Variety (Dec 1937)

28 VAiflEtr Weclniesflay^i pepeinber Sj^; 1937 Script Ceiisor Shipped West^N^jtwork >5e^s ■ All Controversial Matters NBG is :imi)psi.ng. a ■«?tringeht: check on ■ 'gueistsV l^rpught i^n ' by commer- cials for special; appearances ^^^^a^^^^ result pf- criticism : leveled , at a <;9Uf)le,pf :its;>perspnality' broadcaStsv Agencies are riow required ; .to adr vise the network ;aniply in iadyance. as to prpposied; guests; and wJiat th^ir ■Bubject-'niatWr;^y^i^. be. : ..V;; . ; Impressioh. arqurid\^^tt^ trade, iis that- t\v6 Unfavorable, incident^; ■ Miie West on. Chase i Sanborn Goffee, and Japanese Ambaissadpr Hirpshf Skito'on .iherglne's; NeWs Reel of the; Air, ha^ produceid ah ;aggravated ease of the; jitters':an)ong NBC,> highe^^ ups/ Lattet scout this description bt. the situation. AU ; they art doing, they say, is curbing bad trends and 'exercising riihts .embodied in ■ eVery ■comm'ercia.l/cohtriact." Interpreted as ahdthet 'gesture a;L tightening' up is the. temporary as- signment of Janet MacRorie, NBC's, chief continuity ■ isharpshpoter,; tp. the .Hollywood divisidni During her stay Bhe \vill put into .eftect a; mpre sys- teniaticV method , of . cpntm sorship.., ah<J . CO this score. between .the ■ •yO'est. ■ coast .di- ■ Visi6n;and-.New York,.;;^ Coming ;6n ,the Keels cif the .Mae 'We3t 'episode, . the newspaper: kick- ; back at the Amba>5adoir Saitp broad^ NBC Blues ■ .' . Wiashiriitprii- pec^; 2 , Ice.-bags . have replaced v h^^ on tihiie.;: domes of. lofficials pf; NBC local studiosi ever, since . that Mae'West program,/Sympr • tOmS'pf the screamirigrmeamies are. ■ . .evidence^ eyery. tirhe an N6C. bVg-shbt :pieWs, up the tele-.' phoihe '-reeeiveri / • Phone 'conyersatiphs . which end ..up • with *.... \yell,'. c'm - .up iand see me^ sometime' are parr ;ticuiarty poptilai* at. WRC and WmAL. and more than pne; pfr: ftcial can't look at his morning cup of coffee without;repressing ^shudder^ STANDARD BRANDS PREZ DRAWN IN, TOO . . Albany, N/ Y., Dec. 28. ' Thomas. - Smith, . president of Standard Brands,! Inc^, has sent a.let^ ter ;bf regreVto phe of Catholic papers. who^'seht protest com mUnications, editorials, ■ or bothy ion the recent Mae West episdde. ; .A letter trpm . Sinith is priiited. on paige one - df current issue of .The ist, weekly of thie . Albany- diocese, with- a ciapped -paragr?iph .of expla- nation above the epistle* in the communication, addressed to Fither John J. Ai Q'Glohnor, ed-- itor. Smith stressed.,that .'It ,iS; the furthiest. thing from burr desire .ever to .ti.espass on the bpifders of' good taite'. .'WTe 'make a. sincere .effort to pirp.vide a. high type .of entertainment in' all of .our radio programs, . 'with which I am. surie ydiu will ag;re.e if. VQu ;mil .recall...the .many" have produced .and are ptoducing today/■.. Sniiith continued: .'in ehposing the. n^ahiiscripts for our programs,, it is a definite:' requirement: ior ,th6se in charge to; .select:; rnateriial: that -will hot ;be objectionable to.: any; individ- ual or group... Apparently thiis policy did' not prevent ^portions of. ;the broadcast of the 12th conveying an impressioh. that ■ was not;~ intended; and I .'iyas quite distressed to leatn it pffende'd ahybne;' Standard Brands' prexy mentioned air .applogyi. .^ ^ThC ;; Evangelist • followed. Smith's letter y/ith a Washirigtoh story on the ^^tdrmi of ; protests,( the V J, Walter, Thompson : agency. ' being ^, 'tabbed therein. In'. a[, long editorial The Evahgeliist slapped not only at " Miss West, but at the ^hbrtipspih agency •for bpoking^lver.. ; ^ ■ ': CANDID CAMERA MAG, SPOT^m (EinH Meritipn Name ■' NBG ]ast;;ThUrsd^y ' (23)1. ,dered the banhihg.;of, ahy men- tion of ;Mae West on all rietAvork ' ptpgrams^' Aiptress ' cahhdt - b^ ; inarned; ] .referred:: td in. siphg,: .eitheri.'