Variety (Mar 1936)

^JttafottM""* 1 - 2 *' 1936 AD I 37 STATIONS NIX SWEEPSTAKES Barthelmess Won't Sue Thompson On 12-Hour Contract Cancellation Neither ichard Barthelmess nor GUlOn's Predicament the Curtis & Allen office will make In Jasue of the 'Postman Always Twice' censorship incident; to* the itent of proceeding against NBC . Stempting to hold the J. Walter Thompson agency to its contract. Both have decided to set.it down as Jne of those things and Jet it go by the boards, Barthelmess, Mary Phillips and Joseph Greenwald of the 'Postman- cast were.booked, to d.o a scene from the current Broadway show on the Vallee-Fleischmann program last week (19). Reporting for re- hearsal the. day (Wednesday) prior, to-' the scheduled broadcast, the three legit players were informed that NBC had decided the. script tvas 'too hot' for radio use. In its place the agency booked,, ftnd NBC okayed, a script called ' 'Inside -Story,' written by Jonathan gtone. To placate Barthelmess, -who was burning over the 'Postman' cancellation, the agency offered him the lead in the substitute script. The former screen actor read it and turned it down oh the grounds that in his opinion it was far more offensive than 'Postman.' The sub- stitute, story Involved the murder of a boy by his owfi brother. It went on the Vallee program with Alex- ander Kirkland and Reed Brown, Jr., also legit actors, playing it. NBC first attributed the cancella- tion to the fact that it was 'impos- sible* to condense 'Postman', down tjb the required radio script running time, but the censorship for moral reasons was later admitted by spokesmen for the network. NBC maintained the cause for the delay in the cancellation, which gave the Thompson agency less than 24 hours to fill'the hole was that no- body, at the network had seen the script until Wednesday morning. It complalnt whicn had bee n filed by was learned that the Thompson v agericy lately ha'd refrained from Isham . Jones - At a hearing it held last Saturday (21) the governing boaiv. ruled that Russ Morgan might go through with the contract he had signatured for the agency's Rinso program on CBS pending a Pittsburgh, March 24, Jack Glhon, program direc- tor of. KDKA, was kept under ice packs for 48 hours at the Mercy hospital last, week while physicians awaited restoration of p.ower in order to permit. X-rays to be taken. Gihon was believed to be suffering from gallstones but medicos' were unwilling to operate: un- til pictures had been made. Of afflicted area, \ He was taken to hospital day flood broke arid was being, pre- pared for X-rays When power went off. His condition was reported favorable over week- end .although he will remain there under observation for several more days. At the same time, Gihon's wife, Jane, Hamilton, radio edi- tor of Sun-Telegraphy was suffering from partial paralysis of the left jaw, due to a small abscess at base of brain. Phyr sicians, however, said there was no serious dangeh COIN CONTEST BIZ Ask Ruthrauff & Ryan To Answer Isham Jones 9 Rinso Booking Claim Ruthrauff & Ryan have been asked by the governing board of the New York Musicians' Union to have a representative present at union headquarters tomorrow (Thursday) "to give the agency's side of the submitting scripts until a day or so before the broadcast, because no difficulty had previously been en* countered with legit show condensa- tions. Barthelmess company was to have received $1,000 for the broadcast, decision on the Jones case Rinso That's the flat rate for all current legit abbreviations on the Fleisch- • manri program. WSM PROGRAM TO BRITAIN . Special Easter Show For ritish Broadcasting Pick-Up Nashville, March 24. Felix Greene, American represent- ative of the British ' Broadcasting ■Corporation, was in Nashville Fri- day to arrange for the appearance of Fisk University Choir and the Fisk Jubilee Singers on an all- Negro program to be rebroadcast in England. James Weldon John- son, professor of creative literature at Fisk, will read his poem 'Crea- tion.' Program, scheduled for 12:15 p.m. (CST), Easter Day. will originate in the studios of WSM. and will last 30 minutes. Crosby Wants Breather J. Walter Thompson Is trying tii induce Bing Crosby to stay on the Kraft show (NBC) beyond June IS, on which date his contract permits him to leave for a 10-week vaca- tion. Crosby wants to quit then with no «s or buts. but there' is a chance or continuing for three or four more weeks if his picture schedule keeps liod m Hollywood during that pe- program with Morgan debuted last night (Tuesday). In his complaint to the union Jones claimed that R. & R. Had through the agent which submitted him, Jerry Saphier, accepted his services for the program and that he was under the impression that the band spot was his until the agency announced It had retained Morgan. Jones argued that though the understanding was verbal it was still a contract, and told the governing board that because of the coming air job he had passed up a road tour which had been laid but for him