Variety (February 1951)

* ' ±r Product Payolas Loading Airwaves EMPLOYMENT UP Down; Pluggers Trip Over Each Other |||| y[(jf) The radio-TV merchandise pay- ola has probably hit an unprece- dented high in activity during the past few months. There’s hardly a top public relations outfit in the business that hasn’t a special emis- sary assigned to radio and video programming specifically for the purpose of getting a plug on behalf of a client’s product. This ranges all the way from automobiles to any one of the assorted soft or cola drinks, with a resultant payola in kind for the show’s writers or §tars. The clients or their public rela- tions-distributor reps usually aim for the high-rated .shows, with their multi-million audiences, with the extent of the merchandise payoff depending on the show’s rating. But it’s much easier to get a free product ride on the sustainers, al- though with a sustainer the payoff is less impressive. Sometimes, in the case of spon- sored shows, it leads to embarrass- ments in inadyertent plugging of rival company products, as oc- curred last week on a major TV show sponsored by a brewery com- pany. Star of the show wasn’t aware that the supplementary plug worked into the continuity repre- sented a conflict with an auxiliary product turned out by the brewery. There were''a lot of red faces when the brewery execs went into action. ‘Theatre Guild’ Readying 90-Min. ‘Hamlet’ on Air; To Be Sold as Album NBC’s “Theatre Guild on the Air” is planning what may be the most ambitious production of “Hamlet” yet presented on radio for its March 4 broadcast. With John Gielgud, Pamela Brown and Dorothy McGuire starred, the show will run an extra half-hour, from 8:30 to 10 p.m., with NBC having cleared its “Tales of the Texas Rangers” out of'the 9:30 to 10 p.m. slot for that single Sunday. U. S. Steel, which bankrolls “Theatre Guild,” has pacted with NBC and the Guild to record the show from the air and market it via a regular disk release. Gielgud, who will play the title role, is also scripting the adaptation. Miss Brown will play the queen and Miss McGuire will do the Ophelia role. NBC, incidentally, also has a special one-shot tribute to com- poser Richard Rodgers, marking his 25th anni in show business, scheduled for the same night on television, where it will be in di- rect competition with the “Ham- let” show. Rodgers program is scheduled for the video network fi.'om 9 to 10 p.m., with U. S. Shoes bankrolling through' a special deal with Philco, which usually occupies that slot Such Is Fame Washington, Feb. 6. Paul Hume, the Washington Post music critic who drew that stinging letter from President Tru- man, is learning that all fame gets you is your name spelled wrong. For example, an invitation came to town for him the other day to address the annual Gridiron Ban- quet of Sigma Delta Chi fraterni- ty at the University of Indiana. Now, Sigma Delta Chi is a national journalistic honor society (you know, the business that teaches “accuracy, accuracy, accuracy”). The invitation was addressed to Cyril Hume, drama critic, Wash- ington Star! Rails, Cold Hit B.O. But N.Y. Does Okay Railroad strike which snarled the nation’s transportation system and the unseasonable cold wave in the south hit show business this past week, but effects weren’t grave. Major results of the rail tieup and cold snap were: 1— longhair concerts took an estimated $25,000-$40,000 licking; 2—motion picture theatres in some cities were hurt by the bad weather-walkout combination; 3—Gotham hotels and niteries continued strong; and 4— NBC used its own airtime to main- tain the flow of publicity materials as the mails were snafued. Legit, which invariably seems to get clipped by adverse weather or economic conditions, took a double drubbing last week as wildcat rail- road strikes coincided with a coun- try-wide epidemic of brutal weather. The boxoffice loss, includ- ing both Broadway and the road, is estimated to have been around $50,000 or more. In New York, snow and sleet storms cut the boxoffice in all but the solid capacity shows, and the (Continued on page 53) Show Biz Uniting To Honor Cantor, Jessel Eddie Cantor and George Jessel Will celebrate 42 years of friend- ship by means of a testimonial din- ner to be given them May 5 at a New York hotel under auspices of the Jewish Theatrical Guild. The close relationship between the two has been traditional in show biz. The arrangements committee consists of Emil Friedlander, Harry E. Gould, Abe Lastfogel and.James E. Sauter. The coordinating com- mittee comprises William Degen Weinberger and William Morris, Jr. All branches of the amusement industry are cooperating. By MIKE KAPLAN Hollywood, Feb. 6. Hollywood’s greatest spectre— spasmodic unemployment has faded somewhat during the la^t year as a resiflt of hypoed television film activity. And while thebe’s no promise that video may - spell the end of ecbpomic uncertainty for filmland’s talent and technicians, there is every indication that the growing vidpic industry will one day absorb a tremendous' percent- age of the- seasonal unemployed in the film industry. In the space of one year, the tele- film industry has gained such stature that it has provided many hew jobs for actors, directors, writers, cameramen and film edi- tors. Exact figures in the various categories are almost impossible to arrive at, but even cautious es- timates are that the booming pro- duction of television films on the Coast has eased unemployment in the various guilds and unions any- where from 5% to 30%. Growing optimism as to the future of the fledgling industry here is based on the fact that the upswing thus far has been based actually on the ac- (Continued on page 63) Silverstone, Lehman Gals Financing Own 1-Reelers On