-.;,-^-V- . ''■^y'/'. ■ . Edict, came;: of 'course,: .as. ia ' result of Miss .' West's - appear- . the Chase & Sanborn RrdiB.ram.'v'" :'-V-: ■ ' cast stirred NBC to ^ thie most . rigid bit of line drawing that the ihdus try has .ekperienced In years; in the instance: of the Energihe ^hdw th^- liew rule .was narrowed to. the'pdint V/here NBC must be consulted even before : .the desiredi" ,persoriality^ is .^contacted. NBC officials hold that the: pro- ducers of the Snergine . stanza, have gdrie beyond the bounds 9t P^Pprlety and arrp^ated .to theihseives func- tions, which' are • strictly the het- wprk's. Vlf; Say these dfficiials, there _is..to-,be^-iany p.resentihg-.of-sp on cdntrPVersial subjects Of national or internatidnal mom^ IJ'BiC Wiil dp it, since the network, through. ex- psrience .and connections has. ■devel- oped the. knack oi! picking. the right persons and the . right time. Ehergine's airing of, theJaijanese diplpinat., direw ai- critical,veditprial froinVCiarl: yah .:Andav editdr: emerir tus in the N, Y.' ,"Times,: Josef .Israels .II, head of Publicity Assdciates,; Inc., which prbduc^:s- the- ■ rie.wsreel ideaj, dofehdied the interpolation in a letter.' to the same newspaper; OMt of /lis. " cpntrdvcrsy came NBC's, decisidri.'tp- give . close . scrutiny, to', all . guests scheduled by. Ener^ine iii: .the =fuli.ire; During the past' week NBG. has rc- .fuscd tp okay the appearances on this progra'hni or Gov; Georg^^^^^ H, Earlie of Pennsylvania, Gliinese Ambassador: Dr, jarnes . Wang, and Joseph .Dayies, Ameritan Aiinbnssaid^)r to ■Soviet Ilus.- sia. As ihe-NEG order how: stands; the pro'ducers of the Enei-gine-shPw must ;8ubrtiit: the names' :o posed, guests td .Abe Sch^chiter, . the network's . hews' , editor,.: with ..John Royal,' NBC program chief,. acting as/ the fihai arbiter on.who shall go oh. • iEn^rgirie ' ■ noiw.: dernanding. that • NBC o'litline its policy with'regard tp ; jguest: appearance* in \v^ ' the program's producers •Won't hav.e to go through a lot of {v^^asted m ; picking, acceptable persons or; have to depend on ithfe mpjienta :whims pf some network designee/ ■ Picture/ the\ candid-camei-a : maga- zine, \ which debuts ^'hexV. month: on the hewsistandis, iis iopki^ ^Pr radio program. . Search- is chiefly for a show. !which Will, tie in with the : p.ublicatloh and . be adaptable :; to: transcription, in which foriri the :na-' tionai air' ballyhpo ■ will likely be fashioned. ■ Mag is being.published by J. Stir- ling Getchell, chieftain of; the ad agency bearing his name. It is un- derstood Walter Chrysler, Jr., has .a piece pf the pub. . And, incidentally, the. agency has a piece Pf the Chiys- ler Motors account. Francis X. Bushman In Chicago Matinee Serial k GhicagP. pec. 28. : ; show tagged '^^ .been set -for the new Colgate nidlar- dust air spread- over a Columbia web; Will be a five-a-week scripter serial starting Jan. 17 and running 15 rnin- utqs djaily at 4:45. .;''.:;.;•'.■.'■ Les Weinrott handling the show and production for the. Benton- & Bpwles-^Ghicago, ajgency. on. the ac- count, Cast set includes Sunda Love. Peggy . .Wall,' Francis . X; Bushman/ .Ethel .payis and Cornelius. Peoples../ Off Ai : : Hollyvirpod, Dec. 28, Sid Skdlsky makes it 13 weeks and off for Brpmd Seltzer; -pistidh. date was last weeki; -v Skolsky will stick to authoring hi5 syndicated column.., ; V; ■ \ New Blackface Teahi ■' New radio blackface comedy team is, Sugarfpot and Sassafras. Latter .