Variety (May 1946)

34 TELEVISION Wednesday, May 1, 1946 NBC, GiDette Wrap Up Conn-Louis Tele Deal Also Full Year of Fights Newark'Radio City'Seen For Mosque in Tele Setup Plans for running a shuttle-trunk of the . ..N. Y.-Washington coaxial cable into the Mosque theatre, in Newark, N. J., are under way now in connection with the'.'television' the Louis-Conn ..-fight Exclusive television rights to tho*- Conn-Louis heavyweight champion-1 ship fight, slated for June 19 at Yankee Stadium, N. Y., have been signed by NBC ' and the Gillette Safety Razor Co. In announcing conclusion of the deal yesterday (Tuesday), John F. Royal, NBC exec veepee over television: promoter Mike Jacobs and J. P. Spang, .Jr., Gillette proxy, disclosed also that ai deal has been closed for Gillette to I sponsor all lights staged by, Jacobs' ; airing of 20lh Century Sporting . Club . from ; June 19. June 1, 1946, to June 1, 1947, over I WAAT. Newark, which already has WNBT (NBC. N. Y.). '| planned' to use the Mosque -as a ■ All three companies involved in Newark "radio city." with blue- the' deal refused to discuss 'the costs.! prints under way lb. broadcast telc- but it's believed that Jacobs is .got,-j vision and FM from thai house, is ting $100,000 for .video, rights toi the | S ajd to be behind the June 19 plans Conn-Louis fight alone.' NBC is re- portedly carrying part of the freight, with Gillette as part of the' web's plans to grab off the top sports events, now in order to have the ■ upper hand in future sports tele- casting. Deal for the rest of the year "reportedly cost NBC and Gillette another $150,000. Assignment df radio rights for the Conn-Louis bout have not yet been idivulged but its believed likely that Gillette will also sponsor' the fight over the ether, with the-ABC web carrying it under ihc same arrange- ments as the last heavyweight championship bout. Jacobs was reportedly holding oft conclusion of a tele deal ,wilh a view to selling video rights to a theatre circuit, figuring he could gel more dough that way through a share of the b.o. receipts. He was dissatisfied with the demonstration - of foll- Nothing is known about the kind of, screen planned for use for video in case the Mosque plan jells. But. the thinking is that the screen prob- lem will be solved for the exhibitors by-one-of the big television manu- facturing outfits. • The Mosque is located exactly one- fourth of a mile, away -Irom the. coaxial cable. . . ■ 20th-Fox Seen Pulling Tele Bids Washington, April 30. Twentieth-Fox will, soon join the parade of backsliders in black-and- white-tele and yank its bids for screen sized television, staged April j Hollywood and New York video out- 15 in Schenectady by General Elcc- • le ,- according to insiders here. OMy trie and the Rauland Corp; of Chi- I . ■ ■ . ■ . •cagd. however, and upcvi his return | lhin S keeping company from foiy to N. Y. concluded tfi». deal with rlowing' lead of Locw's and with-. •NBC and Gillette. j drawing right now, is the fact that Tele Correspondence School on U.S. Mat Washington,. April 30. Federal Trade Commission' is haul- ing the. American Television Lab- oratories, Inc., of Ch' c:, « 0 ' 011 ,hc mat this week for alleged mis- representation on . correspondence' courses: in'television ,and radio of-, fered by the outfit. FTC attorney will hear round-robin o( hearings on the .complaint, this week at Louisville, Nashville anil Memphis. ; The labs got first inipetus through blessing of . radio inventor and pioneer Lee DeForcst. • ' . SoDora frexy Sez CBS Color Tele Campaign Designed to Bewilder Television Reviews NBCDuMontWin M. Video Tiff Washington. April 30. Construction permits for.-Washing? ton, D, C, video, outlets were handed out this week to NBC, the Evening . Star . Broadcasting Co. (WMAL), Dumont ■ Laboratories, Inc., and the Bamberger Broadcast- ing CO; In a final decision Fri'day (27) FCC gave NBC the No. 4 video slot; DUmoht, No. 5: while the Star and Bamberger came off with the Nos. T arid 9 channels respectively.. , NBC and Dumont got the lower channels since bolh companies have transmitting equipment on hand arid can get their stations in operation more quickly. The Star, in oral ..argument- here "SATURDAY E V It N l N G SPOT- .LIGHTS" With James Cs McMullln, Bob Edfr, newscasters; Rulh W o o d n t r, Phoebe Merchant, I-ura de Gcz, John Hall, David O. Woodbury Director: Leo llurwitx 30 Mlns.; Saturday (21), 8:15 p.m. Sustaining WCBW-CBS. N. Y. WCBW returned lo the air after its channel changeover Saturday (27) with a new tdea in the way of televised news shows. Program, which is to be a Saturday night feature under Ihe station's new schedule, follows the formal of the usual' magazine supplement of a Chicago. April sn. '.