Variety (Jan 1949)

Wdlnesday, January 26, 1949 Canada's 'Anti-IT Attitude Draws Heavy Fire; Commons F^ht Planned Toronto, Jan. 28, -f On the official announcement of the federal-operated Cianadlan Broadcasting Corp. that tele- vision will not be established in this country for at least two years, the opposition Conservative party intends an immediate Parlia- mentary attaclc on the CBC, with the whole video setup in Canada— or its lack—to be one of the issues in the forthcoming federal election. Meanwhile, member firms of the Badio Manufacturers' Assn. of Canada are currently ean-ying out pealc production on video sets, despite the so-called "procrasthjat- Ing attitude of the Canadian gov- ernment." While Canadian manu- facturers express grave concern at the lack of action on the part of. CBC, they wiU turn out sets in the thousands for those Canadians anxious to avail themselves <>f pro- grams originating in New York, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Buf- falo, Philadelphia and Boston. It is estimated that about 10% of Canada's population is within range of the foregoing "network" and are clamoring for sets, despite the action of the CBC in refusing to grant private licenses to those Interests—Famous Players and ma- jor independent radio stations---' who are prepared to invest several millions in Canadian television but are now balked by CBC. Meanwhile Canadian set-owners are picking up programs from the aforemen- tioned American cities with clarity. (The Canadian sets are selling for around $700.) CBC's claim is that video, in Canada must be "cooperative", and that the Canadian public must be protected from "monopolistic abuse by private stations,'' even though this delays video development. In addition to its wait-and-see atti- tude, the CBC ha.s encountered further difficulty in the refusal of the Canadian, government to pro- vide funds tor. video development here. CBC's announced policy is that video here. mUst be "basically Canadian" but this has backfired Id that so many Canadians are buy- (Continued on page 94) MOTOROLA'NATURE'UK FOR NEW RIPLEY SHOW Giving evidence that straight educational shows will get as little play on nighttime television as they now get on radio, Motorola is slated to drop Dr. Roy K. Mar- shall's "Nature of Things" after the ijeb. 15 broadcast in favor of a new Robert L. Ripley program, "Be- lieve It Or Not." Latter is an NBC- TV house package designed by na- tional program chief Norman Blackburn and, with a semi-variety format, is expected to have con- siderably more audience lure, "Nature," originating in the stu~ dibs of WPTZ (Philadelphia), has been bankrolled by Motorola on the NBC-TV eastern web for the last year and is now slotted Thurs- day nights from 10 to 10:1S p.m. Show is based on a popular science format, with Dr. Marshall discus- sing in lay terms some of the mod- ern scientific wonders. Time of the Ripley show is Tuesdays at 9:30 p.m. Gourfain-Cobb is the agency. Potential Sponsors That Radio Missed Are Ready ForTV.SezWHCU'sHanna Radio station operators worried about television's I efCect on their advertisiiig billings'^, should start immediately to scout out new AM sponsors, in the - opinion of Mike Hanna, general manager of WHCU, Ithaca, N; Y., indie operated in conjunction with Coi-nell Univ. Pointing out that 90% of the in- come of his station, a CBS affiliate, is local; Hanna declared there aro many. potential sponsors available that radio, with its emphasis on cigarets, cosmetics, etc., hasn't even touched: ■ In N. Y. last weekend for the CBS television clinic, Hanna dis- closed that WHCU would start soon to build TV packages for sale to other stations. He declined to go into detail but said the /shows would be on film and would be based on activities around the Cornell campus, including such things as the drama school^ home economics school, etc. Hanna is counting heavily on the revenue from such shows, plus his AM pperationi to carry the'load on his projected TV outlet for the first tjjj^o. or three years it's on the air. Declaring that no educational or . public service institution worth its name can afford t6 be without tele- vision, Hanna stressed the neces- sity for such TV outlets to be run by professional showmen and not by professors. Since none of the existing tele channels were as- signed by the FCC to Ithaca, WHCU has petitioned the Commis- sion to.move a channel over