Variety (December 1954)

* 30 RADIO-TELEVISION Wednesday, December 1, 1954 Norfolk-, Nov. 30. ♦ Station WVEC-TV, the UHF sta- tion in the Norfplk-Hampton area Which has been watched by UHF operators all over the Ration be- bf its competitive battle against a VHF station, has. been using every gimmick in the book Including showmanship, good pro- gramming, public service, mer-. chandising and promotion to prove that a'hep UHF operation can turn the trick. The doughty young group of ex- ecutives (their average age is 3.2), have fought one. of. the toughest fights since the higher frequencies came, into^being and -after slightly more than a s year of operation are going strong. . Headed by 3Pre?cy Tom Chisnian, 32-year-old na-tiv; son, the WVEC- TV setup during; the. past six months has made strides in grammihg, sale9 and above all, con- version of .tv sets that should, in. the next year, put them on an equal level with their VHF com- petition. Following a. major pro- motional campaign that kicked off the' opening of the station, when NBC combined with the local execs to build an audience, the rate of conversions has increased at a steady ration over the last 12 months and retailers and distribu- tors. feel that the rise will continue until saturation is achieved. Major factor in the conversion picture Is the service the station has offered to owners Of all con- verted sets. Special educational forums have been set up to keep the public informed and even the salesmen, when out on calls, have doubled as tv servicemen when necessary. One of the gimmicks that has helped the conversion pic- ture has been Chisman's successful search for reasonably priced converter: Problem was solved to (Continued on page 42) Sunbeam May Retain ‘Ethel,’ If Time Although the axe has fallen on. “Ethel and Albert?’ in the 7:30 p, m. Saturday slot, Perrin Pans, agency-for the Sunbeam, client, .is. now understood interested in hav- ing the; Peg-Uynch-Alan Bunce se- ries continued. Fate of show now hinges on whether NBC-TV can come up with a better time' and. if necessary, another day. In another development that would separate “Ethel-Albert” from Sunbeam, the ad- agency is huddling with NBC on, sharing sponsorship of. Martha Raye?s Tues- day nigh ter with Hazel Bishop. Sunbeam was spotted on the come- dienne’s stanza last week as a pre- Yule one-shot, and on . that basis picked up negotiations for addi- tional'backing. ‘Town Meeting’ to Sun.; Jimmy Nelson Dropped “Town Meeting of the Air,” after some 15 years in its Tuesday-at-9 position on ABC, is switching to Sundays come Jan. 2. Despite the show’s lack of co-op sponsors; ABC renewed it for another, year, and. is shifting it into the Sunday-at-8 slot in the hopes of stirring up some new local client interest. At the same time, the network is dropping Jimmy Nelson, who came on with a disk show at the. beginning of the summer and as of now i$ airing two hours on Sun- day nights. Sammy Kaye’s “Sun- day Serenade” is being moved up from -early afternoon to. fill the 9:30 slot vacated by Nelson, while the 7:30 replacement hasn’t been decided, For Nelson,, incidentally, the cancellation means a Complete exit from ABC, since the ventrilo- quist’s tv show will be dropped, by the web next week; ‘Freedom of Tribunal’ Washington, Nov. 30. The Television Code. Review Board of the National Association, of Radio and Television Broadcast,, ers will consider complaints voiced recently before the U. S. Senate Subcommittee oil Juvenile Delin- quency when it huddles here to- morrow (1) and Thursday. The Board Will also review the film pre- sented at the Senate Subcommittee hearings. This was a. collection of clips showing violence..arid cruelty, all taken from motion picture films played over tv in Washington* Harold E. Fellows. NARTB pirexy, who testified before the Senate Subcommittee,' will sit in on the sessions. The Subcommittee staff is preparing a report on its findings about the effects of video, on juvenile delinquency, to be pre- sented to the Senate in the new ;84th Congress. One : strong possi- bility is that a Senate committee will go more deeply into the sub- ject in the next year Or two. John E. Fetzer, of Station WKZO- TV, of Kalamazoo, chairman