Variety (May 1941)

£2 RADIO Wednesday, May 21, 1941 Congressional Grilling of FCC Is Sought by White; Wheeler's Stand, Craney s Exit of NAB. Noted Washington, May 20. i At the moment it looks as it the Federal Communications Coniinis- ■ion will be stethoscoped by Con- gress. ■ Prospects for adoption of Sie resolution by Senator Wallace H. While, Jr, of Maine, wanting to know what effect the anti-monopoly reform rules wiU have on the indus- try and listeners—are brighter than tot any other similar congressional move to put the regulstors on the witness stand. Hearings on the White resoluUon, Introduced last Tuesday (13), have been set lor May 31. Senate Inter- state Commerce Committee probably will give a nod, though the proposi- tion still will have .to get by the administration-bossed Senate Con- tingent Expenditures Committee and then still will ha« to be epproved by the upper wing of Congress be- fore the full study—covering such matters as, legality of the Commish action, effect of the rules on pro- grams, etc.—is all set The Mark Ethridge speech at St. liOuis lest week, the wide publicity of the convention itself made many eolons take the row a lot more seriously. Even some who have thought the webs are cloven-hoofed, began backing away. Wheeler's Position While still wrspped up in his fight with the White House over defense and war issues. Senator Burton K. Wheeler, chairman of the Senate Interstate Commerce Committee, agreed to preliminary ventilation of the direcUy conflicting views about the need for and consequences of the Commish rules. Which is pretty good indication he is on Senator White's side, despite his statement voicing alarm ebout the extent to which the networits '(jontrol' the na- tion's radio facUiUes. Wheeler seldom calls his committee together to take up proposals he opposes, un- less .there Is bone^shattering pres- •ure. The FCC's 'finding* that National end Columbia webs dictate use of 85% of the after-dark wattage Is 'alarming,' Wheelfr asserted, making plain he hasnt found time to study the document or reached any de- cision. He said he was 'worried' to know that such a high proportion of the facilities can be dominated . from New York. In some respects, Wheeler's re- marks led to the expectation he will disapprove of what the regulators decided. Especially In view of ru- mors New Dealers In general think radio is allotting too much time to advocates of the isolationist position in scheduling talks on \far policies Inasmuch as he is doing everything possible to stir up antagonism to the President's course, Wheeler may- be sympathetic.to complaints that 'arbl. trary .actiorf* such as the rules sup' posedly typify may be followed by government control over programs. In' weigliing the Commish coh' elusions. Wheeler said he will keep in mind the following principles: 1, Preservation of tree speech, so that neither the government nor private Interests can gag any &ction In c public controversy. 2. free com. petition without artificial. restraints on potential new webs. 3. 'No sin- gle organization should obtain an undue control of what the people of The Fightin' Blue this country may hear.' 4. That, by and large, there should be separation between chain operation and station management. Craney Powder* Withdrawal of Ed Ctaney (KGIR, Butte), from the National Associa- tion of Broadcasters should not be overlooked. He's one of Wheelefs pals and many industry people feel that most of the senator's knowl- edge of radio matters comes from Craney. Wheeler, moreover, never lias been publicly friendly to the big networks, though he personally gets along very weU with their exec- uUves, even to the extent of golfing with representatives of the inter- ests.' (His son, Edward, is a lawyer in the office of Louis G. Caldwell, counsel for Mutual). Senator White was encoureged by the St Louis blow-off. He counted on getUng numerous colleagues m- terested in his proposition who ordi- narily wouldn't care about such a question as the legality of FCG ac- Uons, especially Democrats who are inclined to go along with the ad- ministration from force of habit end others who have submerged their personal feelings in order to support the White House. With Ethridge, a previously loyal Roosevelt backer, on the rampage, he sUnds to benefit materially. The hearings to decide whether the White resolution should be re- ported to the senate probably will be a dress rehearsal of the row that will occur in event the measure is adopted and the full inquiry takes place. Usually . committee con- sideration of such proposals results In a full airing of iomplalnts, some- times to the point that the formal investigation would be entirely su- perfluous. FOR GEN. FOODS Deal is reported about to be closed for General Foods to buy the serial- ization rights to The Old Maid,' Zoe AUns" Pulitzer Prize play of 1934-35 season. Contract Is understood to include the material and the au- thor's services as adaptor, for^ a starting price of $750 a week, with options increasing the amount $150 a yea* therfeafter. Not known what product the series would be for, but Benton & BowRs is mentioned as the agency. Assignment would be the first ra' dio attempt for Miss Akins, who in addition to 'The' Old Maid,' has written The Happy Days,' current- ly at the Henry Millet theatre, N. Y. and 'O, Evening Star,' an \msuccess lul drama of several seasons ago, based on the life of Marie Dressier. The Old Maid' was produced as a picture about two years ago by Warners, with Bette Davis. Btad Brown takes over production of Gene Autry's 'Melody