Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1955)

NEW FACTS & FIGURES ON WTVD DURHAM-RALEIGH POWER f\ NOW ? 316,000 watts . DUI NOW TRANSMITTED CHANNEL 11 DURHAM-RALEIGH NBC ABC Call Id ward RETRY & Co. through Gardner Adv. on ABC-TV every fourth week, Saturdays, 8-9 p.m. EDT. Permanent cast: Minnie Pearl, Hank Snow, Carl Smith, Ernest and Justin Tubb, Martha Carson, Rod Brasfield, Jimmy Dickens and Grand Ole Opry square dancers. Guest Stars: Les Paul and Mary Ford; Judy Lynn (Miss Idaho.) roducer: Irving Waugh of WSM-TV Nashville. PEOPLE'S CHOICE 1! j| THESE are dog days in television. It's getting ito the canines on video are to the point of tellVig shaggy people stories. In fact, People's 'Choice represents one of the most "shaggy" '•.tory lines of the season in the boy-meets-girl ^ department, but happily the talking dog saves he show. The whirlwind courtship of the initial program, in which the mayor's daughter chases a 3;'-eluctant forester chasing rare birds, bordered m the unbelievable even for make-believe. Some fast double-entendre quips bordered on the ,; unbecoming for home audience, especially early Evening. Not that we didn't laugh long and loud, jj -jWe did. Especially at the wise comments by -jjiad-eyed Cleo, the pooch. If the viewer hasn't had his fill of tv dogs by now, the series should prosper. It will if you ^ion't have to be too broadminded to feel comfortable watching it with the family. Production costs: Approximately $30,000. ^Sponsored by The Borden Co. through Young & Rubicam on NBC-TV Thursdays, 8:30-9 p.m. EDT. Producer and creator: Irving Brecher; director (premiere): Irving Brecher: production supervisor: Al Simon; director of photography: James Van Trees; assistant director: George King; unit manager: Herbert Browar. :rji TV READER'S DIGEST 3* ]A STORY of child courage and the power of faith in overcoming all obstacles, material and iwphysical, was offered by Tv Reader's Digest last Monday as the series premiered for its second year. Child Pioneer," taking place in the 1840's, •'jtold of the plight of a 13-year-old boy and his '"'efforts to bring five younger brothers and sisters :and a newborn baby from the East, across the plains to Oregon after his mother and father died enroute. He grappled with seemingly insurmountable odds in what one "old timer" described as a "heart-breaking test for seasoned adults." Part of the trip the "children" even had to travel on foot, but with baby in arms an||!they reached their goal and a happy ending. The story was simple and adequately presented. And directed to a youthful audience the show probably would command attention and deep concern over the ordeal. But directed to the great family audience the lesson of "Child Pioneer" was a little difficult for adult members to translate into meaning. The facts of the story were a little too remote. Perhaps Tv Reader's Digest has something in its forthcoming film anthology for the rest of the family, in addition to lunior. Production costs: Approximately $30,000. Sponsored by: Studebaker-P ackard Corp. through Ruthrauff & Ryan for Packard and Benton & Bowles for Studebaker on ABCTV, Mon., 8-8:30 p.m. EDT. Broadcasting • Telecasting ALCOA HOUR NEWEST ENTRY into the field of full-hour dramatic series is Aluminum Co. of America's Alcoa Hour on NBC-TV Sunday night. It's quite a departure for Alcoa, which in past seasons had sponsored Edward R. Murrow's See It Now documentary. But it's money well spent, as the teleplay series is a cinch to win a hunk of the huge Sunday night audience. There's really nothing to distinguish Alcoa Hour from any other dramatic show — except, of course, the commercials. And except that it promises to be better than most. The initial venture, "Black Wings," was an intriguing if somewhat unbelievable yarn about a German pilot who had dropped bombs on a helpless English village, then came back after the war as a doctor to patch up the damage — and incidentally win himself a girl. At times it bordered on the melodramatic, but for the most part ranked as "better" tv entertainment. Production costs: Approximately $40,000. Sponsored by Aluminum Company of America through Fuller & Smith & Ross on NBC-TV, Alt. Sun., 9-10 p.m. EDT. Producer: Herbert Brodkin; Assoc. Producer: Philip Barry Jr.: Directors: Norman Felton, Dan Petrie, Robert Mulligan, Sidney Lumet, Ralph Nelson and others; script supervisor: Herbert Hirshman; casting director: Joan MacDonald; music director: Glenn Osser; costumes: John Boxer; set director: Jim Russell; unit manager: Milton Myers. PLAYWRIGHTS '56 NBC-TV's Playwrights '56 scored heavily with its second show last Tuesday night by dusting off one of Ernest Hemingway's lesser-known tales, "The Battler" and molding it into an hour of forceful dramatic entertainment. Adapting a Hemingway story into a good teleplay isn't the easiest job in the world, but writers A. E. Hotchner and Sidney Carroll gave Fred Coe's star-studded cast something to work with in this one. The story centers around young Nick Adams who leaves home in a burst of ignorance and enthusiasm and hops a freight for Chicago, seeking fame in the prize-fighting ring. Vividly created by Dewey Martin in his first major tv role, Nick stumbles into the hobo jungle camp of Ad Francis, one-time champion boxer who has drifted down the often-traveled road of the fame-and-money people. At this point actor Paul Newman took complete charge of things. Mr. Newman's portrayal of Francis was a gem. Through a series of skillful flashbacks engineered by director Arthur Penn, we see Francis as a handsome champ who fails to take the advice of his wife, played well by Phyllis Kirk, and get out of the fight game while he still has his looks and brains, and watch his downward progress from the bottle to jail, and finally, insanity. As Francis' sidekick in the hobo jungle, actor Frederick O'Neal was both believable and moving in his performance. Producer Fred Coe has a winner with this show if he can keep his team moving at their present fast pace. Production costs: Approximately $30,000. Sponsored by Pontiac Motors Div., General Motors Corp., through MacManus, John & Adams on NBC-TV, alternate Tuesdays, 9:30-10:30 p.m. EDT. Producer: Fred Coe; assoc. producer: Bill Nichols; director: Arthur Penn; assoc. director: Dominick Dunne; script editor: Oliver Flanders; writers-tv adaptation: A. E. Hotchner and Sidney Carroll; casting director: Everett Chambers; production assistant: Jane Wetherell; music director: Harry Sosnik. KTVH REACHES MORE KANSAS TV HOMES THAN ANY OTHER TV STATION! • 4 out of the last 4 PULSE REPORTS show that KTVH delivers more homes in Kansas. • 2 out of the last 2 ARB's give KTVH a majority of the rich Kansas TV audience. And Talk About Coverage • KTVH covers 2 times as many Kansas homes as Kansas' largest newspaper . . . and reaches this audience with completely unduplicafed CBS coverage/ To Sell in Kansas ... Buy KTVH! CHANNEL 12 VHF 240,000 WATTS CBS BASIC Represented Nationally by H-R Representatives, Inc. Main office and studios in Hutchinson: office and studio in Wichita (Hotel Lassen). Howard O. Peterson, Gen. Mgr. October 24, 1955 • Page 15