Variety (Dec 1948)

Wednesciayt Deeemlier I, 1948 WMBW 23 BENNY 'SUPPORUNG CASr JAMUP AB-American Candidate Paky CBS board chairman William S. Paley't splurge of millions to wrap up top radio talent has cued widespread trade comment on the pros and cons of such maneuvering with its possible effect on radio as a whole. Here's the financial scorecard, as far as Paley is concerned- Having previously shelled out 12,000,000 for Amos 'n' Andy, his acquisition. of Jade Benny costs him another $2,000,000, plus th« assets of Benny's Amusement Enterprises operation, estimated at an i^dditional $350,000. Music Corp. of America, which negotiated the capital gains deal, gets 10% off the top. In addition, Paley reportedly has earmariced $100,000 for Benny promotion. Under the reported Indemnity clause protecting Benny's rating, Paley, it's understood, stands to shell out $3,000 for each rating point loss. In the event of a possible Treasury Dept. nix on the capital gains, it's rumored Paley will malce up the tax difference and booli Benny in as television consultant for 10 years at $200,000 a year. In return .for all this, Paley haS'paved the way for the prize CBS comedy parlay of Benny, Phil Harris-Alice Faye, Edgar Bergen and AiA, which would give him the undisputed accolade as "Radio Man of the Year." . , On the other side of the ledger is the possible invitation of a wholesale D. C. investigation of stock deals with talent; of the establishing of a precedent in departing from orthodox sponsorship deals that may open up new demands by talent and blow the lid off talent price ceilings. As for Benny, protected on the one hand from any financial re- verses, he's inviting a risk of audience loss, until such time as his fans become Columbia-conscious; he's giving up a time slot that he Vowns" and, according to report, has already created an impasse in his relationship with Phil Harris because of the latter's inability to grab off the post-Benny (7:30) period on CBS. In the original blueprint, Benny had earmarked the Harris 7:30 time as a must. Radio Aspect of 20th's ABC Deal Gives Web Personnel Case of Jitters S[E NO SPOTS By GEORGE BOSEN It now reads "Jack- Benny at 7 on CBS," starting Jan. 2, with the William S. Pal6y-Music Coi?p. «f America "capital gains" papers signed, sealed and delivered. But beyond that the tempestous and unprecendented Sunday night Jockeying of the Comics Is in a state of confusion. CBS prexy Frank Stanton hopped the fastest plane in sight for the Coast last week when it became apparent that the original Blueprint If CBS can iron out present' difficulties and get everybody involved to fall in with the ' network's n ew blueprint, here's how the Sunday night lineup will read: 6;30^Edgar Bergen. 7:00—Jack Benny. 7:30—Amos 'n' Andy. 8:00—P h i 1 Harris - AUce Faye. 8:30—"Sam Spade." 3G Trotedioii' Tab For Such Rati^ P(Hnt Loss Runored h Benny Deal Jitters prevailed around ABC> headquarters in New York the past week as the 20th*Fox takeover of the network loomed as a virtual certainty. Since 20th's principal ' concern lies in clinching a domin- ant position in television, the trade was conjecturing on where ABC ' Would wind up as a major radio network. Since Ed Noble took over the network several years back^ ABC has climbed steadily as a factor in broa'dcasting, attaining a major status in programming, on some evenings comparable to CBS and NBC. The ABCpersonnel is jittery because it doesn't luiow just yet. how intense 20th's. Interest will be : . ln the strictly radio aspect of: the network operation. Some are in- clined to think a lot of jobs will go by; the board. Winchell and 'Stop the Music' Since 20th-Fox envisions corral- ling all possible stock tb achieve full ownership of the nelvl'ork, this would also embrace a takeover of all the radio assets. Recognized as the chief asset, of course, is Wal- ter Winchell, with his continued No. 1 Hooper hold on Sunday night audiences. Wlnchell's contract with ABC still has two years-to go and 20th in its takeover of Jrll assets. Autry's Fourth Station Hollywood, Nov. 30. Gene Autry added a fourth radio station to his string last week, buy- ing out KTSA in San AntOnio, the ABC outlet. His other properties include sta- tions in Santa Monica, Cal.; Phoe- nix and Tucson;. Ariz.' igiiiPi^^ Holiday Audience special Hooper ;. Thanksgiying Dajc survey made in 36 cities for NBC and CBS on the brace of twd- hbur bpliday shows (slotted in op- position to one another in the 4 to 6 p.m.. segments) has'to^^ ■some'int*restihg"'data<i Eiiin, which sponsored .the, program, after i six-year J?an' on CBS, won halids dbwh, with an 11 .2. ; That's prectsely the rating [ racked up by Elgin the year be- fore on Golumbia, yet this year it . > it.