Ranch' for. tiie J. Walter Thompson agency fol- lowing resignation of Tony Stan- ford. Hollywood, May 30. On the wall of every oflioe in Tracy Moore's blue network sales department at NBC last week was posted the legend: 'Business as usual during al- tercations.' E.otiak Carries On In a letter enclosed with the . NBC-Blue's new rate card (No. 29) Edgar Kobak, the network's sales v.p., called attention to the addition of a long list of sta- tiohs to the web since the first of the year. The opening .sentence of the letter read: •Yes...the Blue Nat work Is still for sale (by the clock)! Roosevdt Didn't See Mooopo^ Report Bdt llmt s Only ^ed Down Fact in Whcde Edui^e Ca PRINTERS MAKE TAX RADIO' PUA I 'One-Man Show' to Square Budget Kormcm Corwin Devising Stunt to Offset Overdrafts on Columbia's Treasury To get back to the budget allotted him by CBS, Norman Corwin Is planning a one-man show, to be called 'Soliloquy,' as one of the pro- grams in his '26 by Corwin' series Sunday nights. Expenses on the first three shows ran above expectations. .Be has general outline for' 'Solil- oquy,' but as yet no one In mind for th«^lead. This Sunday (25) night's edition vill be 'Lip Service,' a play with music, featuring Larry Adler as har- monica guest soloist and possibly Jo- sephine HuU in a supporting comedy . part Next week (1) will be a drama in verse, the only one of the series. It'll be called 'Appointment' and the theme will be revenge. No one set for the cast. Another offering of the series will be 'Esther,' an operetta from the BibiUcal story, with a score by Lyn. Murray, who composed the music for 'Radio Primer,' the first show of the series. Other programs may include vehicles written specially for Chai'^:s Laughton, Ruth Gordon and Sir Cedrlc Hardwicke. Four of the *26 by Corwin' programs will be in- cluded in a volume of 13 of his scripts, to be published In August by Heniy Holt . Washington, May 20. Ability to pay argument, boIst«r«d by reference to tremendous profits' made in selling stattons, was gtvan the House Ways and Means Com- mittee Monday (19) in support of that heavy gross revenue tax on broadcasters advocated by the print- ing trades. Levy of 20% on the ag- gregate take of upper-bracket trans- mitters was urged by John B. Hag- •r^, pre^dent of the International Allied Printing Trades Association (A. F. of L.), with schedule scaling down to 10% of $150,000. Also suggesting that the Federal Government snatch 75% of payments for radio properties above the actual value of what is transferred, Hag- erty told the revenue-seekers they can bring in around $12,000,000 a year by tapping radio. Secondary benefit would be creating more ]obs for tmion members of the printing trades, through wiping out "unfair competition' in the advertising field, he conceded. As was done recently when sup- port of pid>lishers was solicited, Hagerty laid empha&ls on the 'en- tertainment* side of radio. No de- sire on the part of the brotherhoods to put the bite on advertising as such, he maintained. But broad- casters, wh6 purvey amusement and entertainment in competition with other enterprises subject to special taxes, such as motion pictures, should be treated the same way. He re- markefd that VAioErT regards broad- casters as full blood brothers of the amusement faqilly' and most news- papers print program schedules on the amusement pages, without men- tioning the names of sponsors. And the Federal Government treats ra- dio as more a medium of entertain- moit than of advertising. Hie Argament "We come here with two objec- tives—one as Americans to assist you in your enormous task of rais- ing necessary billions of dollars for national defense by indicating a new and untaxed source of revenue. Tlie other as tradesmen, that you elimi- nate, as' you can, unfair competition that is depriving highly skilled American workers of much-needed jobs,' Hagerty told the head-scratch- ing lawmakers. 'You can help us and yourselves by the simple expedient of recom- mending to the Congress that radio broadcasters, primarily dissemina- tors of entertainment be taxed on their gross incomes exactly as all other disseminators are taxed, and on the' enormous profits cashed in on the value of the government fran- chise for which the government re- ceives not a dollar when stations sire sold.' ■\ Referring to the 'excessive rebates' allowed by broadcasters, the labor leader concentrated his attack on the bigger stations. He cited FCC figures to show that in 1939 33 dear-chan- nel stations, all spraying programs from major networks, raked In |27,- 055,146, with net revenue equlviilent to 133.6% of the value of the plants, and 174 regionals had total revenues of $32:814,648, netting 63% of the properly valuation. Net revenues of 73 transmitters in areas with over 2,000,000 people amounted to $5,812, 565, or a return of 76.7%. Ehner Davis to Colgate Sponsorship Upon Bis Return From Ei^^ Elmer Davis, due back from Eng- land sometime next week, will be sponsored beginning June 1 by Col- gate soap six nights a week in his regular 8:65 'p.m. news spot on Columbia. Remaining night (Mon- day) he will go on as a sustainer. Before leaving the U. S. several -weeks ago for a first-hand look at the war scene,' he was bankrolled by 01Uett« razor. Colgate is also continuing its 'Story of Bess Jolmson' serial for the same soap product, with Ward Wbeelock the agency on both shows. Other Colgate-Palmolive-Peet programs in- olude "Colgate SpoUight,' 'City Desk' and "Woman of Courage,' all with the Ted Bates agency, and "Ellen Randolph,' "Myrt and Marge,' 'Step- mother' and