from neighboring Elmira. Application ^ now awaiting the lifting of the *CC freeze on all TV station grants. Despite Ithaca's small size, Hanna said, WHCU should be able to make a go of a tele outlet by concentrating on low-cost pro- gramming, plus film and network Shws. He pointed out his station wottld have the entire facilities of tornell^to draw on, including a full athletic schedule, the drama and •nusic schools, etc. Unions Try Easing 3-Way Tangle Effort, to. break through a three- way jurisdictional tangle involving stagehands on New York television stages is currently being made by the unions before the situation gets out of hand. Parlays between the International Brotherhood of Elec- trical Workers and the National Assn. of Broadcast Engineers itnd Technicians have already resulted in an agreement. Both unions have contacted stagehands Local 1, In- ternational Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, to enter the agreement. lATSE's national office, mean- time, has disclosed that lA proxy Richard F. Walsh has been meeting with IBEW prexy Dan W. Tracy to settle the entirei jurisdictional setup, in the TV field. Both prexies are of the opinion that if a nalional: formula can be found for the two Unions, they will be able to draw other unions into an agreement to prevent squabbles over control of television crafts. The American Assn. of Adver- tising Agencies is awaiting such an agreement before sitting down with the unions to work out scales and working conditions. To date, scales have been set up on a tule- of-thumb basis. TELEVISION 85 TV's 'Body BeautifuF A flve-a-week, 15-mirtute show, titled "The Body Beautiful," has been packaged by scripter Eleanor Sketn, and is now making agency rounds. Airer, intended for late- evening showing, teaches health and physique building for both femmes and males. Format In- cludes . exercises done live for camera, with models and athletes of both sexes as occasional guests. Miss Skern; former special eventer at OWI, may also emcee. Chi Schools Eye Video Chicago, Jan. 25. Television may soon become an integral part of the Chicago school system. Supt. Herold Hunt said that if funds are made available to the Board of Education he Wants a video get installed in each of Chi- cago's 45 high schools. This plan was discussed after some 600 students witnessed Presi- dent Truman's inauguration last week (20). Carl Tietz, principal of Carl Schurz High School, where tele demonstration was held, said he didn't think there would be much of educational value in it. But after the telecast, he explained, ''It changed our minds; it's a stimulating way to bring the full story to our pupils. If the in- augural program was any indica- tion of things to come, I believe television has definite possibilities in the field of education." TV Hutfs Its Opportunity h Tekviang of D.C biaugural Parade FibPatrick Leasing 52 Travdtalks for Tde Hollywood, Jan. 25. James A. FitzPatrick. Is leasing 52 Traveltalks, made from silt to eight years ago, to television. Films have reverted to FitzPatrick after having been played out by Metro. Two-reelers, which represent a $500,000 Investment, are being re- recorded and re-edited for video consumption. FitzPatrick feels that television has come as a comforting wind to short subject producers . Who re- ceived the death blow from double features. Producer has 12 months and 12 briefies to go for M-G. After pact runs out he will not renew. FitzPatrick related that he will make the "Traveltalks" exclusive- ly for video. He feels that films are always good as they do not become dated as entertainment film does. MbWrey's 5-Wcek Vacash Paul B .Mowrey, ABC's national television director, sailed for South America Saturday (22) on a five- week vacation, his first in four years at the web. Upon his return, he's expected to head for the Coast to take over as ABC's tele chief in the west, where he'll have a heavy hand in getting KECA-TV (Los Angeles) and KGO-TV (San Francisco), both owned-and-operated outlets, on the air... New York — Bowery Savings Bank, N. Y., signed for a series of one-minute spots, first being used on WNBT (NBC, NY.). Agency is Edwin Bird Wilson. : : Milwaukee Turnout Milwaukee, Jan. 25. Half of Milwaukee's school chil- dren watched the telecast of in- augural ceremonies. Schools here made every effort to obtain TV sets, and where un- successful, special permission was^ granted