Variety (December 1951)

VOL. 1M N*. IS NEW YORK. WEDNESDAY, * Trtfvitkm Authority is utkln| to outlaw all welfare shows in which performers will bo ashed to work for less than their usual foo on commercially sponsored shows Attach on this type of program came after the American Guild of Variety Artists' first show, as part of Opposition to unlimited televis- ing of top sports events mounted on all fronts during the last week with indications pointing to the probability that video {stations will fsce a stiff fight to gain rights par ticularly to football and basest 1 games next season. College grid he hod rigged up a Ashing tackle oohing the water and hod alerted see of a nibble, which registered a playback was nur«ti«ned by the Colgate Comedy Hour' aeries m engineers on C<»><1 taste on Sunday <2*. which caused Ed reyt ad libbing tooh the form Sullivan, N, Y Deity News rolum- uusing a femme anenf Lydia mat and conferenrier of the com* ham's, adding up to the con pel mg Toast of the Tewo." to -oom calling Victor Shotis, who protest to AGVA national admlnts* on Jury duty, as to the pro trator Henry Dunn and Television re Sholia quickly said. Tf the Autnority head George Heller, that taste of the material is in this show was providing unfair lion, cancel It " competition to sponsored programs HAS. which has a high repu paying full salaries hall chiefs, asserted TV was hurting their gates too murh. Cited as particularly significant in the running argument was a report from the Los Angeles Col* iseura that TV rut football attend* sure almost In half, both at colie* glate and pro games Management of the 110.000-seat stadium revealed an attendance increase of 4ff this year when games were not te le- ts! ton for good taste and service,, Test of Sullivan's complaint to in the public Interest, didst think Vaetrrir is as follows w As AGVA the Godfrey material was tunny member who has given employ- i i • ■ - ment to more than 1.000 AGVA m , members on TV, I have died vigor- II II f , I . •»«» protest with Henry Dunn and NunnaUy Johnson held in cut rate opposition to spon* P Hfftl f** ^ w*red shows which pay acta full W0AC / r/ I mPfTIAC ! salaries. I have pointed out that lAvd I U Q VlIKlHi nr»i absurdity would be for AGVA # ' :■ •"'.•■•to ipomor a cut rate show at Rosy 17 i\ J I Til L- TP i Theatre in competition with a full- K (In hv IV nv hh < -*mnued p-ge m, testa were aired. Conceaaioilalrea reported a 100% increase in bu this year. Pro-TV-ltea continue to under- score. however, that the Agures by themselves prove nothing. They claim that too many other factors must be taken into consideration, such as the weather, the marquee lure of each Individual game, etc 11 aufAcient weight la accorded {Continued on page 40» prudence eg show business to help win friends and influence sales of merchandise is hitting an all-time peak. The trend is being pointed up in tho current Christinas buy- ing rush. Publicity generated by Hopalong Cassidy. Roy Ro g ers . Gene Autry. Space Cadet and others are having a marked sales effect an toys and togs carrying their name. It's esti- Hollywood. Dec. 4. Charles Chaplin has nixed bids from networks and others for TV rights to his motion pictures, snd has also turned down offers to do a live video show, a spokesman for Chaplin flguras ho can get more coin out of theatrical reissue of hit old pis, and it’s known also that he has no particular likiag for the medium, which is why he nixed offers to do TV. He owns rights to about 1C pis mode since IC1C. The old Chaplin pis now shown oa television were 28,980,000 TV Viewers nei Myers PatesD TV Ufhtmf Method, Hardies tart De It’ dented degree. For tho post month Gertrude Berg has been trekking to various deportment stores, in N Y and out-of-town, to kick off a new ban of “Holly Goldberg** half times as many people as see their feature Alms TV show, aired Nov. 4 on NBC’a "Colgate Comedy Hour.** had an audience of 28.- 980.000 viewers, while the average Aim feature, according to the moot recent estimates, plays to about 20.000.000 people. Video Agures were compiled by the NBC Research department and are based on American Research Bureau Statistics. MJtL's TV audi- ence. representing one out of every Ave persons in the U. S. is the largest on record for a regularly- scheduled TV show ARB gave the MJtL show s na- tionwide rating of 48 8 Program was tuned in on receivers in 8.900,- 000 homes, with an average of 4.2 viewers per set. Mil too Berle's Tesato Star Theatre** on the same network hit « higher rating during Boca Raton. Fla.. Dec 4. Projecting TV into 1999. at which Ume he envisions 4.200 TV theatres, each averaging 1.000 seat- ing capacity for an overall one- time audience of 4 200 000. K ! Madden. NBC TVs veepee in charge of sales and operations, re- vealed at the NBC convention here No Pspcsri, Ns Caafy Try for last Aadksce’ ciAcally for theatre TV. The 4.200.000 audience. Madden opined, will r e p e as ant only 9% of the anticipated 84.000.000 potential TV viewers oa of 1959 Latter fig* » U UtMT Fh hit TV P eerless Television, distilb Arm re- cently formed by Leaser and Ed- ward Small It virtually iou b loa the outAt'a Aim library. .