Variety (June 1950)

■Wednesday, Jhh* 21 , 1950 They were still talking around CBS this week how the network staffers, from salesmen and lawyers down to stenos and secre- taries, doubled into the engineering aspects of broadcasting during last week's strike of IBEW union members. Some of them came out of it with a thorough on-the-air schooling as technicians. Result was that, although a number of telecasts were lopped off, only 45. seconds of AM programming was lost during the entire period of the strike* arid this (during the 6 p.m, Allen Jackson newscast) due to a minor mixup. Not a single agency registered a squawk over the manner in which the “white-collarites-turned- technicians" got the shows off and on. Harry Ommerle, of AM sales promotion, did a particularly ef- fective job in engineering the taping of; “Candid Mike'' and -‘We Take Your Word.” Salesmen, guys m the legal and purchasing departments, and secretaries of the sales execs, Were pressed into service as technicians and engineers. in It will be Bing Crosby on CBS> fighting it out with Groucho Marx on NBC next season, with the Wed- .... ■ „ .. .. w nesdav night at 9 time becom i a contract with Kirk Douglas for the pivotal point in the major ’50- j the film star to do an adventure ’51 program slugfest. With Marx taking over the same time on NBC that he had on Colum- bia, reports this week were that the wav has been cleared for Crosby to move up a half-hour into the .ex- Mark time on Columbia. Just who finalized the decision isn’t quite clear, but it’s understood that at the time NBC succeeded in signing Marx to liis $3,000,000 con- tract, CBS board chairman William S. - Raley indicated he’d slot Crosby as the Marx competition as a retal- iatory gesture. Around NBC, where elation still runs pretty high over the Groucho acquisition, they're wagering that Marx will win hands down, while the CBS boys are equally confident that the Groaner will whittle down his former back-to-back mate. type show called “Operation Dan- ger.” . • If deal jells, it will go on for a summer ride and originate • from the Coast. With Perry Como’s Chesterfield contract still having a year to run, at a reported $5,000 a week, the singer’s radio and TV status for. . , next season still appears to be up j poet with Pa ley. In th In one of the most unusual net- work deals of the year, Harry Ack- erman, Coast program veepee for CBS, this week negotiated a long- term contract with board chairman William S. Paley wheyeby he fills the newly-created title of execu- tive head of radio and television production for the web. He will continue to berth on the Coast, op- erating under program veepee Hubbell Robinson, Jr., With a Size- able hike in coin. Unique aspect of deal is that It reportedly gives Ackerman an equity in the new AM-TV shows he develops on the Coast. Ackerman flew in Monday (19 ) to finalize the ie air. Al the moment ft looks like Como, currently an NBC person- alily. will switch back to CBS in the fall (he was originally under contract to Columbia, which lend- . leased him to NBC several seasons back at the behest of Chesterfield). The ciggie company has purchased three 15-minute weekly TV seg- ments (7:45 to 8) on CBS, and in- dications are that Como will go into that time, although it’s report- ed that the singer isn’t too keen on doing several shows a week. As for AM. there’#- some doubt that Como will get a Chesterfield showcase next season. His radio program the past season on NBC is being cancelled. New Ackerman post ties in with the CBS concept on the important role the Coast will play in the TV future. For ‘Fibber V Molly ‘Morals Clause’ Special membership meeting Of the Radio Writers Guild in New York last week voted unanimously to express its opposition to inclu- sion by networks of a “morals clause” in freelance scripters’ con- tracts. RWG also instructed the strategy committee to mull ways of combating the practice, “up to and including strike/' and to re- port hack to the membership 6n its recommendations. Another resolution termed the (Continued on page 34) Hollywood/June 20. U s no : fib that “The McGee's *i)d Johnson wax are calling it: off after a dozen years. Although no one will admit that the cancellation is firm, these facts speak for them- selves: Strotz of NBC is offering the J ovdans around for $21,000, Uhil Leslie, for seven years co- v l iter with -Don Quinn, has been fiiven his notice, . T . h % Jordans—Marian and Jim— J!!J Qninn are under contract to , * Asking price, is for radio only as the family team would forget about TV for a while. Neither they nor NBC cared too S' 1 'about the test film they made some tune ago. 7. CBS AFFILIATES