Variety (March 1952)

so. kamo mwmws M*rtk 19, 1952 ESCAPE WITH ME v ^ x WHh E*ul McGrath, Fran Xaferiy, Alice Frost; Kathi Norris, femcee Producer: Wilbur Stark Director:'Clark Andrews Writer: Michale Sklar 30 Mins.; Thurs., 8 p.m. Sustaining ABC, from New York Kathi Norris, the video daytime gabber, does her first regular AM comes* V across^‘as* a‘“better-than -1 stint as hostess on this new roman- - 'tic drama series which is angled as escapist fare. Story on the PRIVATE FILES' OF MATTHEW Wuf^Joaepli Gotten, Fran CJarlon, Phil Tonkeu, announcer Producer-Director: Hi Brown Writer: John' Roeburt 25 Mins.; Sun., 4:3<T p.m. SEABROOK- FARMS Mutual, from New York (Rlggio & Hilton) ‘‘Private Files of Matthew Bell’ average, whodunit. It has a more on a piecing Ce togSher ea the elements preem 'Thursday (13) was directed of a jigslw puzzle and little re- primarily-at a **-*•« liance on mayhem« Running char- acter, Matthew Bell, .is a police surgeon whose sleuthing involves an understanding of the characters he comes in contact with. Joseph Gotten, as the Holmesian medico, gives the role warmth. ,, On the preem Sunday (16) the distaff audiepce with only passing appeal for male listeners. Tale concerned an unhappy man who hopped a plane to Bermuda, using an alias, and early indica* tions were that he was bent bn suicide. However, on the airliner he met an understanding g$i MCSICANA TT.S.A. , WiiE Ken, Wiloou, musical director Producer: BUI Shea Writer: Bill Shea , Sun., 2-4 p.m.J Mon.-thru-Sat., 8-9:30 p.m. Sustaininr WHDH, Boston Encompassing bits of history and music from 1915 to the pres- sent this one-week stanza of spe- From the Production Centres tale “Subway Suicide," hinged on photographer and. it was a case of Bell’s attempt to prove that the love-at-first-flight. He finally con- doath of a man under the - wheels fessed that he was married and ner oroiner. nowever, jocu a &uah- wus. » shoeing revealed that the dead man bells, but then the frau arrived to was not the femme’s brother, but complete the triangle, and the his bank-robbing partner, and that hubby was faced with the alterna- the brother had plotted the double- tives of a bohemian romp with cross to keep all the loot while the career gal or the comforts of the police hunted the other man. conventional family life. As ex- Plot gimmicks were matchbooks pected, he went back with the which traced the brother to “Club missus » » - H-fr - W ♦ ♦ * f ♦ ♦ < MMI 4 ♦ ♦ 4 f ♦ ♦ ♦ f f f if ♦ HUUf IN NEW YORK CITY ... scut, A1 Morgan, writer-producer of WCBS’“This Is N. Y.," scripted CBS cial programs added up to a very religious documentary to star Raymond Massey on CBS Friday (21) ^ interesting and informative Series. Thrush Dorothy Dell starts a thrice-weekly stint on WMCA Friday (21) An ambitious and comprehensive at 11;45 pjn . show’ll be heard Friday, Saturday and Sunday ABC undertaking with many of the Robert E. Kintner named chairman of the N. Y. Herald Tribune facts culled from the best-seller S l Ai r , Fund aM-TV committee Robert B. Owens, Jr., ex-Young “Show Biz,” scripter Bill Shea and Rubicam relocated at Lennen & Mitchell as veepee-account exec musical director Ken Wilson « Electe d to the hoard of N. Wr Ayer are John D. Upton, veepee whipped up the seven shows ina J * r * N y ®ervke, and James M. Wallace, veepee. of creative production style reminiscent of Columbia for jn. y. ^ c Gauvin, WMGM jazzophile, will host a jive concert at Sms ££ Sli tory the programs carried plenty in Business” at the Hotel Roosevelt Tuesday. (25)... .Efl (SpPegeen) of authority (they were also his- Fitzgerald last week doubled, from a speech before the Bickford res- torically on the beam) for platters taurant chain’s 2.0-Year Club, and dittoing for another sponsor by aired were originals and in many addressing the adult education radio class at Taft High School, The cases ‘collectors items’ which en- Bronx Harry