for teachers to take pupils to homes of parents with sets. KTSL's Squeeze on Plugs On Sustaining Telecasts Hollywood, Jan.. 25. Don Lee television station, KTSL, has put the squeeze on free commercial plugs being beamed ouj; on sustaining shows.' Practice, according to station . toppers, has gone completely overboard through the use of commercial films and also on local package shows. station execs have informed two shows presented in conjunction with the Los Angeles Examiner, ''Babette Fashion Show" and ''Prudence Penny" program, that free plugs must be cut to one per show. KTSL toppers recently ob- served that "Penny" show, which tosses out recipes, has been giving brand name of almost all ingre- dients used. Meanwhile, "Fashion Show" has been giving free ride to retail stores. KTSL is also slowing up on the use of commercial films. All com- mercial pix are now being thor- oughly screened and plugs counted. ♦ Television Industry, glveii a ohc^- and-for-all c|iance on President Truman's inauguration last week to demonstrate its repprtorial su- periority ■ over: the newsreels, flubbed the opportunity. Compari- son of the two hiedlums' coverage gave the reels a decided edge, leav* ing tele oinly its uncontested'itii- mediacy to brag about. Not that TV did a bad job. That could; hardly hav6 happened with- the industry bearing down on all cylinders, pressing 14 cameras and', its.: top ahnpuncers and directors into service. : But. t standout, ^vork expectied /bf the pool pickup from Washin^on failed to ma- ^ terialize, especially in coverage of ■ the inauguration parade Thursday (20) afternoon. Most disconcerting error on that part of the show was the overly-light touch of NBC di- rector Bill Garden. With the ikes stationed at five different positions along the route. Garden didn't give viewers much of a, chance -to see anything, switching back and forth from one position to another be- fpre the audience had a chance to absorb what was going on. Because of that, TV lost the showmanly touch accorded by the reels. With one camera stationed directly opposite the President's stand on the White House laWn, it would have been interesting ■. to watch. more, of Mr.; Truman's and Vice-President Barkley's reaction to the different floats. Instead, the cameras kept cutting to such rela- tively uninspiring sights, as the state governors in their cars, or When they had a chance to inject a little color through concentrating on the West Point cadets or the Annapolis middies, the cameras again went r roving, brushing off almost corn- are "Christopher Columbus," pro-1 pletely tlie precision marching of duced by Emerson FUm Corp.; the future officers pointed up so COAST AFM SEEKS UPPED VIDEO SCALE Hollywood, Jan. 25. American Federation of' Musi- cians recording director,!' Phil Fischer, has asked AFM headquar- ters to hike musicians' television wage scale here. AFM's pact with video stations expires on Jan. 31. Pact originally expired on Oct. 31 but was extended to the present date. Fischer has asked that scale here meet the New York coin col- lection which runs $12 per half- hour show and five dollars per hour rehearsal. Scale here is nine dollars and 20 cents for a 30-minute program with a half-hour rehearsal thrown in gratis. TeleAcadPresents Ist Emmy Awards « Hollywood, Jan. 25. Academy of Television Arts and Sciences will present television's Emmy awards to top TV picture, best video program, foremost per- sonality, best all around "outlet and top technical achievement at the first annual Seminar and dinner at the police motorcade' the Hollywood Athletic Club to- night (25). Six pictures vicing for top hon- ors in the west coast teevee field by "Hollywood Brevities," produced by Tele-Features; "It Could Hap- pen To You," by Vallee Video; "Tell Tale Heart," by Telepak; "Time Signal," by Centaur Produc- tions and "The Necklace," by Mar- shall Grant-Realm Productions. "Don Lee Music Hall," "Judy Splinters," "Pantomine Quiz Time,'' "Treasures of Literature," "Feliz DeCola Show," "Armchair Detec- tive," "Mabel's Fables," "Masked Spooner," "Tuesday Varieties" and "What's the Name of That Song" are in line for top program honors. Personalities fighting for tele- vision's Emmy are Shirley Dins- dale, Rita LeRoy, Mike Stokey', Bill Welsh and Patricia Morison. KTSL, KTLA, KLAC-TV arid KFI-TV are all being considered for the best station plaque. NBC's KNBH and CBS-Times