- I wa.s conli onted with the competi- would capture possession of this ] Wrigley - sponsored show on contract. Also involved is an option on the ownership of "Stop the Music," ABC's .second important program asset this season, with its command- ^_ _ ing Hooper draw. The new net-i t^p"Thanksgiving afternw^^ Work owners would annex this also, - CBS. The Wrigley two-hour stanza clocked an 8 5. On the New York scene,' the Hooper check showed Elgin as the tiiihy -^ith-Wrigley second. ?^ dverall television " vieM/'ing . snared the 't^o. ,3 spot, attracting a bigger audience'than the rest of the radio fare during 4 to ■ 6 p.m. Television got almost 22% of the audience. Homes sampled were the usual Hooper random cross - section of I N. Y. telephone homes and tliere- : fore included only "chance" own- erS'of TV'Sets ' Firestone, from all indications,' . has come to the conclusion that it 1 doe.^n't pay to compete with itself. I niirir VAMCn DDAfDAM Tire company has been televising i rAluC llAln£>U I IVUulVAlU the Ben Grauer-moderated "Amer- Firestone Nixiiu[ Own Opposition blueprint had gone awry; that there wasn't the slightest chance of Rexall capturing the 7:30-8 p.m. period for its Phil Harris-Alice Faye show as the tail to the Benny kite, thus assuring the same se^ quencing as prevails on NBC. Ob- ject of Stanton's emergency flight was to prevail on Justin Dart. Rexall prez, to join in the NBC-to- CBS Sunday parade, but to accept a different time slot, "let's say, 8 o'clock." Reason the Harris-Faye combo can't follow Benny is that Amos *n' Andy are entrenched in 7:30 andi as far as Charles Luckman, prexy of Lever Bros., A & A's sponsor, is concerned, nobody's going to budge them from that spot. That goes for this year and the next four years, the length of the Lever, contract with CBSj which now owns A & A lock, stock and barrel. CBS had hoped it could per- suade Luckman to shift A & A to 8:30 o'clock, Which would permit; the Sunday roster to read as fol- (Continued on page 34) . BBD&0'» Toughi* BBD&O recognizes it's got a toughie oii Its hands, finding itself in the middle of>n awk- ward doublersponsor: iiituation'' involving the Jack Benny switchover from NBC to CBS and Columbia's attempt to re- ■ shuffle its Sabbath program lineup. While on the one hand, BBD&O's blessing has accom^ panled the Benny switch as the agency on the $10,000,000 American Tobacco account, the agency is also confronted with the problem of making its Wildroot client happy. CBS wants to recapture the Sunday at 8 "Sam Spade" time (spon- sored by Wildroot) for the Ed- gar Bergen show so as not to disrupt the projected comedy sequencing. Wildroot has re- torted with a "we're very hap- py where we are," , pointing to an iinpressive 9.5 rating in the face of the present Bergen op- position oq NBC. Look Who's Back! -And Kd% Size Yet Fatima cigarets is entering the network programming sweepstakes in a bid to recapture public favor via its new king size product. An auxiliary product of Chester- field (just as Pall Mall is American Tobacco's king size weed), Fatima, through Newell-Emmett agency, has negotiated for the Saturday nigtht 9:30-10 slot on CBS for an adventure - whodunit type show starring Basil Ratlnione. Latter has been doing the radio spot for Fatima. # New Fatima show, starting Dec. 8, will bracketed i>ack-to-back with "Gangbusters," w h i c h General Foods has purchased for the 9 p.m. Saturday time on CBS. CBS Switch In Its Show TecNqne (ksNmlBChMB^ MGR. IN MUTUAL SHIH Icana" show in the 8:30 Monday night video slot on NBC-TV, op- . , , . posite its own "Voice of Fire- l I" the first of a projected series stone" NBC radio show, idea being I of reshuffles at .Mutual in the wake to establish an 8:30-9 AM-TV time I of the resignation of Robert Swezey tianc'hise I exec veepee, Jack Paige, who With more and more tele sets | has been director of special events entering the picture, causing a de- I under veepee Abe Schechter, flection in radio listening, Firei- Slone has changed its mind and has put in a bid for the 9:30-10 pjn. Monday night slot for its "Americana" video prcscntationi moves over to Phillips Carlin's pro- igram dept; Paige's new title will be program manager. Switchover takes effect this i week. Sohechter may bring Art Option lor the new time is based Feldman in to N. Y. headquarters on the fact that it will follow the i from Washington to take over upcoming top-budgeted Colgate , Paige's functions. . , . Show on NBC in the 9 p.m. Mon- i Meanwhile, prexy Ed Kobak is day segment, with ■ likelihood of J still on the prowl for an exec to Phil Spilalny