Variety (April 1953)

KIA1IXO BEVBWS MUSICAL DISCOVERY OF ’53? With Anna Russell, Fred Green- feld, Phil Stahl, Duncan Pirnle Producer-director: Fred Greenfeld 25 Mins.; Wed., (1) 9:05 p.m. Sustaining: WQXR, N.Y. Radio could do with more satire, and this April Fool's Day , ’musical prank by WQXR revealed - that “Bob and Ray” haven’t a monopoly on the honorable art of kidding the hand that feeds. While the Messrs. Bob & Ray have been most successful at spoofing the absurd- ities of broadcasting generally, “Musical Discovery of 1953? spent 25 minutes pulling the leg, and the longhair, of operatic music that frequently adorns WQXR. Half of this special April 1 wheeze was devoted to preeming, in straight-faced fashion, an al- leged new opera called “Europa und der New Stier.” The so-called station announcer Lib Adler (Phil Stahl) interviewed the so-called composer of the opera, Prof, Sig- fried Sitzplatz (Duncan Pirnie). whose guttaral accent sounded highly reminiscent of Sid Caesar’s Schnitzel-und-Schnapps creation. The prof, a disciple of Prof. Hans Voorsht, from Achilles Und Der Heel near New Jersey Flats, solemnly described his past com- positions, including “Lieber Freud” and “Der Ego Und Der Id.” He went into such ecstatic raptures over the first aria of his new opera, “Lovai Dovai,” that Lib Adler had to cut the windbag off. ..The opera itself turned out to he screechy singing, caused by pro- ducer Fred Greenfeld playing an LP disk on a 45 needle. The con- trapuntal baritone, Regurgus Hol- stein, turned out to be the sound effect of a cow bellowing balefully at the mcon Second half of the stanza was given over to Anna RuSsell, who genially twitted coloratura so- pranos.. She gave a foggy-voiced demonstration of how they sing German lieder, French art songs, and, “when they have no voice but great artistry,are reduced to sob- bing torch ballads, on the order of “Oh, You Made Me So Happy When You Made Me So Misera- ble.” Entire musical romp was carried off with a nice blend of mock se- riousness and Sauciness. Seek Religiose Channel Minneapolis, April 7. Northwestern Bible'Schools here has applied for a commercial television station on channel 23. Institution now operates radio stations KTIS and JfcTIS-FM in Minneapolis and KBOK in Water- loo, la. Twin Cities now have two TV stations and a permit ,for a third on UHF has been granted. RECORDING TAPE — Plastic Base, New, Non-Spliced 3 reels 7" .......$5.00 3 reels 5" ...,.$3.50 Add 50c postage We. of Mississippi VOGUE TAPE CO. (Dept. V.) 118 Bleecker St.. N. Y. CHIROPRACTIC FOR HEALTH BERT SHERYLL, D.C. Chiropractor 1639 Broadway’ Circle 7-4438 ' Capitol Theatre Bui Id I rip Call for an New York. City * Appointment DON CORNELL SHOW With Georgia Gibbs, guest Producer-director: Bob Noble 15 Mins., Sun., 6:15 p.m. Sustaining ABC, transcribed from N.Y* • Working within a neat format of song and patter, Don Cornell teed off a slick series on ABC Sunday (5), The net’s slotting of crooner Cornell in his own show is in line with the overall show biz media drive to latch on to hot disk art- ists. In the past year Cornell has skyrocketed to the top brackets via his Coral Records’ etchings and has built the kind of following that will riish to the dials when he’s being aired. He’s a natural winner for the teenage listener and okay bet for the adults who are within range of his vocal offerings. The opening stanza was an easy- going affair with Cornell handling the tune intros and the guest-host- ing in an amiable and ingratiating manner, His song repertoire in- cluded liis hard hitting .theme, “I’m Yours,” a lilting rendition of the oldie, “S’Posin’,” and a roman- tic “Many Are The Times.” All incidentally, are on wax and indi- cates that the series will give Cor- nell a wide outlet to plug his-shel- lac product. It seems that thd guests, too, will get in on the disk-plugging act. On the initialer Cornell played host to Georgia