Variety (Dec 1948)

WedntmOmr, Peeember 29, 1948 TELEVISIOIV 23 TKANSCRIPTION CIRCUIT WIDENS TV Networks' Transcribed Shows Following are the shows transcribed on film by the four major television networks and the number of non-intercottnected affiliate stations on "Which: the transcriptions arA'now being aired (these are. in ■ addition to the east coast affiliates . which receive the shows regularly via coaxial cable): ABC V None on a regular basis, hut sporadic one^shots on such specials is the Elgin^American sponsored Thanksgiving show. , ,. CBS Proeram Toast of the Town Lflcky Pup Places, Please Make Mine Music Kobb's Corner Winner Take^U To the Queens' Taste Morey Amsterdam Show What's It Worth? People's Platform y ; Studio One Lamp Unto My Feet United Nations Case Book Sponsor Emerson Sustaining'. Sustaining Sustaining Sustaining Sustaining Sustaining Sustaining Sustaining Sustaining Sustaining Sustaining. Sustaining ' Stations 4 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 , 7 7 7 7 7 Less TV Depend on Radio, Better Off It Will Be, Sez Arthur Schwartz DuMONT DuMont services stations in 10 non-intercohnected cities with several or all of the following shows: : Alan Dale, Boxing,'Court of Current Issues, Doorway, to Fame, : Fashions on Parade, Key to Missing Persons," Photographic Horizons, Swing Into Sports, Wrestling, Old Gold Amateur Hour. NBC Set Mfrs. StiD Dubious of Drastic Price Cuts, Despite UST's Hefty Axe . Drastic price cut in all brand*"! name television receivers loomed last week in the wake of U. S. Television's announced reductions Of up to $400 on some models. Further credence was lent to the reports with the rumor that RCA was ready to spring its new 16-inch metal tube in • table set selling at about $500, which would mark the lowest' price yet listed for a screen that large. Spokesmen for the major manufacturers, however, persistently denied the reports, claiming price cuts are still impos- sible because of the continued high cost of component parts. RCA announced this week that it would, unveil "some, long-await- ed" TV receivers at Chicago's win- ter furniture market Monday (3). Statement made no mention of the | metal tube; but it's believed certain ; the models will Include the new : development. | According to the spokesmen, in- stead of the manufacturers lower- ing their prices, they'll turn out Improved models, many incorporat- ing new features, at the present lists. Illustrative was a new devel- opment -tt- the "Tele-Zbom" w uni veiled Monday (27) by Garod, Device makes it possible for a Garod setowner to enlarge the image from a standard rectangular (Continued on page 38) Paul Raibourn An Ardeiit FilmfrTV ExpoRmt Details *'Hou) the Film Industry Can Utilize Television to Boost the Boxoffice** An Important Faotur* in the 43d A'nniv0rsary Number of Out iSexl Week Tloorshow's' Move To NBC for Sponsor Bait; Pointing up the difficulties en-' countered by local television out- lets in bucking TV networks, i^I^^ Video this week moves its i-ddie Condon's Floorshow" half- hour package from the N. Y. Daily News' WPIX to the NBC-TV web Move was made, according to WV ' exec Henry S. White, since NBC's i lull web will make It much easier i to snag a sponsor for the show,' winch has been a WPIX sustainer lor the last several months. | Piogram goes Into the 8.30 to 9 :»aturday night slot starting this Jjeek (1). White pointed out that ih 11^® segment is much better, tnan the Monday night WPIX seg- ment since Saturday is still a com- ■ paiatively slow night on TV and petit- Indie Producers N.Y.-Coast Merger Is Now Being Set First step towards the merger of Hollywood's Television Pror ducers Assn. and the east's Inde- pendent ■ Television Producers Assn; into one nationwide: unit was taken on the Coast last week by N Y producer Martin Gosch, who brought the Hollywood group into the fold. Merger contract is now being drawn up by IPTA attorney James T. KK foimer FCC chair- man, and It s expected that both board.s will vote . on the merger soon alter the first of the year, Gosch, unsuccesstul in attempts to bring Hollywood's Independent Television Producers Assn. into the unit, charged the Coa.st filmites With adopting an unhealthy smug- ness against live productions. He charged the, Hoilywood: filmsters with turning out the wrong kind of pix lor video, charging they're try- ing to make cheaper editions of theatrical product instead of pro- ducing films especially geared for video's reciuireinents. As a result Go.scli said, films now being turned out on the Coast can serve only as (Continued on page 32) Major television networks, jump-;i. ing the gun on