Television digest with electronics reports (Jan-Dec 1959)

14 JUNE 29, 1959 New York Roundup: Trend to taped variety shows continues, with the Tues. 10-11 p.m. Garry Moore Show due to become all-tape this fall, primarily to gain the services of name-star Broadway performers who would otherwise still be before the footlights at airtime . . . Victor Borge’s location special, to be taped & filmed in Denmark, will be aired on NBC-TV for Pontiac on Oct. 16, and will be used to launch the auto maker’s 1960 line . . . WPIX N.Y. has now lined up some 50 stations for its own 60-min. film documentary on the Berlin crisis. The independent station got into the syndication act last year with a documentary on the Russian revolution, now plans at least 2 more. Syndication is in a trend toward full-sponsorship, with national & regional advertisers buying syndicated telefilms because they prefer identification with their shows — a trend opposite to that of sponsors in network TV (Vol. 15:24). That’s the key finding in a 30-market study undertaken by Ziv TV’s research dept., which noted that 55% of Ziv evening shows (after 6 p.m.) had full sponsorship, 35% were alternately sponsored, and only 10% acted as participation spot carriers. In 1957, the full-sponsorship figure in the same 30 markets was 51%, reports syndication sales mgr. Len Firestone. ITC has sold more than $600,000 worth of telefilms in Latin & South America, Japan and the Philippines in just 6 months of overseas selling, Abe Mandell, dir. of inti, sales for ITC reports. Back from a sales trip to the Far East, Mandell says: “The one major consumer product not advertised on Japanese TV is TV itself, because current demand for receivers exceeds the industry’s production capacity.” . . . Britain’s Associated TV Ltd. — on another front — which co-owns ITC, has changed the name of its distribution subsidiary to Incorporated TV Co. Ltd. in order to further the ITC image with a similar set of initials. Another Bolshoi package is being offered in TV. Art Theatre of the Air, an offshoot of N.Y. film financier Joe Harris’s Essex-Universal, has acquired some 3 hours worth of color & sepia footage of the Bolshoi, Moiseyev, Georgian and Moscow ballets from Artkino, official Soviet film distributor in the U.S., and plans to assemble it as a series of telefilm specials. Still unsold are the 4 hour-long Bolshoi b&w video tapes made Matty Fox, although N.Y. ad agencies now tell us they’re quietly being offered to leading TV advertisers as a series of specials. MCA’s new syndication series, Coronado 9 starring Rod Cameron, has been signed by Falstaff Brewing for a 26-state, 66-market spread. It’s the 3rd straight Cameronstarred telefilm series the brewer has purchased . . . Screen Gems has scored its first major sale on Manhunt, a police drama series shot in San Diego, with Genesee Brewing for 9 upstate N.Y. markets . . . WRCA-TV N.Y. promptly cleared a Tues. 7-7:30 p.m. slot for the syndicated reruns of The Phil Silvers Show, which start this fall for N.Y. Telephone’s classified directory & Ronzoni macaroni. The show has been an attraction on rival WCBS-TV. Sam Goldwyn’s pre-1948 movies, about 52, are available to TV — at “the right price.” So said the veteran producer at the N.Y. premiere of his “Porgy & Bess,” last week. He also predicted that pay-TV would be a reality within 2 years, at a cost of over $200 million. His is the only major-studio movie backlog not yet committed to TV. Fremantle now has a total of 7 fully-sponsored Spanish-dubbed shows per week running in Mexico City, with the sale of its 15-min. Jungle series to a local dog food sponsor. In addition, 5 weekly 30-min. telefilm series in English sold by Fremantle are being aired in the Mexican capital as spot carriers. Hollywood Roundup: MCA’s Hubbell Robinson, exec, producer for next season’s Ford specials on NBC, is due on the coast this week to set up headquarters at Revue Studios, Universal City. He will immediately begin working on properties & lining up talent. Milton Berle will film one of his NBC Sun.-night specials, do the other live. Filmed will be his segment with Desi Arnaz & Lucille Ball. The other show will have Danny Thomas as guest . . . Frank Sinatra has named Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn exec, producers of his four 60min. specials for ABC next season. Jack Donahue will produce & direct. Art Linkletter has flown to Russia, where he will attempt to film shows for his People Are Funny series (NBC) . . . Bill Burrud Productions has signed Gene Blakely to produce 2 TV series. Wanderlust & Holiday. New Hollywood office of NAB’s TV Code Affairs Dept. (Vol. 15:19) will be headed by Frank Morris, CBS-TV senior editor there since 1957. Announcing the appointment, Code Review Board chairman Donald H. McGannon pointed out that more than 40% of all material seen on TV is supplied by Hollywood film producers. He said Morris “has a working acquaintance with most of these production executives and understands their special problems.” Morris, a veteran writer & producer, had joined CBS after 10 years with ABC in Hollywood. Davana Inc., an independent TV film production company, has been formed by ex-Perry Mason producer Ben Brady. Biady & CBS have signed a deal for joint production of new series {Troubleshooters) . . . Filmaster Inc. {Death Valley Days) and Meridan Productions have moved from California studios to Republic. First “potpourri Western” has been signed by Colgate as a summer replacement to be seen in the Friday-night NBC-TV spot occupied by The Thin Man series, starting this week. The 10-episode series, featuring James Stewart, Ronald Reagan, Dale Robertson, George Montgomery, Robert Cummings and others has been assembled by pulling Western episodes out of other anthology packages, and will be called Colgate Western Theatre. Gene Barry -Ziv TV feud last week (Vol. 15:24-25) produced nothing but the good old run-around in both N.Y. and Hollywood in response to press queries. Hollywood sources told us that meetings between the Bat Masterson star and Ziv on the subject of contract differences had been moved to N.Y., and that they knew nothing. In N.Y., Ziv officials said they had no information on the meetings — and suggested a Hollywood check. Production on the TV series is at a standstill, meanwhile. Screen Gems is proceeding with production on a second season for its syndicated Rescue 8 series. Langford Productions has been formed by Robert Stack & agent William Shiffrin to produce telefilms & movies. . . . Filmaster Productions will take over production of Death Valley Days, previously produced by McGowan Productions. KTTV’s latest syndication series is The Jerry Lester Show, to be produced by Jerdu Productions, owned by Lester and Maurice Duke. The 90-min. shows will be seen weekly on KTTV beginning next week, July 10. AB-PT pres. Leonard Goldenson, ABC pres. Oliver Treyz, and ABC program v.p. Tom Moore toured Metro, Warner Bros, and 20th-Fox last week to inspect studio facilities, discuss ABC series with 20th & Warners, and talk possible deals with Metro. At 20th, they were welcomed with a luau by pres. Spyros Skouras, production chief Buddy Adler and TV production chief Martin Manulis.