Variety (August 1950)

Wednesday, August 9, 1950 TELEVISION SI Those Hollywood producers who f expect to hop aboard the television bandwagon when they think the time Is ripe may be in for a sur- prise, according ito NBC prexy Jo- seph H. McConnell. Live video shows, he thinks, have become so firmly entrenched that there’s lit- tle chance they will ever be re- placed by film. Thus, the oppor- tunity Hollywood might once have had of contributing the major part of video's programming has been almost completely dissipated. Situation might have been dif-r ferent if the major Hollywood stu- dios had been willing to cooperate more with TV when it was getting started; McConnell recalled that some of the top video execs were predicting two and three years ago that TV programming eventually might comprise Up to 80% film. When the film studios adopted their “TV stay 'way from my door” attitude, however, video was forced to learn how to get along without Hollywood. As a result, he said, “we find we don’t , need Hollywood so much anymore.” McConnell noted that tele will always be able to utilize Holly- wood’s creative talent. Those pro- ducers, Writers and directors who have been working for years in an allied visual medium, he said, will always , be welcome additions to TV. But, he opined, most of them joining video’s ranks will be work- ing with live,. rather than film show's. .NBC topper pointed out that filmites have always, scored TV for its “lack of scope” and failure to provide sweeping action. “But,” he said, “who needs that?” He pointed out that the medium has (Continued on page 38) Ouch! Providence, Aug. 8. How to make new friends in reverse was demonstrated here last week when Rhode Island's only TV outlet, WJAR, cut into the history - making UN sessions for a 5; 15'to 5:30 p.m. screening of “Time for Bean- ie,” an H. P. Hood & Sons package. The move was par- ticularly irritating since each cut seemed to come at a par- ticularly crucial moment in the deliberations. With the national networks sticking to the UN, a quick spot check found most WJAR viewers switching to Boston's channels 4 and 7 for the finale. LA Pros like TV Payoff, If Chevrolet is dropping its “Tele- Theatre'' show Monday nights on NBC, but the decision has nothing to do with the war scare. Auto firm plans to continue its present heavy video advertising, concen- trating either on sports events or retaining the Monday night half- hour on NBC for a new program. Already committed to bankroll DuMont's pickups of the Notre Dame home football games and 60 events to be. televised from Madi- son Sq. Garden, N. Y., by WPIX, < Chewy is also reported backing ’ the DuMont web in its bidding for TV rights to the World Series. No reason was given for the decision to abandon “Tele-Theatre” but it’s believed that the Campbell-Ewald agency, Which handles the account, was averse to bucking the upcom- ing “Lux TV Theatre” on CBS with a similar dramatic series. Chewy is committed to holding the Monday night 8 to 8:30 slot on NBC for at least four weeks once it returns to the air. If the firm continues.-in the period after that, it will probably bankroll a new NBC house package, several of which the web is now pitching to Chewy and the agency. Hollywood, Aug. 8, Pro footballers are making over- tures to television for a live beam- ing of their games next fall. Their decision is influenced by the re- cent deal made.by the collegia4.es with KTTV anj Hoffman radio and TV, by which the station and sponsor will go on the hook for any diminution of attendance over pre-TV seasons. Both KNBH and KTTV have taken the bait and the NBC outlet is said to have made a flat offer, with a gamble on the side. To interested sponsors, KNBH is of- fering the games, rights, time and facilities for a flat $200,000. NBC’s gamble is on the attendance deficit. Daniel Reeves, prez of the Los Angeles Rams, hasn’t started bargaining yet but meetings have been set up. If a deal is concluded it would cover eight live telecasts of home games* one microwaved from San Francisco, and five filmed on the road for beaming next night. Last year the pros, sold their home games to KTTV for filming the following night and refused all of- fers for simultaneous telecast. Mutual TV Productions JVV VJ Hollywood, Aug, 8. New television film . production unit, capitalized at $1,000,000, lias been formed by a group of Holly- wood indie producers, including Sig Neufeld, Rudolph Monter, Ed- ward M. Gray, William Cane and Victor Mindlin. Most of the coin for the outfit, named Mutual TV _ Productions, is said to have come ^from backers ifl N.Y. and San Francisco, , Group plans to turn out four series of vidfilms. First of these, titled “These Are Our Children,” will be based on stories supplied by the Children’s Home Society, California adoption agency.' ZIV TO TAKE OVER 26 ‘SHOWTIME’ FIX Hollywood, Aug. 8. Frederic Ziv Co. will take over the 26 “Your Showtime” television pix made by Grant-Realm Produc- tions last year. Ziv has signed a five-year lease for the films which it will distribute to video stations throughout