Variety (February 1951)

Wednesday, February 14, 1951 TELEVISION 23 HRS. TV LEADERSHIP Public interest in radio and television coverage of United Nations sessions, as well as the potential value of such coverage in the current defense effort, were pointed up this week in an exchange of letters between a Philadelphia housewife TV viewer and Warren K. Austin, chief of the U. S. mission to the UN. Housewife, after Congratulating Austin for his work in the UN, declared “You don’t know me, but I have met you through tele- vision, which is a God-seiid to all free Americans. . . . All we, as true Americans, ask for is more TV programs of the UN in action. Although I don’t have much, I should like you to accept the en- closed $10, as a contribution toward more UN programs. That’s the only thing that will let the American people know what is really going on. You are all working so hard, I just wish I could give more.” in his answer to the letter, Austin declared: “Thank you for the motive which prompted you to send me a contribution to further the radio and TV coverage of UN meetings. We are not in a posi- tion to influence the networks with regard to their program policy. Therefore, I am returning herewith the money you enclosed. I suggest that you write directly to the central office of your station, telling, them that you would like to see their complete coverage of UN meetings resumed.” NBC television has selected Suri-> day and Wednesday as the “com- mercial” nights for its projected “Operation Summer” this year. Those are the nights on which the web plans to group all the shows sponsored by advertisers who de- cided to ride out the summer, so as not to leave any commercial “islands” in the middle of a group of sustaining programs. Under present plans, Saturday will also be a commercial night. NBC is planning a summer edition of its “Saturday Night Revue,” which it hopes to sell on a partici- pating basis similar to the way the current “Revue” has been sold. Summer edition is also expected to be two-and-a-half hours long, but will be tailored to fit the more modified budgets of summertime advertisers. Web has been dicker- ing with Max Liebman, producer of the “Show of Shows” portion of “Revue,” to supervise the sum- mer program. % Web, meanwhile, is discussing the possibility of Offering adver- tisers some kind of incentive plan to remain on the air through the summer and expects to have a de- cision ready by the end of this (Continued on page 32) He Am t Eligible! Hollywood, Feb. 13. Shades of the Minute Men! Walter Colmes, producing a series of vidpix which En- cyclopedia Brittanica is bank- rolling for ABC-TV, has cast the role of John Quincy Adams, sixth president of the United States. For it, he im- ported from England actor Peter Forster. TVA Chi Stations Hollywood, Feb. 13. KNBH is ' hunting a sponsor who’ll fork over $15,000 to guaran- tee the gate on a polo match—or maybe five matches. Beverly Hills polo dub wants a guarantee against an attendance decline for upcoming series of five matches with the Argentine team. KNBH will lens this Sunday’s game to give potential sponsors an idea of what they’re buying. For that telecast and incidental buildup, KNBH gets a three-week option to sell the matches with the sponsor guaranteeing to make up the difference between actual gate and $15,000 if that figure isn’t reached. Other matches would be thrown in gratis with sponsor pay- ing only for time and pickup. Chicago, Feb. 13. Lengthy negotiations for the first local pact covering tele perform- ers here is nearing the inking stage as the ‘ Chi Television Authority exec board Monday (12) recom- mended acceptance Of the terms agreed to by three of the four video stations and TVA bargaining reps. WGN-TV, Chicago Tribune station, pulled out of the joint confabs last week just prior to the informal agreement okayed by the other sta- tions. Union and WGN : TV bargain- ers are slated to meet again this week. Meanwhile, WNBQ, WENR-TV and WBKB received telegrams Fri- day (9), just before the final okay- ing of terms, which were sent out by the Chicago local of the Amer- ican Federation of Musicians stat- ing that the AFM local looks with disapproval upon any TVA contract (Continued on page 34) Report CBS Deal on Tap Chicago, Feb.’13, Ransom Sherman, whose after- noon ..strip on NBC-TV was dropped Inst month, has received his re- lease from the 60-day ’option the wob had on his services and is bvulling offers from other net- works. Sherman has already been approached by CBS which would like to cash in on NBC promotion given comic during his sustaining ride. Although the Sherman show came, in for considerable critical acclaim NBC yanked it because of reported lack of sales interest. Sat Nile Revue’ in WAAM TV Seminar To Focus Cameras On Top Baltimore, Feb. 13. -Four of the broadcasting and agency execs scheduled to partici- pate in the first annual regional television seminar being staged here this weekend by