Variety (April 1953)

4$ RAMO-TFXKVISIOX Wednesday, April 29, 1953 Tele Followups Continued from pace 32 play concerned itself with Hylton’s attempts to get the letter back. He did, and all ended happily. Hylton has shown a good deal of improvement in his thesping of late. Youngster handled his role with intelligence and savvy, and should go far. Jostjui was excel- lent as the consccience-ridden Gov- ernor. Miss Ralston tended to overplay in a part that, because of its lack of credibility, tailed for much more restraint. Miss Grant was electric in her scenes as Hyl- ton’s faithful girlfriend. Bit of a welcome surprise was the playing of Warren Wade, show’s producer (and WOR-TV general manager) as the gangster. He moved into the part at the last minute, and did a solid job of put- ting it over. Other roles, handled by John Harvey, Peter Hobbs, Frank Twedell and Alexander Campbell, were well done. Gene O’Sullivan’s camera direction was highly mobile, making good use of the two sets. Chon. to come up with anything of an exceptional nature. Incidentally, conversation be- tween Miss Smith and guesting talent could be on a more adult level, as some of the questions tossed off by the former would be more appropriate if targeted at juves instead of those who’ve al- read-v passed the teenage mark. Jess. A once-weekly “Talent Show- case” segment was added Friday (24) to Kate Smith’s hour-long, cross-th^-board NBC-TV daytimer. Half-hour shot spotlights compara- tively unknown professional enter- tainers making their tele bows. A $500 cash award is given to the performer who cops top audience approval. However, it’s empha- sized that talent showcased on pro- gram receive payment for going through their respective stints. Initial segment impressed as be- ing no different than other shows of a similar nature, except that in this case the performers have pre- viously been employed profession- ally. Effectiveness of stanza will depend on the calibre of entertain- ers spotlighted. Teeoff card was made up of Tony Starman, tap dancer; Phil Ramone, violinist; Evie Lynn, ballet dancer, and Jose Duval, singer. Starman’s terping drew the prize money. However, the quartet of entertainers failed /sR^-ia Eileen BARTON Latest Coral Releases "P9T LUCK*' "PRETTY GIRL MILKING HER COW" Dll 1 .: MCA A spright fully little old Irish- woman from Fairbanks, Alaska, took over last Wednesday’s (22) edition of NBC-TV’s “This Is Your Life,” lock, stock and barrel* to the extent of making even the suave but extrovertive Ralph Ed- wards lose his ever-present equa- nimity. The lady, considered something of a saint up in Alaska, according to the testimony of her friends on the show, w T as named Eva Mc- Gowan, and reversing the form Of the usual subjects on the program, she simply took over the proceed- ings from Edwards, not in the least perturbed by the fact that it was her past being exposed. She sang songs, insisted on tell- ing stories, shook her finger back at Edwards when he tried to get back into the normal course of the show r and get everything in the al- lotted half-hour, and just about stole the show'. Her stories of her life in Alaska ran the gamut from christening her flock of hens after her best friend^ to the story of how she got a bridal suite for a pair of newly- weds at the last minute on their wedding night. - Testimony of her work came not only from her friends on the program, but via a tape on which the Governor of Alaska named her the Territory’s offical hostess. All in all, this Eva McGowan gave Edwards and the audience a program they’ll never forget. Chan. Mpls. Station’s Unique Tie With College on Longhair Minneapolis, April 28. Through a unique tieup with U. of Minnesota non-commercial radio station KUOM, local com- mercial station WDGY is en- deavoring to overcome the handi- cap created by the fact that it’s sans network affiliation and has plenty of network competition. From 9:20 to 10:30 p.m. night- ly, it has KUOM, which is off the air at such time, feed it recorded programs of symphony and other classical music. The response has been exceptionally good, the station having had many* orchids