of the Code Review Board, has also.invit- ed top reps of the. American . Asso- ciation, of Advertising Agencies to sit down with the board and discuss their common objectives in. Self- regulation. ; NARTB’s Television Information Committee, which collects, devel- ops and. distributes'information on the social, cultural and economic benefits of video (a soft of opposite number'of the Code.Review Board), meets, at: fh Waldorf-Astori New. York Friday (3). At Its Old Stand Again OklahomqkCity, Nov. 30. WKY-TV is at it again. Already known for its aggressive tactics in Courtroom telecasting, last week The P. A, Sugg-managed station grabbed unrestricted coverage of a District Court trial hinged on tor- ture and robbery. Judge Clarence Mills permitted WKY-TV’s news- nien the “freedom of the tribunal” in picturizing the proceedings, with this comment: “The Constitution and laws, since our nation began, provide that the people’s courts should, at all times, be open to. the public as a necessity of 'due process’. Modern means of tv coverage, such as tv, have made possible a more adequate extension of this great constitutional right. The court must keep in step with such means. The coverage of this trial, by WKY-TV and other newsmen; a very important one for this city, county and state, has been accu- rately and carefully and consider- ately done by these fine, courte- ous, newsmen; We, as citizeqs, are indebted to • them,” The station’s entering wedge on courtroom^ vidcasting was accom- plished at" a murder trial in Dis- trict Court here, last December, Via a. specially constructed booth i courtroom’s fear, newsmen made sound coverage of the swear- ing i of the jury, the judge’s, charge, the verdict and the sen- tencing. Summary of testimony was presented behind silent film, with both sides being equally rep- resented,. visually and aurally, by the narration. In last week’s in- stance, there were no special physical arrangements made for the unlimited soundi-on-film and silent camera coverage. By using highspqpd films, necessity . for : special lighting was eliminated. Guy Lombardo show, running on WRCA-TV, N.Y., for well past a year, looks to be headed for can- cellation. It’s a top budgeted once- a-weeker (Friday at 7 p.m.), with Lincolri-Mercury client forced to pull in its horns after going for a considerably upped outlay for next season on its CBS-TV “Toast of the Town.” Client and Kenyon & Eckhardt agency are; to huddle today (Wed.) on a decision, and the 7 o’clock time may be .field to slot a lower budgeted sho.w; perhaps -film package. KFO’s Unusual Two-Way St. Louis Exposure Via KSD and WTVI Split “Kukla, Fran & Ollie” Was the unusual distinction of getting its ABCrTV weekday exposure, from two stations in the same market. Show, a co-op offering, has been booked into St. Louis under an arrangement Whereby KSD-TV will carry it' on Tuesdays and Thurs- days, while WTVI, the UHF. outlet in suburban Belleville, will have the Monday, Wednesday and Friday segments. Each will find its .own sponsors,. Situation came about when ABC offered the show to KSD-TV, which said it couldn’t find time to carry it. Web then offered it to WTVI, which said it could only carry three days a week. Then KSD-TV came back saying it had cleared the time and could it have the show. Web then got the two stations together and the show-sharing arrangement was worked out. KSD-TV starts Sept. 9, WTVI Dec. 13. in RETURN TO FILL IN FOR GLEASON Tommy and Jinimy Dorsey, have made good. Of elf.duo filled in last summer for Jackie Gleason’s CBS-; TV stanza, dubbed “Stagd Show” for the hot weather sweepstakes. With the comic’s winter vacation coming up in the Jan. 1 and. 8 cluster, . the Dorseys will, again bridge the gap. Of course, it’s a Jackie Gleason Productions pack- SUGAR BOWL SWEETENS ABC-TV GRID COFFERS Top Pop Products, which makes a new wrapped-in-aluminum pop- corn package that, the housewife merely slip in the. oven. intact and bring it out finished and ready to serve, has made its first network television and radio purchase,. a one-third simulcast slice of the New Year’s. Day Sugar Bowl game from New Orleans on ABC. Firm, has had some local spots and has received some network plugs