( Johnny:. VVelch) is fprmier partner of the late George .Fields (Hdnei'- boy). ■ .Su'»arfdot. Bob Padgett, brother of Pat, of the Pic and Pat act. . '■ \.r^ New .combo is making discs for Alka-Seltzer and, will debut on a network Jan. 6, guesting oh the Rudy Vallee (Royal Gelatin) program, Ed Wolf handles the team. ..:;.':'... Washington, Dec. 28. . /Several ' delicjate 'legal questions, arising Out of thait Mae MVest Adam and Eve broadcastare being • pon- dered this week by the Federal Coni- mtmicatidn Comnriission, ■ • Both the transcript arid .the" recdrd- ing ;are :.t)eing weighed by Gpvierh- ment . authorities before deciding whether to forget the whdle thing,or. call somebody out into thie.;.woodshed. Gommish- is in a dilemma, not know..- ing \yhiether. to punish .thb iietwdrk- pperated stations,: all pf the affiliated, outlets. Chase & Sanborn, the J. Wal-:. ter Thompsdn agency, '■: Mae, or lio- body. . ; ..;' ; -/\' All the' info requested from the web by Chairrnah Frank R. McNinch was delivered' On .Thursday (23), but the disc- has not been, turntabled so far. Members aie reserving judg- ment until they . listen : to. the Inflec- tions: of the. buxdm film actress be-' .fdre- deciding what to do.,; ' • Quandary in which the F.C.Cvflnds itself is .unprecedented.' Air police- men don't it no w exactly how to: pro- ceed.. .Knotty ie"gal points cause eirt- barrassmenti since the Gommish has' ho yardstick, to use in : the event it decides that-, somebody, bught; to be spanked.. Sonie members, leel it Would be unfair to. put the inde- pendently-owned affiliates on the carpet; others think it. •would be equally unfair to sunimon only the web's own transmitters. Public apologies for the offending Mae West Garden of Eden skit have not' dissipated the. threat .of- radio censorship and boycotts of sponsprs of indecent programs. With the Federal Communications Commission mulling the proposition of - punishing NBC stations which aired the unfavorably-received: en- tertainmepi, Cathplic sources indi- dated there remains a, good possi- bility., that the Legion of Decency .will; expand operations to / include radio and that Catholic groups will punish advertisers •who do not watch their, step; This-despite the "asser- tion by Rev. Dr. Maurice F, Sheehy of Catholic University that the ex- pression pf regrets by Chase & San- born, tdgetheip..with . joint prpmi^ bf NBC and J. : Walter - Thonjpson agency,'. satisfactorily ended the ihr cident. ; Father Jsheehy commented sU'gr •festively that many people of. all faiths had prdpdsed that the bishops proceed to rate radip entertainment the same as . they originally : judged isictuires. This .thdUght is understood to be Vreceiying cphsiderabie atte tion in church dirclesi : ' . '■ tVoiiieni' Affronted . Resentment which. Ga dis- played was' rnore than superficial. Both the National Council of Cath- olic Woihen and the Natidnal CoUri- cii df Catholic: AVdmeh used strong language in condemning, air respon- sible for the Eden act, "while . the former group defihiiely; ■ held: out .threat of a boycott of the 'spPnsdr'i?' products. Miss Agnes .Regah, execu- tive:' secFetary of' the N. G. C.. W. commented "it is alniost lunthinkable that a firm catering to the • women of . this country and seeking their patronage, should so aiffrpjftt them.