Television digest with electronic reports (Jan-Dec 1959)

VOL. 15: No. 25 17 Burns Glows On: George Burns, whose McCadden has lost its sole pair of series this season — The George Burns Show & The Bob Cummings Show (Vol. 15:24) — is dissolving his McCadden Corp. but will retain McCadden Productions, we are informed. The production company is being retained to: produce the 2 live Burns specials in the Ford series on NBC; to discuss a new series for Cummings; to produce the Burns-Milton Berle series, indefinitely postponed; and to plan a pilot starring Tammy Marihugh of the Cummings series. Because no immediate production is scheduled, A1 Simon has resigned as McCadden v.p. to become pres, of Filmways, and Maurice Morton, another v.p., is leaving the company. Consolidated Cigar reportedly wants George to star in a live series on ABC next season, but the comedian will probably reject the offer because: (1) a weekly live TV show is too much of a grind, (2) he wouldn’t take less than a 39-week firm deal and they aren’t handing out many such contracts anymore. Instead Burns will do specials and night-club work. The McCadden Corp. folded after selling its assets in a capital gain deal. It sold the Burns & Allen telefilms to Screen Gems; owned part of the Cummings show, and those films were leased to ABC; owned part of the Jackie Cooper series. People’s Choice, which has been sold to ABC; and it also owned part of Panic, which has been sold to NBC. ABC pres. Oliver Treyz reportedly wants to sign Burns to a contract even if the series doesn’t jell. Meanwhile, a suit against George Burns & McCadden Productions, in which Samuel Bischoff asked $300,000 for commissions in the sale of the B&A telefilms to Screen Gems, was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum. Bischoff contended he had been hired to negotiate a sale and that he had made the SC deal for $6 million. Music Hath TV Charms: Primarily “motivational” TV commercials, such as those for autos, perfumes, beers and toilet soaps, are the heaviest users of music backgrounds to help get the sell across to viewers. Drug products, notably the depilatories, headache remedies and laxatives, make little or no use of musical soundtracks. Impulse items such as cigarets may use a lot (L&M) , or a little (Viceroy) , music depending entirely on copy & campaign theme. Thcise are the key findings in the first of a series of quarterly reports planned by the music production firm of Plandome Productions, N.Y. The report, issued last week, noted generally that “the heaviest users both of network & spot TV, tend to be the heaviest users of music.” On an over-all basis, by Plandome’s estimate, the use of originally scored music in TV commercials, network & spot combined, has increased more than 100% since 1956. Chief reason for the increase, in Plandome’s opinion: “Competition for viewer attention has put a premium on all production values in commercials.” Hollywood musicians are losing jobs in telefilms because of the jurisdictional dispute between the American Federation of Musicians and Musicians Guild of America. Latest example : music scoring of the Robert Taylor series. Captain of Detectives, will be done in Munich in July because of the union fight in Hollywood. Producer Arthur Gardner, leaving next week for Germany with composer Herschel Gilbert, also scored The Rifleman series in Munich for the same reason, he tells us. CBS-Paisano Productions’ Perry Mason series, formerly filmed at 20th-Fox, goes into production at General Service studios July 8, with 26 segments planned. One-Take Tape: Although movie-like tape editing tech niques permit interruptable dramatic production, the best TV drama results with tape come from a “live, ensemble performance by actors rather than a pieced-together performance.” So believes Robert Herridge, producer of CBS Films’ first all-tape program series now in production in N.Y., Theater for a Story. The show is being offered for national sale by the network syndication offshoot. Herridge’s 30-min. series, modestly budgeted at about $15,000 weekly, is turning out one episode a week, and is produced as if it were a live show. Herridge, who never shoots in takes, spends 2% hrs. blocking out each episode, then holds a “rough run,” which is followed by a 30-min. dress rehearsal & a 30-min. tape session. The last is the only taping. “We get some rough edges this way,” Herridge admits. “But sheer impeccability can be dull, as well as artistically limiting. I think the best actors for a taped show are people like Mildred D unnock, who have extensive theatrical, rather than movie, experience. They know how to build a part.” During the first few Theater for a Story episodes, Herridge tried making tapes of the dress rehearsals, discovered his actors tended to “reach a pitch they couldn’t hit again during the final tape,” discarded the idea and now tapes only once. Herridge also prefers to tape inside a studio (in his case, CBS-TV’s Studio 61, a 90-X-90 affair on Manhattan’s East Side) rather than go on location, although tape permits mobility. “I like TV conditions that drive you to create,” he explains. TV Temperament: When Ziv TV shut down production on Bat Masterson after star Gene Barry failed to show up for work because Ziv hadn’t met various contractual demands (Vol. 15:24), it didn’t create more than a ho-hum in Hollywood. By now the town’s accustomed to flaring temperaments, feuds, and the demands of personalities, which seem far more prevalent in TV than in the movie days. This is mainly because a TV star feels his days are numbered, makes demands to cash in on his fleeting popularity. The longest holdout in a TV wrangle was that of Clint Walker, who was placed on suspension for months by Warner Bros, when he made certain demands for his role in Cheyenne. Other feuds: Hugh O’Brian trying to get out of his Wyatt Earp contract (he failed); Jim Arness, unhappy that he has another year to star in Gunsmoke’, Lee (M Squad) Marvin and John (Restless Gun) Payne critical of Revue Productions, alleging interference; Ann Sothern and producer Jack Chertok, in a long tiff over Private Secretary accounting of revenue, finally settled; Bob Cummings-Don Sharpe suit over My Hero revenue, settled; Lori Nelson, who left her How to Marry a Millionaire role with a blast at distributors NTA; Dick Powell-CBS hassle of several years ago when CBS ousted Four Star Playhouse to make room for Playhouse 90; Powell-Charles Boyer-David Niven (Four Star Owners) criticisms of Y&R for “interference” on Alcoa-Goodycar Theatre. Personality feuds Hollywood has witnessed in recent years also include Frank Sinatra’s tiff with Ed Sullivan, caused by the singer’s refusal to appear on Sullivan’s show to plug a picture without compensation; Liberace criticizing Sullivan ; Martin & Lewis, long since split as a team. WPST-TV Miami now has a completely equipped mobile TV tape recording unit with an Ampex Videotape recorder.