on “Mr. Peepers" because its pack- age employs Reynolds aluminum, buf otherwise is new to the net- work advertising ranks. Purchase gives. ABC a sellout on. the simulcast, with the web hav- ing pacted Swanson & Sons, the frozen food outfit, purchased a third last week, while American Chicle had picked up the initial third, a couple of weeks ago. Situa- tion on the Sugar Bowl this year is in marked contrast to last, when | web unloaded the simulcast in a last-minute deal with R. J. Reyn- olds. Decisive factor in the Top Pop buy was Navy’s win this week- end over Army and its subsequent WFIL-TV’S TELETHON COPS RECORD 361G Philadelphia, Nov. 30. WFIL-TV’s Cerebral Palsy Tele- thon garnered a record total of $361,795 in 18 hours of telecasting from Convention Hall. Program, sponsored by . the Philadelphia In- quirer Charities, was the . longest staged in station’s four years’ pro- motion of the telethons, beginning at 10 p.m. Saturday evening and continuing until 4 p.m. Sunday. More than 1,000 volunteers took part in the telethon, portions of which' were broadcast by radio sta- tion. WFlL and by television sta- tions in Easton and'Wilkes-Barre, Pa., .and Atlantic City, N. J, Taking part in the program were the entire staff of. WFIL stations headed by Tom Moorehead, as mas- ter of ceremonies. Show business personalities who aided in taking the telephoned pledges included Gabby Hayes, Warren Hull, Vir- ginia Graham, Nancy Kenyon and Maria Riva. Entertainers who ap- peared on the show included Ray Malone, Sally. Starr, Commander Buz Corey and Cadet Happy of the Space Patrol, Frail Allison, Don Cornell, Georgia Gibbs, Georgie Shaw -and Juanita Hall. .age, as well. Signed for the New Year's Night j acceptance of a bid to £lay in the Show as guestar is Johnnie Ray. | bowl; Seattle—Keith Jackson, former ly at KLEE,. Lewiston, Ida:, is now sports; editor for KOMO-TV here, replacing John Jarstad, who has gone to KTVW. a Secret Radio-tv brass hats, not unlike their counterparts in the world of business-industry-finance, have always been concerned with ‘Teaks” to the press! There has never been a time before or since the Winchell “keyhole gang” era that one scribbler or another didn’t beat the “shutout" rap—-as often as not “legitimately.” After all, it’s never been considered unethical to accept,and print information when there’s no connection with the nation’s security (even Senator Joe McCarthy’s., “acceptance” of . topr secret /data from “unauthorized” sources has not been; pinned down by any court of . law as “criminal” although, subsequent juridical history may resolve this particular point). ■Most “leaks” are resented or deplored for reasons of vanity. The very intra-mural existence of a news-value item to which only the elite are presumed, to be privy suggests that there’s no ultra special reason for sheltering it from the. generaL or trade public. When the news is ^tipped” by one of the inner sanctum- ites; a member of the latter or multiples of the £ame. is bound to take, the traditional umbrage, because, let us say, of his own good friends of the press was not exclusively supplied with , the juicy item. So, too, perhaps, with .those who preside over the : press domain, where the contacts, with the fourth, estate are of a more direct and professional order. B;C. or A.D., : no one has ever found, a sure way to plug a leak, To take the pure definition,, a secret is not a secret .when more than one person knows it. Back in the early days of radio, when network press sectors were not so populous and a secret had that much less chance to “get out,” there was one publicity topper who spent a good part of his day plugging holes to make certain (so he hoped) that no news would get out before its time!. He kept so many “secrets” within close confines that it became his. own Frankenstein. As this little tale coines down to the wire, it becomes familiar in the. payoff theme. It was this same, “pnvy publicist’’ who leaked more stories than anyone on his staff. One moral here is that, often as not, the man. who screams the loudest about “betraying the house” is the one Who^ does the betraying. Soapers; Zitz Heads Chi Agency Chicago, Nov.; 30. Martin Zitz is the new prexy