- In a slashing attack on CBS color Television "propaganda," Joe, Gerl, president, of the Sonora Radio and Television. Corp. blasted what he termed "a campaign of irrelcvancii>s . . . .designed only to confuse the American people until CBS has.time to catch up with its. more astute competitor, NBC." GerVwhd is .also' a director of the Radio Manufac- turers' .Assn., made the charges in a .speech Monday (29) before the South Bend Chamber of Commerce. The radio exec pulled out. all the stops with no. qualification except to say that he had no connection willi cither CBS or NBC, but was speaking: as a member of the radio nnd television manufacturing inter- Sunday newspapejv-with features for j rs(s Hc said, "The present campaign ,__ by CBS is nothing but a campaign the sports' fan, women, scientists, etc It's all designed to provide a highly- interesting half-hour for those view- ers who'd rather slay at home on Saturday . nights than buck the Broadway traffic. : Most interesting angle of the new program is the deftness with which Leo Hurwitz. director of CBS tele- vision's news staff, has Integrated film and live segments into a lightly- knit show. Sound track of. two of the film segments got mixed at the preem but .were fixed almost Im- mediately. Such 'minor wrinkles should be easy enough to iron out next performance Fight will probably be carried to -Philadelphia and Washington via the | Bell System's coaxial cable, under I present plans. NBC will use five cameras, including three RCA super- sensitive image orthicons and two regular orlhicons, to bring viewers the best possible . pictures . of the • fight, according to O. B. Hanson, NBC veepee over engineering. Two of the cameras will be placed in the newsrccl stand at the stadium, two more will be in NBC's regular box ■ in the mezzanine along the flrst- ■base line, and the other pne will be tel up directly alongside the ring. D.C. Decision Due On Black & White before the , . ... M _-_ ■-''Program also, inaugurated the use last week, had 'contended that NBC | 0 j lhe three-minute series of-filmed, and Dumont—both manufacturers' of obfuscation designed entirely to bewilder and delay." "The basic fact Is that CBS today is unprepared to meet the. >icw tele- visioii competition' of NBC,'' said Gcrl. ■ He maintained that NBC, through its affiliation with RCA. has been able to produce television transmitters and is thercfoip ready to install commercial television sta- tions, while CBS with no access io transmitters,' will be left far. behind in the race to build the : outlets, Gcrl continued, ."Under the cir- cumstances, CBS has begun a (over- should be required to bear the risks connected with operation "on the higher video slots. However. FCC countered with the assurance that transmitters for the higher frequen- cies. Should be available by this fall, while new receivers for all channels will probably'appear on the. market at about the same time. Neither the Star nor Bamberger has placed orders for black-and-white trans- mitters,' though Dumont. promised delivery of the equipment by No- vember, once the orders are in. shorts which the CBS newsreel': ean>p... 8 ■ w ™ cameramen, under the direction „r | -catvpubl.c that color television w,.l ,. John Scwall. have been shooting : be. CBS great gift-to mank nd. But around the city. Film used, in Ihc i the major object of this campaign is i preem was a good summary^of N.Y.'s | not to further color television but 'firemen training school. Highlighting j merely lo delay the installation of Washington. April 30. Showdown on black arid white ' Ic-le is in the wind, according lo spokesmen for several companies who arc still carrying the ball for low-frequency video. They believe 'that the FCC will shortly hand out » batch of grants—as many as 30 or 40 in one bundle—lo hypo the black ! and white field. i Behind this belief is the warning! • issued by the FCC almost a month j ago. calling on all tele bidders io get their applications at lhe commission up to date—or else. Insiders argue that once the FCC 'hands out a batch of tele permits, ' applicants will have to lay their cards on the table, either by back- ing out of monochrome altogether or making an honest .effort.'to get on the air. Of course/should the FCC follow this pattern, tele construction would still be a long way off, so long as the Civilian Production Adminis r I lration ; s coiling of $1,000 remains on ! prexy Spyros. Skouras put the heat | on to file the bids, in the first, place | and " his ' okay is. necessary before they can be pulled out. Paramount and Warners are only other big- time pix companies still in tele. Meariwhile. another handful of j video applicants dropped out of the i race this - week, while two riew- i comers indicated llicy would shortly I file for black-and-white. ■ Dropping out were Capitol Broad- i casting Co. (WISH), Indianapolis; i St. -Louis Star-Times: Johnson-Ken- nedy Co. (WIND) Chicago: Louis Wasmer, . Inc. <KGA) Spokane, Washington: Joseph Zariioiski, Balti- more; WCAU, Philadelphia; and the San Francisco Examiner, for San Francisco. On the other side of the ledger, the San Francisco - Chronicle en- tered its bid for a Frisco station, to i to get their ad lib responses lo her be built at estimated lab of $346,- story-telling. 