Those CBS alarms over recap- furlng the 10 to 10:15 a.m. pe- riod (station time) from the major affiliates to permit for an added 15-minute sponsorship of Arthur Godfrey for Lever Bros., apparent- ly were for naught. As Of early this week, more than 100 stations responded to Colum- bia’s pleas for the Godfrey pickup, starting in the fall, and it's antici- pated that through the remainder of the summer virtually all of the remaining stations will have clear- ed the time of local commitments to permit for a full-web Godfrey ride. The SRO days in network radio are oyer. Unlike a couple of sea- sons back, wheii NBC, CBS and ABC could afford to be particul0 as to which program was slotted where, there’s lots of time to be had for the asking-—and nobody's asking questions as to “what’s your show?” Around the networks today one can see the open spaces even on an unclear day. NBC, which had the least available of the open com- mercial time segments;* makes no bones today about inviting clients on a deal basis whereby the web will share in the program costs. That’s a far cry from the ’48-’49 era in broadcasting. The SRO pros- pects, however; are gloomier for next season, in the wake of year- end cancellations and those on tap, CBS is in a less favorable posi- tion than NBC,' sticking hard and fast to its program-time rate sched- ules. Friday night is wide open, the network sales boys encounter- ing plenty of difficulty getting pros- pective clients to listen, despite Ihe flock of program availabilities. Tuesday night from 9:30 on is in the sustaining columns. Ditto for Wednesday night. (Bing Crosby’s Chesterfield show has been heard the past season in the 9:30 time, but it’s scheduled to be moved up to 9 next season; Burns. & Allen, sponsored in the Wednesday at 10 period the past season, will be moved out of the spot, how that they’ve lost their bankrolled) The Props From Under Garry Moore, who preems on CBS-TV later this month, cracked last week: “Just as I was solidify- ing myself in radio, they knock the AM props from under me and stick me in video,” That reaction is about par for the course of the comedy talent front, where clients and agencies (or even the net- works ) are no longer interested in the strictly-radio potentials of per- sonalities, hut insist on trying them out for TV-size, as well. Around the agencies, where the major accent is on TV, they’re ask- ing: ^‘What’s the competition do- ing?” If there’s a reluctance among national bankroilers to pick up AM options for next season-^and many are holding off on commitments— it’s because they're concerned that the competing product may get to the TV post before them in estab- lishing a video franchise. The situation isn’t conducive to- ward making the network boys happy,, for. there’s only just so much time availability on. d TV, and radio is still paying the freight on video losses. NEW SINATRA INTEREST KEEPS WEBS HOPPING Frank Sinatra has become the newest object of bidding for radio and television networks’ jockeying for exclusive contracts. Interest in Sinatra, particularly as a TV personality, has widened ever since the sock reaction accorded the Voice in his recent guest appear- ance on the Bob Hope Frigidaire . show. : • While CBS is also in there pitch- ing, NBC appears to be in the favorite position. S i. n a t r a was closeted with NBC execs last week, but so far there’s no deal. Now that he’s no longer bound to any Metro commitment, Sinatra is free to go TV. However, he also wants a radio program for the fall. Burnett’s Kellogg Grab Chicago, June 20. Latest takeover by fast-growing Leo Burnett agency is Kellogg Co.’s Rice Krispies account, trans- ferring from Kenyon & Eckliardt. This is third Kellogg product ac- quired by Burnett since first of the year. Krispies is currently using twice-weekly participations on NBC’s “Howdy Doody” which was launched June 6 under K&E and will continue under new agency. Fine Feathers Chicago, June 20. WBBM is using a parakeet as* a promotional stuht. Bird will be used on several sh'ows, after being taught to speak the sponsor's name, give station : breaks,etc. Gimmick of nam- ing the pet will also be used, with prizes to winner. Local AFRA spokesman doubted if a membership in the union would be necessary. Sponsors To Emcees: lake Ever since the rating pull, coin payoff and general trade excite- ment engendered by Groucho Marx's “You Bet Your Life” quiz show, sponsors of similar audi- ence participation programs have been sending out notices to the emcee talent, asking them, in ef- fect, why. they can't “make like Groucho.” The clients would prefer a soft- pedaling of the prize giveaways in preference to