Variety (April 1953)

Wednesday, April 15, 1953 11 ' •» «--.—" -r —rr'-jr— ■ ■» -■ ■ »♦♦♦♦♦+++♦ »♦♦♦ ♦♦++♦+»♦» ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ M + » M » M » ♦♦f»»4+»+ f »♦♦♦♦+♦♦»♦»»» ^ Highlights: ’52 -’53 Sliowmanagemeiit Review ♦♦♦44»4S ♦ ♦ » ♦++♦♦ ♦ MHUUH WH4H »++++4+4++++»++»+4++f+4+♦♦♦»♦♦»♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦+*»f+++++»»»» 7 WMAR-TV, Baltimore, Md.— Sunpapers television outlet -again demonstrated • that it ranks high among stations in carrying out “re- fioonsibiUty to the community." Among WMAR-TV's top educa- tional attractions. .were “Come- back" rehabilitation series present- ed in cooperation with Maryland State Board of Educatioh, and »>Your Child In School" which takes TV cameras into classrooms. “Your Family Doctor” program dealt out pills of health info for city’s viewers. Unusual religious series is “The Pastor’s Study” aired after midnight with local preacher giving; counsel to troubled viewers who phone in questions to bis studio-study. Since Baltimore is one of nation’s major ports, sta- tion built 20-week series “The Port That Built A City,” and took video and film cameras touring the wa- terfront, going, everywhere fron hold of tramp freighter to bottom of the harbor with a diver. WHAS-TV, Louisville, Ky.— Promotion manager Bill Loader pulled a switch with letter de- signed to “explain why WHAS-TV’ is not submitting an entry in Variety’s Showmanagement com- petition for 1952-1953.” Accord- ing to Loader reason was “because we feel that 'example we are set- ting in RADIO is so terribly im- portant to the entire industry.” Loader letter, however,-did point to WHAS-TV’s continued emphasis on public interest programming, in particular station’s three tele- thons f(?r Cancer, Heart and Cere- bral Palsy drives, and second sea- son of “Inside Our Schools” tele- casts. type shows, station injected some vital showmanship elements in its program rosters, hitting particular- ly hard in music and news, and accredited Itself in topflight fash- ion. WBBM, Chicago—CBS affiliate here continued its crusading via documentary technique* with Chi crime wave as target of “WBBM Was There” tape series which re- ported on activities of city’s crime- busting committees. Station also played big role in aiding “Citizens of Greater Chicago,” new civic group organized to battle under- world. To raise funds for this org, WBBM ran four-hour “Dollars For Decency” show which reaped $100,000. WIRE, Indianapolis—When all the radio stations in a city can put aside their competitive battles and pool their resources in a project to promote their own medium, that’s good news for the industry. The city was Indianapolis, and the sta-| tion that led them in this coopera- tive campaign was WIRE. The idea was that of Ward Glenn, promotion manager for. WIRE. He thought that all broadcasters in his town could profit by a campaign to sell radio, and lie persuaded the other WCCO, Minneapolis—Few sta- tions have managed to create such Weil-Hartley Touch The Ralph Weil - Arnold Hartley team which runs WOV, indie that emphasizes programming for New York City’s vast Italian-speaking audiences, came tip with a slick advertising campaign this year effectively capitaliz- ing on their specialized mar- ket. They built a series of handsome and dramatic ads around the theme of “The Italian Influence.” Copy described growing im- pact of Italy on American in- dustry and arts, particularly in the field Of fashions, foods; films, furniture, home decora- tion and auto design. Large and attractive photos caught the eye with pix of Italian “products,” like a sleek new Italian-designed ear, or sexy. screen star Anna^Magnani. a community bond as exists between WCCO and Minneapolis. For as the wife of genial general manager Larry Haeg says: “I sometimes wonder if I’m married to a hus- band—or a community.” Add the contributions of Cedric Adams, the “Goodwill Ambassador of Minnea- polis,” Bob DeHaven, Stew Mac- Pherson, Maynard Speece, Allen Gray, Ed Viehmann, Dr. E. W. Ziebarth and others^ and it’s un- derstandable why WCCO continues to dominate the Northwest, with more and more sponsors spending more and more money on WCCO Radio. WCAU, AM-TV, Philadelphia —Don Thornburgh and- Charlie Vanda combo here again showed that, bigtime TV doesn’t have to originate in New York, Chi or Hollywood. TV station not only continued to originate and feed shows like “Big Top” and “Candy Carnival” to CBS net, hut also came up with new attractions like daily “Action In The Afternoon” strip,. for which Wild and Woolly Western set was built in new super- duper WCAU Television Center. WCAU’s “Summer School,” also carried by net, was an outstanding contender in video educational field, winning both Sylvania and Freedom Foundation Awards. WAVE, Louisville—WAVE car<| ried the AM torch during the past year, particularly In programming. Granting TV its dominance in the fields of dramatics, njnd variety shows and always mindfyl that radio cdiildAfoUrit Orf'd ihihirhum of .