Maizlish’s "XFWB, Hollywood, -has switched station hanced the nostalgic aura of the represe nt a tive from Rambeau, to the Branham Co Katherine Raht 31,” Bell’s search through a nitery photog’s files to get a shot of the brother, and substitution of a phoney pic to trap the sister. Hi Brown’s direction wafc adept and recorded musical bridges were There was a valid theme here in the husband’s recognition of re- alities. However, it was given only superficial treatment. Guy was scripted as a weak character who didn’t know his own mind, used nicely, except for one minor pretty/ much a pawn in the worn- slip. Commercials for Seabrook en’s hands. And in bis return to frozen foods were handled pro- his spouse there wasn’t the feeling - • he had. moved toward tiia- ficiently. Bril. WBBM WAS THERE With Fahey Flynn, Chuck Wiley Producer: Wiley Writer: Sam Parnas 15 Mins.: Sun.. 12 (Noon) Sustaining that turity. Although the characters were, un- developed, the vehicle made okay dialing in terms of show’s let’s get- away-from-it-aH purpose. And its point was to bring listeners back to earth. Paul McGrath, as the bored attorney with overtones of Somerset Maugham's “Moon and' WBBM, Chicago ,b£u S t % r Se P e r & me U r S S es Ca o) Sixpence.” te S -ped capaWy with their medium to combat the lure n * ce assists by Fran Laferty an of television, they are turning more 14 l b a c kgro?nd was good aJd Clark Andrews’ direction compe- tent. Miss Norris handled the narra- tion adequately. Bril. stanzas. Series was broken down Into segments covering . the periods 1915-25; 1926-30; 1931-35; 1936-40; 1941-45; 1946-50 winding with 1951 to present. Heard on various pro- grams were vintage recordings of Caruso vocalizing “Over There,’ Radio FoDownp Comment and more to the tape reporter for on-the-scene spot and feature news coverage. William Ray’s news de- partment at WMAQ (NBC) with newshawks Len O’Connor’ and Jim Hurlbuf covering the town by tape has parleyed the idea into saleable shows. And now WBBM, the rival CBS station, has likewise given over this Sunday 15 minutes to a taped rundown of the week’s local happenings collected by special events chief Chuck Wiley. There’s only one thing wrong Twenty years is a longie in any with the WBBM venture—it shohld medium. “Fibber- McGee and Mol- be at least a half-hour show. The ly” hit the 20th anniversary mile- chapter heard (16) was a profes- stone last Tuesday (11) on their sional job from start to finish and NBC show out of Hollywood, should fit right into the station’s According to NBC calculations, roster of top-rated local produc- Ji m Jordan and his ever lovin’ pro tiohs. There was a minimum of and private partner, Marian Jor- transition narration, patly tongued dan inaugurated their major kllo- by Fahey Flynn, with most of the cyc i e excursions in Chicago where, showtime given over to the various i n 1932, they were listed among newsmaking personalities. “the somewhat doubtful assets” of Wiley packed in a big load of the Chi Daily News’ station WMAQ “yarns” on this particular go. Per- w hen the network bought it. Thus haps one too many because the NBC inherited a sub-lukewarm liveliest portion—a street comer property that got hotter ’n’ hotter roundup of what the average guy as the years clicked off. Before thiijks about taxes—was choppy as that time, Fibber and frau had a result of too close editing of been in vaudeville and took a some of the statements. Another couple of flings at crystal-set radio, good bit was* Wiley’s interview Their Chi coming-out was via a with a mother and father of 16 thing called “Smack Out,” a situa- kids. This had a tax angle too. tion comedy series scripted by Don They didn’t pay any—too many de- Quinn, an ex-cartoonist. Quinn pendents. There Was. a punchy and his duo of interpreters stayed slice from a speech delivered here together until a couple of years by Sen. Wayne Morse and a touch