extension of the j: coaxial cable from coast to coast,) are putting full emphasis on tele- ^ vision film transcriplion.s to serv- ice, their non.interconnected afiiii- ate station.s with some of the top; TV shows originating in N. Y. CBS; DuMont and NBC together now feed 35 difl'erent shows a week to various stations not linked to the cable,: thereby insuring their hold on the al filiates as well as provid- ing wider coverage to sponsors. Kmphasis placed on the tran scriptions by the webs is believed significant, in view of the fact that they all admit frankly the quality of transcriptions has not' yet reached a point comparable to that of live tran.smi.ssion.: -Their .stress is based only partly on the added revenue that the filmed pro-1 grams bring In. since the webs are | paid by affiliates for sualainers but must pay them to carry sponsored shows: Chief reason for the steadi- ly-mounting, use' of recordings, it's l)elieved, is the necessity to serv- ice stations which have neither the I money nor talent available to origi- I nate their own shows. Until: the cable, or radio relay, is expanded sufficiently to handle all the webs/j they believe thi.s is the only meth- od available to. carry out their net- work function. Of the major webs, ABC is the only one not feeding its hetwork shows to affiliates on a regularly- scheduled basis.; ABC: with eyes on | the recently-demonstrated Dunning 1 Animatic Projector, to date has j recorded only sporadic ^one^shots, most of . which- were sponsored.; Dunning system, which, provides i shows at only a fraction of the cost [ involved: in staging a .li ve .-program land recording it on film?,w.ill be ] relied on heavily by ABC to serv- ice, its affiliates. CBS' 13 Is Tops I CBS has the heaviest load of rrecordings. feeding 13 shows in all, 1 to various affiliates.: Of these, only "Toast of the Town" is sponsored (by. Emerson Radio). ''Toast" goes to stations in ■ four- non-intercon-^ nected .cities,: while the sustainerS: are fed to seven; off-the-cable out- lets. NBC: has 12 shows on kine- scope recordings, including four sponsored. One of these; "Philco Television Playhouse," is transmit- ted on 16 non-interconnected, af- fihates. In addition to the seven; stations which air it simultaneously during its live production. That makes it the most widely-seen TV show on the air at-this time. j Philco, in: order to insure its coverage, has been forced to bypass j manv scripts to which film rightsl are owned by the maior film com- panies.- liatter have claimed kine-1 scope recordings reoresent only an-1 other form: of motion picture and | so violate their copyrights. Thus, j Philco was forced: to get special, clearance from Paramount Sunday ! (26) night to air "The Old Lady ; Shows Her .Medals " "Ford Tele- vision Theatre," on the rival CBS- TV web, is taking the opposite course,- bypassing transcriptions in order to haVe a free.hand in script selection. - ■ ■ - ■ ■■ ■[ DuMont feeds 10 different shows to 10 non-interconnected stations, i not all of which take the complete i roaster. Several of: these,, although [ aired as sustainers in N. Yi, have managed to pick up bankrollersj in other cities. DuMont. too, is the .'. only : web transcribing weekly j sports events, feeding both boxing : and wrestling shows to affiliates via recordings. Edtlie Davis' : , fantasy on. Whon Tolovidon : Took Ovor ''Right in Your Own Home'* - *■■■ .,■*. - ; -a humoroui footurt in tk* 4:id Anniversary Number of Out Next Week Godfrey Ousts Toast' for 2d In Hoopers Pointing up the amazing audi* ence lure ot Arthur Godfrey, a .simulcast ol the CBS star's "Talent Scouts": copped secorid place in the December Hooper teleratings for N. Y. city. Show snared a hefty 55.2 rating on its second broadcast (13), taking Kd Sullivan's "Toast of the Town" vaudeo: show out- of the No. 2 spot for tlie first time in recent months. Milton Berle's "Texaco Star Theatre" maintained its hold on first position with a 78.9, slightly lower than last month's phenom^ enai 80.7. "Phiico; Television Play- house,"', aired opposite the Sullivan show, on the NBC-TV web, again failed to make the top 10; the situT" ation resolving itself into one of tele's most persistent sticklers. Ap- pearing on the list for the first time was "Howdy Doody," Show has failed to place until now be-; cause Hooper rates only sponsored programs;and previously: made:his' phone calls on the days when the across-the-board puppet show went; sustaining. the top . 