Variety (Jul 1944)

24 TELEVISION—RADIO Wednesday, Juljr 5, 1944 Annenbergs Tele Station Bid Linked To Hot Competish of Philly Papers Philadelphia, July 4. ♦ Reports arr current here that Walter Annenberg, publisher of the Philadelphia Inquirer, has applied to the Federal Communications Com- mission for a permit to erect, a tele- vision station on ground adjacent to the Inquirer building. / •. Annenberg, who inherited the In- quirer from his father, the late M. % (Moe) Annenberg, has repeated- ly denied reports that he was inter- ested in the purchase of radio sta- tions. He recently -purchased prop- erty adjacent to the newspaper's building which was once owned by the Baldwin Locomotive Works. ' At the time of purchase he an- nounced it was for ''post-war ex- pansion." A video outlet would fit into that category. >.- •'':,,••''-. "'• . The Inquirer has been trying to attain the lead in circulation in Philly, now held by the Bulletin. The latter paper, owned by Robert McLean, prexy of the Associated Press, recently purchased WPEN. a deal which is now awaiting sanction from the FCC. Philadelphia. — Jack O'Reilly, yet KYW sports spieler, left last week to join staff of WNEW, New York, He will also assist NBC's BUI Stern on special assignments. Delay in Fitting Out DuMont Studios Defers Preem of Tele Operetta 'The Boys From Boise," original operetta; two hours Jong, skedded for tele presentation over WABD-Du- Mont,- N. Y., this, month, has been postponed until September because of delay in completing new studios under construction at DuMont's Ma d i s o n avenue headquarters. Planned to have the Ray Nelson mu- sical production as feature of the studio launching in the fall. Show in the meantime has lined up Esquire mag as sponsor and Al- fred R, Pastel, publication's adver- tising director, is planning special promotion in connection with the tele Pi'eem. Rehearsals will continue tl.-oughout summer. "Boys" will use a 13-piece orch under baton of Sam iM^doft, studio pianist and. composer of operetta score. Philadelphia—J. Richard Jessen, formerly of WWSW and KQV, Pitts- burgh, has joined the announcing staff of WPEN. GEE, FELLAS, IT WAS NEWS TO ME, TOO... I'm a cow. Obvious. But I'm also cover girl on One of the goshdarndest farm stories you ever read. It's just been put out by WOR, and the folks up there thought it might be nice if I told you something ahout it. . It says, for instance, that the 7-state area WOR covers, has 896,000 farming people who earned half a billion dollars in 1943. That's lift tr.ore than they earned in 1942! .' - *-..'' ■'' ■' Well, fellas, that was news to me, too. But, listen. — you'd belter see the whole story. It's.called "News Of The Farm"; which, by the way, is the name of the WOR farm show conducted by farm-wise Joe Bier. Popular? According to the Department of Agriculture, 85?< of all Eastern farmers listctt to . it daily. I'm only a cow. Biit I know farm folks buy every- thing. And WOR sells 'em lots of everything. Write for your copy of "Mews Of The Farm" to- ■ day. It's worth havinY Television Review Th* address is WOR 1440 Brotuhvay, New York 18 "THE WOMAN WHO WAS AC- QUITTED" With Steve Roberts, Mason Andrews, Josephine Van Vlict, Jack Bittner, Ronald Alexander and Donald Kuyes Producer: Irwin Shayne Staged by Sanford Meisner and Tony Ferraira 30 Mins., Sunday (2), 9-9:3* p.m. Sustaining WABD-DuMont, New York Psychological exploration into the guilt of an acquitted murderess pro- vided a satisfactory vehicle for one of the best live shows televised via DuMont. Session produced by Tele- vision Workshop presented a profes- sional cast under skilled direction and demonstrated what such a com- bination means to the video medium. Camera work, although still far be- hind film techniques,i,was head and shoulders above anything previously shown by the studio's technicians.' Resolves were practically instanta- neous and closeups were dollied with fiinesse as compared with.earlier at- tempts where a certain amount of jerk mess could always be depended upon. ■V'-. Only weakness in the whole stanza was the script itself and a few minor difficulties with lighting and fo- cussing. The story of an acquitted murderess who confesses her crime while in a cataleptic trance Is scien- tifically unsound but the cast made it- appear believable and that's what, pays off from an entertainmentj viewpoint. Script also provided little opportunity for action . and motion but this may have been helpful rather than harmful since viewer's attention was riveted to a limited area, thereby. heightening the psy- chological reaction to such a cold- blooded deed as the strangling, of a baby. Latter theme and its enact- ment would undoubtedly cause regu- lar AM broadcasters many a grey hair with their tabus on realistic ef- fects. Tele with its widened oppor- tunity for gruesomeness will prob- ably prove a headache for the blue- pencil boys. All in all, the session last Sunday night (2) was a step in the right di- rection. Ttiro. FIRST ALL-SERVICE — VIDEO SHOW IN-CHI • .Chicago, July . 