-3=0.' b of the audience for these Victory at sea The ^26*week “Victory At Sea" film series on NBC-TV is accoladed by "Variety" because of an emotional impact portraying, the greatest common experience pf a generation of men. For good reason, indeed, has the press of two continents cited/'Victory At Sea" as the finest example to date of ac- curate, highly informative history handled in such a way that it becomes mass entertainment. Three years of exhaustive, scholarly research into the World's film archives by ex-Navy man Henry Salomon and his small staff has resulted in a definitive and timeless work—one that will be as important 20 years from now as it is today. In Richard Rodgers' score, “Victory At Sea" has the largest and probably the finest original work of its kind produced by an American composer. Script- wise,. “Victory At Sea" is a contribution to show business by its simplicity, its profundity, and a lyrical quality that brings out the essence of human feeling. As such it is a contribution to American letters as well as to the en- tertainment world. And an indication of the mass impact of the series is not only its phenomenal audience of regular viewers in the U. S., but its presenta- tion by request in Great Britain, Canada and Cuba. “Variety" doffs its hat to the vision of Robert W. Sarnoff, head of NBC's Film Division, in taking what was nothing more than the germ of an idea and bringing it to fruition, and the imagination and organizational skill of Salo- mon, plus his fortitude to pioneer the % venture for three years. “Victory At Sea" stands as one of the high marks of achievement in the '52-'53 season. EDWARD R. MURROW Edward R. Murrow is never a man to sell his public short. He brings to his work intellectual integrity, taste and restraint, and a sensitive awareness of human values. Ever since, early last year, he found his television legs in the opening minutes of “See It Now," the CBS reporter-analyst has set for himself a standard from which he has never deviated. By being true to him- self he has been true to his public. Television news itself found its own legs when Murrow went to Korea for his now famous “Christmas in Korpa, 1952" program—a live, visual human “essay." With the Korea expedition, as with the Omaha floods and the Presi- dential campaign, Murrow has proved what newspapermen learned a long time ago—you can't cover a story from behind a desk, even if you have three cameras focussed on you and a map behind you. Murrow is an adroit editor, an imaginative producer, but more than anything, ho is a reporter. Murrow and “See It Now" are both younger than the day they started. The promise for tomorrow is as boundless as the medium he has so dis- tinguished. NATIONAL CO. Any forthright appraisal of industry responsibility in terms of translating programming into a social force without losing sight of the entertainment or the educational values and as a strictly out-oi-pocket venture without bene- fit of sponsorship aid must inevitably spotlight the mqjti-faceted contributions of NBC—both in radio and television. Specifically “Variety," in accolading the network, has in mind such note- worthy contributions as (1) the high-laudatory “Wise Old Men" series on TV, in which such eminent figures as Bertrand Russell, Robert Frost and Carl Sandburg, along with Rabbi Louis Finkelstdin were given a Sunday afternoon showcase to reveal their “credo for living" in a handsome succession of filmed presentations; (2) the distinguished “Victory At Sea" series (cited elsewhere); (3) the stunning “NBC Television Opera Theatre" series of hour-long presenta- tions, which has opened up brand new vistas of creative programming for TV, and (4). last, but not least, the radio network's continued devotion to its NBC Symphony Orchestra broadcasts under the helm of maestro Arturo Tos- canini. No penny-pinching enterprises, these, running collectively into an investment of several million dollars, but each contributing toward endowing NBC with richly-deserved rewards in prestige and acclaim. MEET THE PRESS / * The Martha Rountree-Larry Spivak-incepted “Meet the Press" TV show, perhaps more than any other program on radio or television, has parlayed itself into one of the most exciting, provocative, news-making, no-holds-barred grill-fests on the kUoycles. The stark simplicity of the program's format belies the fact that, particularly in 1952, it emerged as something of a phenomenon in the. radio-TV field. For it was to “Meet the Press" that the dailies looked for its Mond&y morning headlines. It was “Meet the Press" that initially projected both Gen. Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson as the rival Presidential aspirants (at a time when Stevenson was virtually unknown outside of Illinois and when Gov. Dewey in a surprise maneuver ruled himself out of the race and boomed Ike's candidacy). / Most important of all, “Meet the Press," aside from its educational po- tential and as a solid sponsorship commodity (to which Revere Copper and Brass will testify), is a recurring demonstration of democracy in action as weekly it subjects the top figures* op the national and international scene to expert, uncensored questioning by some of the nation's ablest journalists. i i f i / A t ‘ r l -i« - I > ■ 1 * i v ■# 4 V * stations to go along with him. Bo WIRE, plus WIBC, WISH, WLXW and WFBM conducted a year-round promotion to plug radio generally and Indianapolis radio specifically. A variety of exploitation schemes were devised to get the whole town thinking radio. First of the stunts was an Indianapolis Disk Jockey’s Talent Show, Which enlisted all deejays in talent hunt, climaxed by a big .show from stage of mid- town theatre. This Was followed by Indianapolis Radio Stars Basket- ball, Team, Which had the local radio performers playing basketball before la^ge crowds. Other events included a. Miss Diskjockey'contest and a “Find the Mikeman” contest. WAAM, Baltimore: This enter- prising Balto TV station needn’t take a back seat when it comes to programming in the public interest. Witness, for example, its series of Gerald W. Johnson broadcasts (al- ready kudosed with the Alfred I. duPont Foundation Commentator Award); or its continuing success with the Johns Hopkins University science program; its weekly safety program for school children, de-. signed for in-s^hool viewing; its “This Is Your Zoo” series, and last but not least its Regional Tele- vision Seminar Which annually brings together 120 college, univer- sity students, with speakers and panelists froifl the key production centers. WAAM is alive, alert. i • u< • ' St. r ,,i f t > KXIC, Iowa City, la.—During [ session of Iowa legislature, daily broadcasts from state capital are aired, with state representative G. M. Ludwig,, who is also KXICTJ farm editor, handling interviews with other legislators, , news of capital and commentary. Direct- from-lhe-farm broadcasts are an- Bigtime Aloha Television in Honolulu has been given a unique flavor in ’the short period that KGMB- TV has been in the air. If only for the fact that this C. Richard Evans-managed oper- ation has done a sock job in promo ling ihter-racial harmo- ny, it’s deserving of spotlight- ing. • Resisting any; temptation to rest on network laurels via the. “kinescope circuit,” KGMB- TV has injected, some fine elements of local showmanship in terms of color, ceremony, costuming and native forms of entertainment. Its “Japa- nese TV Revue” and regularly scheduled shows on behalf of Chinese. Filipino and Portu- guese communities have all contributed toward hypoing set sales in the Pacific islands. other daily item in station’s pro- gram menu, also a “Sounding Board” which-gives citizens op- portunity to phone station and sound off with beefs and sugges- tions about civic matters. Fifteen- minute morning weather program not only includes local and region- al weather news, CAA weather re- ports, but also road condition bul- letins phoned in by station’s own correspondents at service stations on all major highways within 35- mile radius of city. CHVC, Niagara Falls, Ont.- Major project for 1952 was devel- opment of second market for sta- tion in Wplland, 15 miles from home base of Niagara Falls. With addition of fulltime lines to Well- and, plus announcer, writer and salesman, CHVC gained new audi- ence and advertisers. The V/elland studio was opened and 15 hours of programs weekly originated there. WIBB, Macon, Ga.—This four- year-old indie, which specializes in block programming of music for rural listeners, has established it- self' as one of nation’s top stations in its class in that short period. Hooper index of unaffiliated sta- tions rates it high among stations in markets of equal or similar size. Majority of programs are based on audience requests for favorite tunes. More than 50,000 pieces of mail are pulled annually without mail-orders, gimmicks or giveaways. 4 ■ . ■ ■■ ' WCHS, Charleston, W. Va.-* Through “Algy’6”' Signature, WCHS |Continued on page 38)