Variety (April 1953)

RABXO WEXmWS SO Wednesday, April 22, 1953 aiedeni**; f: f ABC PLAYHOUSE h (The Hvated) * X O With Betty Furness, and panelists Kois* MeElhene, [ wtih Robert Cummings, Virginia J -f Jmuny Cannes, Jeaa Mecca* [ Gregg, WHliant Conrad, Paul \ f awl Whitney B*ftan; annauncer, t. Frieze, Tony Barrett; Cesar Ro-| l ( + M -+ M ffiUfHH f ♦ 4+»t ♦ t M + M ♦ ♦ ♦ M - MMM ♦ Radio Follow-Up mero, host; Rex Corey, music , Producer; Leonard Blair { Director; Warren Lewis | Writer: Mil ton Geiger f: 3 § Mins.; ThursL, 9 pjn. *- ABC* from N. Y. Along with the increased activity on the radio-tele fronts at ABC has come some additional coin enabling the network to buy per- sonalities. Some of this coin has Douglas Browning Producer; Lester Lewis Director: Joe Graham 3t mins.; Toes., S p. ns. Sustaining ABC, transcribed from N. Y. This new panel-quiz show, which preemed last Tuesday U4) is a - itV aweighty radio counterpart to f nights at 8:30 pan., for the pur- bar g a i n-basement Information L burgeoning net's kudosed l pose of buying top name personali- Please” of show business, with!:“ABC Album” ushered in April 121 ties for the program. Betty Furness pitching the $2* ©n tele with the Paul Douglas-1 Whether this was altogether a<J- questions (that's what listeners get ij starred "Justice.” On its own, | visable is debatable, to judge from for their contributions) at the w. k. First of this new ABC tran-fbeen channeled into the web’s scribed series does not suggest that j "Heritage” series, on Thursday the new policy. Obviously, web’s reason for the new policy is to in- sure greater. listenership, a point well taken. But format of the pro- wl thout invidious comparison, the | the first show last week (13) under panel of experts. If the sharpies ; initialer was a routine drama over-" — i-n.~— 1 - l ' , '“ miss, the stumping correspondent ailed by Leonard Blair for Desilu gets the choice of a book on either); Productions and directed with de- the theatre or pictures. j, cent pace by Warren Lewis from Evidently the assumption here— 8 the Milton Geiger script based on a j grams themselves doesn’t neces- and it appears to be a sound one j, magazine story by Maurice Budin, p sanly call for top names the dra- —is that a good-sized audience can ij ^ r - . . _ . " matic assignments themselves he garnered from the millions who , Robert Cummings filled the star- e aren’t that tough or requiring of listen to radio and/or view tele- Ijberth in role^of a guy who fell, such great talents, vision, the films and theatre, and f th e a picture | Last week’s program Man of actively follow their passive hob- ^house and dreamed through a skem . Liberty," dealt with^Tom Paine’s bles by gobbling up the gossip in I “ nightmare events, complete with | impact on Revolutionary America newspaper columns and fan maga- fi juicy murdera and m danger of and starred Raymond Massey. The ones bis own life. Orthodox romantic Life-Sherman Dryer collaboration, I interest was supplied via Virginia | calle d from the files of Life's "Pie- Show biz trivia is what the pro -1 Gregg, a kleptomaniac, with Wil- gram deals m mainly, and the [ ijam Conrad as the "white- experts didn’t have too much difp- r scarfed” villain of the piece. Cesar culty in supplying familiar expres-1 Romero, who’s permanent host, sions of comedians, identifying g t»lrw the lead in the followup to- soap-opera characters, listing»morrow (Thors.). Trau, screen sirens of the past, recog- nizing radio sound effects and the like. They did, however, fail to name the seven "Snow "White” dwarfs in 45 seconds (omitting Sleepy), and missed identifying the mystery star of the night, clown Emmett Kelly of the Singling Bros., Barnum & Bailey circus. Jimmy Cannon proved the big gun of the first show, unabashedly speaking out small pieces of cyni- cal wisdom. In the dwarfs ques- tion, the N. Y. Post sports column- ist cracked; “Mickey Rooney wasn’t one.” And talking of bop, l^e thought it appropriate as theme music for such times as "when ture History of Western Man,” took on the format las have all the*! programs op to