4. All-Navy-personnel War Bond Television show to be aired here to day (4) over WBKB will mark the first time that a video show has been exclusively produced, written, and acred in by members of the armed forces.:.' \: : Included in the show will be At vino Rey, now a Navy radio trainee at Wright Junior College, Lt. Orrin Tucker and his Navy orchestra. Wave Lt, Frances Rich, daughter of Irene Rich, and Commander Bill Ed*y, former head of WBKB. Sailors have built special sets for the show, including one that's a dead ringer for the bridge of a destroyer —wheel, pelorus, engine telegraph and all. s Tele 'University of Air' Has Preem Tonight (5) Educational possibilities of tele will be explored via "Television Uni- versity of the Air" produced by Charles M. Storm Co. First session in the series will be given tonight (5) over WABD-DuMont, N. Y., and will feature half-hour lecture on natural history by Jay T. Fox, ex- plorer, naturalist and potographer. Session will present natural his- tory specimens augmented by slides in attempt to develop workmanlike method of combining showmanship and education. Barry's 'Matinee Daily' In Video Preem Thurs. (6) . •> Schenectady, July 4. William E. (Bill) Barry, vet legit actor and playwright, has penned a teleplay, "Matinee Daily," which will be aired by WRGB Thursday (6). "Daily" is a backstage story in one act and five scenes and will be given by an all-GE cast directed by Barry and Hal Stanton. ■■ Barry isvnow engaged in war work %t GE's Schenectady plant. ' Collins DuMont Consultant Ted Collins last week was ap- pointed program consultant Of, the DuMont Television station, WARD, N. Y. He's been collecting material suitable for tele for some time and it will be available to advertisers using WABD. .'' - Collins is now at his place at Lake Placid, N. Y.. working on for- mats for prospective video presenta- tions. •Pomes' Sell Paint Those poetic excu/sibns of Allan Reed, the "Falstaff" of the Fred Allen program, paid oft big dividends last week. Reed pocketed $1,000 through the Warwick & Legler agency for a one-minute rhapsodic 10- line verse to be used as a spot announcement for. Coroci an odorless paint. Threat Seen To Eastern Unguals Future status of foreign-language broadcasts on at least two independ- ent stations in the N. Y. metropoli- tan area, appears to be in doubt. Hence the question has been raised whether any change in. policy keyed to stronger sales return would be wise at a time when the need: for Unguals to help foster better under- standing among nationalities is felt to be more acute than ever, The future of Italian language broadcasts emanating from . WOV, N. Y., is Involved in the scheduled hearing tomorrow (6) at Washington before the Federal Communications Commission on the sale of the indie station by Arde Bulova to the Mes- ter Bros., owners of the Balbo Oil Co., for $300,000. Richard O'Dea, minor- ity stockholder in the station, is challenging the transaction, claiming he held a first option to buy the sta- tion from Bulova: WOV in the past has done a particularly noteworthy job With its uninterrupted program- ming sked daily from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., achieving prominence, includ- ing a "Variety"; showmanagement plaque, for helping to foster closer ties between N. Y. Italians and anti- Fascist elements within Italy, Possi- bility is seen, however, of a switch in the station's lingual policy under the Mester Bros, helm. Purchase by the Cowles Bros, of WHOM, Jersey City, is also expected t o affect foreign languag e broadcast- ing in the metropolitan area, wiftT the new owners, currently awaiting FCC approya.l, seen dropping such programs. Corwin Series in 21-Wk. Layoff After Sept. 5; Returns to New Spot Norman Corwin will return to CBS with his air dramas after a 21- week vacation which begins after the Sept. 5 session. Net will have to find another, spot for him when he returns since the Wrigley "America in the Air" show takes over the Tuesday night 10-10:30 p.m. slot, Corwin's contract with CBS pro- vides that the vacation doesn't re- strict his activities while off the air except to forbid appearances on an- other network. ' NBC's DA' Tabus Becoming a Habit ■ "Mr. District Attorney," Bristol- Myers NBC airer ran into censor- ship difficulties with net officials again last week. "The Case of the Curious Crystal Gazer" was skedded for production on the stanza but web toppers refused to allow it to go on the air. Net objected to a tor- . ture sequence claiming that even the Nazis wouldn't be so brutal. Jerry Devirie, producer of "D.A.," stuck to his guns and situation re- mained strained with both sides re- fusing to alter their stand right up to the morning of the broadcast. Devine, seeing that the net wouldn't give in, went to them and confessed that the stanza, was a re- peat of a script done on the same show two years ago which he thought was now timely and there- fore ripe for reprise. A check of the files proved this to be true: and net had to allow show to go on the air since it had been cleared previ- ously. -■ ■".:"-'■■- Incident Was another in a rela- tionship that has been stormy since airer initiated anti-fascist themes in place of a straight whodunit format. GAILMORE SPONSORED ACROSS THE BOARD William S. Gailmore, news analyst heard Sundays over WHN, N. Y., in, a 15-minute program, has been parted by the Electronic Corp. of America for a 15-minutes cross-the-board pro- gram (9-9:15 p.m.) over the same station. v ; Move pits Gailmore against Ga- briel Heater heard at the same time over WOR-Mutual. New program bowed in Monday (3), with Gail- more, because of the six-day sked, resigning his post as writer-editor on the broadcast desk at the N. Y. Daily/ News. He held t h e latter post for the past two and a half years. Electronic Corp. recently imitiala the uncensored sponsorship an- nouncement when it took over Johannes Steel news session on WMCA, N. Y. : Pittsburgh, — Dave Tyson, chief announcer at WWSW; shoved off over weekend for Atlantic City on a leave of absence for remainder of summer to take over a seashore post he's held now for last 15 summers. It's directing children's activities at Steel Pier. \ , Snerlallifnjc In . The Eutertalnment Field Carl Oppenheimer, C.P.A. 20 Years Experience , BuMinesa and .Tax Consultant 6SS1 HOLLYWOOD . BLVD. Hollywood 28, Calif. THE POWER OF 3... Radio-wise buyers get all three—coverage, programs and fate—when they pick WDRC for spot announcement schedules: Connect in Connecticut by using WDRC! BASIC CBS Connecticut'* BnMKkattar