Variety (Sep 1947)

' Wednesday, September 3, 1947 RADIO 23 TWILIGHT OF FOUR-WEB SYSTEM? Sales and Vacancies In the June 11 issue of Variety appeared a list of '47-'48 availabilities 0/ personalities and programs that, as a result of last season cancella- tions, etc., were thrown on the open market. Despite sponsor jockey- ing, network maneuvers and other agency-client-web activity in the "intervening period, the majority of them are still for sale. Here's how the' picture has resolved itself as the curlain lifts on the new broad- casting season: Abbott & Costello—Dropped by Camel at end of last season, they return in the fall under co-op sponsorship as part of the ABC Wednes- day night top name parlay. Don Ameche—Goes into new Old Gold show. Kenny Baker—Still for sale. His "Glamour Manor" dropped by P&G. Phil Baker—For sale. Exiting "Take It Or Leave It" and negotiating new quiz show deal. - "Beulah"—ABC network, unable to sell it, dropping it off schedule. Mel Blanc—Dropped by Colgate, he's returning to hts ex-"Point Sublime" regional network show. Victor Borge—For sale. Socony took a powder on the Borge-Benny Goodman show. , Eddie Bracken—For sale. "Eddie Bracken Story" last sponsored by Texaco. Bob Burns—For sale. Dropped by American Home Products. Hoagy Carmichael—For sale. Sponsored last season by Ludens. Carmen Cavallaro—For sale. Being replaced on Schaeffer Sunday ihow by Eddy Howard. Cass Daley—For sale. Joan Davis—For sale. CBS wants to co-op her; ABC also anxious to grab her. Eddy Duchin—For sale. Was last year's Kraft Music Hall emcee. His 15-minute ABC Kreml commercial also going off. Benny Goodman—For sale. Bill Goodwin—His CBS Saturday night sustainer still unsold. Jack Haley—For sale. Has switched over to MCA in new bid for sponsorship. Replaced on Sealtest show by Jack Carson. . "Gregory Hood"—For sale. Whoduoit dropped by Petri wine, Hedda Hopper—For sale. Her Camay show now off. "Information Please"—Goes co-op on Mutual. Frances Langford—Into new Old Gold show. "Malsle—For sale. "My Friend Irma"—Snared Swan Soap (Lever Bros.) as sponsor. Garry Moore—Takes over "Take It Or Leave It" emcee role for Eversharp. Frank Morgan—Into new Old Gold show. "Mr, and Mrs. North—Now sponsored by Colgate. Parkyakarkas—Going co-op on Mutual. Georgie Price—For sale. His "The Bigtime" auditioned show for a While looked hot for sponsorship. Roy Rogers—For sale. Cowboy star last on NBC for Miles Labs. Mickey Rooney—His "Boys Town" package still up for sale. Dinah Shore—For sale. Sponsored last season by Ford. Ginny Simms—Now vocalist on the new Coca-Cola Sunday night ihow. "Kate Smith Sings"—For sale. Danny Thomas—For sale. Sponsored last season by Drene (Procter & Gamble). John Charles Thomas—For sale. Last sponsor was Westinghouse. Rudy Vallee—For sale. "Vox Pop"—Has new sponsor, American Express, and moves into strong ABC Wednesday parlay. ' Orson Welles—Doing transcribed' show this fall under Fred Ziv auspices. Alan Young—For sale. Dropped last season by Bristol-Myers. To do series of guest shots for Texaco as possible trailer to sponsorship. Downey an Own As Spike Jones Tie Blows Up The Morton Downey-Spike Jones half-hour CBS musical show for £oca Cola blew up suddenly over the weekend, following a lot of dis- satisfaction. The upshot is that Downey will go it alone, reverting to his old format, with Coca Cola plunking down an additional $750,000 a year in order to spot Downey on Mutual, three nights a week (Mon- Heavy Sugar •- Coca Cola's re-entry into -radior-after -a- full year's hiatus due to the sugar situation, rep- resents one of the year's major splurges, coin-wise and pro- gram-wise, among air bank- rollers. Four-way program ride on the networks includes: the Percy Faith-Ginny Simms Sunday night CBS-show^ the Spike Jones Friday night CBS show; the three-time s-a-week Morton Downey show on Mutual, and the cross-the-board "Claudia" afternoon program. day, Wednesday and Friday) in the II: 15 