Boxoffice (Apr-Jun 1948)

CBS JOINS WITH PARAMOUNT IN TELECASTING EXPERIMENT First Instance of Network Cooperating in Testing Theatre Television NEW YORK — Paramount’s second public demonstration of large screen television in the Paramount Theatre proved two things: (1) That television can't make a dull program interesting. C2i) That CBS engineers have considerable distance to go before they can keep everybody and everything in focus when telecasting a large indoor group. Home television set owners accept everything— no matter how bad — and think it’s wonderful because it's novel. Theatre audiences are different. They usually want their money’s worth of diversion. FIRST TELECAST OF QUALITY Paramount’s first presentation — boxing matches picked up in Brooklyn — was lively entertainment, it was in focus, and the general quality of the presentation was pretty close to motion picture standards. Technical skill stood out in the presentation and showmanship talent was demonstrated in the choice of the material. The second experimental show — Gen. Omar N. Bradley addressing the New York State Magazine Publishers in the Waldorf-Astoria ballroom Tuesday (April 27) — was the first of its kind. It was done with the cooperation of CBS which picked it up for home receivers and also transmitted it to Paramount’s 7,000-foot megacycle relay channel. In the trade the announcement that one of the big broadcasting chains was cooperating on theatre television was news. For the audience in the Paramount theatre the results were a bore. A NEW TECHNIQUE Paramount News compiled shots from General Bradley’s career as a buildup — a technique familiar on the stage and on radio programs. 'This was very good. Then the first half of a 15-minute section of General Bradley’s speech was presented approximately 15 minutes after Bradley had spoken. This Wometco in Application For Television Station MIAMI — The Federal Communications commission this week was asked to approve transfer of a construction permit for a television station here to the Wolfson-Meyer theatre enterprises^ (Wometco circuit). Southern Radio and Television Equipment Co., holder of the permit, told the commission the theatre company would reimburse the original applicant for its original investment and put up $200,000 for construction and operation of the station. VIDEO PROGRESS NEW YORK — Moves in the television chess game were made rapidly last week. 1. Sir Alexander Korda sold a group of 24 of his reissue pictures to WPIX, Daily News station scheduled to start June 15. This is expected to start a chain reaction. 2. It became known that J. Arthur Rank had discussed sale of television rights to David Sarnoff, RCA president. 3. Supreme court ruled Scophony, Ltd., of England must continue as a defendant in the antitrust suit against Scophony Corp. of America. This may result in a consent decree and toss a new theatre television system onto the market. 4. Colonial Television Corp. decided to risk an NBC suit by taking a television program off the air for presentation in a New Rochelle theatre. 5. Broadcasters protested A.T.&T. and Western Union proposed coaxial cable and relay rates. 0. Actors’ unions went into conference on proposals for working scales. delay was to permit editing a film record of the speech taken from a DuMont television receiver in the Paramount booth. The trouble was that what appeared on the face of the receiver was not good. The CBS cameras were obviously stationed in a balcony on the side of the Waldorf-Astoria balh’oom which distorted everything in the picture, except a lone face down in the left hand corner. All outlines were fuzzy. When the camera panned around the ballroom vaguely outlined circles could be identified as tables. The last half of the presentation was on film processed in 65 seconds. The sound was good, but what Genera! Bradley had to say was obviously of practically no interest to a theatre audience. Only one man applauded at the finish, in contrast to the spontaneous applause which followed the boxing demonstration on April 14. Meanwhile there were other video developments. The Colonial Television Corp. said it is going to risk a possible suit for property right violations when it picks up an NBC television broadcast for a theatre television demonstration in a few days. The company has arranged to demonstrate its equipment at the Astor Theatre in New Rochelle. The theatre operator will receive a letter of indemnity from the company relieving him of any responsibility for a suit by NBC. Full credit will be given to the network and the sponsor of the program that is picked up during the showing, and the demonstration will be advertised. Some observers feel this will be enough protection for the theatre and Colonial. Joseph A. McDonald, vice-president and general attorney for the American Broadcasting Co., has pointed out that newspapers may take pictures from television for publication if they credit the television station. The Astor is a 600-seat house, and the television apparatus will be a variation of the regular Colonial large-screen system. The controls are worked from the projection booth, and the receiver-projector is suspended from the ceiling of the theatre about 25 feet from the screen. The apparatus previously demonstrated by Colonial was a floor model receiver-projector with a 30-foot throw. The Astor, incidentally, is the first house to purchase the booth-controlled system. Television Station Buys Korda Films NEW YORK — Twenty-four British features produced by Sir Alexander Korda have been bought for television showings by WPIX, the Daily News station which expects to go on the air June 15. The deal was concluded after more than six weeks of negotiations between Morris Helprin, Korda’s New York representative, and Robert Coe and James S. Poliak, station manager and film department manager, respectively, of WPIX. The price was approximately $135,000. This is the first time Korda has released any of his pictures for television. The deal is seen as "breaking the deadlock between the motion picture industry and television,’’ according to Poliak, "since it marks the first opportunity for a video outlet to show quality pictures.” The films and their stars include: “The Scarlet Pimpernel,” starring Merle Oberon and the late Leslie Howard; "The Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel,” with James Mason; "The Private Life of Henry ’VIII,” starring Charles Laughton, Merle Oberon, Robert Donat and Binnie Barnes; "The 'Thief of Bagdad,” with Sabu and June Duprez; “That Hamilton Woman,” starring Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier; “The Ghost Goes West,” with Robert Donat and Jean Parker, and “The Man Who Could Work Miracles,” with Ralph Richardson. Film Classics, Inc., which has the reissue rights to these Korda films, considers it unfair of Helprin to sell the television rights in view of the fact that FC has not as yet shown many of the pictures. Cleveland Video Offers First Feature Film CLEVELAND — “Shoe-Shine,” Italian film, is the first motion picture feature to be televised by Cleveland’s only television station, WEWS. On Monday evening the station provided its users with reports on the Italian elections and then completed the program with a showing of “Shoe-Shine.” Radio departments of local department stores devoted space in their newspaper advertising to announce the program, inviting Clevelanders to come in for the demonstrations. 8 BOXOFFICE :: May 1, 1948