European Art for 20th Producer of the series of one- reelers on famous paintings, which Spyros Skouras a few weeks ago an- nounced would be released by 20th- Fox, is Marilyn Silverstone, 21- year-old daughter of 20th’s foreign chief, Murray Silverstone. Her as- sociate will be a former classmate at Wellesley, Helen Lehman, daughter of banker Robert Leh- man. The two gals are financing the pix themselves, putting up their own coin plus some provided by Lehman pere. Twentieth is advanc- ing no money, merely guaranteeing release. A minium of six films is planned, with more likely if they prove successful. Miss Silverstone was an art ma- jor in college and has spent a good deal of her life in Europe, where she is familiar^ with all the famed galleries. The two femme pro- ducers have already completed the research on their project. They plan to head for Europe in April or May to start three months of lensing on the initial half-dozen. They’ll shoot in galleries in six countries. Pix will be in color. Name of the gals’ company is Art Film Productions, Inc. Lethal Weapon Roger Price writes from the • Coast that he’s working on a new invention that will kill television. It's Color Radio. , Theatre Tele in Full Speed Ahead; Over 100 Exhibs Order Equipment : : 4 Atom Test ‘Goes TV’ Hollywood, Feb. 6. First television remotes of an atomic blast were recorded this morning (6) when KTLA and KTTV cameras, set up on Mount Wilson, caught the flash of eerie white light as the fifth experi- mental blast at Las Vegas Proving Ground was touched off at 5:47 a.m. Stations had made prepara- tions Monday night, figuring on be- ing available every morning until blast. Both stations picked lip from own transmitter sites, 250 miles from experimental area. KTLA’s version, accompanied by an audio tape, was kinescoped for repetition Tuesday night. KTTV used only cameras atop Wilson. KTLA sent Gil Martin to Las Vegas where he described blast and then inter- viewed spectators. It’s School-By-TV As Classes Close Memphis, Feb. 6. In step with the worst blizzard that has hit this sector in years, WMCT, local TV outlet, teed off last week with daily classroom in- structions direct from its down- town studios. New series of programs, which was encouraged by TV’and school officials, was put in effect when city and county schools put the shutters on for four days. Preem TV “school session” was held Friday. ( 2 ). George Barnes, county school super, told Variety that “if this worl ; out, we could have televi- (Continued on page 63) Use Ohio State U. Pix As Democracy Aid Abroad Columbus, O., Feb. 0. Two Ohio State U. motion pic- tures have been picked up by the State Dept, and will be exhibited throughout the world as part of its program of disseminating info on the American way of life. State Dept, will distrfb .them abroad in some 27 foreign languages, via U. S. Information Service. "Accents on Learning” demon- strates techniques and methods of college teaching as illustrated by actual classroom demonstrations. “Footsteps to the Future” is de- signed to interest the highschool girl in home economics, both as a preparation for homemaking and as a career. Both pix were made by the OSU . motion picture unit directed by Prof. Robert W. Wagner. Theatre television, after strug- gling to get rolling for the last sev- eral years, has finally been green- lighted for full speed ahead. More than 100 theatres have placed or- ders for big-screen video units dur- ing the last few weeks, an d th e various manufacturers Have f5T!brfr-~ ised delivery by early fall. As a result, theatre TV, for the first time in its history, will be able to amass a sufficient boxoffice to bid for ex- clusive rights to some sports and special events. Strong upsurge of interest among exhibitors for putting TV into their theatres is the result of continued efforts by .a number .of circuit execs to break the logjam that has long confronted the medium, and get it on its feet. Top brass of not only the Theatre Owners of ‘ America and National Allied but alsi of the Motion Picture Assn, of America have been pitching big-screen video to their members for months. They have pointed out to major company execs and leading exhibs that TV in theatres could form one of the best methods possible to . overcome the competition of TV in homes. Most of the new orders for equip- ment have been placed with RCA for its instantaneous projection method. As a result, RCA has de- cided that it will now be possible to set up a mass production as- sembly line for the units. This, in turn, has prompted the manufac- turer to trim its price per unit to (Continued on page 63) World Situation Fails To Halt H’wood Plans For Overseas Lensing Hollywood, Feb. 6. Hollywood film producers, both major and independent, are going right ahead with overseas filming regardless of unsettled conditions and threats of war in various parts of the world. Currently eight pic- tures are slated for production in England, five in Africa, three in Latin America, one in China and an undetermined number on the European Continent. Although 20th-Fox recently shifted lensing of “The Desert Fox” from North Africa to Cali- fornia, the company will make “White Witch Doctor” in the Belgian Congo. Others lined up for African shooting are: Edmund Grainger’s “African Intrigue;” Sam Spiegel’s “African Queen;” Danziger Brothers’ “The Broad Arrow,” and Sol Lesser’s next “Tarzan” adventure. Metro is readying three for British production: “Ivanhoe,” “The Romance of Henry Menafee” and “Young Bess.” Currently 20th- Fox is lensing “The House on the Square” in London. Others are Hal Wallis’ “Son and Stranger;” Har- old Hecht’s “The Crimson Pirate;” Sol Lesser's “Black Chiffon;” Columbia’s “Captain Blood Re- (Continued on page 20)