Variety (Sep 1946)

S8 TBLSVISION We(Incs«1ay, S(<:pl<^in1>«r 11, 1946 Royal Sees British Film hdustry Hepped on Tele, French Progress By BOB STAHL BBC televisioni despite recurrent talk that it will go commercial in the near luture, will probably con- tinue along its present lines under strict British government control, ac- cording to Ji)hn F. Royal, NBC exec ve^pee ov:er .television. British 'Blm magnate J, Arthur Rani!;, howevei-, niay inaugurate the use ot commer- cial video by including advertising in the shosys, that he' plans to trans- mit into bis theatres via closed cir- . cuitii. .. .. , Royal, ' !who .returned last week from a £uur-and-a-haU weeks' sur- vey of television and film activity iii .'England and on the European Con- tirien'i. declared that Rank is keep- ing his ears to the ground as far as; tele is concerned arid has already forhittiated. :Vdeflnite programming plans for his theatre chains, once full sereeU-size'd video is sufficiently de- veloped: Unlike film industry toppers in Ihi" U. S.. Rank has no prejudices 01' fears that tele might hurt his pic- . fure. busirtess, Rbyal said., instead, .the British chief is .enthusiastic over video's prospects and Ayahts, tO: take. mediately processed, edited anJtitled, to get it on the viewing screens as soon as possible. NBC inaugurated the idea oil .the opehing day of the. Paris Peace Conference la.st month when it- tvani-mitted pictures of the meet iron\ N. Y. less than 48 hours after it had opened in ihe French , capital. 1 Royal said that the British are do- ! ing a good jobm tele development, I 'even 'thotigh they're forced , to use I pre-war equipnieMt. same a^ in the i U'. S. industry, BBC execs are pres- ently planning to set up six Or' seyen Irarismittars in difTerent parts of the country to send tple images by feither ' radio iclay or coaxial cable. Relays, the British hope, will cover 90-95% of the population: since the island is small. 'For the present,- Royal said, the British are plahnrfig to make television' an integral part of their horned service prograijis. rather than branching out into a series of reaiote pickups. French television industry, ham- pered by even more acute equipment shortages than the British, is simi- larly niakh-ig rapid strides forward Hunger'* No Joke Tragic-comic evidence of tha acute food shortage still prevail- ing in England was seen by John ,)f. Royal, NBC tele chief, during his recent trip abroad. One of the most popular shows on BBC television. Royal said, is a domestic scieiice course in which the chef on each prograni prepares a dilTerCnt meal. Hungry .itudio .crew watches the food -being cooked during the ■ shoW and then dives into it with relish as soon as the program goes.'off the .air, .Since there's not. enough to go around,- diltereht members of the staff take tufns at getting the chow. Show that Royal saw featured instructions on how to scramble eggs—and the BBC staffers were .just as anxious • to get: at the eggs, even though .they' were powdered. Philco May Dump WPTl ABC Seen On Inside Track for Plully Tele Television Reviews "SPORTS ALMANAC" With Bob Edge, narrator nirecior; Phil Booth 15 Mills.; Sun., 8:40 p.m. BRISTOI--MVERS WCBW-CBS, N. Y, , , (Dbherty, Cttjyorcl & S'len/ield) , As the .second part .of its new two- 's a week contract with CBS ;,3hovl's „ television for Bristol-IVfyeis, the ' Doherty, Clifford and Sheiitield agency has wrapped up a tight little i sports package : in this one . that I should prove of interest to the ma- jority ot sports fans. Interest out- i jgle show over the Philly station fur + WPTZ. Philco tele outlet in Phila- delphia, may be put on the auction block for sale to the highe.st bidder within the next couple of months. Philco, it's reported, built and operated the station for the most part to hypo interest; in video itr order to have a wider market for its receiving sets. Company execs now believe that the medium is well on the way to fulfilling its promise as a big business operation, and would like to sell the station to .coaccn- trale on manufacturing. If WPTZ: is sold, it's believed that ABC will have first crack at buying : it. Web -had worked up a close alliance with Philco by producu',t 2d Tele-City, This Time in the Bronx an ;ictiv.e .partin the new industry. Fi'eiH-h tele is presently concentrated One ot tiie chief objects of Royal's trip was the establishment of some, system whureby American tele view- ers would be enabled to see films oE events that occurred in Europe less than 24 hours previously. Brit^ ish aiid French iilm industries, the NBG exec said, had expressed enthu- siasm over the venture, but NBC is prepared to send its own camera crews abroad to take the films if the foreigners back out. Daily Shuttle Under R,->yars