Variety (March 1957)

22 RADIO-tEiJEVISIOir 'W^eaiiegdjiy^ MaWili 6 , ISS? Don Siarpe’s IHcGraw' Sak To P&G; Odier Entries in Hopper Don Sharpe, vet television pack-4- ager-agent, has made his first sale‘ for next fall. Procter & Gamble has purchased the new '’Meet Mc- Graw” film series, which stars Frank Lovejoy and which already has six shows in the cab with two more shooting this week. Slotting of the stanza is still riot set—P&G wants to get its entire llneuup of shows first and then decide how to place them-^but a possibility is the Sunday at 10 slot on NBC-TV currently -occupied by Loretta Young. Series, which isn’t based on any literary property or character, stars Lovejoy in an action-adven¬ ture role. Sharpe, who got the idea for the series three years ago in England while working with a British star, let the idea rest un¬ til this winter. Then, largely on the basis of Lovejoy’s stint last summer for P&G in the live re¬ vival of the “Man Against Crime” series, he signed Lovejoy and sold the package to P&G. That’s only one project on the agenda for Sharpe and his part¬ ner, Warren Lewis. “Everybody's doing wfesterns,” says Sharpe, and admits he’s no exception. He's already got a network commit¬ ment (although he won’t say from which web) for a new hour west¬ ern titled “VigUante.” Under the deal, the network will finance the pilot (which rolls late in March) in return for options on the series. Central figure is a Presidential agent who plays a sort of Herb Philbrick role in the'California of 1860. A second western which is still in the pre-production stage but which may be a late spring entry as a pilot is a series titled “Top Gun,” but set in the Alle¬ ghenies in the 1770’s, with a his¬ torical progression of the wagon trains westward as the underlying theme. Two other new properties in the hopper for Sharpe. One is the “Bulldog Drummond” series to be produced in England with Doug Fairbanks Jr. The other is “This Is My Best,” , an anthology series involving stories, drama, comedy music, even variety, under the broad umbrella title rights to which were purchased from an¬ thologist cWhit Burnett. Sharpe planes to England late in March with the first three Drummond scripts tor set up pro¬ duction on the series, this prep¬ aratory stint including casting. Asked if he feels this isn’t some¬ what late for the selling season, he pointed out- that some of the top television properties on the (Continued on page 40) Nighttime Sked Mutual has scraped its 8:30 to 9 p.m. mystery-adventure block and is offering affiliates rerun . tran¬ scriptions of dramas starring Sir Laurence .Olivier, Michael Red¬ grave, Sir Ralph Richardson and Orson Welles, all purchased from the Harry Alan Towers organiza¬ tion. Net is also cancelling “Official Detective,” which has been aired for the past 10 years, and is sub¬ stituting Thursday evenings from 8 to 8:25 p.m. Clive Brooks in “Secrets of Scotland Yard,” a Brit¬ ish show making its U.S. debut. The otheirs in the 8 to 8:25 mid¬ week strip remain, including “True Detective Mysteries,” “Treasury Agent,” “Gangbusters and “Coun¬ ter-Spy.” Under present setup, net exchanges .affiliate clearances of the 8 to 8:25 mystery adventure block for net programming the next half-hour, given for local sponsorship. The new 8:30 pjn. series, set as the net continues sounding out its major market affiliates on the new service network plan, includes: Orson Welles in “Lives of Hany Lime,” to be aired Mondays Mar¬ ius Goring in “The Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel,” for Tues¬ days; Michael Redgrave in “Hora¬ tio Hornblower,” Wednesdays; Sir Laurence Olivier and Sir B;alph Richardson in “Theatre Royal,” Thursdays; and “The Queen’s Men,” about the mounted police, on Fridays. ABC-TV’s Del Romance ABC-TV is forming for the first time a regular Detroit sales divi¬ sion of the network. Wlllianl Mul¬ len; web’s regular automotive sales¬ man, will head the new setup though he’ll continue headquarter¬ ing In New York. Mullen’s new title will be sales manager, Detroit division. Mean¬ while, Eugene Wyatt, who some weeks ago was appointed ABOTV national progi’am 'sales manager, began officially this week at the web. _ 2 Webs Ride With ‘Game of Week’ As Sat. TV Fare Televised baseball “game of the week,” Involving national-network telecasts of major league baseball, has now become a two-network af¬ fair. NBC-TV this week worked out rights to telecast a 26-game schedule every Saturday starting April 6, with all but three of the 16 teams represented in the sched- ,ule. The NB’C-TV telecasts will be in direct competition most of the time with CBS-TV’s “Game of the Week,” going into its third season at Columbia. NBC-TV lineup^so far is unspon¬ sored. Web lis offering half of it up for national sale and will co-op the other half. If, however, it can’t find ft, client by mid-March, it will turn the entire schedule over to the stations as a co-op feature. CBS-TV, on the other hand, has Falstaff Beer, M‘arlboro ciggies and American Safety Razor as sponsors of its series, and these will blanket all but a few of the markets carry¬ ing the games, the remainder car¬ rying it