Variety (Oct 1948)

Wednesday, Orldber IS, 1948 JACKPOTS JACK UP COMEDIANS b Ikre a Philosoplier in Ae House? Louis N. Brockway, exec veepee of Young & Rubicam and mem- ber of the three-man agency committee which has been joiisting for months with.'the Radio Writers Guild, tossed in this aside Monday (11) on the agencies' latest—and perhaps final pre-strike— letter to RWG:, "Most daytime radio stories, which the Guild members write so ably, usually have a Character who is a kindly philosopher. The function of this character seems to be to bring together the quar- reling lovers, untangle tangled domestic situations, raise the money to pay off the mortgage, and generally to restore conditions to normal when they go too far afield. "We have no philosopher, kindly or otherwise, in the agencv- RWG drama, which seems to have reached an Impasse. Lackmg it, we would like everyone to take a look at the situation to .see if il really needs to be as bad as it appears. That is the purpose of our latest letter to the guild." TrammeD Enlists Sponsors to Plug Hooper Holes in Sun. Night Dike Now that NBC's Sunday nights "Iron Gurtain'V two*our comedy parlay has been penetrated, after 'practically having the Hooper field to itself over the past decade or Eo; the web chieftains are making no bones, over their anxiety. The two-pronged brunt of opposition, of course, comes from CBS' acquisition of Amos *n' Andy, now competing for audience pull with the Phil Harris-Alice Paye Rexall show in the 7:30-8 p.m. slot, and ABC's "Stop the Music," which is giving both Edgar Bergen and Fred Allen a run for their $25,000 weekly budgets. NBC pi'exy Niles Trammelli It's learned, has personally approached the Sunday NBC advertisers in a ■ bid to enlist their cooperation in an all-out promotional campaign designed to put the accent on the network's Jack Benny-Phil Harris- Edgar Bergen-Fred Allen sequenc- ing. While in some qu.arters It's Sun. 8 to 9 Boxscore Witli the Battle of the Hoopers on in earnest,; now that on the fall shows have ■pi'e'emed, chief trade interest (enters on the Edgar Bergen- Fred Allen competition vs. ABC's "Stop the Music." Here's the scorecard on the' initial (Oct. 3) tallies: Bergen out-Hoopered ABC's "Music" for the 8-8:30 se- quence; the, comedian pulling down a 14.9 as opposed to the giveaway's 13.1 average for the half-hour. On the other hand, Allen snared 12.5 in contrast to "Music" 16.1 aver- age for the 8:30-9 period. been reported that NBC was woo- ing the sponsors, for a slush fund, . to be matched by NBC coin, to bombard the listening public, this has been denied by web execs. Thus far the campaign is being directed toward a continuing bar- rage of station breaks hammering away at a "stay tuned" technique, .with one show. plugging another, and with a liberal dosage al.so as- signed to the network's Sunday afternoon sustaining roster. ; Meanwhile, the web is' alerting the affiliates to the promotional eampaign aimed at attracting both Sunday night and Wednesday night listeners. (Chief target Of the Wed- nesday drive is ABC's sock corns- edy lineup.) How New Yorkers Rate 'Em _ Despite early fall returns of big- time network stanzas, jacfcpotters picked off five of the Top-Ten spots in Pulse's new evening poll of the N. ■ Y. metropolitan area listening. "Stop the Music" was on top with a 15.7, "Break the Bank" second with 15.3 and Walter Wiiichell third with 14.0. Also in tlie money were "Strike It Rich'.' with 12.7, "Hit the Jackpot" with 11.3 and "Winner Take AH" with U.3. Arthur Godfrey's 7-30 a.m. seg and Harry Cldrk's 7-45 news (WCBSi topped all day- timcis with a 6.7 each. Biggest rating of the ,month, however, uas racked up by the WHN-WMCA weekend airing of Brooklyn vs. Giants, for a 17.4. Take the Crew, Too Seattle, Oct.-12. Boeing Airplane Co. in Seattle was surprised last week to receive a request from. the merchandising director of ABCs "Stop the Music" for an airplane to use for a give- away on the program. Advertising manager Carl Cleveland,/ in answer to the claim that the gift of a plane would result in Boeing receiv- ing $75,000 worth of time on ; the show, pointed out that Boe- ' Ing: planes were hardly the type for a giveaway, in that they require a crew of at least : five and cost from $600,000 to $1,500,000. Bing Coin linked To '49 Teeoff Of TranscripticMi Net Hollywood, Oct. 12. Bing Crosby's, coin reportedly is behind a new and apparently as yet unnamed transcription network which is being prepped for « Sep- tember, 1949, teeoff—If the pro- moters can get at least 300 stalions into the fold. Some 75 to 100 Mutual outlets; among others, are. said already to have been inked to tentative af- filiations by two representatives, currently touring the country in behalf of the proposed web.- Trade hears that the operation, jointly financed by the Crosby Foundation and the. Chemical Na- tional Bank, is offering a. min- imum pt five and' a quarter hours of commercial time weekly as. a starter, provided 300 stations can be lined up. Programs would include, these sources say, a Crosby stanza, spon^ sored by Phllco, his current bank- roller on ABC; Whether this would be the same show or a separate one, howevef, isn't, known., - FULL PREMIERES KEENEST IN YRS. By GEORGE ROSEN Return to the airlanes of the' major erop, of' comics and bigtime radio personalities over the past 10 days (Bing Crosby, Al Jolson, Fred Allen, Edgar,'Bergen,- Fibber & Molly, Jack Benny^ Amo£ 'n'.- Andy, et al) has brought in ,lt.<i wake a new and keener appraisal! of fundamental, radio, values. , Throughout the trade there was widespread. comment, based on a week of intense listening as radio's top . talent displayed its newest wares,.'concerning th^ manner in i which the serious giveaway op" I position has served as much- needed stimulant in taking the "old reliables" out of their leth- argy. In generally appraising the flock of top-budgeted premieres, it's the opinion " of -the keener trade-oh-^ servers that not in a dozen years has a 'season's Intro been attended by such punchy: and zingy stanzas as those which took the wraps off the '48-49 season. i In many instances the return of. the established comics was marked by drastic revamping of their' shows> in practically all Instances to the good. Others, though still showing their old format, revealed an awareness, through tigher :scripting and in the overall han- dling of their programs of the need to respark. their efforts; . The present tenjjency to em- brace the "refurbished comedy stanzas stems primarily from an appreciation of the fact that the. comics have at last taken hold of themselves in combatting the com- petition from the giveaways" popf ular appeal. For it's recalled that many of the top Hooperated funr ny boys were getting the critical brushoff last season, when it was generally accepted that they only had themselves to blame for the public's growing indifference;, that the dialer's falling in with the giveaway formula was as much a I protest over the year-in-year-out | I (Continued on page 38) Writers Guild Poised for Strike Vs. Ad Agencies, Indie Packagers; Scripters Take Vote Tonight (Wed.) Hope on Allen's Side Cleveland, Oct. 12. Boh Hope, plans to continue poking fun at -giveaway showsj In town to view his-Indians take over the Braves in the World Series classic, Hope dis- closed that, as often as a gag. incident ariseSi ■ pertaining to the giveaway craze, his writers will work it into his program. Hope : spoke highly of the Allen opening poke at give- aways, but he added "How'll people find out about the gags if they-continue to listen to the giveaways?" Hope term e d giveaways "ridiculous." Standard Oil (N J.) Orch Sponsorship A Coml-less Coml. lidwest Farmers to Europe For 8-Country Aggie Stud)^ Omaha, Oct. 12. Further-, developing Its already, big farm service department. WOW announces it will sponsor a farm^ ers' tour of Europe In which a niin- ' imum of 25 midwest farmers will I study agricultural conditions at ! first-hand in eight countries, I Tour's set to leave New York via ' Air France on Nov. 16 and return a ' month later after vLsitlng France, l England, Denmark; Holland. Bel- igium, Switzerland, I/jxemburg and j Italy. Members of the lour will • have an opportunity of living with farmers in their homes from one Uo three days Okay Due Today On KQW-WTOP Washington, Oct. 12. FCC, it's learned, has on the agenda of its executive-, session tomorrow (Wed.) approval of CBS' sale of 55% interest in WTOP, Washington, to the Washington Post. The approving action is ex- pected to be: announced later this week. - ■ ■ Simultaneously, the Commission: is expected to approve CBS' pur- chase- of the remaining -55% inter- est of Brunton Bros; in KQW, San Francisco, giving the web full ownership of the 50kw ,station. It's reported CBS has earmarked $600,-^ 000 to build up KQW under new management of Arthur Hull Hayes, now topkick of the N.Y. flagship, WCBS. WTOP deal is understood to : involve acquisition by the Post o'f CBS' D.C. television application. Post will have to unload its WINX, but" may keep WINX-FM. It's said the WTOP acquisition is costing the Post in the vicinity of $1,000,000. Sponsorship by Standard Oil Co. (NJ.) ot the New York Philhar- monic ■ Orchestra- concerts on CBS, which got under: way .last Sunday.: (10), represents perhaps the most unusual "commercial" deal that's ever been pacted. ; Company is laying $1,250,000 a year on the line, for the symph pickup, which includes a CBS^ produced intermission period fea- turing Deems Taylor and student musicians from various parts of the country. Yet Standard Oil gets no out- and-out commercial plug on the program, and is asking none. In fact, something of a precedent has been established in the fact that there is no announcer assigned to the show. Instead, if and When Standard Oil is mentioned, it's to be done by Taylor, who has com- plete control over the copy -that's handed to him weekly by the SO agency, Marschalk & Pratt. ' ' Taylor, in turn, is privileged to nix the copy if he. considers it "too pluggy,'' or he can rewrite it, edit it, censor, it, or decide to scrap , it altogether, "Commercials,'' should they turn up on the program, will not even be institutional, with only a cas- ual, infoi'mal reference to Standard Oil Co. (N.J.) if Taylor considers the item of public interest. , Taylor has agreed to toss off the casual mention, but only if the copy doesn't project him as a salesman. . Agency originally conceived the idea of working in a commercial every few weeks or so, but this was nixed on the theory that its sudden intrusion after a lapse might offend listeners. : WHODUNIT WRITERS PACKAGE SET FOR ABC Hollywood, Oct. 12. Crosby and Eogle Kadio ; Produc- tions have inked a package deal for a .series radio ■ mystery yarns by the nation's top whodunit writers. ■ , ' ■ , ! Deal with Mystery Writers of America calls for production on ABC of a series modeled; after This Is My Best." They're no By DICK DOAN The long-drawn-out battle be- tween the advertising agencies and - the Radio Writers Guild comes to a head tonight (Wed.). Unless there's a last-minute, tmexpected development, the writers will strike within' a matter of days in New York, Chicago and Holly- wood. RWG strategists aren't dis- closing the date, but they say it will come "very soon'- after to^ . night's regional membership .-meetr,: ings in the three key- origination cities. The past week brought another ' exchange of letters between tlio Guild negotiators and the commit- tee representing about 18 agencies ■ in the American Assn. of Advertis- ing Agencies. ^ But the two sides - came not a bit nearer a lAeeting of minds. Meantime, RWG drafted a letter to independent producers and to, an estimated 65, agencies not in- cluded in the group .with which the guild has been maneuvering for months, giving them an oppor- tunity of signing a "letter of ad- herence" prior to Oct. 22. Failing such action, it was indicated^ ' they'll be included on the receiv- ing end of the strike. Also, it was disclosed, that na-: tional HWG prexy Erik Barnouw is . unopposed and certain of: r»i> election in balloting now "under way. Fact that his nominatipn was unanimous among the regionals is >: interpreted as a vote of full con- fidence by the -members in th« fight he has led for a deal with tbo agencies,,, ■■ ■ Agencies came back Monday (11) with what amounted, for all intent and purposes, to their final offer to RWG, In a letter signed by Louis N. 3rockway nf Young •&' Rubicam; Chester MacCracken of, Doherty, Clifford & Shenfleld, as altemate for Len Bush of Comp- ton, and David Stewart of Kenyon & Eckhardt, as alternate for Walter Craig of Benton &; Bowles, the agencies professed puzzlement at "what the status of things really is." They pointed out: "We have of-: (Continued On page 38) Tour is personally directed by | scouting for. an emcee, and plai Mai Hansen, WOW's farm director, teeing off layout this winter. It' -s,: .•!,T. G&F produced- More than a dozen others will go , "Ma Perkins," "Aunt Mary" and I along. ,1 "f*^- for networks. ! Todate, 15 farmers have enrolled.' a five-year Looks like Philip Morris Will Ditch CBS Quizzer For a Suspense Format Philip Morris and its agency, Milton Biow, are now coming around, at least part way, to CBS' thinking concerning the Friday night 10-10:30 slot which fpllows the new "Ford Theatre'! series. CBS lias been anxious to yank jthe Phil Baker "Ever.ybody Wins" I .show out of the period and install a dramatic Stanza for back-to-back slotting with the Ford showcase, in hopes of creating a parlay which might pay off as "Lux Ra- ' dio Theatre" and "Screen Guild Players" did on Mondays. Philip Morris is now planning on -dropping the quiz show (al- though-Jack Paar may go in for 'an interim period after Phil .Baker's contract runs out the end of thisi month), and putting in a .dramatic stanza. But ifWiU have ia suspense format, with guestars.- Everyhody Loves Daytime Radio Prospect developed this week that WOR, N. Y., will offer a Gabriel Heatter-Bing Grosby..Kat« Smith midday parley, V,icuum Foods Corp., for which Crosby is propping a 15-minute cross-the-r board transcribed show, is ^ talking a deal with the Mutual key station to slot the Groaner's disk (his owA) ' and gab stanza at 11:45 a.m., be- tween Heatter's "Mailbag" and Miss Smith's "Speaks," both Mu- tual co-ops. Crosby program, plugging Min- ute Maid quick-frozen orango juice, is to be placed with six to nine outlets in major markets, as a starter, with more to be added as distribution of the product Is expanded. Show's teeoff tentative- ly is slated around Nov. 15. Crosby is a member ot the board of directors of Vacuum Foods, Amer. Petroleum Co. Likes "You Are There* Deal is in the works for Ameri- can Petroleum Co. to pick up tho tab on the Sunday afternoon CBS- produced '"You Are There" dram- atic show. Formerly known as "CBS li) There.-' program during its su.staining regime has won crit- ical kudos for its reenactment of top historical evenls,. Sponsorship will entail about ■ $500,000 annua! time and talent .outlay. Agency is Sulliv•an^ Stauf- fer, Colwell & Bayles.