has a lazy style. He’s not hard, to take: And, on the other hand, he. doesn’t hypo, listenability; The presence of mail order com- mercials detract him from the most desirable course. This kind of biz demands a little too much of the station in return for its check; “phone fight now” com- mercials.. are repetitive, too fre- quent' and occasionally take too much time. Art. Taimpa—William: B. Faber, for- mer- v.p. in charge of. television for Headley-Reed, the station rep outfit, has been named sales man- ager of WFLA-TV here. Live Like Brothers,” a beautiful melody, though probably too hymn-like for. pop., appeal; then as usual with “Remember that every, song tells a story, and singing a story is always fun” Jnd a "Sing a little and laugh little” jingle, which are always his signoff. Gard. BOB ELSON SHOW Director: Betty Mattson T20 Mins.; Mon.-thrju-Fri„ 2 p.m. GENERAL FINANCE, GENERAL CIGAR, COCA-COLA, OKLA- HOMA OIL WCFLl Chicago (Best, Young & Riibicam, : D’Arcy, Maryland) The four bqnkrollers who round- robin on' WCFL’SWhife. Sax baser ball airers; and other sportcasters are maintaining their off season afternoon identity on the labor- owned indie, with this daily two- hour interview show. Talk mati- nee, which, emanates from th Ambassador East’s Rump Room ; hosted by Bob . Elson who also works the Sports shows. Vet sportsgabber is an agile guy With an interview and while usu- ally playing it deadpan he now. and then flashes ; something of a dry wit. Roundelay naturally varies in interest during its two-hour course, depending on the guests lassoed. Episode dialed had some meaty moments in a generally interesting something - for - everyone spread. There was a nice chat with; Marlin Perkins, director of the Lincoln Park Zoo and major domo^of NBCr TV?s “Zoo Parade,’* and Frah Alli- son, who’s, always a pleasure. There was aT discussion between an Austrian economist and a law- yer that got awfully involved but' Elson managed to pay it off okay. An occasional record is spun for a. pace changer. Dave. CANADA’S 128% HIKE IN SALE OF TV SETS ^ Ottawa, Nov. 2. Federal Bureau of Statistics re- ports a 1289c jump in sales of tele- vision sets in Canada in July this year over the. July, 1953, sales. Biggest leap was in Quebec prov- ince. Same month, radio set sales slumped by nearly one-third. The January-July period this year showed tv set sales rising to 206,923, valued at $73.792,503,, compared to 1953’s 135,388 and $55,945,487; Radio sets purchased in the Jan.-July time were 251,061, compared to 338,302. the sain 1953 period. Burlington, Vt. — Charles S; Lewis, former head of American broadcasting , operations in Ger- many, has been named' public af- fairs director of radio station WCAX and television station FMVT here. ALAN MILLS 15 Mins., Sun., 1, p.m. Sustaining CBC, from Montreal This year-round Sunday quarter- hour of “song-stories for children young and old; ,, for years one of Canadian Broadcasting Corp.’s rnost popular Trans-Canada Net- work shows, is also the only one in connection with which CBC sends out pix of. the star on request. Alan Mills is one of Canada’s top folk singers (others are Ed Mc- Curdy and Frosia Gregory) and also has his own weekly tv spot. His chatter style is warm, friendly arid never condescending as he gives background dope arid tells the outlines of songs where they’re complex; and he’s a firstrate vo- calist,. accompanying hiinself on the. guitar, _ v Stanza- gets plenty of song re- quests from across the border, and would be well worth U.S. ednsider- ation. Mills, an indefatigable re- searcher, has a dozen or more ver- sions of many standard folk tunes, e.g. a Nova Scotia switch bn “The Green Grass Growing All Around” called “Down in Yon Valley-o.” Tying in with it was the lovely American ballad “Down In the Valley,” which Mills sang in some- what the same easy style as Burl Ives, though distinctively. A U. S. nonsense song, “Go Find My True Love; In Lonesome Valley,” pre- ceded it, with Mills remarking that .he didn’t know how those little pigs ever got mixed in with that romantic sentiment. He concluded by marking United Nations Day with “Teach Us to EDITH DE LYS VOICE TEACHER FOR POPULAR SINGERS DICK SHAWN Star of Max Liebman'i TIT Spectaculars Studies Exclusively with MADAM DE LYS 19 WEST 54th STREET COlumbus 5-3077 TEXACO STAR THEATRE SATURDAY NIGHT—N.B.C. Mflt.t William Morris Agency IVERYllAY ON IVIRY CHANNEL BROOKS Costumes 3 Wail 4li! Jl„ ,.T«I. M. 7-JIOO