ago, and now Phil Leslie and Keith of humor was added by a pickup Fowler operate in the belles-lettres of an alderman spieling a poem domain, with the veteran Max Hut added to “Romance of Helen Trent”.... Brant Nossen has- 3 oined ;‘Our Gal Sunday”.... Muriel Kirkland with “Backstage Wife” .. Adrienne Dayan in “Stella Dallas”.. .Klock Ryder with “Just Plain Bill .... Athena,Lorde 0 n “Young Widder Brown”. ...Now in ^ront Page Far- rell are Mary Patton, Sidney Smith, Arnold Robertseta, Arline Black- burn, Elizabeth Morgan and Murray Forbes. ™ vu„ ABC scripter Ira Marion (also an RWG veepee) will take part in Peerless Quartet’s cfrca 1917 plat- Middl-ebury College (Vt.) conference on social, economic and philo- ter of “For Your Country and sophical morality this weekend (22-23).... Hal Davis, Kenyon Jk Eck- Mine” and Van & Schenck’s “For hardt promotion-publicity v.p., and Don Miller, v.p. of K&E Me and My Gal.” There were also Detroit office, elected to agency’s board of directors Ted Husmg disks of Marion Harris, Henry ce i e b ra ted his fifth annl as WMGM-disk jockey Monday (17) ... .WJZ’s Burr, Paul Whiteman, Frank Alampi serving as judge at the Flower Show....Ed Herlihy ad- Crumit, Club Royal orch Califor- dregsed Indx , st rial Marketers of N. J. at their convention yesterday nia Ramblers, Eddie Cantor, AI v Rad i 0 Execs Club, following up on talk of merger ■ with Jolson, The Revelers, Boswell Sis- American Television Society, invited ATS members to tomorrow’s ters, Rudy Vallee, Russ Colombo, (Thurg} lunch at the Wa i dor f. speaker is NARTB prexy Harold Fellows .... WJZ’s Vince Williams 11 p.m. dftk-gab show now originating from Child’s Paramount eatery; restaurant chain is plugging its reduced prices... .William H. Youry, ex-Street & Smith and Ruthrauff Ryan, named WMCA’s sales promotion director; Patricia Bolton upped to research director.... Morgan Ryan (ex-ABC and more recently man- ager of WPTR, Albany) named Frederic W. Ziv rep for southeast ... Wisconsin; Mitchell Morris, ex-WSBT, South Bend, sales manager, and preparation before series hit b e Ziv’s man in Indiana Annual meeting of the American the air. Musical director Ken WU- A ssn. of Ad Agencies at White Sulphur Springs April 3-5 has so. heavy son also^ deserves kudos for digging registration from agencyites that no- media and bankrolled guests up the vintage platters and insert- ^ invited this year... .Maxine Keith signed to do all N.Y. Sounds S US fit al the C various b seg- radio-TV publicity for United Artists. Will still retain her office for 1 1 X varlous seg her 0 t h er (non-film) accounts .... Hank Sylvem serves as music con- It was a topnotch bit of program- ductor of forthcoming RCA Victor album based on ABC’s “Space ming interesting to young and old Cadet,” for which SylVern is also musical director. Lang-Venuti, Ip an a Troubadors, Ruth Etting, Trumbauer and Bix and many other past and present da Musical S portions were tied to- gether neatly by staff announcers whose record spieling seripted by Shea indicated plenty of research ming interesting to young ana 0] listeners alike. Elie. Schnoz reeled off a list of some 20 op comics who signed a~ scroll eulogizing the team. Of course, many of the assorted characters Ernest Felix ended his long association with' ABC, more recently as acting division director and assistant treasurer Bill Gargan, the ex- purveyed through the years were Martin Kane, blew town for N.Y. just as Lloyd Nolan, the current on the program proper, and John Rane> SO ared in Tommy Tomlinson, CBS radio programmer, wel- ?tl corned a third arrival in the household.... Pat Patrick (Ercil • Twing) about the Irish. Dave. THE GREAT DAY With John Reed King, emcee Director: George Spots Producer: Robert Jennings 30 Mins.; Fri., 9:30 p.m. Participating MBS, from N. Y. “The Great Day” is a mediocre quiz airer, lacking any new twist to set it apart from a flock of simi