Variety (November 1950)

42 RADIO-TELEVISIOIV tr^clhesday, November 8, 1930 Appraising TV Comics Continued from page 29 comic has integrated himself and his particular zanyisms for a guaranteed audience payoff. Martin & Lewis; In their initial brace of shows, they’ve whammed over their comedies for boff results, matched only by the Durante preem. Frank Sinatra: That he’s got | tlie personality for establishing ‘ himself as a major video draw can’t be denied. But CBS got him off to a disastrous start, with sub- ■ sequent weeks only partially nulli -1 fying the bad impression generated by the preem. Danny Thomas: Considered a natural in terms of sight values, the nilery comic disappointed in his fir.st time up, but principally due to lack-lustre material, indif- ferent production and a penchant for carrying the message torch that threw his comedies for a loss. Bobby Clark: Here is proof of how years of perfecting and polish- ing a routine can become so much a part of the personality that it be- comes a natural to project into any medium. But as encased within the dubious framework of the two Mike Todd productions thus far shown, it also demonstrates how important it becomes in TV to properly showcase a delightful oddity. Groucho Marx: General impres- sion is that his present quiz for- mat, an exact duplicate of his radio show, is a drawback in adiieving a proper visualization of the Marxian trademarked ex-legit an- tics. Groucho addicts, however, are even w’illing to* settle for this. Jack Carson: Initial show handi- capped by poor material, but the film star generated a TV bounce that may put him in the plus columns. Unseen Mentor Jimmy Durante sentimen- tally “blames” Donald O’Con- nor for the emotional finale to their joint TV debut last Wed- nesday (H, over NBC, when the film juvenile, as the show was ending, got moist around the optics. 'The Schnozzle, as he sang his “goodnight” song, and farew'elled “Mrs. Kala- bash” just couldn’t get out the w’ords, “Good night Lou.” Mrs. Lou (Ida) Clayton, wid- ow of Durante’s longtime partner and manager, was in the studio audience at the New Yox’k premiere. Eddie to Ida W’hen Ida (Mrs. Eddie) Can- - tor fluffed her only line when she guested on her husband’s I “Colgate Comedy Hour” Sun- j day night (5) via NBC-TV, the 1 comedian asided to the audi- [ ence, “Well, you can’t divorce I a w'oman just because of one, i line.” Mrs. Cantor, following the program, w’as boasting to George Burns, Gracie Allen and some of her other cronies, “what a terrific ad libber my Eddie is.” Cantor meantime had sent his wife a telegram: “I will take an oath to God ’ you’ll never be a n 6 t h e r Helen Hayes.” Fatima’s ‘Stork’ Buy Liggett & Myers, dickering with , CBS-TV for the “Stork Club” show, j is expected to pick up the tab on ; Tuesdays and Thursdays only. To- I bacco firm, plugging its Fatima ; cigarets, will probably wait until ! after the first of the year to assume sponsorship. Show, w'hicli originates from Sherman Billingsley’s N. Y. nitery, is au’cd cross-the-board from 7 to 7:30“ p. m. Houston — Dave Morris, general (manager of KNUZ has announced j the appointment ^of Jack Healey I as commercial manager for the out- ! let. •CvX*V* <vy.y>:<y. <*:*:*:*x* >:*:*X‘X mm I Over at WINS we have one furrier who’s used our station for nine years— the only radio advertising he’s done. He’s stayed on this station because sales have been grow-'^g each year—directly traceable to WINS through tests made on his program. Local advertisers are always a good indication of a station’s value, because they either get results or they don’t stay on. Call your WINS representative ... see him when he calls. WINS 50KW New York / / / / Boy / WINS ... i t Se 11 s) NBC Survey Continued from page 39 Army-Penn game last Saturday (4), as a superior attraction, could have been expected to outdraw the Princeton - Colgate game, since both were wdthin easy train or driving distance from N. Y. At the same time, though, home viewers had available the Notre Dame- Navy contest and several other games televised that day. Ratings of the TV shows are also to be taken into consideration with the attendance figures, consequently. NBC survey will not attempt to prove how TV coverage of a top game might affect the gate of a lesser game in the same vicinity which is not being televised. That, ^ Dolan said, is something that the ; joint survey being conducted by 1 the TV Industry-National Collegi- I ate Athletic Assn, will prove. Dolan recalled that NBC prez Jo- seph H. McConnell admitted to the NCAA exec board last January that “nobody knows the answer” to the problem. NBC check, he said, will serve as one more phase of the overall campaign to find i that answer. Halloran Elected As Prez of I’ville AFRA Louisville, Nov. 7. Ryan Halloran, WAVE an- nouncer, last week was elected prez of the local AFRA chapter at a breakfast meeting of the union. He succeeds Jim Walton, WHAS m.c. and disk jockey. Other new officers are Bob Flournoy, WHAS, .vice-president; Paul Clark, WHAS, treasurer; and Ed Farron, WKLO, recording sec- retary. Walton was chosen as the fifth