period. The CBS program will be known as the "Spike Jones Show" and negotiations arc now under way for a femme singer. It look like Dorothy Shay will get the nod. Spotting of the Spike Jones music along with Downey as a combo, an MCA brainchild, provoked consider- able eyebrow lifting in the trade. Apparently the coke people started to do some eyebrow lifting, too, and CBS Has Until Sept. 16 To Meet Joan Davis 7G Wkly. Sales Guarantee Chicago, Sept. 2. Co-op deal which was consum- mated between Joan Davis and Hubbel Robinson, CBS v.p. in charge of programs, at a meeting here last week, gives the network until Sept. 16 to come up with enough sales to cover the guarantee of $7,000 week- ly. The comedienne also has coroll- ary deal with Ziv, Inc, giving the latter the distribution rights to re- cordings of her CBS co-op programs in markets outside the Columbia coverage. CBS has had feelers out on the Davis proposition since Wednesday (27). If the option Robinson got leads to a contract, it will be CBS' first nighttime co-op. The series •would start Oct.—15-.— —.—;—.—-—.— Miss Davis plans to retuun to the Coast as soon as she gets the final word, one way or the other, from Robinson, who himself is now in Hollywood and is due back in New York between Sept. 15 and 20. '47-'48 SEASON TOl WB Snags Pall Mafl Account Downey, it's reported, was far from happy over the setup. So Coca Cola negotiated the Mutual deal. Plan is to buy up as much of the Mutual web as is possible and spot Downey following the news broad- cast. Meanwhile the client is trying to wrap up a deal which will permit for the Downey showcasing at 11:15 in all time zones, which will prob- ably necessitate delayed pickups in some areas of the country. Downey will pick his own orchestra. With the program originating from the east, it will also permit Downey to retain nitery commit- ments, including his upcoming Stat- ler, Washington, engagement, with likelihood that he'll also reprise his Waldorf-Astoria, N. Y. engagement. ANSWER QUESTION Some of the top economic survey- ors of the broadcasting scene are of the opinion that the 1947-'48 broad- casting season may well furnish the answer as to whether or not, under the current system of operation, there is sufficient room to support four major networks. Actually, they point out, no prece- dent exists as yet in determining whether, under a get-tough economic era, there'll be enough coin pouring into radio coffers to justify the ex- istence of four networks. The war years, of course, with the sponsor- ship splurge of tax-deductible coin, was another story. The webs then were well-heeled; there was more than enough business to go around. The years immediately preceding the" war found ABC (then the Blue), just getting its bearings after its divorcement from NBC, and until a dozen years ago, when Mu- tual came into being, it was all NBC and CBS. The question of a four-network survival takes on particular signifi- cance at this time, with the NAB ready to spring its new Standards of Practice code. Designed for the industry as a self-policing move, the new code is plenty tough in clamping down on objectionable sponsorship auspices, such as laxatives, deodor- ants and a flock of others that come within the "sensitivity" bracket. True, NBC and CBS have been enforcing their own stringent poli- cies on such bankrollers. It the new code is to have any teeth at all, it's argued, it must be a case of all four webs sticking to the letter in complying with the limitation on types of commercials. Coming as it does in a hard-to-sell era, it raises the question whether networks with time to sell on their hands may not be economically forced to accept such cemmercials. If so, it would obviously weaken the whole structure of the code. Plenty Gripes Loom on Code Washington, Sept. 2. NAB's proposed new industry code—clamping a three-minute ceil- ing on commercial copy in any 15- minute time period—is the No. 1 issue at this