Television digest with electronic reports (Jan-Dec 1959)

VOL. 15: No. 33 13 TV SALARIES TRAIL MOVIES: Despite the tremendous growth in TV, salaries of TV stars today are far less than those of movie stars. For the obvious reason that it has a paid boxolRce with a global market, the movie industry can and does pay astronomical salaries which TV can’t touch. While TV points to its participation and residuals as factors increasing a star’s salary, the participation deal is not a stranger to the movies. Quite the opposite. In fact, for his participation in The Bridge on the River Kwai, William Holden will receive an estimated $2.5 million— a record figure for any star. Marlon Brando, it’s reported, is receiving $1 million for starring in The Fugitive Kind. For co-starring in The Horse Soldiers, Holden & John Wayne each get $750,000 plus 20% of the profits. While it might be argued that Brando, Holden and Wayne are the top-echelon stars in Hollywood, the huge differential in pay exists in lower echelons also. For example, Fabian, the teen-age singing idol, is reported getting $35,000 for his first movie at 20th-Fox. While he has nowhere near the eminence of top TV stars, his salary for that one picture is equal to or more than the pay of many a top TV star for an entire series. Maverick star James Garner who started at less than $200 a week 3 years ago, will receive about $100,000 from Warner Bros, for working in the ABC series and movies this coming season. His “brother,” Jack Kelly, gets $3035,000 for the year. Edd Byrnes, the young star of 77 SunStrip, also a WB series, got around $15,000 his first year on his show, we’re told. (Warner Bros, stars have no participation deals in their series — ^just the customary ScreenActors Guild residuals.) TV salaries aren’t always simple deals. They can best be broken down in 3 categories: deals in which stars own their shows & production companies, the straightsalary deal such as exists at WB, and guest spots. Undoubtedly the best TV income deal is that in which a star has his own production company, and can eventually sell his films on a capital-gain deal. There are quite a few star production-company-owners. However, these deals are often partnerships and the star does not receive all of the profits. An example is Dragnet, which starred Jack Webb. After having the top-rated series for 5 years, Webb and his partners sold the show to MCA for $5 million. Webb got $2.5 million of this; partners Mike Meshekoff and Stanley Meyer each received $1,250,000. That’s a tidy sum by any standards, but still doesn’t approach the zenith of movie star income. Nonetheless, this is the best type of money deal for a TV star — as attested by I Love Lucy, which Desi & Lucille parlayed into a TV empire. This year, for example, Dennis O’Keefe will receive approximately $100,000 plus 25% ownership of The Dennis O'Keefe Show, for starring in 39 of the comedy series. Peter Lawford is an excellent example of TV’s modus operand!, not with his recent The Thin Man, in which he owns 25%, but with Dear Phoebe, a comedy series he made 4 years ago. Lawford and producer-partner Alex Gottlieb each invested $12,500 to bankroll the pilot of the series, which found a network sponsor and was lopped off after one year. However, reruns of the series were leased to NBC which stripped them for daytime use, and Lawford, who owned 51%, recently bought out Gottlieb and other partners to gain 100% ownership of the negatives. Lawford is releasing the reruns abroad, but withholding them in the U.S. in order not to conflict with reruns of Thin Man. When we asked him how much he had netted on the entire Dear Phoebe deal thus far, he cagily ducked a flat answer. replied instead that the series was “extremely profitable.” In a special category is the I’ash of TV specials, but the high prices paid stars for these one-shots often include production costs & guest talent. In the straight-salary category, even the better figures don’t begin to touch movie salaries. Ward Bond reportedly receives $5000 an episode for starring in Wagon Train; Lloyd Nolan got $2500 an episode plus 25% ownership on his SA 7 series; Will Hutchins drew $22-24,000 last season for starring in Sugar foot at Warner Bros. Raymond Burr, star of CBS’s Perry Mason series, receives approximately $100,000 a year for starring in the 60-min. show. His deal also calls for him to be paid a guaranteed income for some years after the show ends production. Top stars such as Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin and Bob Hope usually receive $200,000-250,000 a show, but must pay production costs from this. They try to arrange reciprocal deals by guesting on each other’s shows, a neat way of having a name guest star and keeping costs down. As for guest appearances and stars in anthology shows, the pay varies depending on the situation, but by movie standards it’s not good anywhere. TV’s top prestige series, CBS’s Playhouse 90, has a salary ceiling of $10,000 and this involves about 2% weeks work, including rehearsals. U.S. Steel Hour has a $5000 top. Highest film anthology price is paid on the 60-min. Desilu Playhouse, with the top tab being $10,000 for 2 weeks’ work, and on the 30-min. GE Theatre, which will pay up to $10,000 plus 100% ownership of the film for a top star of the stature of Joan Crawford or Jimmy Stewart. (GE Theatre is produced by MCA’s Revue Productions, and when the stars sell these films to TV for reruns, MCA-TV Film Syndication handles such sales, thus getting a piece of the income for handling distribution.) Wagon Train's guest price is usually $5000 for a star, but on occasion it may go to $7500. Last year Schlitz Playhouse, a 30-min. series, had a $10,000 salary ceiling. Highest guest prices last season were paid on the filmed Playhouse 90’s, with stars receiving $25,000. However, there are no plans to film any of this series next season. Sometimes additional inducements are offered. For example, Desilu Playhouse sometimes offers, in addition to salary, $1000 a run on reruns, and $10,000 in event the telefilm is released to theaters abroad. Other series guest-price tops include June Ally son Theatre, $5000; Twilight Zone, $5000; Dick Powell’s Zane Grey Theatre, $5000; Riverboat, $5500; Rawhide, $2500; Alcoa-Goodyear Theatre, $5000. Although the top guest price for live variety shows on the coast is $10,000, larger prices are paid on N.Y.-originated specials, where June Allyson once got $50,000 for a performance. Tops on the live Dinah Shore Show is $10,000 (dropped from $12,500), and since reruns of a live show are obviously limited, this puts a ceiling on the top stars such a show can sign. Frank Sinatra, who normally would draw much more than $10,000, appeared on Miss Shore’s show twice, once for $10,000, the other time free as part of a reciprocal deal. Dizzily trying to meet salaries in a competitive field, TV is also confronted by the fact many an important movie star can't be lured on because the tax structure is such that he might wind up paying his fee in taxes. Agents grumble that the real problem in telefilm salaries is not so much the money for stars, as the great drop between a star’s salary and that of supporting players. The latter can draw $250-$1500 a week — when they work.