member of the local’s execu- tive board, which also includes the four officers Pitt’s Audience Continued from page 30 ND’s Krause Likes TV Chicago, Nov. 7. Ed (Moose) Krause, Notre Dame I athletic director, declared here to- day that television, rather than hurting the gate at ND’s home football games this season, “has created millions of fans” for the school. In the face of conflicting testimony from other universities around the country about video's effects, Krause pointed out that ND, whose games are carried on the full DuMont network, have been complete sellouts this year. The future of ND’s TV activities, however, will depend on what ac- tion is taken by the National Col- legiate Athletic Assn, at its meet- ing in Dallas in January. As a member of the NCAA, ND will be bound by that decision. TV Outstrips Fix Continued from page 3S in addition to his creative duties, I act _as an administrator. In this, category are such NBC execs as j Pete Barnum, Robert Samoff, etc. i Working under them are the in- dividual producers for each show, such as Joseph Santley, Leo Mor- gan, Charles Friedman and Ernest Glucksman, who are responsible for assembling the various ele- ments of the production. : Third man on the credits pole is the director, who stages the action of the performers, directs the skits, etc. _ . In addition, there are the TV directors, whose job it is to direct all movement as they affect the cameras and generally super- vise the camera work and that of the other technical facilities. Since the job requires considerable video experience, NBC has assigned some of its most experienced video staff- erv'. to the shows, such as Kingman T. Moore and Doug Rodgers. Also a necessary part of the pro- duction staff is the technical direc- tor. It’s his job to supervise all technical equipment and personnel, including the studio engineers. He is also the one who pushes the but- tons v\hicb make the cuts from one camera to another, upon orders from the producer or director. them, were quick to point out, how- ever, in all fairness to the news- papers, that there was a steel strike in October, 1949. But they also pointed out that a comparison with a comparable' period - in 1948 re- veals little change in sales* despite the fact that 1943 was a peak year and that current credit restrictions are' hampering buying. University of Pittsburgh’s Re- search Bureau stated, in third week of newspaper strike, that overall level of business in Pittsburgh wa« approximately 10% under that of 1948. According to the Bureau, the volume of sales declined only a shade more than the anticipated seasonal declines. From Sept. 30 to Oct. 21, 1950, seasonal decline was 4% and the actual sales de- cline 5%. While local store officials were chary about revealing individual store figures, one department store executive disclosed off the cuff that during one of the newspaper- less days his store had the second biggest day in its entire history. Another of the city’s major stcjres which had bought a 10-minute news program for the duration of the strike found the broadcasts so ef- fective that it signed a new con- tract for 26 weeks in order to be assured of the program after the strike. One store bought a seg- ment of a post-midnight program, and was so pleased with the results that it quickly doubled its sched- ule. Progressive Net Contlnupd from 26 Q will be permitted to charge more or less than the e.slablished rate, provided PBS gets 50% of the es- tablished i*ate (even if the local bankroller is charged a higher or lower fee». Audition disks containing con- densed versions of PBS stanzas have been sent out to 400 stations applying for charters. Web says it will spend almost $2.50.000 monthly on programming. Talent inked includes Frankie Laine, Hugh Herbert, Ann Dvorak, Alan Mowbray. Connie Haines, Stan Kenton, Mel Toi'me, ,Joan Leslie, Jeanne Cagney, Tom Hanlon and Harry Von Zell. AHENTION—SPONSORS PRODUCERS -- NETWORKS FOR SALE OR LEASE One of America's most beautiful LEGITIMATE THEATRES in downtown Los Angeles, Calif. Class A steel and concrete construction—Built 1927 Cost $1,380,000.00 Recently refurbished at cost of $ 100 , 000.00 Huge stage—Approximately' 4000 Sq. Ft—40x100 Modern Lighting Equipment Dressing rooms for company of 100 Ideally Suited for Dramatic Stock, Musical Spectacles—or TELEVISION PROGRAM ORIGINATION GOOD AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION LOCATION WITH EXCELLENT PARKING FACILITIES SEATING CAPACITY 1500 ON 2 FLOORS CALL Oft WRITE OWNER FRANK FOUCE PAN AMemCAN television CORPORATION 127 SOUTH BROADWAY LOS ANGELES/ CALIF. TEL. MU-5713 MJ-177i x: C R O $ L E Y broadcasting CORPORATION Columbus—New ton C. RoclUe, former research assistant in the; Bureau of Special Adult Education at Ohio State University, named' assistant program supervisor of WOSU, University .stalion. He suc- ceeds Gh‘nn E. T]Ilsi.rom, who re- cently resigned after five years to enter busine.ss. SUBLEASE 3*2 room apartment; 2 both*. BEAUTIFULLY FURNISHED & TV OCCUPANCY Nov. 15th to May 1 Rent 52200'. Apply 40 E. 68th St. j Regent 4-1324 Or see Supt. j