Radio daily (Oct-Dec 1949)

Section of RADIO DAILY. Wednesday, December 7. 1949 — TELEVISION DAILY is fully protected by register and copyright FORD, CHEWY IN VIDEO BATTLE Combined Budgets For '50 Near $4,000,000 TELE TOPICS THE ONLY APPARENT REASON for ■ the recent network debuts, on NBC, of "Chicago Jazz" and "Studs' Place" is economic. The former is 15-minutes of uninterrupted music — Dixieland by a group of house men called the Tailgate Seven, and wonderful songs by Connie Russell. Darn good listening, but nothing to see. Even the charms of the beauteous Miss R. can't sustain a show all alone and the stanza was not helped any by the unimaginative direction. Finally, if they don't want to alienate jazz purists, they'd better get rid of the sheet music that was lying around the place. . . . The direction in which "Studs' Place" is headed is not quite clear at this juncture. Set in a customer-less bar, it appears to be a mood piece and bears a resemblance to some of Saroyan's work. There are the proprietor, Studs Terkel, pianist singer Fletcher Butler and a moocher known only as "Horse Player" (Norman Gottschalk). It's mostly talk, with a little music thrown in. With sharper delineation of characters and imoroved scripting it could be fairly interesting, but in its present state it's all kind of empty. • I ES HAFNER and Chuck Vetter yester■~ day began shooting at their Motion Picture Stages Inc. on a new three-reel United Nations film titled "Our Town, The World." Shooting sked runs eight days. Written by Joseph Moncure March and starring Dorothy Peterson, film will get TV and theatrical release. Helen Van Dongen and Kevin Smith represent UN at the studio. . . . DuMont and Whelan drug stores will supply the entertainment at the Ad Cub's Christmas party next Tuesday at the Astor. Titled "Cava'cade of Stars," show will be presented by Stanton B. Fisher agency and produced by Milton Douglas. Stage will be a 50 by 20foot scale replica of a DuM receiver. . . . According to Look mag, nearly $10,000,000 will be spent this year on Howdy Doody merchandise. • ON READING in Newsweek that Berle and Wynn may go bi-weekly next year, flack Jack Perlis wrote the mag suggesting that the stars be paid in alternating currency and the cue-tossers in direct currency. Yesterday he received a letter from the editors of the book stating: "We probably would have printed your comment . . . but it would only have been stolen by Ber'e." . . . The Paramount Theater this week is screening recorded highlights of UN sessions as a regular part of its evening fare. Students of Columbia University, who are studying the effectiveness of the TV cover, are scattered throughout the house to observe reactions of the audience to the presentation. Drug Chains Contract For Second DuM Show Drug Store Television Productions, comprised of 14 -major retail drug chains, yesterday signed with DuMont for a million-dollar hour-; long variety show to be aired Tuesday nights, 9 p.m., over 18 stations beginning Jan. 17. The group, represented by Stanton B. Fisher agency, also bankrolls "Cavalcade of Stars" on the web. x\ppropriations for the two stanzas will total $2,000,000 next year, it was said. Milton Douglas to Supervise Program will be supervised by Milton Douglas, producer of "Cavalcade" for Fisher. Title, format and talent have not yet been selected. Cities and participating stores are: New York, Whelan; Philadelphia, Sun Ray; Baltimore, Read; Washington, Peoples; Pittsburgh, Sun; Cleveland, Gray; Detroit, Cunningham; Chicago, Walgreen; Dayton, Gallaher; Cincinnati, Dow; Columbus, Grey; Boston, Liggett; Richmond, Peoples; Atlanta, Jacobs; Minneapolis and Louisville, Walgreen; Rochester, Daws, and Los Angeles, Owl-Rexall. Interstate Bakeries Sign For "Cisco Kid" Series Interstate Bakeries has signed for the Cisco Kid TV film series for airing in California and Mid-West markets. Films will be produced, in 16mm. Kodachrome by Philip N. Tele Crime Shows Hit By Coast Listener Unit Washington Bureau of RADIO DAILY Washington — A stiff protest against the crime shows on six of the seven Los Angeles video stations has been filed by the FCC for consideration when it gets around to granting initial licenses. The stations are not formally licensed yet. Chairman