now) of a quasi- documentary. In its efforts to get across the writings of Paine and their impact on the country at the time, program employed a series CONQUEST FOR ap rtt. \ of flashbacks that caught groups With Allen HaH, others discussing the Paine writings and Producer: James P. Wchr ► acting upon them. Technique, Director; Dave Etzel f which has been sharpened to a Writers: Richard -S. Thomsen, I fine art by director-producer Frank Gagliano, Jack O’Toole | Dryer, gives an effect similar to 1120 Min’s, (March 31) 8-10 pjn. | the documentaries employing mo- 1 Iowa Network (20 Stations) f bile tape unit, s This big, ambitious program is I Very technique, however, makes ; Iowa State University’s kickoff of j, a star unnecessary; lead role the 1953 drive of the Iowa division | and it has almost everything in it. doesn’t rail for much in the act- of the American Cancer Society, s Ing department and any capable Lmm aIm mk a 1 t ^ t . * X *_ . • _ V thesp could have done the job. Hosted by Allen Hall, there are i; This isn’t to detract from Massey’s musical numbers by Larry Bar- jj performance; he bandied the role rett’s orchestra and Bobby Carter f in his customary authoritative and and his trio; songs and cancer-" Christ Jorgensen Is a dreai |5h.TwS TTgiito I “SST3S?is open to ques- \.r xTTiK i -i | Connee Boswell and Eddie Howard , | tion as to its effectiveness. In the Eloise McElhone was welcomely among others; bnef addresses by Paine story, its objectives were 3 P P 3 r ^ 11 11 y having i Iowa s Governor and the mayors very much in evidence—to trace dropped her attacking defense of of Davenport and Waterloo Ia.J ^ pamphleteer’s impact upon his the weaker sex, winch was so end-1 and dramatic bite on fear of the jj times. Whether the documentary lessly articulated on “Leave It To: Davenport and Waterloo, la., and[ or dramatic technique is bert the Girls. She turned out to he disease, successful operations and a j to bring ms across to the listener r-oai hnn -— * tour of a cancer lab. 6 PLATTEKBRAINS With Leonard Feather, George Frazier, Virginia Wlelcs, announc- er, George Hayes; guests Producer-Director; Bob Bach 30 Mins., Sat, 11 amu Sustaining ABC, from N. Y. It’s understood that ABC has placed this half-hour show in the II a.m. Saturday spot as a lure for teenage dialers. Program, however, has enough on the ball to attract not only that element but also more adult listeners. Cur- rent morning slot doesn’t impress as being the most potent to garner maximum listenership. A switch in programming geared for the high school set and their elders would probably result In stronger ratings than present broadcasting time permits. Effectiveness of show, a pop mu- sical quizzer, will depend on the calibre of questions asked. Format is to have the listening audience send in the queries with a prize issued if they stump a panel, com- prised of two regulars and two guests. Opening airer, Saturday (18), provided dialers with a sampling of questions required, which ran the gamut from identifying femme and male vocalists from snatches of records played to naming the composers of certain tunes. A num- ber of the questions were fairly tricky and in a few cases the panel missed out on some that were right up their alley. They’re permitted to discuss answers among them- selves and to respond with more than one guess. Overall show is pretty informative and sometimes tends to be slightly tradey. Regular panel comprises George Frazier, music scribe, and flack Virginia Wicks. Guests on preem were singers Lee Wiley and Alan Dean. Leonard Feather, co-editor of Downbeat mag, is moderator. Jess. TREE AT MY WINDOW Witt Mire SUrel. Leslie Nielsen. ^fi^; I vir^ Be #n5So ”' David Producer: Sierel Director; Junes Lister Writer: Mort Abrahams 39 Mins*, Wed., 5:39 pja. Sustaining E WLDB/New York "Tree at My Window” was one * of Programs scheduled for WLIB to celebrate the fifth anniversary of Israels independ- ence. Production was presented under the auspices of the Mizrachi Women’s Organization of America and fore and aft periods of the program were reserved for speeches by