WAAM, indie video outlet, will find themselves on TV, Station has cleared time to televise the speeches of Charles Underhill, CBS-TV general man- ager; William I. Kaufman, NBC-TV casting director; Robert Saudek, ABC veepee, and Edward B. Rob- erts, script editor for BBD&O. Seminar is to emphasize “Career Opportunities in TV,” with an in- vited audience of 100 college stu- dents and newspapermen present. Seminar tees off . Friday night (16) with a dinner at which Dr. Allen B. DuMont, prez of DuMont Labs, will survey the video industry, an- alyze its present position and pre- dict what may happen in the years to come. Other speakers are to be heard Saturday. Young & Rubicam, which over a period of years, invariably battled it oi^t with J. Walter Thompson for topdog position among agencies with top billings and number of half-hours represented in network radio programming,, has also moved into the No. 1 spot in TV. However, replacing JWT in the runnerup position in video is the j William Weintraub agency, which never shared that kind of stature in the radio picture. (Weintraub moves closer toward the leadership in the late spring when “Amos ’n’ Andy” goes TV.) Y&R is currently represented by eight and three-quarter hours of network programming, while the : Weintraub agency trails close be- \ hind with seven hours and 45 min-; Utes. Majog contributing factor in the case of Weintraub is tjie five full hours of “Broadway Open House” sponsored by Anchor Hock- ing Monday (through Friday, 11 p.m. to midnight on NBC-TV). In terms of weekly station hours, Y & R also leads with 335, while Weintraub maintains the No. 2 spot with 275Vfe hours. Y & R’s big TV pull breaks down as follows: “Arthur Godfrey Talent Scouts,” sponsored by Lipton Tea, 30 min- utes; “Goldberg,” sponsored by General Foods, 30 minutes; “Holi- day Hotel,” sponsored by Pack- ard, 30 minutes; “We, the People,” sponsored by Gulf, 30 minutes;. “Pulitzer Prize Play- house,” sponsored by Schlitz, 60 minutes; “Bigelow Theatre,” spon- sored by Bigelow Carpet, 30 min- utes; “Paul Whiteman Show,” spon- sored by Goodyear, 30 minutes; “Aldrich Family,” sponsored by General Foods, 30 minutes; Fred Waring’ Show, sponsored by General Electric, 60 minutes; Bert Parks show, sponsored three after- noons a week, 90 minutes; “Suc- cess Story,” sponsored by Interna- tional Silver, twice a week, 30 min- utes; Kate Smith, sponsored by General Foods five times a week; 75 minutes. Weintraub scorecard reads: “Broadway Open House,” spon- sored by Anchor-Hocking five full hours; “Ellery Queen,” sponsored by Kaiser-Frazer, 30 minutes; “Roller Derby,” sponsored by Blatz, 45 minutes; “Faith Baldwin Theatre of Romance” sponsored by Maiden-Form, every other Satur- day for 30 minutes; “Two Girls Names Smith,” sponsored by Bab- bitt Co., 30 minutes; “I Cover Times Square,” sponsored by Airwick, 30 minutes. Trendex Top 10 Following are the 10 tole- rated television shows for the first week in February, as rated by Trendex in its 20-city sur- vey: Texaco Star Theatre (NBC) 55.7 Talent Scouts (CBS). . .... 44.7 Show of Shows (NBC)-... 44.5 Fireside Theatre (NBC).. 43.7 Comedy Hour (NBC). , . 42 Philco Playhouse (NBC) .. 41.6 Lights Out (NBC)....... 39.1 Martin Kane (NBC). . . .. 38.7 Man Against Crime (CBS) 38.2 Godfrey & Friends (CBS) 37.8 BEATRICE LILLIE TO SUB NBC television this week set Beatrice Lillie : to fill in for Bob Hope as star of its Sunday night “Comedy Hour” in the latter’s next regularly-scheduled shot on the program, March 18. Hope report- edly is tied up on the Coast with ! film commitments and so will not j be able to come east for a video show until April 15. Pacting of MiSs Lillie completes the “Comedy Hour” lineup for the next month. Bobby Clark takes over Sunday (18) for his version of “Would-Be Gentleman,” with Eddie Cantor set to fill his regular slot the following Week (25). The Tony Martin-Milton Berle-Andrews Sisters show has been scheduled for March 4 and the second Abbott & Costello stanza for the following week, March 11. Merriwell Crashes TV Frank Merri well series 8f dime novels by Burt L. Standish is being made into a vidpic series by Tony London and Ira Uhr. Under the firm name of Frank Merri well En- terprises, pair will lens TV films at Eagle Lion Studios on the Coast, Merriwell. tomes sold an esti- mated 125,000,000 copies before Street & Smith discontinued them in 1925. Detroit, Feb. 13. Estimated greatest audience that television has ever commanded in the Detroit area last week (8-9) watched the Kefauver Senate Crime Committee hearings into Un- derworld activities in the automo- tive business. Television station switchboards were Hooded with congratulatory comments on the excellence of the spot coverage and camera work and praise for the public service per- formed in cancelling commercial shows to keep the cameras trained on Detroit hoodlums as they squirmed and wept in the drama- packed question-and-answer quiz. Two sations, WWJ-XV and