Station, KTTV, entered the field too late for this year's awards. Technical award will go to KTSL, KFI-TV or Hoffman Radio Corp. Walter O'Keefe will emcee the dinner. Frankie Laine, Herb Jeffries, Bill Thompson and Frank Veloz have been set to entertain at the dinner. Seminar, which starts at nine, will be headlined by agency and television heads. . neatly by the reels. The announcers, too, missed the boat. Where they should have let the camera eye handle the de- script4ion, they came in with unim- portant remarks to distract the viewers' attention. And where they could have emphasized certain as- pects of the parade with pertinent remarks, they did hardly anything except tell the viewers what a won- derful thing this television is. Ben Gi-auer in particular was guilty of overselling TV to an audience which hardly needed the pitchy The evidence was all on the screen. During the actual oath-taking ceremonies, the TV boys did a good job. They concentrated their lenses on the stand, cut the mike over to the one in front of the (Continued on page 42) New York Ralph B. Austrian, former Foote, Cone & Belding tele veepee, has iet up a TV consultant service, .. Merrill E. Joels signed yeax''s con- tract to do commercials *on NBC- TV's "Stop Me If You've Heard This" through Basch Radio & Tele- vision production . . . Les Lltpmy pacted as narrator on DuMont's new vaudeo show, "Window on the World" . . Douglas Leigh making miniatures ef his Broad- way spectaculars for use as tele commercials . .. . Oil Fates off CBS-TV'8 "Vanity Fair" daytime show because Pf the pressure of his other assignments. Dorothy Doan, hostess on the show, now trying out other performers . . . Martin Stone Associates now oper- ating from new quarters in the penthouse atop the new Paris the- atre . . , Extra ballyhoo given the appearance of Dodger pitcher Ralph Branca on Bob Smith's "Gulf Road Show" Jan. 13 paid off with a mammoth 31.6 Hooper. ... Joan Shea doing cooking stint on Ted Steele's WABD video show this week, cross the board. Mae Questel replacing Franklin P. Adams on the panel of "Stop Me If You've Heard This," which preems Friday (28) night on NBC- TV, with Cal Tinney, Benny Rubin and emcee Leon Janney as cast regulars . . . "Cross Question," series of dramatized courtroom trials originating at WGN-TV (Chicago); now aired Tuesday, nights over the full CBS-TV web as the first show to be brought In from Chi by CBS . . . Last act of Puc- cini's "La Boheme" in a new Eng- lish translation slated for airing tomorrow (Thursday): night NBC- TV at 10:15, with Herman Adler directing . . . DuMont's "Charade Quiz" moved from the web's stu- dois to the Adelphi theatre and now airs Wednesday 'nights from 8 to 8:30 p.m. Hollywood KLAC-TV will telecast Gilbert and Sullivan operas for 13 weeks starting this week. Packager Robert Oakley has broken the operas into half-hour portions which will be presented on succes- sive weeks. California Light (Continued on page 40) 'Stop the MusiV Set For Tele at Different Time Although With AM Format "Stop the Music," highest-rated audience giveaway show on radio and the one with the biggest prizes, bows in on television in the near future as a full hour presen- tation of ABC-TV. Show will not be carried simultaneously on AM and TV, with the video version slated for the Thursday night 8 to 9 slot, during which hour ABC has the east to midwest coaxial cable. Radio's "Music" is aired Sunday nights from 8 to 9. According to ABC tele veepee Charles ("Bud") Barry, the TV show will probably use the same talent that appears in the AM ver- sion, including emcee Bert Parks, singers Dick Brown and Kay Ar- men and the Harry Salter orch. Program will follow the same give- away format and, Barry said, the prizes should be "considerable" in size. Barry and Lou Cowan, who controls the package, are now working out the complications in- volved in telephoning homes with TV sets. Show is to be dressed considerably to give it more visual Impact, with the possibility -that a couple of variety acts might be in- cluded each week. Starting date for tele hasn't been set. According to Barry, sev- eral top advertisers are interested in the project and it looks at though the show will tee off fully sponsored. What effect the give- away gimmick will have on the ratings of. competing shows and whether it will set off the same mass swing to giveaways that it did in radio are still mpot poin^