org’s execs pointing out the work they had done in Israel helping the state’s growth. Playlet itself had the potentiali- ties of fine drama, but suffered from poor development and execu- tion of the theme. Story centered about the planting of a tree in mid- winter by an orphan refugee boy newly brought to a community for such youngsters. Tree represented for the boy a teacher who had befriended him and was later killed in the battles against the Arabs. It also represented the growth of the hoy and the state of Israel. It’s unfortunate, there- fore, that the symbolism involved wasn’t developed with more telling force. * real hep on the subject of soap operas. Jean Meegan, a theatrical feature writer, interspersed the questioning with a number of an- ecdotes on theatre people, which needed more graceful and less hurried telling. Whitney Bolton did not contribute enough to make his mike personality felt. As the emcee, Betty Furness did a neat and competent job, projecting more warmly via voice alone than in her tele refrigerator pitch. This could be an amusing gab bag of show biz trifles once the panelists loosen up. It’s not eru- dition that will make this show, but a witty conflict of prejudice and personality about minor qual- itative matters. Horn. TTommA-rty? u x, „ } is the crux of the question. The x i Paine story, while getting a part Robt Q. ’Waxworks’ Back "Robert Q.’s Waxworks,” with Robert Q. Lewis playing the disks and making with the chatter, will be revved on CBS Radio Sunday, June 7, sponsored by Webster Re- cording of Chicago. • Program, to be heard from 10 to 10:30 pjn. (with __ the sustaining "Quiz Kids” to be dropped, has been off the air for several months. danger signals of cancer and the admonition not to let fear conquer reasoning. In overall effect, the program is almost staggering. Filling two hours is quite a problem, but it’s a doubtful solution to have dramas of fear-ridden patients mixed with a melange of short speeches by politicos and tunes by pop singers. Greater effect could have been achieved by four bard-hitting half- hour programs, with one of thega perhaps an actuality tape recording of a case history with a realistic, no-nonsense heart-to-heart , t a 1 k from a plain-speaking doctor. Producer Wehr’s program had scope and the worthiest of'causes, hence the plentitude of talent and effort^but its impact was dissipated by excess and the long march through radio time. Klein Heads WCCC Hartford, April 21. Ralph Klein has been named station manager of WCCC here, succeeding Alex Buchan, resigned. Klein takes over his post June 1. BucHan will devote the summer to the completion of a novel be- fore returning to the radio fold. LANCASTER, PA.* WGAL AM TV FM A Slttnmcn Station Octr McCblloujh Praiidcnt * MR. CHANNEL 8 . . . symbol of WGAL-TV’s increased power, now gives larger coverage, bigger audience, greater sales poten- tial to WGAL-TV advertisers. *Mcirk#l Includes Harrisburg, York, Lancaster, Reading, Lebanon Represented by ROBERT MEEKER Assniates Nfw Yerk Chicago lot Angtles San Francisco of its message across, failed to wrap up the loose ends, leaving the listener with only an impres- sion of the man and his work. A dramatic treatment might have done the job better. The idea of the series as a whole, though, is an. entirely praisewor- thy one, and it’s being carried out with the best possible taste and scholarship. It’s one of the better things radio has to offer today, and it represents a facet of radio that has only just begun to be explored. It represents ft starting point from which radio can build anew and re- gain much of its stature. Massey’s performance was excel- lent, as was that of Charles Irving, the narrator, and the rest of the cast. Dryer’s direction was taut but flowing. No small part of the credit goes to Ralph Norman and A1 Datz for their topflight original score and to Norman and the Heri- tage Orchestra for their execution of it Chan. RUBY MERCER SHOW Prodncer-director: Miss Mercer 55 Mins.; Sat., 1:30 pjn. MBS, from New-York Ruby Mercer, femme platter spinner on WOR, Mutual’s New York