lar shows. Only special angle for to as producer-director, Billy Mills orch still making with the* musical interludes and the King’s' Men punctuating on the vocals. For about 15 years, McGee and Molly worked for Johnson’s wax- works, which was like a Damon 3c Pythias setup in linking and com- mercial identification, but about 18 months ago they were grabbed by Pet Milk which maintains the lease for them at “79 Wistful Vista, Cal. It is possible there are better this stanza is that it originates polishers of corn than J. &. M. Jor i? Armed Service camps where dan> but, if so, they do not spring « c „ an prizes t 0 mind. They make a boffo sort ^ up to in cash plus 0 f invention out of running gags, TO* 1 *? ass for and they bow to no one, not even T;) e _ m P rizes are determined Abbott & Costello, in punching «f inete [ whl ^ h rates bard and effectively on phrases of ru Ini l £JLi 0 a f s„ a S2 laU u e ^ or eac . h the “Who’s on first?” variety. For why he wan ^ s instance, a big deal was made of h ThU 1, , , “Scratching each other’s back” on wJnUv f n P itHvLi g r S sounded the Tuesday half-hour; that and a wholly contuved on the preem preem (14) since the GI statements were cornily artificial.. The quiz aspect also was uninspired with the brain- teasers tritely formulated and easily answered. John Reed King’s emceeing was equally trite. King’s manner varies between the con- descending to the over-enthusiastic and 7 acks conviction throughout. K ? -koff stanza was lifted by guest appearances of film actor Billy Gilbert and songstress Mary (Continued on page 36) running situation on “Who’s Joe? “Joe” sent Molly a box of candy which gave Fibber 30 minutes of jealous conniptions, less time out for Harlow Wilcox’s straight and integrated plugs. “Joe” turned out to be the Bon Bon King who sent prizes around to his current sweethearts to boost his radio give- away stock. Fibber and his reparteasing spouse wouldn’t be caught letting go of a good thing. When Jimmy Durante came on to pay tribute to Charles Ayres, ABC sales veepee, covering.>Atlanta and Tampa on combo biz-vacation trip WOR veep Jack Poppcle to preside at opening session of NARTB’s engineering conference in Chi Maurice Mitchell, Associated Program Service g.m., will speak twice at the Canadian Assn, of Broadcasters confab in Toronto next week.... Chester Cheek upped to sales manager of WOR recording department; Richard F. O’Neill has joined the wax outfit as salesman.... Nelson Case doing commercial chores on “Brighter Day”... .Eldon Hazard, network sales manager for CBS Radio, to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., for three weeks’ vacation Rush Hughes to pinch-hit for vacationing “a couple of good joes,” F. & M. gave him a “Who’s Joe?” in chorus Jack Sterling on WCBS’ early radio ayemmer this week, to wind the stanza. Before that, the IN HOLLYWOOD chamber of comfherce and unof- ficial mayor, made a speech. gave ,up his appendix.... Another hospital case was Al Kabaker, Coast The wiv^JimTand 41 Marian* Jordan boss of Uancer-Fitzgerald-Sample, whose ulcers kicked up KBIG, make something out of nothing, which takes to the air May 1, hired Alan Lisser as program director, with the scripts shrewdly pointed He formerly served in that capacity for Frisco and Honolulu stations at this facet of their strength, they Ed Larkin, who used to sell time for KNX, now manager of radio should „be good for another double and TV spot sales Hal Dicker, erstwhile NBC producer, now- with decade. _ Office of Price Stabilization as radio and TV information specialist.... BBD&O’s Bruce Barton and Ben Duffy in town briefly, perhaps to work “Town Meeting” (ABC) last on Jack Benny.... Charlie Vanda due in from Philly early next month Tuesday, night (11) had a sur- for a week with his old cronies Both NBC and CBS are sparring for charged - enough topic in “Do “Father Knows Best” after Crosley signs off at