*.; . ' Broadcasting industry, .repifeserita- tiv.es, here' were openly. concerned about the reaction to the West prp- gram. There was a chance that the incident; \yill lead to steps to iofmu-. late a code, of mofai standards for DUNYILLE BUNS WSAI CroBley's 2nd Station Now 5,000 .:WaitS7--Expaosion^ Pushed ' Gihcinhatji Dec. 28. Robert Dunville took oyer'. mah- agership of WSAI last: week simul-- taneoiisly with the Grosley number two stations gping to 5,000 watts. F.G.G.: gave the hod for the power bddst Dec; 23. '.; : New power and new .manager puts the campaign to push^ W$AI as 'Gin-, tinriati's Own Station* "Jihto: its ; m6$t irttehsiye phase to date. ,'-V !; There ..will , he a^ progr.ahji for'.- the new"! pdwer. and WSAI will gb in for; more progfam.. building and . general strengthening. Prior to joining KMQX, St. Louis, five years, ago;, Dunville put in sev- eral years as promotion manager and adyertising head- of: the'Gardn'er Motor Co., St.. Louis. :' Another new ; appdintrherit made by Jarnes Shduse: is the retention of Chester Ilerman, stage; manager and assistant , to. Richard; H. Berger, producer • df St. . Louis, : Municipal -Opera, as • program ■ •consultant ' ot" WLW and WSAI. :'•;■•. Herman has been here for: a short time, serving in an adyispry ca- pacity oh prdgrams ■drigihated arid produced by the Grpsley stations; His new position will not divorce him from ..his work with the St.' Louis ' opera enterprise, •which he joined sevch years since. ; Birmingham, Dec. 28. :: : It's a ticklish .business.:; listirig ■best bets' ort the : radid each day. So .Turner Jordan, radio editor of the.: Birmingham -.News and; Age- Herald, will have no more. Of it. Instead: he will- list programs, in cpnyenient tabular form of each, of the three local radio statidns by 15- niinute intervals.; .■•;■;;'■ Jordan said he couldn't please his readers . with 'best bets* .as some ■wanted this and; some waihted that,; "so !he will: '3Trst- carry the whole thing and let 'em .chodse. . PEHTION NBC TO USE CBS SPORTS SPIELER . •tlhiyersity. .;.pf. Alabama . student- body cdllected 5,000 harries on a pe- tltipii mailed, to NBC in an effort to have . Melvin Thdirias, CBS. "sports- caster, assigned to spiel; the Rose Bowl set-to: between .Alabama and Califdrriia New Year's Day. Student- body had the support of the Univer- sity Administration and COach Frank Thomas in the attempt. :' - Thornas ethered the. descriptions' of ail Fordham games the past season, after coming up from ^yBRC in Bir- mingham, where he handled the air- ings of Alabama's grid contests. Talent Doesn-1 Share ; .> .: Indianapolis, Dec. 28. Employees of WFBM, by virtue of being^affiliated with the' Indianapolis Power & Light Co., participated "in the 3% bonus, passed out. by the utility company to employees. „. , Gift covered gross, income of all staff members, of waiter, including saleismdn, but excluded musicians and others pn the talent payroll.: Bartasol Goes CBS Erwin,. Wasey agency jerks its Bar- basol program off Bliitual next month and transfers it to GBSl . Show, quarter-hour, featuring Arthur God- frey, now rides MBS Fridays. I' •When moved .to Cplumbia, pro- gram will air Moridavs; oyer 24 sta- tions and Fridays coast-tp-cdast, both airings at 7": 15 p. m. Starts on CBS Jan. 24. ■ ■•.-■ ■.., '' ':■ ' .' :.. '^'- .V .■;' : radio patterned after the : ethical fdrmula df the film business. >: : Two lawmakers, Represehtiatives Donald L. O'Toole df New York and Lawrence; Gonriery pf Massachusetts, made capital outof thelsituatipn and renewed clamor for a spiecial invesr ligation. : ■ ■ ■■■■ ■■.'. '• ' .' ■■■'.