tossed to it by dialers, according to Swanee Hageman, WDGY gen- eral manager. Hageman thinks WDGY has been able through this type of program not only to provide musical vari- ety by varying the usual pattern of popllar stuff, but also to grab off some network listeners. On its part, KUOM believes it’s per- forming a public service by help- ing to cultivate a taste for “the better things” of music among mid-evening radio audiences usu- ally given a steady diet of hit parade tunes. Mutual Names McVarish To New Promotion Post Mutual last week named F. Carleton (Sandy) McVarish to the newly-created post of director of audience promotion and merchan- dising. McVarish will be largely responsible for the duties formerly handled by promotion director Hal Coulter, who left the network two: weeks ago. McVarish was formerly manager of audience promotion for the web, prior to which he- was direc- tor of merchandising and research for the Yankee Network for 14 years. Reading, Pa.—Thomas E. tylar- I'tin, general manager of WEEU AM-FM-TV, local station, was named co-winner of the Syracuse U. Radio and Television Centre Alumnus of the Year award at Syracuse, N.Y., Wednesday (22). Mutual Corrals Pubs, Pix, Even Politicians For Hoopla on Oaters Mutual has set the week of May 10 for its annual “Western Week” promotion. Event, designed to pro- mote the web’s oater programs, will get a multi-pronged spread via films, book publishers, politicians and retailers. Web has set two series of spe- cial programs to plug the promo- tions, a series of five quarter-hours titled “Heroes of the West” and a cross-the-board strip called “Rodeo Quiz.” It’s tied in with Paramount Pictures’ upcoming “Pony Express” in a deal under which stars Charl- ton Heston and Rhonda Fleming will make guest appearances on net shows and special spots to plug both the promotion and the pic. In the publishing field. Bantam Books will distribute some 15,000 three-color posters, while another of the soft-cover publishers, Dell Publishing, will circulate 10,000 two-color posters. McCall’s, Ameri- can Weekly, Random House and Gunsmoke will also participate" in the campaign. Governors of western states will officially designate the week as “Western Week,” wihle Vice-Presi- dent Richard Nixon and Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay have announced their support. Bond Stores and a number of other re- tailers will use point-of-sale dis- play material for the event. Inside Staff—Television DuMont’s “Dark of Night” on-location television show is practicin'* the adage of “don’t bite the hand that’s feeding you,” despite the fact that the hand has stopped feeding. Sustainer, which is being can- celled after its Friday night (1) broadcast, will originate then from the East Paterson, N. J., plant of DuMont Labs, the net’s parent company. Latest example of what keeps the airlines happy is furnished by Joe Bolton, WPIX, N. Y.’s, weather announcer. Bolton does a t\\ ice- nightly, five-minute weather report on WPIX, with the exception of Wednesdays. Then he flies to Chicago to host WNBQ’s “Curtain Time” Bolton returns to N. Y. in time for his Thursday show. Guy LeBow subs on Wednesdays. RCA Victor’s educational division has published a free booklet containing a complete analysis of estimated equipment and operating costs for educational television stations. In addition to analysis of costs of TJHF and VHF. stations, ranging from low-powered, simple studio setups to more complex operations, booklet also provides com- plete station layout and sample floor plan for the. smaller type of station. Marion, O. —Arthur L. Martin, formerly with WIZE, Spring"field, and WING, . Dayton, appointed commercial manager of WMRN here. t?# j£?/ At / u t «*S. / Q > t( V • / <\ • I ft’ A/-? jr/'v' & / i J/ $ Si * ■fc. f tfT a> * •*= O i a: / c / here’s the new TEEVEE wrinkle for Television Programing, .< Station Library Consisting of ‘‘Little Theatre” Dramas and the "Camera’s Eye”... ‘‘from here, there "n everywhere” Nothing like it on the market,. • in quality or sponsor demand I For all The facts.. . phone CRestview 5-1 076, or write direct... J!ilUE_£.