getting the Colgate i step into a sales-program admin- nod, {istrative berth. Now that CBS switched from a several-year concentration on crear tive programming into the present era of star consciousness, what with its Jack Benny, Amos 'n' Andy et al. wrapup, the question intriguing the trade is whether NBC will be forced to take up where Columbia left off and em- bark on a creative programming binge of its own.; Oddly enough, the . CBS reversal in programming technique comes at a time when the multiple net- work-built shows are beginning to pay off handsome dividends for Paley & Co., bringing in millions of dollars a'.year .in time^package billings. Arthur Godfrey's "Talent Scouts." sold to Lipton Tea, and "My Friend irma," spon.sored by Swan Soap, are important factors in solidifying CBS' Monday night program supremacy aS' front-and^ back shows for "Lux Radio Thea- tre." Also, the house-buiit "Sus- pense" and "Crime Photographer'' shows are important segments in Columbia's Thursday night dom- inance over NBC's Al Jolson-Burns & AlIcn-"Aldrich Family"-Sealtest parlay. - Similarly, the web's development of Arthur Godfrey as , a biglime personality, the sale of the hou.se- built "Our Miss Brooks'' to Col- gate, etc., are all part of the pal- tern evolved over the past few years by CBS In Its iletermined bid to overcome NBC's monopoly of stars. But the picture today has changed. For the first time in years NBC is faced with the problem of filling cream time segments and i fighting CBS opposition. For a dec- I ade or more it wasn't necessary I for NBC to splurge on creative I programming because there were I no time periods open. Its program operation hasn't been geared to any such eventuality. The trade is looking to see what NBC does in its first full-blown crisis. ♦ Facet of the Jack Benny-CBS board chairman WUUam S. Paley- "capital gains" maneuver include! a reported provision still in proc-' ess of being ironed out whereby CBS will indemnify the comedian against loss of rating when h* moves into the Sunday at 7 slot on Columbia starting Jan. 2. Vincent Riggio, prez of American Tobacco, Benny's sponsor, whos* final blessing capped the switch- over, is reported to have insisted on the "protection" clause should Benny's rating take a nosedive. Since: it's considered entirely< possible that the Benny show, after its many years as an NBC- show- case, could dive as much as fiv* points until he's solidly eAtreAched as a Columbia personality, Qi*: deal, it's said, involves the pay- ment by Paley of $3,000 for each rating point loss. Riggio, it's un--' derstood, wants it based on a mean f average covering all of last seii- son's ratings. On the other band, Paley is said to have countered with a proposition that it be based on the average of this season's ratings. Riggio considers that un- fair, in view of the rating momen- tum Benny picks up as the season progresses, thus giving him m',' higher seasonal average. Thus, if Benny loses out on hit initial 'CBS rating by five polntt),' CBS would be required to pick up a $15,000 "protection" tab. Ramifications of the Benny switchover also; reportedly involve an Agreement whereby, should th* "capital gains" maneuver finally meet up with an Internal Revenua- nix, thus requiring the comedian to lay it on the line on a straight tax basis, Paley would step in and pay the tax. Under capital gains, Benny would paj^ only 25% on th« "$2,000,000 plus assets of Amuse- ment Enterprises," the. latter ■ placed at $350,000. Should he get nicked on a straight tax basis, the $2,000,000 would place him In the 86% tax bracket. This would net him a little more than $200,00Q, NBC s New Sunday Lineup Is Secret Whatever NBC has In mind for its new Sunday night lineup-^nd , it's unofficially stated that the web has already blueprinted the sched- ule—it's being kept under itrict wraps. Chief 'Concern, Oj.' course, is tho 7 o'clock time which Jack Benny is exiting after the Dec. 26 broad- cast, with the Phil Harris-Alico Faye and Edgar Bergen 'situation still unsnarled^ It'll definitely b« ; a top comedy show. seZ iNBC. ' It's reported that General Foods, via Young & Bubicam agency, Is studying the NBC Sunday situs'- ' tion with a possible view toward effecting a switch in its program- ; ming roster. GF' is sitting tight on its replacement shows until its' Sunday "thinkiAg" is crystallized. ChristtnoH Gitt Order Form Please Send VARIETY for One Year , To (Pleasft Print Natney Street City Zone State A carrf witk your nam* wiH accompany fha firsf copy of VAKItTY REGULAR SUI$CRIPTiON RATES FOR ONI YEAR VARIETY $10.00 VARIETY and DAILY VARIETY $22.00 A3R/i&rr Inc. 154 Wcsf 4««li SfrMt New York 19. N. Y.