cycle’s end.. . .Mathis-. Critics And Reviewers Have Too son agency opening a Coast office and looking for someone to run it Much Influence?,” but. the partici- .... Art Linkletter went to Richmond, Cal., to emcfee an auto show pants handled the subject amiably and took along his oldest son and daughter (there’s five) to work them rather than provocatively. What into his act. might have been a very exciting, or absorbing, program — sharp, riyr CHIC AC ft spicy and controversial—was just • • • interesting. Discussion was on too ji m Cornell' exited his CBS research post here to join NBC’s radio placid and well-mannered a level, research department in N.Y... ..John Boesel slotted in newly-created Panelists were' John Mason post as assistant to exec veepee C, G. Shaw at the A. C. Nielsen Co. Brown, Saturday Review drama chi NBC sales topper Gordon Mill* on the sick list... .Ken Harris critic; Orville Prescott, N. Y. Times switched from the W, B. Doner ad shop to Earle Ludgin.... Zenith book reviewer, , and_ Ilka Chase, Radio pops with a 50c quarterly dividend March 31..,. Philip Mergener added to Robert Flanigan’s spot radio sales crew at NBC here. He’d been with the Headley Reed station rep firm previously... .Sam Cowl- ing, comic on ABC’s “Breakfast Club, back on the job after an ap- pendectomy Foote, Cone & Belding Buck Gunn named chairman of the public relations committee for the Chi 1952 Cancer Crusade Frank Downs new member of the WMAQ-WNBQ ad-promotion staff Tom Mulgrew ankled t Foote, Cone & Beldiiig to join Ivan Hill’s agency.... WBBM farm director Harry Campbell attending the spring meeting of the Illinois Agricultural Development Council in Spring- field this week... .Daily News columnist Tony Weitxcl and wife Doro- thy doing a noontime interview shows from the Conrad Hilton Hotel via WMAQ.... Chicago Rug Cleaners bankrolling 8:45-9 Tuesday seg- ment of WGN’s “Cliff Johnson Family”.... Miles Laboratories re- pacted NBC’s “World News” and “One Man’s Family”... . Chi NBC commentator Cloyd Head vacationing in Mexico* actress-author, with Houston Peter son as moderator. Brown’s literary and historical allusions, and urbane witty manner, sparked the discus- sion somewhat, and some of his remarks had bite and point. Thea- tre critics have too much influence (and they’re the first to admit it), but no more than any jury, Brown said. But the theatre today, he added, “is only a hit-or-miss theatre,” and people have to rely on critics to say whether they should spend their hard-earned coin for a play, or not. In connection with a book query regarding best-seller lists, Brown referred at some length to Variety’s former legit boxseore, claiming it was “a complete misin- terpretation” of a critic’s worth. “None of us ^tried to foretell whether a play would run or close,” he said. “None of us wanted to win Variety’s boxseore, and we were ashamed when we did.” Miss Chase thought that drama critics were often just as miscast as actors. Editors were a little careless at times, she said, and didn't pick reviewers carefully (Continued on page 39) IN WASHINGTON . . . Kukla, Fran & Ollie troupe currently here for a week of capital orig- ination and personal appearances, including hospital stints, a Capitol Hill luncheon, press conferences, and culminating in highlighting Father-Daughter dinner of National Press Club WWDC-Mutual hon- ored by Washington Automotive Trade Assn, for cooperation in recent Auto Show.... “Time for Defense” (ABC), official Department of De- fense airer, originates from West-Point this week in honor of the U.S. Military Academy’s sesquicentennial, with Stanley Field, chief of radio production for armed forces, heading production unit....Irv Lichten- stein, WWDC’s top publicist, vacationing in Florida... . Milt Grant, WOL-Liberty d.j., Inviting listeners to contribute their old recordings I to his new show featuring “all-time greats” on wax.