co-op. One of the major sponsorship problems lies In the regulations covering the contracts of both CBS and NBC with the leagues and the individual clubs. These provide that no game be carried within 50 miles of a major league city, and also calls for a blackout in key minor league towns. Despite the restriction, NBC has been able to piece together a 130-station lineup, and CBS, With two years'of cover¬ age behind it, has about an equally large station list. Columbia, inci¬ dentally, will carry games involv¬ ing all 16 teams, since it has pacts with. 11 clubs for home games. NBC’s lineup of 13 teams stems from the fact it can originate the home games of only eight clubs. Network baseball coverage is rel¬ atively new, having started in the summer of 1953, when the late Trevor Adams; an ex-ballplayer and then sales manager of WABC- TV, N. Y., worked out a three-way deal among the ball clubs, Falstaff and ABC-TV for a limited national coverage. ABC carried the games for two seasons, then CBS took them over. Pat Boone Loyal To Chevy, Shuts Door on Oscar Hollywood, March 5. The blight of commercialism has removed one of the featured per¬ formers on the Academy ♦ awards presentations. Pat Boone, who was to have sung “Friendly Persuasion” as one of the five tunes nominated for Best Song, withdrew from the program because it will be spon¬ sored by Oldsmobile. Move, he said, was “out of loyalty” to Chev¬ rolet, which has signed him for a television series to begin next Fall. Boone said he would have to “forego the honor and privilege” of appearing at what would have been “a tremendous event In my live.” However, he said, the fact that he had been signed to the series by Chevrolet, “the first sponsor I ever had,” prompted his decision, al¬ though there has been no comment froiri the car maker. Boone’s withdrawal left the Academy with only one performer definitely set. Bing Crosby will make his first appeorahce as a singer at an Academy Awards af¬ fair, warbling the riominated'Cole Porter tune “True Love,” which he sang in the Metro film “High So¬ ciety.” $2,000,000 Deal Pat Boone’s teleseries for ABC- TV, due to bow next October, hi- volves approximately $2,000,000, with the singer having rights to package his summer, replacement under his own aegis,- . Understood Boone’s half-hour variety show will be budgetted around $40,000 per show. Budget on summertime replacement, still to be selected, will be about $32,000 each. Top name guesters will be used by Boone on series to be bankrolled by Chevy. . Washington, March 5. Last weok may go down as the biggest week for the FCC since it issued its historic Sixth Report In 1952 Which lifted the four-year freeze on television and estftb- lished the existing (now slightly modified) plan for allocation of channels. Although it was Senate pressure which prodded it into doing what it did, the Commission’s action in voting deintermixture in six out of eight areas which it proposed to make all-UHF, was a big. thing. Right up to the moment of deci¬ sion there were those who doubted the agency would adopt any of the deintermixture proposals, The most optimistic expected Only a few. After the agency turned down (by a 4-3 vote) deintermixture In Madison, where there is a VHF sta¬ tion on the' air, and In Hartford, where a conditional VHP grant was issued, it came as somewhat of a surprise when it voted 5^2 and 4-2 to deintermix Evansville, Ind., arid Fresno, Calif,, respectively, where there are VHF stations in opera¬ tion. But the biggest, surprise, of course, Ivas the action which re- riioved channel 6 from the General Electric station (WRGB) In Sche¬ nectady, N. Y., which has been us¬ ing the channel since 1939. The Commission itself never proposed such a thing. It had called for comments on a proposal to make the area “predominantly” UHF, (Gfontinued on page 40) Upheaval in Hour Dramatic Shows Decision to lop off the longrunning Sunday night 9 to 10 NBC- TV dramatics, with Alcoa-GoOdyear passing up their alternate-week sponsorships next season, highlights the almost turbulent upheavals attending the 60'-mlnute drama segments on tv. Along with Alcoa-Goodyear, the ^’Robert Montgomery Presents” ■ NBC-TV dramas will fade as a "Weekly hour a'ttraction at the end : of the season. “Raiser Aluminum Hour” a'couple weeks back istarted from scratch with a whole new production unit taking over and only a couple months back CBS-TV., to satisfy its Westing-' house sponsor, tossed out the production team on “Studio One” and, installed a brand new one. Yet in the face of - all this frantic activity alone comes the new ; Nielsens to register a 31.4 for the “granddaddy” of all tlie hour idrama .entries^—“Kraft TV Theatre” (now in its. 10th year on NBC- ;TV,) Rating specifically was for Kraft’s recent ”The Singin’ idol” •rock-’n* roll-foririated story starring Tommy Sands (subsequently bought for films), reflecting, at least on the part of'Kraft an updated story awareness and the type pf material present day audiences want to dig. . ^ ‘ Nielsen rating probably represents a new high for hour drama entries this season. * CBS-TV Springs New Rate Card Clast A Hour Climbs to $98,975 (Up 7.1%) for 107 Basic, Optioiial Stations --- Strike It Richer A major change will allow con¬ testants to grab an “unlimited*' amount of coin on , CBS-TV’s “Strike It Rich” crossboarder. Till now, contestant could win maxi¬ mum of $500 at a single apperance by answering four questions posed by Warren Hull, Now, after reach¬ ing that plateau^ the quizzee gets opportunity for a fifth question without 'forfeiting any of - the win¬ nings. If boilus question is answered correctly,'Contestant can return the following day to go through the same routine, and so on until the missout on the “fifth.” Martin Block h $1,000,000 5-Yr. ABC Guarantee Because of the problems Itie’s had with his afternoon ABC Radio show since It began three years ago, Martin Block is getting a hew five-year contract that puts him out of all sustaining, network radio programming and reestablishes him for the first time, since he left WNEW (N. YJ as a local ayem radio figure. Superceding his old pact. Block begins a deal with the network Gotham flag, WABC, which carries him through" Janu¬ ary, 1961. He’s guaranteed $1,000,- 000 for the five years, plus certain commercial fees on local radio, Plus whatever he can grab from WABC-TV and commercial shows on ABC Radio., _ Block is dropping his network 2:30’ to 4 p.m. radiocast before April 1, on which date will start an 11 a.m. to noon strip on WABC. He’ll stay on in the afternoon, but It’ll be a 3 to 6 p.m. local stanza cross-the-board. WABC has first call on Block’s services, according to a handshake, deal which will be put on paper shortly and made retroactive to Jan. 1 of this year. He may do commercial stanzas on ABC Radio (he has two now), but they cannot be in time or sponsor conflict with his local chores. Also, he is and will continue doing a daily telecast (Continued on page 40) VOTE ON WGR MERGER WITH TRANSCONTINENT Buffalo, March 5. A plan for merging WGR Corp<, licensee of WGR-TV and AM, of this city, into Transcontinent T-ele- vlslQa..Corp., licensee of WROO TV, Rochester, as well ^ other broadcasting holdings, Will be voted on March 25 by stockholders of both firms. Following favorable action by stockholders. Transcontinent .'Tele¬ vision Corp, will apply to the' FCC for approval as licensee of the Buf¬ falo broadcasting properties. Trans^ continent presently also holds 50% ownership of Shenandoah Valley Broadcasting, Inc., licensed of WSVA-TV and AM, Harrisonburg, Va. CBS-TV released to agencies and advertisers its new Rate Card No. 13, accompanied by Production Manual No, 13, both effective next Sunday (10> and both encompass¬ ing limited raises in rates and pro¬ duction services. The new card calls for. an increase of about 7.1% for the basic required and optional group of 106 stations, bringing Class A hour rate for that lineup to $98,975 from the previous $92,- 385 for 107 stations. Basic required web is up one outlet, from 55 to 56, while the basic optional group is down two to 50. Class C time has been ex¬ tended to include the 1 to 2 p.m. period on Sunday, formerly Class B time, and the Extended Market Plan has a new discount category which enables advertisers buying 30-or more EMP stations to earn a 20% discount. Previously, with a smaller EMP lineup, network’s top discount was 15% for 20 or more SMP stations. On the production side, charges are up for production personnel, camera rehearsal facilities and film services, the first hikes iii two years.’ Charge for three- camera rehearsals is up from $450 to $500 an hour, while all other hours In excess of a consecutiva eight-hour period figured back¬ ward from air time is up from $475 to $525i! .' Other increases art provided for personnel and film, services. Based on Nielsen Study New rate card stems mainly from the recently released Nielsen Cov¬ erage Service Study No. 2, which CBS-TV had urged the Indust^ty to support though NBC claimed it wasn’t necessary. In his letter ex¬ plaining the new card, Bill Hylan, v.p. in charge of sales administra¬ tion, pointed out that “until the (Continued on page 26) Will Refers Bows ToD.C.HiDbillie$ Cancellation date of April 5 has beten posted for CBS-TV’s “Good Mornirig With Will Rogers Jr.V’ .and the web is moving ahead with a new hillbilly stanza originating from Washington in its stead start¬ ing -April 8. New show, tabbed “Country Style,” will fill the 7 to 7:45 a. m. breach, with a 15-minute news show with Richard C. Hottelet at 7:43 and again at 8:45. “Captain Kan¬ garoo” continues at 8 but gets cut back five minutes to make way for this second hews stanza; there were ■previously two five-minute news cut-ins In the show. Actual cancellation date was held back until CBS could decide on one of several hillbilly stanzas it was screening. Final choice Is a Connie B. Gay package to.origi¬ nate from WTOP-TV, Washington. Gay is a vet radip-tv impresario who’s had hillbilly packages on the air before, mainly via a syndicated series which was distributed via Official Films and RCA .Thesaurus. New stanza stars Jlmiriy Dean and features George Hamilton IV, The Texas Wildcats, the Country Lads, Alec Houston and guests. Rogers is returning to the Coast for film work.