000, with monthly expenses of $$0,- I N ' Y ' Boilrt ' of Education will run 000. And a new company, the Radio i * ne *>:15 to 5:45 segment, which will & Television Corp. of Baltimore, was ' De an entertainment program with readying a bid for thai, market. . enough entertainment lo sustain the Other chip-heavy concerns are re- moppets' interest. B. of E. has al- ported considering gelling into rca dy submitted three scripts for video without a hearing by entering ■ Possible shows, which will spotlight Hth-hour bids for Pittsburgh, At-I ki<ls from tne radio classes of lhe ABCs Tele Bow to Kid Trade Skeds 3 Way Pitch, Two for Sale ABC television tees off May 15 with the first, daytime video show aimed especially at the. moppet trade. Show will be aired three or five times a week. S-C p.m., over WABD (DuMont. N. Y.l. ; Program will be in three seg- ments. Ircene Wicker will have the 5 to 5:15 slot, with stories and songs for the juvenile audiences. Three or four kids will'be-brought before the cameras at each performance lanta and Detroit Circus Comes to WABD, Show Sets Eight Acts The. circus moves into the new Wanamaker television studios of WABD (DuMont, N. Y.) tonight (Wednesday). Eight acts from the Ringling Bros, circus, current at Madison Sq. Garden. N. Y, Avill be featured' on the "Magic Carpet" show from 8:45 to 9:30 p.rn:' Produced by Bud Gamble and sponsored . by the Alexander Smith Carpet Co.. the.show will bring all the accoutrements for circus atmos- phere to the - tele screens. Three hundred foremen and llieir kids from the Smith carpet mills at Yonkers. N. Y., will be in lhe studio audience. Philadelphia. April 30. j ' — -r WCAU last week petitioned the J p r i ncegs Sap-anni' s Tflp <?hour FCC for the right to withdraw- it- * nnces S Mgapilts lele UliOW application for a low freouency black Princess AnneKc Sagaphi. Ameri- and while television station in. favor'' can-born member, of Persian nobii- of a new one for a full color high ;'ty, and a painler-lccturei'. will bc- frc;ucnc.y outlet. | gin a tele scri. s over WNBT (NBC) Dr. Leon Levy. WCAU prexy,-in starting May !). making (he petition, claims telcvi-I Quarter-hour show, tilled "De- sion "obsolcic." ! signs and breams." will, di.-cuss the He said that WCA w-onld shortly romantic history of I tic Nca demonstrate, full color television by the use of a coaxial cable to pipe telecasts from CBS in New York. WrATr jc ph'jilv outlet for CBS. the construction of commercial radio, stations. AS CBS VIDEO GOES SO GOES DOC LEVY city's schools as audience partici- pations. For the last 15-minule segment. Paul Mowrey. ABC video chief, has obtained rights lo 40 of the "Aesop Fable" silent animated cartoons, which were produced in Hollywood before the Walt Disney era. Car- toons will be run in their original form, but will have an up-to-date narrative by Waller Kiernan. . ABC is presently fishing for spon- sors for the first and last parts of the show, and has already had nib- bles from a cafidy .company and a b'readbaking concern. B. of E.'s part of the program will be on-'a sustain- ing basis, as a public service show. NEW RC/TPLANT TO SPEED TELE TUBES its interest was the integration of several shots from a spectacular tenement .fire, which- the cameramen filmed several weeks a'go. "Spotlights" began with a short, iip-lo-the-minule summary .of..the news, rounded 'out in good fashion by newscaster. James C. McMullin via still pictures, inaps : and charts. Then followed sequences on wom- en's • hair styles, with two w.k. beauty operators demonstrating their techniques- on models in the studio: film shots of the Columbia-Harvard crew race, with a running commen- tary by Bob "Edge: a scientific spot, with David C. Woodbury demon- strating a new lamp, and the oilier fllrn features. Color on the sols in several of the live sequences was too lighV offering Inadequate contrast lo the faces of the actors. Still. "LOOK WHO'S HERE" With Geraldine Krazlcr, Norma Squires, Ernest Bernl Gould, Dr. Frank E. Adair, Mary Chase Producer-Writer: David P. Lewis Set: Bob Bright 30 Mlns.; Friday (26), 8 p.m. Sustaining WABD-DuMont, N Y. DuMont came up with one of the first, acceptable sustaining programs it's had since it opened its Wana- maker studios, with "Look Who's Here." Show was packaged by David P. Lewis of the Caples ad agency, as part or the agency's ex- perimentation program in television. Technical direction, however, was handled' by Louis A. Sposa, DuMont programming, chief, giving DuMont its share, of the credit. Format follows the usual interest- ing personalities type of show. Ger- aldine Fra/.icr, as emcee, delivers a short spiel, on each character prior to his entrance. Off-stage bell then rings, Miss Frazier looks up wilh a "look who's here" exclamation and the personality walks on to be inter- viewed before the cameras. - Lewis lined up a diversified and interesting group of guests-for the preem performance, including Norma Squires, USO-Camp. shows singer; Ernest Jones, one-legged golf pro: Berni Gould, comedian: Dr; Frank E. Adair, president of the. American Cancer Society, and' Mary Chase, puppeteer. Show ran smoothly most of the way. keeping audience inter? est via rapid pacing. Too much time was devoted to Miss Chase and her amateurish puppet performance in the final segment, however,, making for a slow ending. Camera work followed the general mprove.ments found in oilier aspects television stations until CBS is ready to install its own. . .at which time the entire controversy will suddenly end.-. ".. .Federal Communir.atioris Com- : mission has wisely delayed the allo- cation of permanent television fre- quency channels until it was fully . >atislied that television h.id been brought to an advanced stage and that postwar television sets would not be made obsolete in a year or two by new processes. The fact that FCC has seen fit to allocate television channels is a clear indication thai it feels television lias become ol agi-..'." Analogy .was drawn between vie'eo at the present time and the film industry 25 years ago. ■ Would a similar plea...to the American pub- lic to. halt production of black-anc.- emcer.;.; while movies because Technicolor Jones, films were on their way—would smili a plea have made any sense? Any such delay in thii orderly develop- ment of movie filming and recording would have set the-industry back a generation. The plea today . for the television industry to mark time un- til CBS develops color television is equally nonsensical." WNBT Set For 6-1 WNBT, NBC tele outlet in N. plans to resume broadcasting on a six-day-a-week schedule sometime next week, dependent on how soon work ori the station's new transmitter' atop the Empire State Bldg. is com- ■ pletcd. Recent flurry of bad weather has stymied workmen, but the sta- tion hopes to -be'back on the air Wednesday (8). . On Wednesday WNBT will inaugu- rate its new daytime program. "Ra- dio Cily Matinee," to. be aired: from 1 lo 2 p.m. Show, which will be telecast each Monday, -Wednesday and Friday thereafter, will fea- ture' lop name talent in -six different scgrncnts daily, with the accent oh Ihe distaff side. Another live show, "Telclrulh," a kids' quiz program, will start on Wednesday (8). Sla- Biggcst . electron and television lube manutacuiririg plant in the j world, at Lancaster. Pa., has been bought from.(he Navy by RCA fori set" was up to his usual 'standard j $4,302,500. In announcing the pur-i : Slu\. chase. Frank M. Folsom. HCA-Viclor : ■ - ■ •exec veepee. said that the hew plant < would make television available to i public more .quickly. j j Video lubes maniifacliircd at the ; plant will be sold to all television receiver and' broitric.-ist equipment of the show, although the DuMont 11,0,1 wi " be off the air on Tuesdays.. t.d.s arc still relying too much on the I WNBT will tee off at 8 p.m..Fri- overhead shots wilh their boom : day (10) with "In Town Today,;' dolly camera. Bob Blight's single! new live show featuring interviews Ih top personalities visiting in East, ; manufacluicrs. Folsoin fald. RCA its .art and Ircasures, wilh jewelry plans to invest another S3.dnil.000 to clothing,, furnishings, etc. Iclevisod. ; further expand and moderm/.e the National.'Concert and Artisls Corp. plant's high-spei (I product ion equip- is handling. J ment for calhodc-i ay tnhev. NEW VIDEO SCANNING TUBE Washington. April' 30. A German super-jeonoseooe. which is claimed to be 10 limes as sensitive as the standard Oicrman seannih:; tube for video, was reported in a re- lease by Ihc'.Dcpl: of Commerce yes- terday i Monday). Increased sensitivity of the tube is-said to be- due to the. superior slorage. properties of its mosaic. N. Y. Show will be followed by spe- ' cial RCA films and a. remote fight . broadcast from St. Nicholas Arena, N. Y. ;. -.'"■: I Reniole telecast of the Rinuling ; Bro.4; circus from Madison Sq. Gar- . den will probably highlighL the first : Saturday night's -programming. S.un- . day night will be given over .to a j lull-length drama, cither "Blithe ; Spirit" or. "Mr. and Mrs. North," both of which have been iri. rehears-' ' j.1. foi the last several weeks.