Gibbs, who moved right in with a rendition of her current disclick, “Seven Lone- ly Days,” after a brief patter in- terlude. Up next week is Columbia Records’ canary, Toni Arden, which indicates that the series will be a diskers’• field day and right up the teenagers’ alley. Producer-director Bob Noble knits it into a fast-paced quarter- hour. Gros. MY.POP’S THE TOPS ?: With Charles and Barry Stark 30 Mins.; Sat., 1 p.m. CO-OP WINS, N. Y. This half-hour session is strictly for the juve element. Playing on palship between father and son, airer is a combination quizzer and chatter stint. Quiz aspect of the show is in the sports vein and does not take up too much of broad- cast’s running time.- Brief inter- views are conducted with the guests comprised of father and son teams, with the latter, usually under 10 years of age, having to expound on why his pop is tops This gives way to a number of cornball comments on why the old- man belongs at the head of the class. Program is- put together by Charles Stark Productions with Stark in charge of the interroga- tion. His son Barry is also on hand to further point up the par- ent-offspring relationship. ’Prizes are given each kid who makes an appearance on show and fall most- ly into the sports equipment cate- gory. Fathers also draw gifts for giving a correct answer to quiz queries. Plugs for Goodyear tires and Max Finkelstein, Inc., tire dealer, are frequent and don’t enhance broadcast’s limited drawing power.- Jess. Chicago — United Broadcasting Co. has changed its name to the •United Film and Recording Stu- dios. Although the bulk of the firm’s grosses had formerly con- sisted of recording revenues.-suc- cess with telepix has caused United to appropriate $250,000 for addi- tional filming facilities. no\n'. rica's molt, ine! 4-stcSion"- ipr-The ^ of a' rapipjv-qrewfni^ hdaliaiL-liarketr- * f~ aLRepr^esentative: Bljfilr- TV, Inc . I • II...MMIIT ■ n b’ Wednesday, April 8,4953 JOHN CONTE SHOW ’ Producers: Gerry Gross, Norman Baer Director: Bill Stedm&n 45 Mins.; Mon.-thru-Frl., 5:15 p.m. Sustaining WABC, New York This is a modest effort that won’t alienate anyone and that’s bound’ to pick up a friendly fol- lowing. Format is a standard mix- ture of songs, “live” and waxed, patter and , late sports results, blended together by John Conte’s amiable manner. Conte keeps * the 45-minute stanza running at an easygoing pace. He caters to the current disk, tastes in bis platter spinning and relies mainly on oldies for his vocal assignments. It provides a slick balance and widens his po- tential listener range. Gab is light and unassuming, making his spiel- ing segments easy to take. On series’ preem show Monday (6), Conte crooned “Side by Side,” “How Do You Speak to an Angel?” and “S’Wonderful” among others. All displayed his comfortable bari- tone styling. All in all it’s a pleasant setup that rates sponsor attention. Gros. t fr+f++++4»+»6 + M 4»4»» 4 4 ~ 4“ Radio Follow-Up ♦ ♦♦♦* ++4 44444+4144 4 4 »++ -t “Biography of an American,” presented on WMCA’s (N.Y.) pub- lic service division series “New World A-Coming” last Tuesday (31), had a good subject in the life story of Dr. Ralph Bunche, Direc- tor of UN Trusteeship, but failed to make. the most of it, settling routinely instead for the rags-to- fame angle in a Horatio Alger vein. Relying heavily on narration (by Mqson Adams), Edgar Marvin’s script moved episodically through a chronology of the Bunche biog, omitting several telling chapters, with the final effect that of an out- line rather than the finished prod- uct. - More fully sketched than other scenes were .those relating Bunche’s meeting of his future wife, Ruth Harris; his assistance to Gunnar Myrdal in preparing “An American Dilemma,” the bible of the so-called Negro problem in the U.S. (which is really a matter of white attitudes), and his settlement of the Palestine fighting. There was not much Maurice Tarplin. substituting