Ross reports -- television index. (1956)

Although all assignments are not set, NBC says that five syndicated newspaper columnists will head the new Tonight show staff, operating from New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. Dick Linkroum, exec producer of the Tod ay -Home -Tonight shows, says that the new Tonight, starting Jan 28, will be a "combination Wide Wide World and Today which will focus on what America is doing after dark, both in entertainment and news. The new Tonight will provide entertainment as it happens in nightclubs, hotels and jazz spots across the country." There'll also bo plenty of news and weather inserts. The program will be controlled from New York, with Norman Frank as New York producer and casting director (at NBC, 1270 6th Ave., New York 20). The show will use music and variety stars or unknown music and variety talent. Frank does not want to be called; he wants pics and resumes from the unknowns. Important segments of the show will include pick-ups in various cities with mobile units which will record what goes on in the cities after dark in the way of news, features and entertainment. (Norman Frank has been producer-director of The Jonathan Winters Show, but for the present he will only be producer, with Herb Kenwith in as director). On the advertising side, Tonight will have an Interesting pattern with its new format. It will be seen from 11:15pm to lam in the Eastern Time Zone. From 11:1511:30pm it will be offered on co-op sales on a local level. From 11 :30pm-12 :30am, the current pattern of two one -minute commercials and one station break will be in effect. From 12:30am the Eastern commercials of an hour earlier will be repeated for the Midwest, while stations in the East can cut away for local announcements. KNXT(LA) is hailing the first regularly scheduled TV program to originate in Las Vegas. Called Fabulous Las Vegas, it will be seen once a month over KNXT, sponsored by P. Lorillard’s Old Gold Cigarettes thru Lennen & Newell, Inc. First show is sched¬ uled for Saturday, Jan 5> llpm-12midnight PST, with the second show set for Feb 2. Winslo Productions will produce the show, with Stan Irwin, who heads Winslo with Larry Sloan, as producer of the program. KNXT's Dan Gingold will direct. The program will originate at the Conga Room of the Sahara Hotel, with acts drawn from various spots in Las Vegas. KNXT program director Don Hine will be exec producer for the show, which will use TV equipment flown from the CBS station, including a minimum of three cameras . Jackie Gleason's salute to Eddie Cantor, "At Sixty-Five," to be presented from Hollywood on Jan 12 In place of the regular Gleason show that evening, will be pro¬ duced by Jackie Gleason Enterprises, Inc. and Eddie Cantor, and will be written by Cantor, with music by Nelson Riddle and the orchestra. It will mark Cantor's 65th birthday (Jan 31) and his over 50 years as an entertainer . You Asked For It, the ABC "stunt" show, is setting up permanent production units in Europe to record foreign sequences on film. A camera unit in Paris will cover France and adjacent countries, with other units operating from London and Mannheim, Germany . Wells Fargo, a film series starring Dale Robertson as a detective for the old Wells Fargo Express Company, will replace Stanley over NBC in 5 or 6 weeks. The pilot (noted here on Nov 28) was shown on Schlltz Playhouse last Friday night as "A Tale of Wells Fargo". The series will be produced by MCA-Revue Productions thru Overland Productions, Inc., with Nat Holt as producer, following the pilot's credits. PEOPLE GOING PLACES: James T. Aubrey, Jr., has joined the ABC TV net to take charge of programming and talent. He will have v.p. status. He has been manager of net programs for CBS TV in Hollywood . Gil Stratton appointed sports director for KNXT(LA) and the CBS TV Pacific Network, also continuing with his on the air sports news assignments . Sapphire Films, Ltd., English producers of Robin Hood, Sir Lancelot and The Buccaneers, Official Films' network program series, has opened an office in New York at 420 Madison Ave., with Peggy Phillips in charge as American story editor for the net programs and new properties for Sapphire. GENERAL NOTE: The Mid-Week Special will not be published during the next two weeks because of the holidays. The next Special will be published January 9. ROSS REPORTS MID-WEEK SPECIAL 12/19/5 6 Page 2