10 list:: jSatlriK ► Producer t com poser» Arthur Schwartz, who staged his first tele- vision show Christmas Eve (24) with a special one-shot revue on WCBS-TV (CBS, N, Y.), found tele has many unique problems yet to be solved but declared the medium- is "fascinating" and will provide a "gigantic opportunity for everyone in show business with talent." Schwartz, who's also produced many films, said he's planning to produce more. TV shows' but; be- cause of the all-consuming time in^.^ volved, which would leave him; no opportunity .:to continue his legit work, he'll confine his tele activi- ties to producing his own packages. "Once the:package shows: are estab^ lished," he saidj"! can. turn theiti over to an assistant to stage every week, which will leave ine time for other things." He revealed that he's already turned down an offer irom , a syndicate, .: incorporating considerable : Wall Street money, which wanted to back Jiim in tele produftion, on the assumption such The Xmas Spirit Arthur Schwartz offered: acr - tor Frednc March $2,500 to do .a spot in his "Surprise from Santa" production Cliristmas: Eve (24) on WCBS-TV, but March turned down the bid on the plea -that he: wanted -to spend the evening at his home with his family. . Fact that Ghi'evolet, which bankrolled the show, gave him a hefty enough budget to- make; the ofler, Schwartz: pointed out, indicates that tele can . now compete -with any. other medium for top talent. is top Station Following Program Texaco Star The aire WNBT 78.9 Arthur Godfrey's : Talent Scouts WCBS-TV Toast ot the Town .. WCBS-TV We, the People WCBS-TV Amateur Hour , . WABD- . Howdy Doody WNBT .. Chevrolet Tele- Theatre WNBT .. Kraft TelevLsion : Theatre . WNBT .. Bigelow Show WNBT Break the Bank WJZ-TV , 55.2 50.6 .47.8 33.9 30.3 .28.1 28 ,27,5 24.6 a venture would occupy all his time. ' On the basis of his production of the hour-and^a-half show, "Surprise From; Santa," Schwartz said that tele today needs stage and picturs techniques tO; improve its program- ming. "The less the industry de- pends on radio," he said, "the bet- ter it will be." He noted that. Chevrolet, had shelled out .over $30,000 for the single Christmas Eve show, which means that top money is now available for TV;; Thus,:he said, the medium ran af*. (Continued on page 38) Fairbanks, Par Split Over Video Activities ; Hollywoocf, Dec. 28: Television caused a break be-: tween Jerry Fairbanks and Para- mount after an association covering 14 years, during which the major company handled a long series of Fairbanks' short subjects. A new pact, covering seven more years, was: under negotiation but fell through when Paramount in- sisted that Fairbanks withdraw from the video field in-which he 15 heavily interested. HUMBERTS TV VIDPIX ON CONFIDENCE GAMES ■ Richard Hiraber, whO' recently set'up Richard: Hiinber Television Productions, is in Hollywood cur- rently beginning the filming of 26^ •shorts with Sgt. Audley Walsh, na- tionally known undercover of con- fidence games and fraud systems, Briefies will explain the methods and approaches used by criminals who consistently work in those fields. Walsh is the foremost crusader against confidence gimmicks. He has worked with the FBI and with various po 1 i c e departments throughout the country, on actual cases and: in teaching cops th« methods used by . such criminals. PAR'S LARGE SCREEN TELE COAST PREEM \ Hollywood, Dec 28. ' Paramount will preem its large screen tele ; on the Coast , next ' month. It: plans installations at I Downtown and Hollywood theatres Jan. 15. ' Carl D, Maurer, development engineering supervisor, is due- here i from N. Y. to install the: video I transmission system al KTLA. " UN Jingles on TV, Too Group of SIX United Nations ".singing commercials," produced as a public service by Ted Cott; program veepee of WNEW, N.Y. indie", are to be seen on television, as well as heard on radio. Dorothy Lewis, UN staffer at Lake; Success; Sid Caesar to Star In Admiral's Hour Show Comedian Sid Caesar has been signed to starm the hour-long tele^ vision show scheduled to preem about Feb. 1 under sponsorship of Admiral Radio. Format is to in- volve legit revue techniques, with special sketches to be written each week by Max Liebman, former writer of Danny Kaye's special material. '' ■ Kudner ad agency veepee Myron Kirk, who is handling the account, said designation of the netwdi'k carrying the show and its time Slot is providing a series of- stills for"; would depend on outcome of - the TV stations to go with the jingles east to midwest channel alloca- and .is also mulling the possibility ' tions. Some of the sketches were of producing special one-minute'l staged last year by Liebman at this and minute-and-a-half films to go International Ladies Ga rmfent with them. i Workrs Union's summer camp.