for an ailing Juano Hernandez as Bunche, could do to bring his part to life. For instance, . Bunche’s reaction to many situations was never re- vealed: when, as a boy, he was re- fused admission to a Los Angeles pool “for white kids.” and the stinging rebuke of good intention, by his high-school principal, that “we never thought of you as a Ne- gro.” It’s true, that from one view, Bunche’s life was a success story. Son of a Detroit barber, he was orphaned before his teens and brought up by his grandmother (Ann Titoniak), who admonished “don’t lose yourself in bitterness.” Despite hardship, Bunche put him- self through UCLA and Harvard (where he got his doctorate), and was a professor at Howard Uni- versity, noted Negro institution, before his distinguished public ca- reer with the OSS, the State De- partment (as specialist) and the UN. Yet the crux of Bunche’s life, as that of any American Negro, is the inner struggle to believe in de- mocracy while personally meeting daily denials of it in everyday life. This was sorely lacking in director Howard Phillips’ production, as was the moment in Bunche’s life when America paid a consequence for its intolerance, when the na- tion was denied the man’s services as assistant Secretary of State be- cause Bunche did not want to ex- pose his family to life in segre- gated Washington. WNOE’s Major Strip Sale New Orleans, April 7. WNOE, Mutual affiliate here, signed the largest package in the history of the station last week with pacting of Brown’s Velvet Dairy Products to sponssor five mystery shows a week. Mysteries represent local half 'of Mutual’s Multi-Message Plan, the one-hour cross-th e-board strip half of which is nationally bankrolled while the other half is sold locally. Brown’s, in addition to the 52- week mystery pact, also signed for a heavy spot schedule. Pact was set through the Brinckerlioff Ad- vertising, local agency. Cleveland — Spang Baking Co., through Gregory-HoUse, picked up tab for half-hour 11 a.m. WNBK “Fun Wagon” featuring Glenn Rowell, emcee, and Cy Kelly, pup- peteer. RPI BINAURAL TEST PRO- GRAM With Rensselaer Polytechnic Insti- tute Glee Club, RPI Band, Four Horsemen, Dixieland Sextet, Studio Trio, Frank Gicca Producer-director: Frank Gicca 30 Mins.; Mon., 10:30 p.m. WHAZ, Schenectady, others An ambitious test of binaural, pr three-dimensional, radio broad- casting, capped a three-hour cele- bration last Week (30) of the 30th anni for WHAZ, Rensselaer Poly- technic Institute station. Students manning the staff of Radio Rens- selaer, campus outlet, arranged the 30-minute program. It drew chiefly on th£ college for talent; enlisted the facilities of WHAZ; WGY, Schenectady; WTRY, Troy, and WXKW, WPTqR and WROW, Albany. A panel of six experts, headed by Donald E. Nordgaard, an electronics researcher for Gen- eral Electric Co. at Schenectady, monitored the show on' home sets, for analytical purposes. Listener reaction was requested. Like all new things, more ex- perimentation on binaural radio F«f*ms to be a necessity. It was ^uperfect and uneven,- although often stimulating 'land challeng- ing. Individual response probably varied with musical tastes, train- ing, aural selectivity, room setup and physical well-being. Requiring considerable concentration, 3-D ra- dio, at this stage, is probably not the best medium for anyone who is tired or unalert. Competition for each ear appeared rather pro- nounced; perhaps conditioning would materially lessen this. The quartet and glee club gave the greatest- in-person illusion. Balance and differentation of both were fine, although the foursome’s selection of numbers might be open to. criticism. The “spread” effect for quartet presumably was designed to highlight binaural ra- dio. Joel Dolven led choralers in -a beautiful rendition of “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” following which the jazz pullaround by the Sextet was slightly