Variety (September 05, 1951)

Madigan to Head New TV News, Events Dept at ABC To Be Emcee of Network Name Band-Vande Layoit In line with the major networks' projection of disk jockeys into web personalities, NBC has pacted with Bob Snyder, deejay broadcasting locally in the Albany, N. Y., area, for a half-hour ride on the full net> work Sunday nights as emcee of a name band-variety layout. Show, which starts Sept. 16 in the 11:30 p. m. to midnight period, will ba picked up from the Crooked Laka Hotel, near Albany. Snyder, who also promotes pack- age shows for hotel and niter? rooms in upstate N. Y., is handling the talent for the program in con- junction with General Artists Corp. Bands are to be booked into tha Crooked Lake spot for the single Sunday night each week, and will be paid a guarantee against per- centage for playing an entire eve- ning's dance date. Snyder will then cut in for the NBC spread for the half-hour airtime. Woody Herman has been set for the preem, with Shep Fields slated to follow. Different name vocalist is to be spotted with the various bands each week. Show, which will originate via the facilities of WGY, Schenectady, will start as a sue* tainer. rolling will receive plenty of pub- licity in its trade organs. Tentative program schedule, which now has Mike and Buff Wal- lace’s "Two Sleepy People” airing from 10:39 to 11 a. m. cross the- board. will have Mel Torme star- ring in a variety show, to be aired cross-the-board from 5:30 to 5 p. m. starting Sept. 17. White is also lining up a children’s show, to be aired from 5 to 5:15 cross-the- board, and a feature to be aired on a strip basis from 5:15 to 6:15. Also in the works is a half-hour kid show Saturday mornings, a feature film following the football games Saturday afternoons, and a remote show from a zoo or museum around N. Y. on Sundays White also said he is reserving the 2 to 3 p m Suhday slot for what he averred would be "the most exciting show in TV," but he declined to elabo- rate on that. Web is paying talent the basic Television Authority scale for its color programming, despite the lack of set circulation. White said the web’s experience so far has shown that color shows can be pro- duced less expensively than simi- lar black-and-white programs, if only because the added impact of color reduces the need for expen- sive sets and props. A11 color pro- grams, incidentally, are to origi- nate henceforth from CBS’ Studio 42, in the Grand Central building. N. Y. Claiming to be near the inking Stage with several prospective sponsors for its color TV program- ming, CBS is proceeding rapidly towards its 26 hours per week schedule, which is grooved for reaching by mid-October. Web revealed this week that it’s pitching to agencies to "forget about the number of sets around’’ and to think of the merchandising and promotion angles to be de- rived from plumping for color sponsorship. As a reslult. it's probable that the first bankrollers of tint programs will be digging the money out of their promotion funds rather than from their ad- vertising budgets. According to Henry White. CBS color coordinator, and Bill Hylan, color sales chief, most of the orders in the house now are contingent on the placement of receivers in '‘certain areas"—which are prob- ably department stores, since that Is where the programs will be seen by most viewers. While it’s ex- pected that some 60,000 color re- ceivers may be on the market by Jan. 1, even that number won’t provide the necessary circulation for any hefty outlay of ad coin. But CBS is telling the agencies that the possibilities are almost limitless for dealer promotions and merchandising angles in color •tores, directly related to color. Publicity Payoff Part of the CBS thinking, for example, is based on the fact that bankrollers would be interested in showing their wares in their natu- ral tints before viewers in a de- partment store, if they knew that the same viewers could take an ele- vator inside the same store and buy the article displayed. Also figur- ing in their pitch is the publicity payoff, both consumer-wise and trade-wise, expected from color sponsorship. For example, it’s considered almost a certainty that the first fabric house, dress outfit, etc., that springs for color bank- BBC Boys 1st Com’I Show With Orson Welles’ ‘Lime’ Towers Preps ‘Ballerina’ "Lives of Harry Lime." Orson Welles-starrer based on his "Third Man*’ characterization, has been bought by the British Broadcasting Corp., first time the BBC has pur- chased a commercially-produced show. Harry Alan Towers, whose Towers of London firm produced the transcriber, visited N. Y. last week to confer with execs of MGM Radio Attractions, which is releas- ing the series in the U.S. Margot Fonteyn, leading Sadler’s Wells ballerina, is starring in a new airer which Towers is produc- ing. Titled "Ballerina.’’ it features the dancer talking about the ballet and introing disks of choreographic music. It will be similar to the series which Sir Thomas Beecham did for Towers, beamed in the U.S. on WQXR. N.Y., and other long- hair outlets. Like the Beecham show, it wiU be released through the Towers of America sub6id. The "Lime" stanza. Towers re- ported. has started commercially in Australia and soon will be re- leased In New Zealand. South Afri- ca and Canada. It’s already being broadcast, in translated form, in Germany. France. Sweden and Denmark, with other language edi- tions being planned. Welles, besides acting in “Lime,” has also written some of the scripts. Others have been penned by Peter Lyon, Robert Cenedella. Sigmund Miller, Irving Ashkenazi, Bud Lesser and Virginia Cooke. Zither-player Anton Karas is in- cluded in the musical background- ing. In addition to "Lime.” Towers has the "Grade Fields Show.” re- leased in the U S. via MGM Radio Attractions, and "Allan Jones Show.” released here by Lang- Worth. He also handles foreign dis- tribution of MGMRA and Frederic W. Ziv shows. Ziv’s “Bold Ven- ture,” Humphrey Bogart-Lauren Bacall transcriber, has just been sold for Australia. Additionally, Towers buys outright the foreign rights to some of the programs of smaller transcription firms. Besides selling to the sterling block market, Towers sells pro- grams to Radio Luxembourg, pow- erful commercial outlet that beams sponsored shows to Britishers. His shows comprise about three-quar- ters of the non-disk jockey offer- ings on Radio Lux. UTP Names Beckwith In Expansion More ‘United Television Programs, in a major expansion move, has named Aaron Beckwith, former commercial manager of WAGE. Syracuse, to the newly-created post of general sales manager. He’ll coordinate all sales, both locally and on a national basis, and also expand his sales force with the ad- dition of several new staffers to work on the road. Besides boosting its sales organ- ization. UTP has also moved into new and larger homeofflee head- quarters in N. Y. Expansion is made necessary by the recent deal to handle distribution on all prod- uct turned out by the Kling stu- dios. as well as that of Bing Crosby Enterprises, which it has syndi- cated for some time. Beckwith at the start will add two men to UTP's current roster of seven. He plans to take a trip on the road himself in the near fu- ture to survey exactly what stations and advertisers want in the way of films for TV. Chicago. Sept. 4. In a last-minute switch, WCFL has again come up with the Chi* cago Cardinals pro football broad- casts. Sinclair Oil. which owns the rights to the Card schedule, had planned to move the games to WJJD, since latter station is a daytime-onlv operation, involv- ing a farm-out of the night games and West Coast contests, the oil company decided to switch to WCFL. Sinclair’s tab will be shared by the Goebel Brewing Co.. *»hich will bankroll the exhibitor -es. Joe Boland will do !h<? play-by- play during the exhibition sched- ule and color on the regular games, with Bob Elson handling the play calling. WCFL. which has carried tho Cards' airings for the past three years, is expected to make a strong bid for the rights next season. Bigelow Moves Base Hollywood, Sept. 4. "Bigelow Theatre" moves its production base from Jerry Fair- banks to the Vogelin Corp. at Gen- eral Service studio for the start of the new fall series. It was the Vogelin outfit that produced "The Pharmacist's Mate” for Pulitzer Prize Playhouse last season. On the takeoff Irving Pichel will direct "The Big Hot” (sun*, with Frank Woodruff as supervisor for Young & Rubicam. Robert Hus- sey casts the series for the agency. For fhe Best in Dancing KPIX, Frisco Indie TV’er Boosts Rate Card 1 /3 San Francisco, Sept. 4. Latest rate card issued by KPIX. indie television outlet here, boosts the Class A hourly rate up to $600 from $450. Class B rates are up from $340 to $450, and Class C from $225 to $300. New rate card, which gives ad- vertisers the usual six-month pro- tection, provides frequency dis- counts for the first time, ranging up to 20% for a maximum fre- quency of 250 or more times. Choreography, by CovrtMV *f M-O-M Now appearing with DONALD O'CONNOR la "THE MILKMAN” (Unlvarsal-IntornatlonaO Mimpant WILLIAM MORRIS AfiKNCV WJBK d « ,! you* coops *"*SAl£$ Starting Third Season CBS PREPS ‘QUESTION’ SERIES ON JAP TREATY Choreography and All Musical Staging CBS Network Saturday Nights, 8-9 P.M CBS will launch a new public affairs show, "Big Question," Sept. 9. by filming a half-hour panel dis- cussion among delegates to the Japanese peace treaty conference in San Francisco the day before, and flying the film back to N. Y. for transmission. "Question” is to be aired Sundays from 6 to 6:30 p. m. With Charles Collingwood as moderator and emcee, the series is to range in format from individual interviews to panel discussions on the "big question" each week in current events. It’s being pro- duced by the CBS news and public affairs division. • ARTHUR MURRAY SHOW • ALICE IN WONDERLAND • LOUISVILLE OPERETTA COMPANY—2 SEASONS • BIRMINGHAM STARLIGHT OPERA • ST. LOUIS MUNICIPAL OPERA • MEMPHIS OPEN AIR THEATER • MEXICAN HAYRIDE (SPECIAL CHOREOGRAPHY) Results from WJSK-TV *K*w, 1 b4m Doy"— 30-pioco MU of iloinlMi Staal cut- lory retailing for $4.9$ apirn, sold 41 pots from tho first commercial, 4$ from the second. Results were so tremendous the first week thsrt the storo ron out of Stock. Commercials hod to ho stopped until their supply con bo roplonishod. Not result: three-spot • week contrsKt for m yeor. Cedar City, Utah—KSUB, local Mutual and Intermountain Net- work outlet, has started recording messages by wives and children to be sent to soldiers In Rorea. Vet- erans of Foreign Wars has been sponsoring the program of getting relatives to town to wax their talks. First cutting session had about 20 before the mikes. DETROIT KENNETH LATER AGENCY