Motion Picture Herald (May-Jun 1944)

TALENT READY TO JUMP ON TELEVISION BANDWAGON While Engineers Argue on Technique , Players Are Studying Makeup Actors, actresses, dancers, jugglers, musicians, the men who train seals and most of the i ther talent of the entertainment world have few doubts about television. While engineers and executives are arguing in technical language about where, when and iow television will make its debut as a new pest-war industry, the performers are studying telegenic technique" before their mirrors, rtuilding contacts in visual broadcasting and vondering which makeup looks the prettiest Dver the air waves. Through all ranks of performers there is high interest in television. It is mentioned in top Hollywood contracts. Little agents make big promises about it. The word is frequently heard on that sidewalk exchange of vaudeville information which still flourishes in the spring sun under the old Palace theatre marquee at Broadway and 47th Street. Talent Agencies Move Into Television Field But beyond these dreams of the practitioners of make-believe there is also a sound business interest in television talent. The William Morris Agency, Music Corporation of America, National Concert Artists Corporation and other talent agencies are setting up television departments. Most of the advertising agencies which are important in radio have assigned executives to television planning. It is a concern of many motion picture companies. Talent unions are watching television closely. There are no serious disputes, however. If the two industries — radio and film — are at odds over any future scramble for talent, two television program directors, the secretary and treasurer of Television Broadcasters Association and an official of the William Morris Agency, appear not to be aware of that fact. Television, when it comes of age, they say, will, in the first place not rely upon Hollywood for talent. The television companies expect to develop most of their own talent. As Clarence Menser, program director of television for NBC, expressed it: "Of course Hollywood has to protect itself and put it stars under protective contracts. If I were a Hollywood producer I certainly would. And that is precisely what I shall do here — put the television stars we have developed under contract. There's plenty of talent to go around." Television Studios Plan To Develop Own Talent As for contracts, studios have always kept their players, and especially their stars, under control, and will continue to do so, when television comes into the field of important entertainment. Television studios plan first to look elsewhere and develop their own talent. They will use Hollywood talent when and if advisable and available, and in turn lend their own talent to Hollywood under the same terms. Program plans and their relations to the film industry are still nebulous, but television officials believe the time may well come when exhibitors will show special television broadcasts as half of a double feature program. This, it TELEVISION PRACTICAL NOW, TRAMMELL SAYS Television in its present state has proved practical and NBC intends to proceed with plans for network service as soon as possible after the war, Niles Trammell, president, told affiliate stations Monday. "Television should not be held from the public while experimenters deal in theory and supposition," he said, in the first NBC comment on the argument over standards precipitated by the recent CBS demand for a period of delay during which newer, and possibly better, standards are developed in postwar laboratories. "It is unfortunate that at this time non-technical people should involve themselves in a controversial discussion as to what is now in the research laboratories and may possibly come out by the end of the war. Neither is it proper that non-technical people should attempt to evaluate the practical application of embryonic developments before those technical developments have been proved in practice and evaluated by the leading engineers of the industry," Mr. Trammell said. was said, should prove especially true of news events, a championship prize fight, a world series ball game, and other leading sport events. One television executive who asked that his name not be used, pointed out that a theatre circuit, charging admission, would be in the position to outbid a commercial sponsor for the television rights to a special event. Responsible television interests see no reason for a competitive feud for talent between Hollywood and television. They believe cooperation should be even closer than now prevails between screen and radio. Sees No Rift Between Two Industries William Joyce of the William Morris Agency said, "There have been some misunderstandings, certainly. A film company has gotten sore at radio for one thing or another and has retaliated by refusing to give a star permission to broadcast, but these isolated incidents hardly constitute a 'rift' between the two industries." Mr. Menser went on to say: "Radio came of age only when emphasis were placed on talent and not facilities, and the same will be true of television. Television, of course, will have to compete with both radio and motion pictures, but that does not mean television will clash with either, any more than radio and films clash now. "Television is going to provide talent a renaissance. Let's view the time when there are 500 local television stations. Each station will need talent. This means that local talent that has been overlooked by both Hollywood and radio will get a chance." "All of this means that television will have to develop its own talent as well as depend upon experienced actors of the stage and screen. To start with, all players in pictures are not under contract to studios. There's a great deal of talent being overlooked right out in Hollywood. There are numerous radio players who are photogenic and will fit beautifully into television. And through auditions we will discover many a talented unknown," he predicted. " Gilbert Seldes, television program director at CBS, agreed .that television would develop much of its own talent. He said, "We are not giving it much thought right now, it's a little early." He added: "Of course, right now actors with experience working before cameras are greatly desired. For one thing, it means he or she is photogenic, and of course some radio stars are not. Working before a camera calls for a different technique than working behind footlights or before a microphone. Says Limitations Preclude Competition with Films "Television has its special demands and requirements, too. In pictures, if an actor muffs a line they can do a retake. In radio, actors are accustomed to reading their lines . For television they must do many rehearsals. When the program goes on, every word, every gesture goes immediately on the record. There's no turning back; there's no retake, and there's no reading from scripts. Therefore, actors with stage experience and talent we develop ourselves will probably be our best bets. At any rate, it is not causing any ill feeling now between radio and Hollywood that I know of, and I don't see any reason why it should." Mr. Seldes, returning to the present, said that current television limitations preslude competition with films, because in the first place the results while better than a 16mm. showing, are not yet up to Hollywood standards, and until they are — which, he believes, will be shortly after peace has been declared — there can be no great talent problem because television will be producing on a small scale. "This Is Tomorrow" Shown To Virginia Chamber MGM's "This Is Tomorrow" was screened at a state war conference of the Virginia State Chamber of Commerce state-wide planning meeting held in Richmond, April 13. Present at the showing were Governor Colgate Barden, Jr. ; Raymond Hall, director of the state planning board ; presidents of the State Chamber of Commerce, Federation of Virginia Women's Clubs ; and local Planning Board chairmen from 26 Virginia cities. Another showing of the picture, which deals with better community planning, was made at Lynchburg, before the State Junior Chamber of Commerce. Capt. McCullough, War Hero, Honored by Columbia Captain Harry McCullough, formerly of Columbia, a war hero and veteran of some 200 air battles in the South Pacific, was guest of honor at a luncheon given by the company at Gallagher's Steak House in New York, May S. Many company executives and department heads attended, among them Jack Cohn, Abe Schneider, A. Montague, Nate Spingold, Joseph McConville, L. J. Barbano, Samuel Briskin, Rube Jacter, Leo JafFe, Mortimer Wormser, Lou Weinberg, Louis Astor, Max Weisfeldt and Frank Rosenberg. MOTION PICTURE HERALD, MAY 13, 1944 25