incongruous. Three 15-second switches to mon- oral were made, to show the con- trast, during the origination. Frank Gicca, an engineering student, program director of Ra- dio Rensselaer and weekend con- trolroomer at WPTR, rated a bow for his organizational effort, script and direction. He emceed smooth- ly; voice was high-pitched. Jaco. FALSTAFF SETS DEAL ON ST. L. BALLCASTS - St. Louis, April 7. Now that it has been definitely settled that the St. Louis Browns will remain in St. Louis at least for the 1953 season a deal was worked out last week whereby the Falstaff Brewing Corp., will spon- sor all games played by the club in addition to the game-of-the-day with Dizzy Dean and A1 Heifer in the latter stint. Alvin Griesedieck, prez of the suds maker, said the St. Louis out- let would again be KXOK with portions of night games skedded for KMOX. Bud Blattner, former major leaguer, will do with play- by-play with assists from Bill Durney the club’s traveling secre- tary and former radio gabber. Houston—Ralph Mead, former lighting director for KPRC-TV has been upped to program supervisor for the outlet. TEEPROMPTER CORP IN 53G NET FOR ’52 TelePrompter Corp. earned net profit before taxes of $53,575 for the fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 1952 thd company’s annual report dis- closed this week. Take was gar- ’ nered on a gross of $285,583. Year incidentally, represented the firm's first full 12 months in business For 1951 a net loss of $16,092 was registered on a gross of $96,221 Irving Kahn, president and board member, revealed that TelePromnt er’s annual meet for 1953 will be held at its New York office next Tuesday (14). Primary purpose of $the conclave will be to elect an eight-man board of directors. Al- ready on the slate besides. Kahn are Fred H. Barkau, Roy R. Cof- fin, Walter Craig, Russell E. Gard- ner, Jr.; Hubert J. Schlafly, Hu- bert J. Schlafly, Jr., and Charles W. Stevens. Radio Hangover ■ ■ Continued from page 1 —■ - « CBS-TV situation comedy roster, with such commercially successful entries as “My Friend Irma,” “Our Miss Brooks,” “Life With Luigi” (which returns to the web soon in the Thursday night at 8 sloU, “Mr. and Mrs. North,” etc., all rep- resenting, along with “Lux Video Theatre,” “You Are There,” “Sus- pense” and “Quiz Kids,” an em- bellishment of sight values to the original radio series. Ditto for NBC-TV’s “Life of Ri- ley,” which Has moved into a top- rated position. Same goes for such other NBC video entries as “Drag- net,” “Voice of Firestone,” “Hit Parade,” “Cavalcade of America,” “Big Story,” “Aldrich Family,” “One Man’s Family,” “Juvenile Jury,” et al. Too heavy reliance of the TV impresarios on radio-incubated personalities and properties is re- garded as one of the more deplor- able aspects in the video ascend- ancy and the inability of television thus far to entrench itself as an original, distinct component of show biz. 1 Boston — Frederic S. Bailey, WTAO-AM manager, has been appointed general manager of WTAO-TV, 4 it was announced by Frank Lyman, prexy of the Mid- dlesex Broadcasting Corp. Bailey will continue his AM duties. WTAO-TV, Boston’s newest tele station, Channel 56, begins com- mercial operations in September. Sound-Film Studio for Rent Fully equipped. 3-phase voltage regu- lated. 40 x 20 feet. Control room. $75 per day. $300 per week. MUrray Hill 2-3218, New York City Agents! Packagers! Your program Idea produced on film in our own Now York sound film studio. Lowest possible cost. Box V-204253. Variety, 154 W. 46th St., New York 36, N. Y. LANCASTER, PA.* WGAL AM TV m A Stein'T'Cm Sia'.on Clair McCol'oujh Pres : dent MR. CHANNEL 8 . . . symbol of WGAL-TV’s increased power* now gives larger coverage, bigger audience, greater sales poten- tial to WGAL-TV advertisers. *Markel includes Harrisburg, York, Lancaster, Reading, Lebanon Represented by ROBERT MEEKER Associates New York Chicago Los Angeles San Francisco