the “personality buildup” of their v emcees. The performers, in turn, have become miffed at the request, pointing out that “it takes more than a script to make a Groucho.” Philip Morris was interested, in sponsorship of Garry Moore in a nighttime quiz show if he,would approximate the Marx technique. Moore cut an audition record and although the ciggie company liked it, Moore, himself cancelled out, convinced, as he says, that “this wasn’t it.” Lever Pressure Off on A&A Sale The pressure has been taken off CBS by Lever Bros., in the spon- sor’s anxiety to shed the high* budgeted ($33,000 a week time- and-talent) Amos ’n’ Andy show. A couple of weeks back Lever notified CBS it was anxious to get off the A & A sponsorship hook. Subsequently CBS has been ped- dling the show, but thus far with- out takers. Lever has now notified the net- work that if it can't sell the team for radio, it will ride out another season in the Sunday night 7:30 to .8 period. AT HELM OF WHOM Fortune Pope, who launched the heavy Italian-language concentra- tion of WHOM, Jersey City, when his family took the' station over* from the Cowles brothers in 1946, has returned to active operation of the indie. He’s been elected pres^ ident. Generoso Pope, Jr , his brother, remains as executive veepee* but will not be active in the manage- ment. Two weeks ago the 22-year- old son of the late publisher of II Progresso Italo-Americano was '.ap- pointed'-io the Board of Higher Ed- ucation by New York mAyor Wil- liam O’Dwyer. The mayor has been rumored slated to be named head of the new Pope charitable foun- dation. ■* Last week another brother, An- thony/took over as proxy of Colo- nial Sand and Stone Co., freeing Foilune for the WHOM spot. “ Washington, June 20. NAB board of directors, begin- ning a thnePrday meeting here to- day (Tii#.),. found the affairs of the organization * 4 not as bad as they look” in view, of recent resigna- tions of CBS and ABC and several independent stations: Despite the loss .of $60,000 in revenue resulting from the with- drawal of the two nets, a spokes- man said, the association’s finan- cial condition is actually better than it was at the beginning of the , year, thanks largely to an increase* in station dues. This increase, it was learned, has more than offset approximately 125 station; resigna- tions (including FM’ers who have surrendered their licenses to the FCC) in the last six months. A series of staff resignations an- nounced during the last week, in- cluding that of the general coun- sel, appeared to be unrelated to the loss of revenue but were for the purpose of setting the associ- ation’s house in order prior to the board meetings. However, some saving is made possible by the move. Resignation of Don Petty as (Continued on page 35) Speculation on the BBD&O- Lucky Strike relationship became intensified last week with the reve- lation that the agency has switched. account execs, oh the lucrative American Tobacco biz. There was plenty of trade sec* ond-guessing last week as "to why Jack Dunove Was taken off the ac- count, with Thackrey (Tex). Cum- mings, who previously handled the Goodrich account, shifted over to handle Lucky Strike, Dunove had been the American Tobacco ac- count exec since BBD&O agency inherited the business from Foote, Cone & Belding several years back. Some are of the opinion that, while the Donove-Vincent Riggio (ex-Lucky Strike prez) relations solidified the agency’s hold on the account, Cummings and Hahn, Rig- gio’s successor, are more closely at- tuned on program thinking. Transcription Library Field Garnering. More Big Names as Biz Perks Transcription library field, cash- ing in on the boom in spot radio business, is attracting - bigger names. RCA’s Thesaurus will re- lease “Music of Manhattan,” with Johnny Desmond and Bette Chapel, backed by the Hugo Win- terhalter orch, Aug. 1. Associated Program Service, subsidiary of Muzak, has signed Evelyn Knight and Mindy Carson and has re- signed Vic Damone; each doing a quarter-hour, three-times-weekly show. In the past eight months the» R(CA service has released stanzas featuring Fran Warren, Claude Thornhill, June Christy with the Johnny Guarnieri group, Ray Me**. Kinley orch, Allen Roth orch, “Old New Orleans” with Jimmie Lytell and the Delta Eight; Arthur Fied- ler’^ “Concert Hall of the Air,” “Spotlight on Artie Shaw,” and Frank Black and the Singing Americans. World Broadcasting, the Fred-* eric W. Ziv library service, is of- fering a battery of names, includ- ing Dick Haymes* Russ Morgan, David Rose,»Eddy Howard, Lynn Murray, Ray Bloch, Three Suns, Helen Forrest, Monica Lewis* Mimi Benzellf Susan Reed, Lina (Continued on page 35)