■'-. ' '■ , Joe Townier now doing publicity and promotion for WMPS; Memphis, after two years at WNOX, Knoxville. Both^ broadcasters dwncd by Scrippsi- Howard. Universal Pictures, v^hich has un- der contract Norman Alley, newsreel photog who : lerised . the Japanese bombing of the U; S. gunboat Panaiyi is) offering ]the camerarnan;}to radid;: programs as a, isirigle-shot iguester;, Over the weekend, asking price for solo, appearance was $20,000, which chilled oiff all interested. Kate Smith prpgrani annduriced. its high bi4 Mras :^2,5d0: Phillips -Lord; for his *We, the. People,' waved $2,000. Bob *Belieye It' Ripley show also made: an offer. ■ : True Pr False': programs which starts on -Mutual basic network Jan. ■ 1,0 for Williarns. shaving cream is an audierice participatidn.:ShoW: Harry Hagen, who is producing, the pro- gram for Ji Walter Thpmpsdn. agen.- cy, . figured on hayirig fi^ ■ from the: Rbxy, N. Y.," debate . with five : lads from Fordham. University : on the iriitiaier. School shied from :. granting pemissidh fpr its debaters to participate after the Jesuit insti- tution learned opponents were to. be Gae. Fdster girls. • .■ ' : Grdunds. Cfdr the nix were= -that. ■ such" radio piarticipatidri under the billing and maroon buhting Ford- : hani would be undignified. ; Debate will go oh, with ;a quintet. df iriternes ;subbing: Medical stUdes' will ript have their hpsp .• cdrinections: named, sincfe the Assdciatidh. of Hds- ' pitals frowns on pliigging of the sort. - MEMPHIS HILLBILUES WEST FOR SCREEN TEST Mehiphis, Efec. 28. Dave and :his 'Rhythm RarigersiV hillbilly howlers and hdke instru- > mentalists, leave for. Hdllywood, \ Jan. 2, for a pic test afforded by Re-; •public; Act is being, tested for po's- : sible spotting in a Gene Autry .-film. •: .Hillbilly grpUp- .has' been ^:^ .l^^^ regularly on programs airing over ; WMP;5 here. .Gharice/.fdr screen'test came afteir turn sent, a^ Waxed audi- tion to .the Coast. KTOK ^Nuisance' Continues Oklahoma City, Dec. 28. Melody is lingering on even though the trial., is over fpr KTOK for Mr. arid Mrs. Avery Harris, who last week lost their, $7,500 sUit against the station for diamages allegedly suf- - • fered frOm noises and music ema- nating from the studios next door, have filed another $7,500 suit. . A second suit is identical except that the dates, are changed: In the first suit they asked damages for per- sonal inconvenience, annoyance and • .diseornforl^ufferedlbetweea. iWairch— 23 and Juhe 25. The new one is for the sariie frorti Juhe' 25 to. Dec. 18. Harris* attornei, Leslie Conner, ' explains that , suits'... which allege a public nuisance may be: filed to coyer every day the nuisance is con- tinued. New suit will'also decide de- preciation in the value of the prop- erty, if any, since installation of the radio station on Jan. 1, 1937; The :' first suit also asked damages for de- preciaitidrii but ith^t' issUe was dis- ; missed by the court. !test Sly{ Looking 'Seaitest Laboratories (milk, and ice -cream:) is:, shopping 'for' a new shovir. ' . Account has had three different net- work layouts in the last year, and as . many different' placement^ agencies! • Biz-placing passed frpm N. W. Ayer . to J. Walter Thompson arid ' .is , now reposing wi.th,. McKee, Albright &■ : Ivey, Philadelphia outfit. ■■■■■}■ Current program. Which - started this, autumn : airs Sundays, 10-i0;30 p, m, on NBC-red, using Alexander' Smallens orch, a chorus and '■ ridii- iname guest >yarblers. ' ■ ■\ . Beh Bernle Diue In N. T, Ben Bernie due back from Miairii Beach, next Wednesday (5) to prer pare for his U". S. Tire debUt Jan, 12. Parke Levy, Allen Jjipscott and Bob. Miller authoring' his stuff;: