Variety (Oct 1948)

W^-Jnwday, October 13, 194« CBS TELE GOES rtusnsuns si Pulses Top 10 TV Shows Televised sports events, which had slid behind other types of TV ihows during recent months, came back with a vengeance during Septetmber to take seven of the top 10 ratings issued by Pulse. Despite the resurgence of sports, however, vaudeo retained its lead, with Ed Sullivan's "Toast pf the Town" on the CBS-TV web pull- ling down top spot with a 40.7 and NBC-TV's "Texaco Star The- atre" finishing a close second with a 38.7 rating. Same two shows led the August ratings. Four of the seven sports events were Brooklyn Dodger baseball games covered by WCBS-TV (CBS, N.Y.). Dodgers Were still in the race for the National League pennant during early Septem- ber, which might explain the viewers' interest. Other three sports ratings all went to boxing matches. Bob Emery's "Small Fry Club," moppet show aired across-the-board on the DuMont web, was the only non-sports leader With the exception ot the first two, squee;^ Ing into ninth place in the ratings. Following is a list of the top 10 Pulse-rated shows in N.Y. for Septetmber: Sept. Auff. "Toast of the Town," WCBS,-TV, Sunday......... 40.7 37 "Texaco Star Theatre," WNBT, Tuesday.'. 38.7 31 Brooklyn vs. Giants, WNBT, Sunday 33.3 Boxing, WCBS-TV, Sunday 31.3 Boxing, WABD, Tuesday 30. Dodgers vs. Giants, WNBT, Saturday 30 Dodgers vs. Giants, WPIX, Thursday (night) 28 Boxing, WNBT, Friday 27.3 Small Pry Club, WABD, Monday-Friday 27 26.2 Brooklyn vs. Chicago, WCBS-TV, Monday 26.7 Hy Charts Course of Indie TV Producers; ITPA Plans Own Show ADAPTS FILAfir Cutrating Crashes Tele Set Market; Selling Hits Trench Postcard' Clip Gaining momentum in its drive-f to hU the networks and ad agen- cies with a solid front oMndepend- ent video producersi the Independ- ent Television Producers Assn. took its first big step this week with appointment of James L. Fly, former FCC chairman, as attorney for the outfit. Okayed by ITPA's exec board Monday (11), the move was designed to add power and prestige to. the four-week old or- ganization. Fly's immediate job will be to study present relationships among Indie producerSi ad agencies and network outlets and afterwards to draw up a constitution and: bylaws for the ITPA. Upon the basis of his findings, Fly will also draw up a standard contract to cover the sales of both live and filmed shows to TV stations. Currently, ITPA has a member- thip of 40 leading indie producers in New York, Chicago and Detroit, representing about 75% of the eastern fields After ITPA is for- mally chartered , on the basis of Fly's recommendations, the organ- ization intends sending a rep to the west coast to corral indie pro- ducers there who have already shown interest in ITPA's aims; Sparkplugged by Martin Gosch,ithe outfit was set up to protect the interests of indie ^producers who. are under a tactical disadvantage In dealing with the big nets and agencies. ITPA; holding its first member- ship meeting next Wednesday (20), at the Savoy Plaza, N. Y., is also building its own program to show- case the efforts of its member units. Specific plans for the show ■wiU t>e drawn up. at the , meeting with preliminary alms being to create a practical pro^mming code to guide the industry! Deals • for airing the show ai-e still a mat- ter for the future. The exec board of ITPA is com- posed of Gosch, proxy; Irvin Sulds, indie producer, vice-prexy; Nat Rudick, of Gainsborough As- sociates, secretary; and Henry White, of World Video, treasurer. ABC's $1,000,000 Hdqs. Extent to which ABC is lay- ing it on the line to entrench^ itself in television is evi- denced by-tlie revelation that it is plunking down $1,000,000 to get its new west 66th street N. Y.) Tv hdqs. functioning. By the latter part of this month some 700 ABC em- ployes (including .some radio personnel) will be moved over to the block-long building, al-. though the two elaborate stu- dios in the structure won't be ready for camera-shooting un- til the first of the year. ABC estimates that its total coast-to-coast investment will set it back $8,000,000. CBS Seeks Sponsor For European Music TV Fix Hollywood, Oct. 12. , CBS is wooing potential sponsors in the east for a series of 13 one- reelers, lensed in Europe by Eugen Sliarin, of Ambassador Films, Which the net will telecast. Setup is second by web, first being with Impro for series of short films. ^ Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Is, featured in the first six com- pleted by Sharin. He has also made "Merry Christmas," starring Vienna Boy's Choir of St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna. • It features Bight yuletide carols and will be aired during coming Christmas season. PhiDyTVCyc Hailed by Medicos ' Philadelphia, Oct. 12. The full implications of the first major demonstration of television. and surgery for teaching purposes ar6 still to be weighed, although physicians and surgeons who took part in the video clinic were glow- ing in their praise of the new medium. The demonstration was staged last week (5-6) by the University of Pennsylvania's Medical School in cooperation with RCA, under the sponsorship of the Smith, Kline & French pharmaceutical laborator- ies. The program Was put on in conjunction with the State Medical Society's convention here and 4,000 physicians and surgeons in nearby Convention Hall attended tlie television clinic. Thirty-five physicians, and; sur- geons from the faculty took part in the two days telecast of operations. The operating room routine was virtually unchanged. A television camera was suspended over the table and the chief surgeon and narrator^ described the scene (Continued on page 36) . ..Incorporating various motion pic- ture production techniques for the: first time into television, CBS-TV will spring a completely, itew rear projection device on viewers for the Ford Television Theatre show Sunday (17) night. Developed by CBSrTV production manager John DeMott and the web's tele engi- neering staff,: the system: will pro- vide ' .tele with an almost limitless variety of background sets at a cost much lower than they, could actually be built , , System involves a screen 14x17 feet on which can be projected either motion pictures or slides. Props are: then set up before the screen, with the overall image giving almost a three-dimensional effect. Views of practically any-: thing can then be projected on the screen. If the format, for example, calls for an: aetor to be riding in a cab up> Fifth avenue, film of Fifth avenue will be projected be- hind the actor in a prop cab, giv- ing the home viewer the illusion of actual motion'. , System has been used for years in Hollywood but. until DeMott and his crew worked out the angr les, it had been thought impossible far tele adapati'on."* Screen, con- structed of :a special metal and plastic alloy, was manufactured by the Bodde Screen Go., which also makes them for Metro and Para- mount studios. Projector, requires only 1,000 watts of incandescent light power, whereas it had been thought heretofore that at least 5,000 watts of carbon are light would be needed. All film is shot; at the same rate of 30 frames per second that TV, uses, instead of motion • pictures' standard 24 frames, with the film then syn- chronized with the tele camera. Through use of the system on the Ford TV preem, which is to present an hour-long adaptation, of Ruth Gordon's "Years Ago," De- Mott will be able to use two ex- terior scenes of winter, one for night and one for day, then cut almost immediately to a warm summer day; System, has been de- veloped to the extent- that the proper densities on the screen. are matched to the studio's key light, to preclude any glare. DeMott: Is now working closely with DuPont engineers to develop the screen further, and hopes to have five or six of them in operation at the WCBS-TV (N. Y.) studios by Feb- ruary. . . . CBS-TV "sneaked" its rear pro- jection on several stanzas of the "Face the Music" show. 15-minute airer broadcast acrcss-the-board, but next Sunday night's show will be the first time it will have been: used to its full advantage. DeMott worked out the. system, on. the: basis of his experience at the Par studios on the Coast, where he worked in both operations and special effects, helping to rig up such things as the squid used in "Reap the Wild Wind" and the explosion shots in "For Whom the Bell Tolls." Other CBS-TV technicians who worked on the process with "De- Mott are H. Van Wagenen, chief of the station's electrical construction crew and engineers Fred Rein- hardt and Paul Witlig. , Video Tells All Only television has revealed the true difference between football on the campus and in a baseball park. When: the ball goes into the stands on the campus -— it comes back. GiDette Buys Rose Bowl on TV Gillette Safety Razor, plunging, deeper into sponsorship of tele- vision, sports events, has signed to bankroll both radio and: tele. pick- ups of the Rose Bowl football fame next New Year's Day.. Game.-will be carried by CBS on . both radio and TV. Gillette reportedly inked the deal with CBS several; weeks ago but: held back on the information: so as not to detract from the World Series, which it also sponsored on both radio and TV for a. combined price of $175,000. What the firm is shelling out for the Rose Bowl contest hasn't been divulged. Max- on agency handles the Gillette ac- count. CBS recently acquired the radio- TV rights to the Bowl games for three years,: but Gillette's contract is for 1949- only. Game is Yo be carried on the full CBS-AM net- work and over as many tele sta- tions as it's available to. Web also has the right to transcribe the game on film for' use. at a: later time over stations not directly con- nected to its Hollywood tele outlet. Apart from the slight buying lull, which is ascribed in part to the tightening - up of the install- ment-purchasing regulations;- the seasonal pre-election nervousness; television sets "are selling like French postcards," according to one major department store music-^: radio-TV executive. However; -he ■ complains, the independent dealers - are making it tough for the legits, like the big stores, which -must ob- serve the FeldrCrawford law;and kindred rei^trictlons on fixed prices... ■ •:.■' ■;. The smaller radio dealers find TV a quick turnover item, and "anybody with cash can walk into any of these stores and buy sets 10-20% less than the list." As it is, the retailers complain, the big- gest profit-earners are- the manu* facturers and distributors;: the dealers' markup is relatively, small. Since, , however, the: installation and service- fees redound to out- fits like BOA, etc., the small deal*- ers are content therefore to make a fast if smaller profit, thus in- creasing the cutrating: evil.' TOP STARS TO PREEM FORD THEATRE ON TV Raymond Massey, Eva Le Gal- lienne and Patricia Kirkland have been set as stars in "Years Ago," Ruth Gordon play selected to launch the Ford. theatre on tele , . over the CBS-TV web Sunday (17) i fPread, Balto. TV-Happy; 60-Hr. WBALSiied Baltimore, Oct. 12. With 22,000 tele sets in use as of Sept. 30,'and likelihood of a 40,000 figure being achieved by March X,. Baltimore currently shapes up as one of the nation's most "TV-happy" cities. Taking.its clue from.the video- conscious populace, and in a bid to spurt set sales even higher,. WBAL-TV embarked this week on an' ambitious, afternoon program- ming: schedule, bringing the sta- tion's program; setup 60 hours ; a week. That's bigtime in anybody's city. " Station now operates from noon straight through to signoflF time, with the noontime AM "Hi-Jlnx'* show getting a simultaneous TV Afternoon sked Includes WOIC Ceremonies Fri. Washington, Oct. 12. Special cornerstone for WOIC, Mutual net's upcoming television station, is to be laid here Friday (15) by FCC chairman Wayne Coy. He's to use a silver trowel for ihe ceremonies and the corner- stone will include current copies of leading radio trade publications Ceremonies are to be attended by WOR (N. Y.) prexy Theodore Streibert, veepee Jack R. Poppele and WOIC general manager Eu- gene S. Thomas. 2,000,000 PIC TUBES IN '49, SEZ STROTZ Chicago, Oct. 12. In a slide talk for members of; the Assn. of American Advertising Agencies here Friday (8) Sidney Strotz, NBC veepec in charge of tele, said (hat reports of picture tube shortages are exaggerated^ Supply of 10-inch glass blanks is "more than adequate," he said, pre-: dieting that over 2,000,000 pic tubes will be turned out in 1949. NBC now has tele in cities rep- resenting 29% of the total papula night. Ford's TV preem follows by nine days the start of. radio's Ford theatre. Two units, while both presenting one-hour adapta- tions of w.k. plays, will remain dis- tinct from each other, maintaining separate production crews and script writers. Tele version of the show will be aired in the 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. slot once a montli, putting it directly across from the: second half-hour of Du Mont's "Original Amateur Hour" and from the Admiral show on NBC-TV. With the Philco Tele- vision Playhouse on NBC-TV al- ready bucking Ed Sullivan's "Toast of the Town'' vaudeo show on CBS-TV in the 9 to 10 p.m. slot, Sunday night's TV picture is rap- idly becoming as hotly contested as in radio. Howdy Doody Now a Big Subsid Business Operation Vast commercial exploitation in a manner akin to that given Walt Disney's. Mickey Mouse is under way for "Howdy Doody,''' puppet star of Bob Smifhfs kid show on NBC-TV. A firm has been organ- ized in the name of Howdy Doody, Inc., and licensing agreements have already beei^ set by Smith with five toy and^ children's clothing; manufacturers/;;; First to debut, late this .month, will be a doll, a prettified, iVAt- inch-tall replica of the puppet,, turned out by the Effanbee Doll Co., subsid of the Noma Electric Corp. Smith is .slated to teeot'f sale of the doll at Macy'.s, N. Y. Deals also have been set for a Howdy Doody suspender and belt live, news and transcribed shows, built chiefly around the "Tele Matinee" program. Lucky Strike Increases Vidfilm Series to 3 Yrs. With {2,000,000 Budget Hollywood, Oct. 12. American Tobacco has upped the Marshall Grant, Realm Tele- vision Productions, deal for 26;: telepix, as reported last week, to 156 pictures. Pact now covers a three-year; period. Tobacco will spend close to $2,000,000 on the package. Series was sold on the sample film "The Necklace" adapted from Guy de, Maupassant's short story^; Initialer was written and pror duced by Stanley Rubin and Louis Lantz and directed by Sobey Martin, Norman L. Elzer will be in charge of :.the entire, video opera-r tion. Rudy Abel has been made a: member of the organization and will function ;as production super-; visor. First film is to be delivered to American Tobacco by .Ian 1, under;deal set by Harry Immerle. tion, according to Strotz. Next outfit, a- cowboy suit; a cowboy year/ he said, the net will expand shirt, ;and a girl's handbags video coverage to the point whex'e In the works, too, are. negotia- it will influence oa.SOrj of total tions for Smith, who is "Howdy's" U. S. retail sales via stations in I voice, to do a couple of kids' rec- cities comprising 43.89© of the total i ord albums, Kids' books ai.so" are population. Ibeinjg discussed. Here We Go Again CBS is hauling out and dust- ing -off : its color television, for « one-shot demonstration for a one- woman audience. ; Frieda Hennock, newest FCC commissioner, hasn't seen 'color TV. CBS will give her the gander Friday, Qct. 22. El PASO FILES FOE TV Washington, Oct. 12. ■ Application for commercial tele- vision station In El Paso, Tex., was filed last week with ihe FCC. by El Paso Television Co.