the country as open- end material. Pix were originally made for Lucky Strike which sponsored them on NBC's eastern web. Con- tract gave the films back to Grant- Realm one year after completion. Last, of these films was returned to the production unit last month. Lucky Strike laid Out $8,500 per film for the series on a one—time usage basis, Grant-Realm paid out close to $300,000 for the series, ending up almost $80,000 in the hole. Lease of these films to Ziv is expected to put Grant-Realm execs well into the black. Television‘ .for lhe first time, will erupt into an! allout battle for rat- ings during. tfie’ upcoming season, with all sighs, pointing to sorpe of the Top 10 leaaefs f or the last two years going down to defeat before an onslaught of competition before the new year. Survey of the pro- jected fall and winter schedules reveals the networks, agencies and clients slotting some of their top- budgeted shows in a “let-the-chips- fall” manner, doing it either inten- tionally to nick the competition or forced into it because of the lack of time availabilities. Webs and their clients were a little more wary last year. Then, if a Berle or. a Godfrey was consist- ently holding down the No. 1 or No. 2 spot, the competing networks let them get away with it, moving their better programs around intention- ally to escape the competition. Only two examples to the contrary Svere initiated by NBC—slotting the Robert Montgomery “Lucky Strike Theatre” series on Monday nights to take the play away from CBS' “Studio One” and teeing Off its “Saturday Night Revue" opposite the Ken Murray show on CBS. This year will see Friday as the only night of the week when those two webs are not battling it out for top- dog position, and DuMont and ABC, cognizant of that fact, have already finalized plans to move in there. On Mondays, it will still be Mont- gomery against “Studio One.” To lend further fuel to its ammunition, though, NBC has: set - the Bernard Schubert musicomedy productions, sponsored by Procter & Gamble, to alternate with Montgomery, on the theory that “Studio” will thus have no chance to entrench itself on the weeks when the Montgomery se- ries is not aired. CBS will come back with some major slugging of its own on Tuesday nights in a push to tilt Milton Berle’s “Texaco Star Theatre” off the top rung it has held so long. CBS is putting its high-budgeted dramatic series, “Sure as Fate,” into the Tuesday (Continued on page 36) NBC to Up to 1 AH Consider It Said Ed Sullivan, who’s been picked up several times by Variety for his speech “typos” as emcee on CBS-TV’s “Toast Of the Town,” returned to the show Sunday (6) night. In presenting comedian Henny Youngman, Sullivan declared, “I would now like to ‘prevent’ Catching himself when the audience let out a roar, Sul- livan cracked: “What will Variety say now?” an Agenda On ’Jungle’ Telepic Series Hollywood, Aug, 8. Walter Mirisch will make a series of 30-minute tele pix under the monicker “Simbar, the Jungle Queen.” Initialer is expected to go before the cameras the first Of the year. Following in the “Simbar” series will , not be completed prior to sponsorship. Mirisch has budgeted the first film at $12,500. No cast has yet been set. Max Liebman Alternate NBC has virtually abandoned its search for two more name stars to join Eddie Cantor arid Fred Allen in the projected Sunday night “Comedy Theatre” series. Web has tentatively decided to use Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis sporadical- ly in the third week every month, using up-and-coming young talent to fill in when M&L are not avail- able. Fourth week will be occupied by a big revue-type show, which will probably be produced by Max Liebman, It has been revealed, meanwhile, that Colgate’s deal for the show, which is to occupy the 8 to 9 period, is only for three weeks out of every four. Fourth week is still open, with Speidel Watch Band optioning the fourth session, but since cancelling out. Each week’s Show is to have a talent and production nut ranging Around $60,000, which will make the series one of the most expensive on the air. Four major television networks, vying for choice time periods on the limited coaxial cable facilities, started their allocations meet in N. Y. Monday (7) on a “United Na- tions scale. Network reps spent Monday and all day yesterday at- tempting to work out an agenda for the meet before getting down to the anticipated arguments. As a result, it’s expected no final de- cision will be reached for at least three or four weeks. While American Telephone & Telegraph is adding networking fa- cilities, via both the cable and mi- crowave relay, to the present setup starting next month, there will still be insufficient facilities to meet the webs’ demands. With each of the nets heading into the fall sea- son with the biggest number of sponsors they have ever had, they’ll be in almost equal positions in bid- ding for time on affiliate stations. Determining factor in getting the single-station markets, Consequent- ly, may be a web’s ability to de- liver a program live and thus