Variety (March 1953)

Yfachiesda?, March 4, 1953 ABC-TV’s $260,000 For Telepk Oaters » ABC-TV, in line with its new L( programming plans, last week completed purchase from Guild Films of 91 quarter-hour westerns. C Series “Lash of the West,”'went q U for a reported $260,000, D< Guild, which has been syndicat- no j n g the 13 completed vidpix, goes th into production immediately on te the remaining 78 in Hollywood, gc with Ron Ormond producing-di- m recting the Lash LaRue starrers. It’s not yet certain whether LaRue pi will appear in the new oaters, th ABC-TV had been playfng the se oaters in five key cities in the slot p; preceding the Sunday evening in Walter Winchell program. Web cr had bought the series singly for n i each station and beamed it out at the same time. High ratings of the sc show, plus possibility of a national sponsor, are said to have cued the purchase. Guild will stop syndication of the series, since the sale is on an exclusive basis, until ABC-TV de- cides how to program the vidpix. | Guild will then sell to markets un- touched by the skein. It’s not yet decided in what time slot the net- work will schedule the series. 3-D a Natural For Color TV: Goldsmith; Glenn Scouts Vidpix Three - dimensional television, while technically possible, won’t come in commercially for many years, Dr. Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr., research topper of DuMont Labs, told the National TV Film Council last week. He feels that 3-D TV will have to await color TV, “because the realism of 3-D is so great it just cries out for color.” He added that color TV, although it s now of excellent quality, won’t be a commercial factor for another couple of yeHrs. • The black-and- white and color-TV markets will have to be saturated first before 3-D becomes a commercial reality. Jack Glenn, of the March of Time, was featured speaker of the luncheon meeting- and - discussed vidpix, live TV and the role of the director. He criticized films-for- TV as being produced “on the basis of budgets rather than of beauty.” In the east, he said that vidpix are being held back by the lack of tech- nical facilities. Generally speaking, live tele is far ahead of telefilm, Glenn said, pointing not only to better stories but also to better equipment, the tele camera’s need for less light and its greater mobil- ity and depth of focus. Next meeting of the NTFG will j be held in N. Y. on-March 26 with a panel, headed by-Dr. Goldsmith, discussing engineering techniques. It will include Frank- Marx, -ABC engineering v.p.j Dr. Peter C.*Gold- mark, CBS; and representatives from General Jllectric,- -Eastman- Kodak and other firms. FATHER PEYTON VIDPIC ON ST. PAT'S THEME . Albany, March 3* Father Patrick J. Peyton’s Fam-. ily Rosary group, in. Hollywood is. working on the production. of a - half-hour television film dramatiz- ing the story of St. Patrick’s arrival in Ireland in 432 A.D. It will be re- leased March 17 for use by video stations all over the country. Father Peyton emigrated from Ireland 25 years ago, working as*a miner and as sexton of a Scranton; Pa., church before studying for the priesthood (at Notre Dame). Houston Mayor Okays TV Filming of Meets Houston; March 3. * Mayor Roy Hofheinz has given his • approval for radio recording and, TV filming of his two daily news conferences. This is a turn- about; for the Mayor* who,.when he tOok'offlfcMhejfirst of the year, refused to allow. r*dta or TV. cov- erage’ of -the City: .Council .meet- ings. Hofheinz is owner of KTHT here as well as several pther.T?xas outlets. In addition to. hi?. PWb. PU.tlet, KPRC and KPRCrTV.V’iU. present portions of the news conferences as well as several other local sta- tions. 1 Yidfilm Quizzer Built Around Dodgers Team A unique sports quiz show, fea- turing films of the Brooklyn Dodgers, has been packaged by Leonard Key and set for distribu- tion with Guild Films. Titled “Call the Play,” the 15-minute quizzer features footage • from Dodger games, with a live an- nouncer stopping each clip before the key play is made and asking a telephone contestant what mana- gerial decision he would have made. Key, who cleared rights for the pix with the Dodgers and filmed the Club during the 1951 and 1952 seasons, has completed 130 of the packages. Films were made dur- ing actual games and contain crowd soundtrack and number of narrators. Guild will staid selling the series by the end of the month. EX-SEN. MOODY TO SYNDICATE TELEPIX Blair Moody, ex-Senator from Michigan, is producing and syndi- cating his own film show, “Meet Your Congress.” Half-hour vidpix series will have Moody heading up a panel of Congressional leaders, discussing topical issues. Vidpic series is the counterpart of a seven-year-old radio program that’s still syndicated throughout the country. Moody, prior to his appointment as Senator to fill out the term of the late Arthur Van- denberg, *was Washington corre- spondent for the Detroit News and did the radio. show. Series has been picked up by WPIX, N. Y. Daily News station, for Michaels Bros, and the Sealy Mattress Co. Program bowed last Sunday (1) evening. n-fioiM SWG Major Studio Huddles On Telepact Regarded as Healthy’ . Hollywood, March‘2L Negotiation session held between the Screen Writers Guild arid / major studios over the weekend were described by one SWG ne- gotiator as in a healthy climate “more favorable than ever.” It’s understood'" the majors suggested only studios actually in vidpix pro- duction negotiate for a telepact, but no decision has been reached yet on a suggestion. Columbia’s Screen Gems and Paramount’s Par TV Productions, are the only subsidiaries currently producing telepix, -A-subcommittee is being activated to study portions, of the demands not in dispute, such as credits. SWG seeks vidpix pact patterned jafteP reached with the AI- lYan^ofjTV Film Producers: per- qehta^e;‘pf coin from old pix sold to TV'ab’d upjped minimums. The Majors and the Guild are I In preliminary skirmishes of what’s expected to be a long affair, with both inclined to take a wait-and-see attitude because of the fluctuating I conditions in the industry today. ! Guild source said. No date has been set for the next session. Louisville - WAVE-TV installed its new 100,000-watt transmitter last week on a new site, insuring a 50% increase in coverage for the station. Installation was novel in that the entire antenna and auxil- iary equipment was assembled on the ground, then hoisted into place atop the new 500-foot tower. «<*:< vy/vsji.y • ' ' f v.* >, m :ve i^een g^netr^g .„ e a’s&ssbb —* s*»* “ M fes-w-*”* yj.,, afOtf ^0 mm