of the Henri, Hurst & McDonald ad agency, succeeding W. B. Henri, who becomes chairman of the exec . committee. New prexy, only ,38 years old, joined HH&M five years ago. In another reshuffling, E- F. Hascall moved up from the exec veepee slot to become vice chair- man of the board of directors. Pitt Variety Club’s ‘Mr. TV of’54’Plaque Goes to Walt Framer Pittsburgh, Nov. 30. Walt Framer, local boy and pr - ducer of “Strike It Rich” and “Big Payoff,” was awarded a. plaque naming him,' “Mr. Television of 1954” . by Variety Club at its 27th annual banquet. Framer originally joined showmen’s Organization here while he was in radio before moving on to New' York. He brought along, two of his stars, Warren Hull and Bess Myerson, who staged a giveaway for the more* than 600 guests at the affair. | Tent No. 1 also adopted its 16th child since- the founding, Catharine Variety Sheridan VI, a one-year-old Negro child, and presented its sixth Heart Award posthumously to Richard S.Rauh, longtime civic leader and one of the founders of the Pittsburgh. Symphony Orches- tra and the Pittsburgh PlayhousO. It was accepted in his memory by his widow, Helen Wayne Rauh, tv and Playhouse actress. George Jessel was the toastmas- ter at banquet, first one in Tent No. l’s history to which women were admitted.. WCBS GOING ON 4-HR. SAT. DISK JOCKEY KICK W.CBS, the New York radio flag- ship of CBS, has succumbed to the disk , jockey kick and blueprinted a four-hour Saturday, session. Plat- ter-spinning operation will tee off Dec. 4 in the 2 to 6 p. m. slot to be cut up on a participating basis* Taking charge of the turntable, will be Bill Randle, one of the highly prized deejays whose rep has been made in Cleveland over the last five years or so. WCBS drafted him from WERE there. The web relinquishes the time that’s been \ devoted seasonally to "Football Roundup,” a news cap- sule, and “Saturday at the Chase.” Randle’s the second Clevelander to go Gotham disk doodler. Some weeks back WINS brought. in “Moondog” (Alan Freed) from the Ohio city. By BOB McSTAY Toronto, Nov. 3.0. Soap operas are disliked by 95% of Ontario’s farm wives; they have an acute distate for giveaway pro- grams and singing commercials; the majority prefer symphony and Opera concerts to hit parade re- cordings for the teenage-members of their families; and top • much tii ’ being given via radio and television . to sports coverage. These are the opinions garnered in a poll of the 145,000 farm wives who are members of The Women’s Institute, this comprising 1,500 community groups, . sponsored by the Department of Agriculture of the Ontario Government for the betterment of social and economic conditions in rural Ontario homes. The tabulation of this • extensive poll was reported to some 600 delegates to the annual convention; at the Royal York Hotel here by Mrs. D, S. McNaughton, chair- man Of the radio** council of Women’s Institutes of Ontario. Of the 85% return on question- naires, this obviously a cross-sec- tion of rural opinion in' Ontario, the findings show an overwhelm- ing taste for “better entertain- ment’—and considerable concer (Continued on page 50) Chicago, Nov, 30. Columnist Ed Sullivan will be popping in and out of Gotham about six times a month with a vaude package for promotion dates, mostly in the midwest, under the banner of ‘his CBS-TV staple, “Toast of the Town.” Bookings are being handled by Art Goldsmith of Paramount At- tractions in Chicago, and the “Toast” unit—which heretofore has. played in-person dates only for Lincoln-Mercury ballyhoos will appear at universities, public audi- toriums, and in various civic pro-, motions. Sullivan, assembles . the units himself from acts who have made appearances on his tv show. . First date was played two week- ends ago at Purdue U., where mor than 24,000 tickets were .sold, to four performances in two days, representing a complete sellout. Lineup had Richard Hearne, An^ di'ea Dancers, Mary Small, Vic Miz- zi, Rufe Davis, and . the Rudells— none of them big names, indicating Sullivan can pull entirely on his own. Same type vaude format will play Wichita, Sioux Falls, and Sioux City on Dec. 8-9-10, with more midwestern dates on tap after the first of the year.