the bidding for time on the cable is expected to be hotter this year than ever. Television stay-up-lates will soon have a chance to keep their sets tuned in until 1 a.m. NBC, with its pioneering 11 p.m. to midnight “Broadway Open House” now an established success, is planning to open the midnight to 1 a.m. slot on a cross-the-board basis in the fall for a new mystery series. While plans are still in the talk- ing stage, NBC hopes to have the new show ready to go by late Oc- tober or early November. Web would like to get rolling sooner but, with so many, new sponsored programs, scheduled to start in the fall, it is not certain exactly what studio facilities will be available. Unlike “Open House,” Which can get along on 20 minutes to a half- hour camera rehearsal when neces- sary, the mystery series will need as much preparation before the lenses as any dramatic series. Thus, the problem of facilities is expect- ed to be a tough one. NBC now plans to follow “Open House” Mondays through Fridays with a roundup of the day’s news, running either five or 10 minutes. Mystery series would then take over, holding the air until the new signoff time of 1 a.m. Schedule will thus give NBC a chance to wrap up new bankrollers for two separate shows and,'with the web’s sponsor list reportedly emerging ns a waiting list in view of the num- ber of advertisers desiring to buy up the small amount of time still available, NBG Is confident it will have little trouble selling the pro- grams. With the network also scheduled to open up the 3 to 5 p.m. cross- the-board time in the fall, addition (Continued on page 38) WOR UPS VIDEO RATE TO $1,500 PER HOUR WOR-TV, N. Y., is increasing its rates based on the growing set cir- culation in the area. Basic change, to be announced by sales director Robert C. Mayo this week, will be a boost to $1,500 for a class A nighttime hour and a hike to $750 from $600 for daytime hours. Station says it's one of the low- est-priced Video outlets in the metropolitan district arid will re- main, so. Current advertisers will be given 'six-months rate protection on bi2 placed before Oct. 1, when the increase goes into effect. OVER ’WINNER’ QUIZZER Half-hour variety show starring Morton Downey will be Nash-Kel- vinator’s offering in the CBS 10 to 10:30 slot Friday nights starting Sept. 22. Program replaces “Win- ner Take All,” audience participa- tion quizzer originally set by Nash. Advertiser, through the Geyer, Newell & Ganger agency, reported- ly decided to abandon “Winner” when Sylvania Electric bought “Beat the Clock” for the 10:30 to 11 Friday night period. Since “Clock” is also an audience partici- pation quizzer, Nash felt that hav- ing the two of them back-to-back might hurt the chances of both. CBS, for its part, was not averse to the switch in favor of Downey* since the latter show will mean more work for its facilities and productions crews, as well as a heavier take on studio rehearsal charges. Show Must Go On Hollywood, Aug. 8. Despite an auto accident to the prospective groom, shortly before “Wedding Program” on KLAC- TV Saturday night, the bride and groom were married before the video cameras, although several hours later. Station, apprised of the acci- dent, got an okay, from hospital, made the tests arid telecast from hospital room four hours later than scheduled^ via remote con- trol pickup, * - Hollywood, Aug- 8, In « pioneer move by television to improve its scripting standards and compete with the Hollywood idea of creative writing, CBS has contracted veteran Coast scripter and playwright, Jerry Horwin, to be its New York story executive over writers. Horwin arrives east by car next week to assume his post under a firm contractual ar- rangement whereby he will attract writers especially for TV; A playwright, scenarist and novel- ist in his own right, Horwin has been story editor for Artists Man- agement Corp. and other Holly- wood agencies. He is also an ex- ecutive of the Television Theatre Group, stalemated because of war- time horizons, which permits him to join CBS under the network’s video Chieftain, Charles M. Under- hill. Horwin made his deal with Underhill on a recent N, Y. trip. The influx of H6Hy%ood writers to New York, attendant to (1) down- beat of local film production arid (2) upsurge of TV, influenced Un- derhill to engage a special story exec like Horwin. Latter is driving east with his two children to the Indian Festival, Albuquerque, N. M., where his divorced wife will take them on to her present home in Houston. Reed’s ’Amateur Hour' Production Chore on TV Cleveland, Aug. 2. Bob Reed, piano-song-and-chat- ter man for NBC here, is returning to New York after 27 months of high ratings in both his WTAM and WNBK stanzas; Prior to coming to Cleveland for a 30-minute WTAM stint at 8 a.m., Reed was with WOR. In returning to New York, Reed joins “Original Amateur Hour” as a TV producer. He will also have his own NBC program. Before entering tho armed services in World War II, Reed had been closely associated with Major Bowes for 10 years in the production of “Amateur Hour.”