WJBK-TV, kept their cameras on the scene from early morning un- til late in the afternoon, with one break for lunch. Pictures of the hoodlum’s mansions, police photo- graphs and records and photostated copies of evidence, were shown to the TV audience in many cases be- fore they were handed to wit- nesses. The one night session, however, was not * televised. Station spokes- men explained that arrangements had not been made early enough to cancel network shows. Switch- boards were so flooded with calls asking stations to continue televiz- ing the proceedings into the eve- ning hours that they actually were shut down. WJBK-AM, however, provided full coverage of the night session. Harry Bannister, manager of WWJ-TV, declared “The hearings were the most terrific show De- troit has ever seen. They were the high point in television in this area. I doubt if there was a single set in the city not tuned to the hear- ings.” Richard E. Jones, veepee and general manager of WJB&-TV, said “I’ve never seen anything like it. This has been the most tremen- dous reaction that radio or tele- vision has ever experienced,” NBC-TV’sJ “Saturday Night Re- vue” ran into considerable sponsor difficulty this week, with Snow Crop Marketers ankling as one of the major participating bankrollers and Crosley serving notice that it will bow out soon, probably at the end of the current cycle. Camp- bell^ Soups, which had bankroll id the first half-hour of the two-and-a- half hour weekly program, also pulls out soon, which will leave the major part of the show unspon- sored, Snow Crop reportedly bowed out for marketing reasons, or the basis that it had been plugging bargain buys for its products on / Satur- day night, whereas most of the stores selling those products are closed on Sundays, As for Cros- ley, the company is said to believe that because of the war-enforced shortage of materials, it cannot commit itself for a 13-week run on any radio or TV show. Crosley is expected to confine its bankroll- ing activities henceforth to spot campaigns and, it’s believed, repre- sents the first of many such bank- rollers who will exit broadcasting for similar reasons. Snow Crop ankling, meanwhile, set in motion a wholesale reshuffle of segments on the show by the other bankrollers. Crosley, which had bankrolled the final half-hour, takes over the time formerly held by Snow Crop, from 9 to 9:30 p. m„ until the end of its current cycle. Swift, which had two participating spots on the “Jack Carter Show,” the first hour of “Revue,” is moving into the time being vacated by Crosley. Three participants in the 9:30 to 10 segment are remaining in their current slots. With Campbell’s having decided recently to drop its hold on the first half-hour of the Carter show, tfle realignment of sponsors leaves the Carter stanza virtually open. Lehn & Fink, however, are reportedly near the inking stage for the 8 to 8:15 p. m. slot on the program and the web claims to have a waiting list for participants on the 8:30 to 9 segment. Philly Radio After 29 Years; Switches to TV Philadelphia, Feb. 13. The “Uncle Wip” program, old- est children’s radio show in the world, switches to television next Monday (19). Program, which has been continuously in the same eve- ning slot at WIP since 1922, will drop the radio segment in favor of a three-times-weekly show on WFIL-TV. Pertinence is given the switch by the fact that Uncle Wip’is radio outlet, WIP; is a wholly-owned sub- sidiary of Gimbel Bros., sponsors of the program. Gimbels will con- tinue its sponsorship on video. It. is known that WIP’s sales de- 1 partment worked hard for months : to save the evening spot, and there t (Continued on page 30) Radio for Video Hollywood, Feb. 13. Andrews Sisters step before the vidfilm cameras at Hal Roach stu- dios this week to make a one-shot telepic that may develop into their future television vehicle. Trio is devoting all future energies to video, vacating “Club 15” program on March 23 to ready for the switch. Telefilm to be made this week will be beamed On NBC as a oner shotter under a deal made with RCA veepee Manie Sachs. It will be a situation layout with plenty of room .for vocal routines. Trio also is set. for a one-shot 'revue- type program over CBS, but man- ager Lou Levy isn’t too keen on the idea, feeling that it wouldn’t hold up properly. “Club 15” bowout, arranged amicably with W ^rd-Wheelock agency and sponsor Campbell’s Soup, comes after three-and-one- half years on the program. Con- (Continued on page 34) Keith on ’Show of Shows’ With NBC television director Hal Keith having been recalled to ac-* tive duty with the Army, Greg Gar- rison has been assigned to replace him as director on the Saturday night “Your Show of Shows,” Gar- rison will . continue his directing chores three times a week on the web’s daytime“Kate Smith Show.” Keith, Who served as an intelli- gence officer in the Pacific during World War II, returns to the Army | in his former rank of captain.