flagship, kicked off her ini- tial deejay stint for the web Sat- urday (18) in okay fashion. Her’s is a class wax show and she’s sure to nab dialers whose musical tastes have progressed beyond the pop stage. It’s not a heady program, however. She sticks to light stuff, mainly spinning tasty Items from the vast semi-classical, operetta and showtune field. It all adds up to easy matinee listening. Miss Mercer cleverly ties her platter repertoire with her guest for the day. On the preem show, for example, Andre Kostelanetz guested, and the first half-hour’s disks were his Columbia etch- ings. Patter between spins was brisk and enlightening. All in all it’s a slick wax pro- gram and an asset to Mutual’s Saturday afternoon programming sked. Gros. Play was done in a series of flashbacks that had Don Rose, as the grownup boy, retelling his story. Martin Houston, as the young boy, wasn't up to his usual fine form in this one. Leslie Nielsen was okay as the teacher friend, as were David White as the principal and Sylvia Lane as a young companion of the boy. Mort Abraham’s script could and should be rebuilt for another occasion, for the theme itself is a powerful one and deserves "fuller treatment Marc Siegel was good as emcee and did an okay all-round production job. Chan. EDWARD ARNOLD, STORY- TELLER Director; Ted Toll Writer: Michael Sklar 5 Mins.; Mon.-thru-Fri., 3:55 p.m. ABC, from Hollywood Anecdotes for this five-minute cross-the-board strip are supplied by Coronet, which gets a plug on the show in return for the ma- terial. Arnold reads the stories, aided by interplay from the an- nouncer, Orval Anderson. If the first story (Mon.) is any sample of what’s to come, all con- cerned might drop the idea to be- gin with. It was a trite bit about a store detective arresting his long- lost sister for kleptomania in order that she might be cured in prison by the doctors there. Michael Sklar did as well with the script as might he expected, and Ted Toll’s direction and Arnold’s^narra- tion were acceptable. Chart. Quaker Oats Agcy. Shift Chicago, April 21. Quaker Oats is moving two of its Aunt Jemima products from Price, Robinson & Frank ad agency to J. Walter Thompson, effective July 1, the start of the miller’s fiscal year. Products involved are qake mix and pancake mix. Spokesman for Quaker said the shift is a "routine realignment of product groupings,” and that JWT is now^ propping a new campaign which is expected to lean heavily on teevee. 1 Krueger's Baseball Quiz Krueger Beer of Newark enters the New York market via a Friday night late-hour baseball quiz on WOR, Mutual’s.N.Y. flagship. Pact, set through United Adver- tising of Newark, calls for weekly 25-minute broadcasts at 11:35 p.m. Quiz will originate from Camp Kil- mer, N. J. •Who Said That?’ Back On WNBT Schedule "Who Said That?” first of the tele panel quiz shows, resumed in New York again last week, after a year and a half absence. Show, which is more than four years old, was carried co-op on the NBC net- work but WNBT, N. Y., has "Dan- gerous Assignment” for Piel’s beer in the Monday 10:30 pjn. spot. Piel’s will sponsor "Who Said That?” in New York. Program, with Walter Kiernan now the emcee (Bob Trout was the starter), has eight advertisers in 28 mar- kets. The NBC Film Division will handle the telefilm series “Danger- ous Assignment.” WONS Shakeup Hartford, April 21. Quickie ^shakeup at WONS here has Fred W. Wagenvoord in as sta- tion manager, replacing Ed Pallen and Frank McGfvern. Latter two are reportedly interested in buying into their own station in New Eng- land. Wagenvoord left the general managership of KCRG, Cedar Rapids, Mutual affiliate, to come to the Hartford station. He was also a member of the Mutual Affiliate and Advisory Committee, Dis- trict 5. WDtl-TV Wilmington, Delaware market WDEL AM TV FM » - - • > _ o * 3 - 3 • e Delaware, with highest per capita income of any state, is the heart of this market which also includes parts of New Jersey, Maryland and Pennsyl- vania. Buy WDEL-TV for sq audience that buys. A Slcinman Station ftpresented by MEEKER jWYertt Orient*, An««l«| 3 «n