Bill Stem's "Sports NewsreeV all handled by Sherman- Marquette agency. ELLERY QUEEN SERIES DUE BACK ON THE AIR Charleston, S. C—Meredith Smith director of women's activities at WTM A, res igned to take similar post I with WWDC, Washington. Frederic Dannay.and Manfred Lee, who write under the name of Ellery Queen, returned from the Coast last week and will remain In the east in- definitely. Dannay arrived a week ago and Lee on Sunday (18). They have a number of projects in the works. Prime matter on their slate at the moment is a poiding deal for the re- tt^m to the air of their radio series, "The Adventures of EUery Queen.' Several different firms have con-v sidered the show in the last couple of months, but the present deal ap- pears so likely that the authors came on. from the Coast to sit in on the dickering. Identity of the prospec- tive bankroller isn't revealed. Pro- gram was sponsored by Gulf Oil last summer and before that wfis a CBS siistalner. GILLETTE'S WORLD SERIES Deal Made ThrMgU Mntoal As in Foriner Seasons Chicago, May 20. As had been expected generally. Mutual again sold the exoliislve rights to the World's Series, Gillette taking the broadcasts for the 1941 baseball classic. Mutual has held the option for the lights for several years and goes' into the coming series with an op- tion for the exclusive rights in 1942 also. Maxwell Coffee Iced Hollywood, May 20. Maxw.ell House coffee show drops off for seven wedcs after July 10 broadcast All hands have been renewed for the fall resumption. Washington, May 20. The Federal Contmunlcatlons Com- mission majority seems to be non- plussed as a result of President Roosevelt'9 statement Friday (16) that he had no advance knowledge of the nature of either the rules br report which wound up the chain- monopoly Investigation. Though he declined to express any opinion of the reforms and took no formal no- tice of the to-do, the Chief Executive failed to back up the crack-down element on the regulatory body. Leaving newspaper correspondents still wondering where Chairman James L. Fly'and his four colleagues stand,, Mr. Roosevelt said flaUy and unequivocally that he had not seen the proposed reforms. The infer- ence drawn by scribes at'his con- ference was that he had no idea the Commish was about to take such speedy action, let alone go to such lengths to stamp out monopoly. Mystery about the 'White House, attitude was not completely removed, though, for the President neatiy avoided divulging whether- he sides with Mark EQiridge. After the Chief Exec declined to comment on the FCC report, obseivfation was made that apparently Ethridge was right in commenting he was 'deceived and almost betrayed' by the majority of the regulators. To this, Mr. Roose- velt apologized that he hadn't found time to go into the matter, having been too occupied with other more Important things, meaning inter- national problems and the defense program. No official cognizance^ of the Presi- dent's statement was taken by Fly or others comprising the Commish majority. On their behalf—and en- tirely Informally—It was suggested they never would have gone aheaa luiless they felt certain the Chief Exec was behind them, while one of Fly's confidantes - pointedly doubted if industry people thought the Com- mish chairman on his recent 'White House visits talked about interna- tional affairs. StUl, nobody claimed that Mr. Roosevelt flashed the green light. The demand of the National -Asso- ciation of Broadcasters' executive board that Fly be removed drew a tart comment Fly retorted, 'It is of no great concern to our democracy whether .any one particular man or group Of men shall occupy public of- fice. It is of real concern to the Na- tion, however, that official positions be held by men of sufficient strength of character to do their duty in the face of the strongest pressures which can be turned upon them.' Another attempt to smoke out the .White House on the Ethridge charges flopped. Presidential Secretary Stephen T. Early, who on Tuesday (13) reprimanded offieals of Mutual for Implying that the President sees eye to eye with them on the rules, wiggled out when asked to comment on the WHAS exec's 'deceived and almost betrayed' charge. Early re- plied, 1 think Mr. Ethridge Is a gentleman of great honesty and sin- cerity of purpose' when asked for comment on the accusation that TVs St Co. acted without the Chief Ex- ecutive's consent. Teachers Union Loses N. Y. Case Judge Dismisses Suit Growing Out of WMCA's Cancellation of Headache Suit of Dr. Bella V. Dodd and Dr. Robert K. Speer, teachers, against WMCA, New York, the Joint Legis- lative Commitiee, Herbert R. Rapp, and Frederio R. Coudert, Jr., was dismissed Thursday (15) by federal Judge Samuel Mandelliaum, The court ruled that It could find no vlo- ,lation of the plaintiffs' constitu-^ tional rights in the teachers union feud case. Dr. Dodd Is a former of- ficer of l40cal B of the N. Y. Teach- ers Union; Speer Is prez of the Col- lege Teachers Union. State Senators Rapp and Coudert heed the Joint Legislative Committee Investigating subversive activities in N. Y. schools. Plaintiffs had sought through a series of broadcasts over WMCA to explain their point of view on' the investigation of subversive activities In tiie schools. It was charged thai through coercion and examinatiops of officials of WMCA, the station de- cided to cancel the broadcasts since it was costing too much to heve Its officers consistently in court Violation of the rights to free speech were charged in the action, which sought a court injunction against interference.