plan, the film would be flown back to this country via dailv flights and would then be im- Memo- Oh!! OLAN SOULE SAM'RYDEK ia "Bueliclor's Childrm"—11 tk Year LEADING MAN n "FIRST-NIGHTER" • Pr*s> RcprcscMtotiv* DUTTON-LIPPOLD in Paris, with the French utilizing a studio that was constructed by the Germans during the occupation as a music hall. New studio is presently being constructed underneath the, old one and will include a swimming pool... - 1,000-Line S<ran Royal saw a demonstration ot the French indu.stry's highly-publicized, 1,000-line television. French are preiieivtly confining their experi- ments on the, higher standard on closed circuits; and, while the images obtained are very good^ they're not as good as the best pictures derived by American engineers on Ihe pres- ent .^25-line standard in use in the U. S. Difference in clarity, Royal said, is not worth the technical changes that would necessarily be required to convert to the higher standard in this country. : French have long been noted for their great imagination as evidenced in motion piclures. Royal said, and can be expected to carry over into television their flair for dramatic productions. A French film producer recently turned out a whodunit in which all the action took place in a tele studio, Royal noted, and the pic ture (-merged as an excellent adver- tisement for the.industry side that category is limited but, as commentator Bob Edge poiuted oiit in the preem show (8), there's hardly a person in the country who's not addictea to one type of physical .endeavor or another, either as a 'participant Or spectator. - I Entire show is composed bl fllm'.' (compiled from old stock shots by „ „ . , i Edge, CBS tfle's sports director. For Second ' Television City . tc? be an- (he t.eeoff program.,. Edge rounded up nouneed during the last two months i shots of every sport he could think of. from skiing to.: table tennis. Nar-^ ration tied the film together neatly and Edge, using his flair tor sports parlancev read his line? with nice aplomb. ''''■•.;' Fotmat of the shoitv is a good tele gimmick, opening to the front cover of a sports scrapbook. As the cover leafed open, Edge's head was framed inside tlie book, .with the cameras then dissblving into the film shots. Despite the age of some of the pic- tures, majority were clearly visible and the audience should be glad to in N. Y. as a production center for all television and film interests is slated to go into: operation on the site of the old Biograph studios in the Bronx early in 1947. New pro- gram, under the sponsorship of the Daly-Mcibauer Co., follows close on the heels on the announcement of a similar "Telecity," which the Pease- EUiman real estate firm announced would be built soon at an undisclosed spot in N. Y. at a cost Of $60,000*000. Construction on the Biograph studios is expected to begin by the end ot the year. Site will be con- verted into a workshop for making films for television and will also in- clude exec offices for organizations producing tele shows and client rooms for advertisers; Studio space will be offered for rental to tele stations, advertisers and agencies, indie producers: and film companies. Theatre ; seating 2,000 will be included. : Present plans call for the con- struction of two studios. One will contain a complete two-channel closed circuit'tele unit for the crea- tion of remote, live shows that can ! then be transmitted to a station's regular transmitter for public air- ing. Second studio will be used for filming of large productions. Com- the last year or so, and reportedly : has been trying to buy WPTZ tor the last year^andra-half. Purchase of the Philly outlet would mean that ABC would have to give up one of its applications for station pcrmit.s in .other cities, since l'"C.:C ruliiius limit the number ot owned-arid-operated tele stations in anv network to fivei . ABC has ap--. plicMtions pending: currently for stations in N. Y., Detroit; ChiGafio. S.in Francisco and Los Angeles, and would probably relinquish its Frisco bid under the assumption that one Coast outlet would be sutflcient. Humors have spread during the last couple of weeks that CBS had made several promising bids to Philco tor the station, especially fol- lowing a series of recent huddles in Philly among Philco execs and CBS bear with Edge for those, shots that . pi-exy Frank Stanton and William S. must have been taken 15 or 20 ycais p.