by the CBS Artists Bureau. Latter outfit has also, been asked to have a rep present at tomor- row's hearing. Ruthrauff & Ryan contends that it had not made a definite commit- ment to Jones or his agent, but that it had advised the latter that Jones' services were okay as far as the agency was concerned but his engagement would be subject to. the approval of the sponsor. Lever Bros. This approval, says the agen- cy, was not obtained. Report Lottery Promoters Trying to Ascertain Atti- tude of Federal Com- munications Commission in Order to Allay Fears of Broadcasters COME-ONS romoters of sweepstake projects are having a tough time getting even consideration for offers they have made to broadcasters of spot business* Station men aren't tak- ing any chances on anything that smacks of money giveaway regard- less' of the merchandising stunt behind it. It was reported: last week that the No. 1. man of one of the sweepstakes outfits that. are trying to get on the air was in Washing- ton trying to feel out the Federal Communications Commission on what its reaction would be if the, business were accepted by stations. Station reps: who. have been ap^ proached with the sweepstakes campaigns have in all. known in- stances pointed out the lottery im- plications and opined, that they were sure their station clients would steer clear Of the proposition. What has. particularly put the station reps on guard was the indictment in New York recently of a group of sweep- stakes promoters. One of these committed suicide oh°the eve of ar- raignment. One of the newer outfits that was trying to buy time last week was the Travel Contest Corp. Air cam- paign would involve asking listeners to send in $1, in return for which they would get a travel magazine, Trips, and an official entry blank to a contest offering $60,000 In cash prizes, and $90,000 worth of travel certificates. The first prize calls for $37,600. in cash and a trip around the world for. two persons. . Another of this genre that has contacted station reps Js the Golden Hearst Network Seen Readying; Mutual or Warner, or Both, Figure; Hear Bids Made WEEI, WXYZ, Lee Fighting Pose Washington, March 24. Sense of humor of bickering Federal Communications Com- missioner has not been blunt- ed by internal tiffs and re- peated scrapping; One day last week, photog- rapher for Time mag visited the commish to snap members sitting around the council table in stiff formal poses. After making several stereotyped shots, fotog asked commission- ers to relax and let him make a picture of them 'as you usu- ally are at work.' Request brought a snapper from -One member who asked with mock astonishment, 'Are you serious? re .you by any chance getting this picture for the sports page?' Whole group broke out in one of the best belly-laughs heard in commish quarters for months. States Sweepstakes, with Hlrshon- Garfield acting as the advertising agency. This has advised the reps that it has • $100,000 in prizes in escrow and that Alfred J, Smith, Jr., son of New York's former governor, was its general counsel. Station WEBR, Buffalo, has dur- ing the past several months per- mitted itself to be used as mail ad- dress by promoters of a word-un- scrambling contest offering cash prizes. Promoters insert paid ad- vertising in newspapers (not just in Buffalo) calling attention to contest. What average contestant gets in re- turn for an entry fee of $1 is a col- lection of publicity stills of film stars. Use of the radio station's prestige and address but not of its broadcast time is involved in the deal. Hearst's Tata on Radio Publicity A Paradox; Building Own Network William Randolph Hearst's latest station buying splurge and the tendency of his radio organization <to play with the Mutual Network has NBC worried. Incident, wiiich lasted a week, drew a heavy scowl from NBC was .the. service that WCAE, Hearst's Pittsburgh mouth- piece, gave Mutual on covering the local flood. WCAE, which is allied with. NBC's red link, fed Mutual with thrice daily comments on the disaster. by Norman Twigger, WCAE staff man. Impression gathered by NBC is that Hearst is out gathering sta- tions with a view to aligning them with Mutual immediately or soon after the presidential election. NBC sees the setting in of permanent lines into Pittsburgh and WBAL, Baltimore, by Mutual as more than a co-operative relationship. To NBC it is the initial;, step of an al- liance that will find, providing the Chicago Tribune's (WGN) antago- nism tbwai'd Hearst can be over- come, Mutual and the Hearst owned outlets in a strategically placed hookup. This possible maneuver plus Hearst's., penchant for pushing around the radio departments in his newspapers presents a serious prob- lem for it, avers NBC. Also close- ly watched by NBC are the possi- bilities of a joint venture in broad- casting by Hearst and Warner Bros.