\L£-.E_Co. 211 So. Beverly Blvd. 3ever!y Hills, California 3EVERLY HILLS - HOLLYWOOD NEW YORK Miami U.’s radio, television and film department has altered its curriculum for the fall to add six new courses. School now offers 20 courses in the media, with 14 combining Instruction in two or all three media. New courses include .“TV Production and Direction,” “Film Production and Direction” and “TV News.” Others of the new courses are in the “content” category and discuss programming, and theory of mass media. Belmont Park Race Track is installing a DuMont closed circuit tele- vision setup for its spring meeting starting May 6. Track used the same setup last year. Circuit is used by track officials in helping determine close decisions and rule infractions, and is also used in jockey dressing rooms. Sen. Johnson Continued from page 36 TV sets now in use can he doubled “in the relatively short future,” with the investment in sets amount- ing to $8,000,000,000 of ‘.‘new busi- ness.” With its present staff of exam- iners, Johnson said, it will take FCC five years to-process its appli- cation backlog. The result, he add^d, will be a “new freeze” on station construction. FCC Chairman Rosel Hyde em- phasized that the appropriation for the additional staff would be an “investment” rather than an expen- diture in. that it would repay itself many times in the form of taxes from new stations, TV dealer en- terprises, and manufacturers excise taxes on sets. His testimony led Sen. Leverett Saltonstall (R, Mass.) to inquire regarding the possibility of charg- ing broadcasters' fees to finance FCC operations. Hyde said he pre- ferred not to take a position on the question, but that he would be more disposed to the idea if me collections went to FCC rather than the Treasury where they go into the Government’s general funds. He added that the whole subject is under study by the Budg- et Bureau. PRIZED MUSIC KUDOS TO WBAL’S ‘MISSING’ SHOW Baltimore, April 28. Archdale J. Jones, conductor of “Key to the Missing” program on WBAL here, was in N. Y. last week to be kudosed with a prize “presi- dent’s citation” by National Feder- ation of Music Clubs. Award praised him for “broadcasting good music, poetry and art during' the long hours of the night.” “ Jones claims his wafr the- first music-through-the-night longhair stanza. The 1:30 to 5 a. m. pro- gram yras launched Dec. 11, 1952, brainwave of D. L. (Tony) Provost, v.p. in charge of Hearst AM-TV projects. Besides playing longhair disks and reciting Shakespeare, Jones continues a practice he start- ed'on WOR, N. Y., and DuMont, namely, tracing and rejoining miss- ing persons. News wire services have carried five human-interest stories about couples he has reunited; Next week he’ll announce the reuniting of a 19-year-old sister in Long Is- land with her 32-year-old brother in Falsom, Pa., separated since their mother died of cancer years ago. Cleve. Jock Hurt Cleveland, April 28. Alan Freed, disk-spieler, was seriously injured when he> fell asleep at the wheel of his car while driving home from a late- hour shellac stint. Pending recovery from internal injuries, Larry Krupp and Burt Dilson are taking over Freed's three-hour; k Monday-through Sat- urday WJW stanzas, while WXEL staffers are filling in on daily film pitch. • • Seattle’s KMO-TVNames Tuell as Exec Director Tacoma, April 28. Gordon H. Tuell, former chief announcer at KIRO, Seattle, and a TV director last four years at WRGB-TV, Schenectady, N. Y., has been named executive director of KMO-TV here by manager Jerry Geehan. Tuell takes over in May to prep for KMO’s air debut July 15. vGeehan also-announced that Tess M. Williams, film director at WOI- TV, Ames, la., will join the KMO staff in same capacity. Tuell, originally from Tacoma, was at KIRO for nine years, four of them as chief announcer, * and was at one time president of the AFRA local in Seattle. Rental Equipment WHEN YOU WANT IT— WHERE YOU WANT IT AT THE MlCC YOU WANT TO PAY! Whatever your lighting needs, rent Jack Frost equip- ment for greater convenience . . . greater lighting! 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