^^^y^ ij,e ^eb's board chairman ^"two commercials for Vital.s. al.o Jho-se rumors, howc-^/er have been on film, followed through on the , discounted by reports that CBS> is sports motif: but coiild be .sliced niainly interested m lining up a deal down a little lor better results. '■SihV "SHORTY" With Syd Hoff, Vaity Foster Director: Phil Booth 10 Mins.; Sun., 8:30 p.m. BRISTOL-M¥ERS WCBW-CBS, N. Y. (Dohertiy, Clij^ord & Sheit.fieUn Here's another example of a show that's slated for good returns when it can be fitted into a suitable slot sometime in the late afternoon. It's slanted strictly at the moppets and the Doherty, Clifford and Sheiifield i with Philco for the latter to produce i color video receivers. Confabs, it's ; believed, were devoted mainly to I that topi'i:. .. ■ ': :'■.. .'; .. ''. :/^,;,- NBC-Dramatists' Guild Tele Previews Slated To Preem on Sept. 22 plete film laboratory is included in Both the Briti.sh and French are! the plans, where all film can be pror (Continued on page 42) 1 cessed, printed, edited and titled. THE WARTIME CHIEF OF THE WHITE HOUSE SECRET SERVICE IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR A RADIO SERIES Mike Reilly, whose story is even now being told in five sensational articles in the Saturday Eve- ning Posf—whose years as a Secret Service agent were action-packed—is at last available for a radio series based on the crime does not pay theme. Ex-Chief of the White House Secret Service, Mike Reilly is the perfect crime buster around Whom you should build your mystery series. EXCLUSIVE MANAGEMENT ARTHUR H. MILLER 151 East 50th Street New York 22. N, Y. '«Viiii( woKi iM'iioi'o EL. 5.6092 First in the series of "Broadway Previews" to be televised by lh«: agency has' taken That""into" a^couirt I NBC video department in coopera- with the commercials. Sliice no | tion with the Dramatists' Guild will tele station is currently ptogranv-' be statjed over WNBT, the web's ming during daylight hours, how- i N. Y. tele outlet, on Sept. 22. Play, agency was forced to make ! a comedv-fantasy titled "Mr. Mer- 1 MffS;.''^.^E^/- ^„',""'"' ''"^ .'^'^o^'I genthwirker'.s Labblies," was adapt- suffers accordingly. i j ■ , c- n , , n j Latest tele venture by Bii.stol- '"^ ''^ Na\son S. Bond and David Myers, which has taken a decided j '""om a series of short.stones interest in the new medium dur.ng . penned by Bond, recent weeks, the program preemed ' Under arrangements with the Sunday (S) night with good results. 1 Guild, NBC will invite Broadwav Format is a-carry-over of a .similar i lesjit producers to watch the scan- nilig, with a view to thSir accepting show featuring cartoonist Syd Hoff i that had formerly been aired as a ; , ,. , , , ■. . sustainer over WCBW. It's based on ' "'^ P'''^' f"^"''*" ""Sit production, a cartoon character, "Shorty," which i P'f>ys will be aired about once every Hoff draws as the show progresses. 1 fourth week, with only those script- all the while telling the story of I ed by Guild members to be used. rt.,>„ „u : L. pioriucers, it's believed, will ba able to get a good idea of hovv. tlie. show . .shapes up tor Broadway, as tb sets, actors, etc. Fred Coe, NBC tele producer, will stage the video version. Cast in- cludes Vinton Hayworth and John McQuade, both tele stars, . and Vau.ghn 'Taylor/ and Pat Shay,'; Tw<*. sets will be de.sig^^ by Bob Wade Shorty's shenanigans to little Patty Foster, who watches over tlic car- toonist's shoulder with suitable wide- eyed interest. Hoff sometimes gives in to traces ot a Brooklyn accent but otherwise does a competent job of both draw- ing and story-telling. Preeni aliow, which featured the return of Shorty <Continued?on page 45) Actual Shows to Hypo Wing s Tele Workshop American Theatre Wing's tele- vision workshop, which teed off for ex-G.fs last summer, will be hyoed. to take in actual production, of tele- vised shows during the coming term. Students in the advanced course will produce tour shows under the direction of Bob Lioewi of the Du- Mont staff. Exact dates have not yet been set, but the first show will go on the air sometime during the first week in October over WABD (DuMont, N. y.) Show, which will be an original, will be written, produced and di- rected by the students. Advanced course is limited to 20 graduates of the seminar conducted this summer by Worthington Miner, manager of CBS tele. DuMont will provide the technical staff. | Seminar for the fall term is expect- i ed to be roore intensive. Miner will | assist but the course this term will be conducted by Paul Mowrey, ABC tele chief, and Harvey Marlowe, ABC exec producer-director. Course will include panel discussions, with field trip.s .slated to the tele labs at WPTZ (Philco, Philadelphia) and WRGB 'GE, Schenectady),' of the NBC stafr. Clcvdand—Cleveland's four radio stations have been getting some neat public service blurbs from the City Planning Commi.ssion. Prepared by Donald W. Athearn, the blurbs can be used as station breaks, and utiliw. two voices, bringing to light some, needed improvement. Station, per- sonnel say the blurbs are punchy, direct and easy to place.