Broadcasting Telecasting (Apr-Jun 1958)

NETWORKS CONTINUED FILM ABC-TV Group Names Drilling Joe Drilling of KJEO (TV) Fresno, Calif., was named chairman of the ABC-TV Atliliates Assn. hoard of governors at the board's annual election April 29. New vice chairman is William Walhridge of KTRK (TV) Houston, Tex. Joe Herold of KBTV (TV) Denver is secretary and J. Joseph Bernard of KTVI (TV) St. Louis, treasurer. Elaine Carrington, 66, Dies; Created First Radio Soap Opera Elaine Sterne Carrington, 66, who in her lifetime conceived radio's first daytime serial and went on to produce personally an output of 12,000 anguished daily installments, died in New York Hospital on May 4 after a short illness. In 1932. Mrs. Carrington gave life to Red Adams, a thrice-weekly show starring Burgess Meredith; a change in sponsors — a chewing-gum company — necessitated the change to Red Davis. In 1933-34, "Red" became "Pepper Young" and Pepper Young's Family to this date is still an NBC Radio fixture. (NBC officials indicated last week that the series would continue, but would be written "by others.") In her peak years, Mrs. Carrington ground out 38,000 words a week for such other serials as When a Girl Marries, last on ABC Radio and before that, on NBC Radio and CBS Radio, and Rosemary, a CBS Radio serial. Mrs. Carrington wrote all her shows in bed. Initially, she would turn out a five-day synopsis, then reel off 15 minutes of dialogue— playing all the characters with different voices — into a dictaphone, more recently a tape machine. Two stenographers then would take over. Her husband, Robert Dart Carrington, died in 1945. She is survived by a son, Robert Bruce, and a daughter, Patricia. TOA Feels CBS-TV Report Mashed Too Hard on Its Toes CBS-TV's feature treatment of the many uses to which former movie houses have been put, aired on the April 25 Douglas Edwards and the News, drew the fire of theatre owners of America last week. TOA asked CBS Inc. Board Chairman William C. Paley for "corrective action." But CBS Director of News John F. Day replied TOA was "perhaps unnecessarily concerned." The program showed former movie houses which now are a bowling alley, church, tv studio and delicatessen. Mr. Day explained "this story made no effort to report the full scope of the revolution in the motion picture industry, and as a matter of fact, we could not possibly report in such scope on any one Edwards news show. The fact is not unique in your particular field." Noting the Edwards show has had many stories on various facets of the movie industry, Mr. Day assured TOA "we will have others, some of which you will undoubtedly like better than you did the one in question." NTA Natl. Theatres Mulling 'Association' National Telefilm Assoc. and National Theatres Inc. jointly announced Thursday that discussions are being held looking to "an association" between the two companies. The statement said the talks will continue and studies will be made "over the next few months." The announcement came after reports circulated that National Theatres was negotiating to purchase NTA. A spokesman for the tv film production-distribution company emphasized that the basis for talks, which have been held for several months, as "a possible merger" between the two companies. The statement, issued by Ely A. Landau, NTA board chairman, and Elmer C. Rhoden, president of National Theatres, said: "Discussions are taking place to explore the question of whether there would be a basis for an association of National Telefilm Assoc. and National Theatres and whether that association would be desirable and to the best interest of both companies and their respective stockholders. Exhaustive studies of the matter will be made by both parties during the next few months." National Theatres Inc. is considered the second largest theatre chain in the U. S., consisting of about 300 theatres, principally on the Pacific Coast, in the Midwest and the Rocky Mountain areas. Recently the company developed Cinemiracle. a new threedimensional motion picture process now in its debut in New York and scheduled to move to other cities shortly. The company recently acquired WDAF-AM-TV Kansas City [Changing Hands, April 28]. The company's revenues are reported to have declined approximately 33% since 1947-49 and this situation apparently prompted its diversification program — its broadcasting operation in Kansas City its launching of Cinemiracle and its exploration of its tie-up with NTA. NTA is regarded as one of the fastestgrowing organizations in the tv field. In the past five years, it has grown to become one of the leading distributors of tv film programs, largely feature films. It has embarked upon an ambitious co-production program in association with Desilu Productions and 20th Century-Fox Corp. Together with Fox, it owns the NTA Film Network. NTA also owns WNTA-AM-FM Newark and KMSP-TV Minneapolis-St. Paul. CNP's Rettig Leaves Britain With Bi-lateral Film Formula If the cook has the right ingredients he can mix up a tasty batch of broth — or in the case of tv film in Britain a whale of a series. This is the thinking of California National Productions' president, Earl Rettig, who returned last week from a business survey abroad. Great Britain has the studios, the management and artistic personnel and an "attractive and efficient organization of manpower and facilities for doing business with "American producers," says Mr. Rettig. All that is needed: stories and scripts "written by experts with full knowledge of what viewers like to see on this side of the ocean." In other words, Mr. Rettig wants "compatibility in production where the native talents of both our countries are blended best." Mr. Rettig says CNP is ready to cook up a tv film series in Britain using facilities there (cited were the advantages of an "infinite variety of foreign locations which actually contribute strong pictorial values") once the recipe is found with the "right elements," that is, U. S. stars with British supporting actors and a good story and script that "blends." Station Buys of UA-TV Films Tally $1.7 Million in Sales United Artists Television has racked up a brisk $1.7 million in new sales over the past fortnight, with roughly $1 million coming from the new "UA-65" package announced at last month's NAB convention [Film, April 28]. As of last Tuesday nine station purchases had been confirmed: KRON-TV San Francisco, KNXT (TV) Los Angeles, KOLD-TV Tucson, KCRATV Sacramento, KLAS-TV Las Vegas, KIRO-TV Seattle, WTIC-TV Hartford, KTVH (TV) Hutchinson, Kan., and KSWO-TV Lawton, Okla. Among the post1955 films to be shown on those stations: "Summertime" with Katharine Hepburn, "Gentlemen Marry Brunettes" with Jane Russell, "The Big Knife" with Jack Palance and Rod Steiger, "The Killing" with Sterling Hayden and "Patterns" with Van Heflin. The balance of the new sales comes from UA-TV's "Lucky Seven" packet, sold to such major market outlets as WCBS-TV New York and WNBQ (TV) Chicago, and introduced earlier this spring. "Seven" has been placed in 20 markets to date. RANDOM SHOTS United Artists Television Inc.'s feature sales division has moved from UA home office at 729 Seventh Ave., N.Y., to larger offices at 342 Madison Ave. Telephone: Circle 5 6000. MCA-TV reports it has obtained all rights to Follow That Man syndicated suspense drama featuring Ralph Bellamy and has 82 half hours on film available to regional and local advertisers. THEY'RE ALL GONE The spring-summer 1958 tv film source book, Series, Serials and Packages (Vol. 3, Issue 3), published by Broadcasting Information Bureau last Thursday, revealed there are no pre1948 features remaining for commercial tv release. The source book shows 7,430 feature films and 1,317 western theatrical feature films as well as 3,405 cartoons now being distributed or available for distribution. Page 68 • May 12, 1958 Broadcasting