Ross reports -- television index. (1958)

ROSS REPORTS— TELEVISION INDEX JULY 16, 1958 VOLUME 10 NUMBER 29 A EDITOR: Jerry Leichter -MID-WEEK SPECIAL a PROGRAMS • ADVERTISERS • TALENT 55 I Fifth Avenue • New York I 7 • MUrray Hill 2-59 1 0 PUBLISHED BY TELEVISION INDEX , INC. ITEMS COMMENT POSSIBILITIES Six of the nine Du Pont Show of the Month specials to he presented on CBS next season have been decided, including the two productions to be produced by CBS and four of the seven to be produced by Talent Associates. CBS, under the supervision of Rich¬ ard Lewine, will produce Joseph Conrad’s "Victory," and Shakespeare's "Hamlet," the latter performed by England's Old Vic Company. The Talent Associates productions will be Mary Chase's "Harvey" (leading off the season on Sept 22, Monday, 9:30-llpm NYT); Dumas' "The Count of Monte Cristo, " Giovanni Guareschi's "The Little World of Don Camillo, " and Barrie's "What Every Woman Knows." Dates for the presentation of each will be set in the future . The new ABC daytime pattern starting in the fall will utilize six half-hours daily, five days a week. The half-hour blocks will run: 11-11 :30am, 12noon -12 :30pm, 12:30-lpm, 1-1 :30pm, 2-2 :30pm and 3-3 :30pm, all NIT. The only programs that seem to be set as of now are a Liberace strip in the 12-12 :30pm spot and Peter Lind Hayes with Mary Healy at 2-2 :30pm NYT. When the season kicks off the net will be able to program continuously thru the afternoon, except for local pro¬ gram breaks, for the first time in its history. Previous expensive attempts, such as the Breakfast Club telecasts in the morning and the Don Amec he -Frances Langford show at the noon hour, were isolated programs, impossible to support on the basis of local programming to assure advertisers some protection in building and holding an audience. The expensive network showcases put an impossible burden on the net's affiliates, since they had to open shop much earlier than local advertisers preferred. The only prob¬ lem now facing ABC is how to assess the possible success of some of the programs that will fill the schedule. All nets have failures, but since ABC is starting from scratch, pressure will be felt throughout the entire lineup. Bill Asher, one of the more travelled TV producers, with a wide background in live variety and filmed drama and comedy shows, will take over as producer-director of The Dinah Shore Chevy Show for the 1958-59 season . Del Mann will produce three Playhouse 90 dramas next season, all Fred Coe productions for the series. Mann will lead off the season with an un-named production scheduled for Sept 25 . Ted Mills will produce the new Patti Page Show, starting over ABC on Sept 2k, Wednesdays, 9»‘3010pm NYT, for Oldsmobile thru D. P. Brother & Co. Jack Rael, Miss Page’s manager, will handle the music . Fred Astaire's first of two one hour live musicals has been set for Oct 17* Friday, 9-10pm NYT over NBC. Chrysler Corp., thru Leo Burnett Co., Inc., will sponsor both shows, with the second scheduled for the spring . The day CBS announced that Florence Henderson had been signed to star as Meg in the Oct 16 production of "Little Women" (Margaret O'Brien will play Beth) was also the last day for Miss Henderson's first regular net show. Sing Along, which folded after a six -week run. Consensus was that the community sing gimmick throttled any possibility of the show getting up off the floor . CBS upped Lester Gottlieb to the new post of di¬ rector of program development. He had been a general executive for the TV net. Page 1 (MORE) ROSS REPORTS— TELEVISION INDEX, Service Subscription Rates: $125 per year (or $33 quarterly, minimum one year subscription). Addi¬ tional or multiple subscriptions at lower rates. 1 1 Service includes: Weekly reports on current television production, programs, advertisers, talent movements; unlimited telephone and mail information service; periodic reports on special aspects of television; semi-annual and annual industry surveys, and The Television Index card file.