- Rumors of Hearst buying more stations were rife last week. One report has "him bidding $1,750,000 for WEEI, Boston, another had him negotiating for WXYZ, Detroit, and a third had him holding an option on the Don Lee network. WEEI is now allied with NBC's red link, while WXYZ is a recent Comer to the blue. WXYZ's management de- nied that there had been any talk of a buy between Itself and the Hearst organization. Report about the option on the Don Lee came after it was disclosed that CBS and Dick Richards, of WJR, Detroit, were huddled with Guy Earl on a purchase ot KNX, Los Angeles 50,000-watter. It was said Monday (23) that, the option details on the deal hod been worked out and that all remaining was an exchange of signatures. Jack Gross Resigns T Shrcveport, March 24. # Gr0fts ' commercial man* S~v° f KWKH ' on * of the two has IT" Tlmes ' siste r stations, n ai resigned. I»i7^ d | . lhat h0 intemls t0 Bo into Witt Li mself ' but d W »ot say of Ut natui 'e his venture would be. Den Shaw's New Job j Don Shaw leaves NBC March 31 to become assistant to Harry McCann, president of .the Mo.Cann- Erickson agency. ShOAv's network title is eastern sales manage;:, lie steps into his new ;oL April 1. i Shaw joined the NBC time" selling staff three years ago. and in a few months was boosted Into the execu- tive position. 7,753,793 English Sets London. March 15. The number of radio licenses in force in England last month regis- tered a high total of 7,753,793. This is an increase of 94.0G0 over the previous month. Some 38 Hearst-owned news- papers scattered through the United States have pared their radio de- partments to a minimum on direct orders from William Randolph Hearst. Radio editors have been transferred to other duties. Speculation is rife in the radio industry as to Hearst's motives for the action. It seems generally un- derstood that the publisher reacted to the Earl Browder (Communist) speech over CBS and decided to ex- press his displeasure with the broadcasting industry by refusing all publicity co-operation. At the same time other theories Were heard. One sought to trace a squeeze play between Hearst and his film ally, Warner Bros., against the network-ASGAP condition which is blocking song plugs on the new Marion Davies picture re- leased through Warners. Anoth<r | explanation discerned a connection between the Louolla Parsons-Mary Pickford feud over radio guest stars but that was generally pooh-poolied as far-fetched. Hearst -organiza- tion itself was a bit confused by the decision. Tempering Fire Original orders were modified at the request of higher-ups in the Hearst organization who persuaded publisher to carry out the new pol- icy gradually rather than over- night. It was also arranged that where individual Hearst papers have reciprocal publicity deals with radio stations these will be carried but until the date of expiration but not thereafter renewed. Only logs plus (in some in- stances) 'best bets' boxes are to be printed. In New York the agate listings bobbed up in eight point type. Nick Kenny of the N. Y. Mirror is running a general column with tin pan alley non-radio stuff. Mike Porter and Louis Held not're- adjusted but still oh payroll. Similar situations out of town reported. How long Hearst's peeve on radio will last is anybody's guess. Para- doxically, as the Hearst papers cur- tail radio publicity. Heart himself is husy negotiating for stations. Besides the five stations he. has just acquired in Texas, Hearst is re- ported secUing transmitters in Bos- ton, Detroit and California. NO RAY NOBLE RENEWAL- CONSIDER BLACK, NBC Coca Cola, which is on CBS Wednesday nights, is not rencwinfr for Ray Noble when the present 26- week contract expires April 22. It hasn't been decided by the account whether it will withdraw altogether from- network broadcasting on that date. Pribram which Coca Cola Js giv- ing consideration is to a replica of the one It had on NBC last season. Latter show had Frank Black head- ing an orchestra of 40 pieces and included a mixed chorus. Conti Shifts to WMCA Conti Products switche': its nma- ; (fur show .March 31 to WMCA. New j York-, from WOR where It has been running for the past year. Deal with the former is for 26 weeks, after which it proposes to return to WOR. Among the "Z new accounts brought in so far this month by WM'OA are Natural Bloom Cigar and Loft Candy Stores. With Natu- ral Bloom it will be a daily baseball resume on a basis of .10 weeks, Fred Waring aired 'On 1'out- goes' music last night (24) on hl.s CBS program. New Rodgers-1 Wirt musical comes into Broadway in two weeks' time. Union Interpretation Ends Jesters, Divano 3 on WLW Cincinnati, March 24$ Two WLW musical groups—the Rhythm Jesters and the Divano Trio—have faded out because Oscar 11 lid, prexy of the local musicians' union, classrd theni as Instrumen- talists requiring union affiliation. Have been sustalners on WLW for the past two years. Jesters comprise-four lads and a pianlste, Gladys Lee. They doubled j vocal and Instrumental Divanos ar.o male'string musicians. Lee Baldwin and Eddie Birnbreyer of the Jesters combo will continue on the, Ci osley staff as arranger and vocal pipester respectively.