Wayne Coy yesterday circulated through the Commission the protests received from the Southern California Association for better Radio and Television. The group, in letters signed by President Clara S. Logan, called upon the stations for improvement in programming, and enclosed copies of a survey of crime shows during the week of November 1. Statement By Mrs. Logan "Our association is protesting the type of program as listed on this report," Mrs. Logan wrote; "television comes into the home, and many children are looking at these programs. We believe that without too much effort your station could substitute acceptable programs which would be suitable for family viewing and listening. We offer you our fullest support and co-operation, and will do all we can to promote the good programs on your station." Krasne at the rate of 52 a year for ten years. Radio rights to the stories are controlled by Frederic Ziv Co. Dan B. Miner is the agency for Interstate. NBC Rear Projection System For Backgrounds Announced C7 Completion of a new rear projection system said to offer an adequately lighted picture without flicker was announced yesterday by NBC engineering veepee O. B. Hanson. The system will be used for the first time on "One Man's Family" in the near future. Developed by NBC's engineering development group under the direction of Hanson, and by G. M. Nixon, manager of the development group, with assistance from Roland A. Lynn, staff engineer, and Edward P. Bertero, the new unit was constructed according to NIBC specifications by the Holmes Projection Co. under supervision of O. J. Holmes. Active also in the development was A. W. Protzman. technical production director, and the NBC TV operating group. The new process, technical details of which are secret, involves the blending of a motion picture's present 24 frames per second with video's basic rate of 30 frames. It consists of a specially designed projector from which standard 24frame-per-second motion picture film is thrown onto a translucent background projection screen. The projected image, plus live talent action, is then picked up by a standard image orthicon camera operating at 30 frames per second from the opposite side. Two giants in the low-priced automobile field — Ford and Chevrolet — have locked horns in an advertising battle that probably will bring about $4,000,000 into TV's coffers next year. Operations of the two manufacturers in video have been completely dissimilar. Chevrolet began using the medium experimentally three years ago, tried many different tyoes of programs and now bankrolls two network shows with various dealer groups sponsoring local promotions. Ford, on the other hand, is a relative newcomer, with the bulk of its expenditures going into two shows. "Ford Theater," on CBS, and Kay Kyser on NBC. The former, with cost estimated at $25,000, is now a bi-weekly feature, but may be aired every week after the first of the year. The Kyser stanza, which bowed last week, is said to cost $23,000 for production, exclusive of time. Easier Show Folded "Ford Theater" is a promotion of the home office, handled by Kenvon & Eckhardt, while Kyser is a Ford Dealer Show, produced by J. Walter Thompson. An earlier dealer show, "Through The Crystal Ball," folded after about six airings last season. Both Chevrolet web shows are handled out of the home office. They are "Inside USA With Chevrolet," a bi-weekly on CBS with production budget of $20,000. and "Chevrolet Tele Theater" on NBC, cost about $6,500 exclusive of time. In addition, Chewy probably will repeat Notre Dame football coverage, aired this year, over DuMont at a cost estimated between $100,000 and $150,000. Midwest Theater Assn. Files For TV Channels Washington Bureau of RADIO DAILY Washington — Advancing the argument that many in the KansasMissouri area will not be able to afford home video sets for years to come, the Kansas-Missouri Theater Owners Association yesterday petitioned the FCC for a rule-making procedure to provide for theater TV channels. The Commission is reported preparing an announcement of su^h a hearing. The petition, filed yesterday b\ attorney Marcus Cohn. did not differ substantially from similar petitions filed by other exhibitor groups within the past few weeks.