year's annual conven- tion. This, at any rate, is the way NAB officials here size up the situa- tion. Right now, plans call for dis- tribution of the code document Sept. 14-15 as NAB members regis- ter. The press will be given advance copies with a strict "hold for re- lease" date of Sept.,14. As NAB'ers see it, bulk of long- time broadcasters look on the Code as a considerable improvement over the present standards of practice. However, the new ceilings on com- mercial copy will be tough to sell to some of the smaller operators, it was believed. The Thursday (Sept. 18) open session on the Code is. ex- pected to bring these gripes into the open. It is pointed out that once a spon- sor knows he can just get so much plug out of his airtime, he may be inclined to shop around more care- continued on page 40) 'H wood Star Preview' Into Tilery' Spot on Sept. 28 Sullivan, Stauffer, Colwell & Bay- les agency has set its new Whitehall- sponsored "Hollywood Star Preview" for a Sept. 28 preem in the NBC Sunday 6:30 p.m. spot now occupied by "Ellery Queen." Latter is being yanked because of net's objection to a whodunit being slotted following the "Catholic Hour." Sponsor was permitted to move "Ellery" into the spot on a tem- porary basis following cancellation of the Bob Burns show last spring. Format of "Preview" calls for top name film stars to make air intros of promising young actors and act- resses from various picture studios, with the stars-of-tomorrow talent appearing in original dramats. Num- ber of studios have already been ; lined up to cooperate in the deal. '. Joe Thompson will produce the airer. with Jack Van Nostrand di- ! recting. From F-C-B, But on Maybe Basis CBS' $15,000,000 With the sale of "House Party" to. General Electric, CBS has wrapped up 22 and a half hours of new business since the first of the year. In terms of billings it adds up to an approximate $15,000,000 for the network. . The GE biz also gives CBS a •complete daytime sellout on net- work time, with the exception of a quarter-hour segment. 3-Show Splurge; House Party' Set General Electric, which bowed out of radio completely last season, is re-entering the picture in a big way this season, with a three-way pro- gramming schedule that includes an institutional show, another ear- marked for the Merchandise and Appliance Division and the third for the Lamp Division. All told it rep- resents a time-talent expenditure in excess of $4,000,000. GE, via Young & Rubicam agency, has just concluded a deal for spon- sorship of John Guedel's "House Party" five times a week on CBS, representing $1,250,000 in billings alone for the network. It's a $5,000 a week package. GE Home Appli- ance Division had sponsored the show a couple seasons back, with CBS keeping it on co-op during the past season. When it returns Dec. 1 under GE auspices, it will move, into the 3:30-3:55 afternoon period. GE Lamp Division is picking up the tab on ABC's "Willie Piper" show and company has just bought Fred Waring and his orchestra-glee club as an institutional program for the Monday night 10:30-11 segment on NBC. ♦ Don Stauffer, of the Sullivan, Stauffer, Colwell & Bayles agency, has snagged the Pall Mall account from Foote, Cone & Bclding on con- dition he can deliver his projected "Show of the Year" program within two weeks. The announced starting date of the series is Oct. 1 and it's slated to replace the same client's "Big Story" in the 10-10:30 spot Wednesday nights on NBC. According to Stauffer he had "ten- tative clearances from 27 agencies and sponsors, provided "Show of the Year" involved no product or time conflict with their programs. Now that he has revealed the Pall Mall sponsorship and the Wednesday night NBC spot for the series, Stauf- fer figures he'll get final answers within 10 days on the various pro- grams he seeks. Without being able to disclose any actual names, it's ob- vious that he expects to get such stanzas as Jack Benny and Jack Paar (both having the same American Tobacco sponsorship), as well as Bob Hope, Fibber & Molly, Eddi« Cantor, Burns & Allen, Edgar Ber- gen, Fred Allen, Amos 'n' Andy, Fanny Brice, Milton Berle, Jack Carson-Eve Arden, Faye & Harris, Ozzie & Harriet, "Aldrich Family," etc. However, there are numerous complications involved. For one thing, it would be difficult if not im- possible to do a Wednesday night show from any other network, since the other sponsor would not want (Continued on page 40) Tord Theatre' to Do All-Negro 'Carmen Jones' Lindsay's 1G as Emcee With the signing of Howard Lind- say as m.c, at $1,000 a week, the regular talent for the "Ford Thea- tre" is all set. Show premieres Oct. 5 with Lillian Schoen's adaptation of "A Connecticut Yankee." It will take over the 5-6 p.m. spot Sundays on NBC, forcing that network's NBC Symphony concerts to move to a Saturday night time. The revised schedule for the en- suing weeks is "The Great McGinty," adapted by Stanley R. Evans, Oct. 12; "On Borrowed Time," adapted by Nancy Moore, Oct. 19; "Coffin for Dimitrios," adapted by Evans from the Eric Ambler whodunit Oct. 26, and "Ah, Wilderness,' 1 adapted by Sylvia Berger, Nov. 2. Subsequent offerings, the rights of which have~been bought, but which have not yet been assigned for adaptation, include "Carmen Jones," Kaufman and Hart's "George Wash- i n g t 0 n Slept Here," Priestley's "Dangerous Corner" and Norman Corwin's "We Hold These Truths." "Carmen Jones" will be done with an all-Negro cast, as in the Billy Rose stage production of several seasons ago. It will use the Oscar Hammerstein, 2d, translation and lyrics, with special arrangements of the Bizet score. "We Hold These Truths," Corwin's drama about the Bill of Rights, is tentatively sched- uled for Dec. 7, the sixth anniversary of Pearl Harbor day. TOM MOORE FOR 'LADIES' Chicago, Sept. 2. Tom Moore will probably be named m.c. of "Ladies Be Seated" within a few days, replacing Johnny Olsen. Toni, which shares the show with Quaker Oats wants first to give Moore a Schwerin test. Hooper Coverage Survey Gets Fast Nix From BMB As expected. Broadcast Measure- ment Bureau said "no" last week to C. E. Hooper's proposal that BMB adopt his coverage as a substitute for its own listening measurement methods. Bureau's research com- mittee concluded that Hooper's plan "did not provide figures as valid as those of BMB Study No. 1 and that the " economies claimed by Mr. •Hooper are not substantiated by the cost figures in his proposal." A BMB spokesman explained that the committee did not wish its ac- tion to be regarded as "an arbitrary move," the "reasons for rejecting Hooper's plan being more important than the turndown itself." At the same time, Phil Frank, BMB exec secretary, announced that the deadline for stations to submit subscriptions to BMB in time to qualify for rate discounts has been, extended from Sept. 15 to Oct. 1, primarily "because so many broad- casters have been or are now on va- cations." Advancement of the deadline also gives BMB a chance to offer the dis- count inducement to broadcasters during the NAB convention in At- lantic City this month. Hooper's reaction to the turndown was that he'd stand by his claims, as ., far as doing a job for BMB is con- cerned, and that he'd go ahead, any- way, with his offer of "listener cov- erage" reports to individual stations and groups of stations during the coming year. DROP IN RAZOR BIZ CUES 'FALCON' FADEOUT "Adventures of the Falcon" is due for a fadeout on Mutual after its Sept. 23 stanza. Net is reported making a final stab to hold the ac- count, but American Razor (Gem blades) is said to have been hit so hard by falling off of razor biz that it's unlikely to renew, despite the show's 8.1 yearly Hooper average, which makes it Mutual's top-rated stanza. It's a Bernard L. Schubert package. "Falcon's" spot Tuesdays at 8:30 will be filled by "Official Detective" starting Sept. 30 unless Gem has a change of mind.