Broadcasting Telecasting (Oct-Dec 1959)

Dr. Stanton Mr. Murrow where and when and for how long. They must know whether the individual will require 20 seconds or two minutes to answer a question. "The alternative to a degree of rehearsal would be chaos. I am sorry Dr. Stanton feels that I have participated in perpetrating a fraud upon the public. My conscience is clear. His seems to be bothering him." CBC Position • Dr. Stanton made no public reply. A CBS spokesman issued a statement saying that "As Dr. Stanton has attempted to make quite clear on several occasions," nobody at CBS "has the slightest objection to the way Person to Person has been produced. Indeed, we have always been very proud of the program and those who have participated in it. We are simply insistent that the production practices of programs of this type be revealed . . . so that the program as it appears on the air will be exactly what it seems to be." While the trade talked Stanton-Murrow, the public was talking Van DorenBloomgarden. Charles Van Doren and Hank Bloomgarden, big money winners on NBC's defunct Twenty-One, had gone voluntarily to the New York District Attorney Oct. 23 and reportedly made "substantial changes" in the statements they had given earlier. The District Attorney wouldn't say what the changes were. He did say Mr. Van Doren's original statement "related to his receiving questions and answers on the program." At about the time Mr. Van Doren was visiting the Distrist Attorney, NBCTV was announcing cancellation of Tic Tac Dough. "Further evaluation of public reaction following recent evidence of previous rigging of the program has led to the conclusion that its public standing has been impaired," NBC explained. It took pains to note that testimony "clearly established" that the rigging occurred before NBC took over production from Barry & Enright a year ago. CBS-TV affiliates support Stanton CBS President Frank Stanton got the full backing of the CBS-TV Affiliates Board last week in his campaign to drive "deceits" off the network. Holding its annual meeting at Pebble Beach, Calif., the board elected William B. Quarton, WMT-TV Cedar Rapids, Iowa, as chairman of the affiliates association. It also adopted this resolution: "Whereas: the CBS-TV Affiliates Board recognizes that public trust and confidence are essential to the effective performance of broadcasting, and that tawdry practices in the production of quiz shows as recently disclosed have violated this public trust and confidence; "Be it therefore resolved: that this board unanimously and without reservation endorses the action of the CBS in eliminating big-money television contests from the CBS-TV network, in assuming full responsibility for content and quality of network programs, and in assuring the American public that what they hear and see on CBS programs will be exactly what it purports to be; "And further: that this board records its gratitude for the decisive and courageous leadership exercised by Dr. Frank Stanton and the CBS-TV network in actions which enable television to move toward its constantly increasing potential for the public service." The affiliates board met with top CBS-TV executives Sunday (Oct. 25) to Wednesday. In the absence of President Louis G. Cowan, hospitalized by thrombosis, the network delegation was headed by Executive Vice President James T. Aubrey Jr. Mr. Quarton was elected affiliates' chairman to succeed C. Howard Lane, KOIN-TV Portland, Ore., who was not eligible for reelection. HANDS OFF THOSE SHOWS'— COTY Stick with commercials, says Cortney; rival Revlon singed A side fracas to the general furor over tv quiz rigging broke out along Madison Avenue last week. The skirmish involved two tv advertisers, an advertising agency and an innocent bystander. The advertisers were cosmetic competitors Coty Inc. and Revlon Inc. BBDO was the agency, while the innocent organization caught in the incident was the Sales Executives Club of New York. Among the developments: e Coty's President Philip Cortney launched a crusade against repetition of the "shameful tv quiz hoax." Mr. Cortney proposed that advertisers not be permitted to exercise any control over programming in the broadcast media, and that stations and networks alone "must . . . control program content and thereby assume full responsibility for protection of public interest." (Mr. Cortney's "solution" was similar to that set forth a day later by Rep. Chester Bowles, Connecticut Democrat, who spoke at a luncheon in New York [see story, page 70]). • Charges of "pressures" being brought by a competitor were aired publicly both by Mr. Cortney and the Sales Executives Club of New York which provided the platform for a panel to speak on "The Honest Quiz." The principals involved later identified Revlon as the "competitor." Revlon officials refused comment. • It appeared that Coty and BBDO, its agency, were far apart on the matter. Mr. Cortney at a news conference before the luncheon accused BBDO of having ( 1 ) refused to place his "public service advertisement" in newspapers in New York and elsewhere in the country, and (2) of having hinted to Mr. Cortney that his ads would embarrass the agency because it was associted at one time with The $64,000 Question (BBDO was Revlon's agency a few years back when the advertiser enjoyed a sensational sales success as a result of the show's popularity). • It was speculated freely that Coty Inc. and BBDO had come close to a parting of ways. When asked how his call for "morality" in business would apply since he was continuing to place business with BBDO, Mr. Cortney said if it developed that the agency had participated in "this fraud," Coty would withdraw its account. Coty In Tv • Coty bills an estimated $3.5 million a year, of which approximately $2.1 million is in television; the bulk in spot tv and the rest in participations in ABC-TV's daytime program block (Gale Storm Show, Beat the Clock and American Bandstand). Mr. Cortney told newsmen that he had been offered several quiz shows by the agency but that he had declined to buy into any one of them. In addition to outright network control (they are "licensed by the government to exploit the air," he asserted), Mr. Cortney demanded that "businessmen" who sponsored the ill-fated quiz shows testify before the Congressional Subcommittee; that they, as well as the networks and winning contestants do 56 (SPECIAL REPORT: QUIZ CASE) BROADCASTING, November 2, 1959