Variety (May 1953)

Wednesday, May 6, 1953 ftKSSB&Ff RADIO-TELEVKSIOtf 27 Educational TVfloom Seen at Meet; 50 Stations Forecast in Two Years Washington, May 5. The first national conference on educational TV was told yesterday (Mon.) that 50 educational TV sta- tions may be In operation within two years if there is no letdown in public interest in’ the movement. Dr. Arthur S. Adams, prexy of the American Council On Educa- tion, told the 200 delegates present that public support for educational TV is “ever increasing” and that the American people are evincing growing concern that the airways be used more effectively to serve the educational needs of the nation. pointing to increased effective- ness of TV as a teaching. tool, Adams said that over 100 schools in the country now offer training courses for TV. ; Dr. George W. Stoddard, prexy of the U. of Illinois, predicted that educational TV .stations may “shame” the commercial outlets into producing better programs. Answering contentions that educa- tional programs will not "attract audiences, he said that “no idea is too abstruse to be presented.” Stoddard said. the resistance which educators are facing in ob- taining funds for non-commercial stations is due to “a kind of mass neurosis against anything new or different” Dr. W. W. Kemmerer, until last week president of the U. of Hous- ton, reported that already 200 stu- dents. have enrolled for TV courses and that 500 are expected next year. Fees for these courses, he said, will pay for station’s opera- tions, William Sener of the U. of Southern Calif., in Los Angeles, reported that institution’s educa- tional-station will be on the air in 30 days. Delivery of the UHF transmitter was made yesterday, he said. Several members of the U. S. Senate who attended the dinner session of the conference joined in voicing their support for educa- tional TV. Sen, ff Charles W. Tobey (R.-N. H.), chairman of the Inter- state Commerce Committee, told the educators he was behind them “in the fight to the finish” to take up channels reserved by the FCC. “I’m enlisted for the duration of the war,” he said, “and I'm for Frieda Hennock.” He praised Comr. Hennock for her vision in pushing for the allocation of chan- nels for education. Directing his remarks to mem- bers of the Cpmmission present, he said, “To the Cpmmission, I say, make the reservations stand until hell freezes over.” In addition to Miss Hennock, the dinner was attended by FCG chair- man Rosel Hyde, Comr. Edward Webster, Comr. Paul A. Walker, and Comr. John C. Doerfer. The conference was sponsored by the Joint Committee on Educa- tional TV and the National Citizens Committee for Educational TV, or- ganizations supported bj»the Ford Foundation. ‘LADIES CHOICE’ HADE BY FEHMES-NATCH Talent in a new series, “Ladies Choice,” which preems on NBC- TV Monday, June 8, 4:30 to 5 p.m., and presented daily Monday through Friday, will be picked by an audience of femmes. Produced by Wilbur Stark and Jerry Layton for NBC-TV, series will emanate from the Coast, em- ceed by Johnny Dugan, singer be- ing built up by the web. Series will feature acts ranging from top star pros to unknown amateurs. Firm is currently set- ting up $ large scale production staff to handle the stanza’s physi- cal production on the Coast and to screen recommended talent in cooperation, with the network. Three separate acts will be pre- sented on each stanza. Winning act selected by applause of ladies in the studio audience will be awarded prizes in. addition to cash and pro engagements. TV ‘Gangbusters’ Due Phillips H. Lord, Inc., is mulling a tele version of “Gangbusters.” AM version, dropped by General Foods, will run sustaining on CBS Radio until the end of June, and may be retired thereafter. STANG-TREACHER GAB FEATURE PILOT SET Shooting of a pilot film of an Arnold Stang-Ai’thur Treacher co- starring television series, financed by William Morris Agency, will start May 20 at the Princeton Film Centre in Princeton, N. J. Half- hour series is aimed at summer airing, with hope that it will be strong enough to latch onto a fall sponsor. Show, as yet untitled, is written by Norman Lessing, and will fea- ture Treacher an an English au- thor in this country on a lecture tour, and Stang as a publisher's assistant assigned as an American guide for the literary tourist. Toledo Firm Sues On TV Show Loss Toledo," May 5. Lee Motors, Inc., Toledo auto- mobile firm, has filed suit for $75.,- 000 against Harold and Marie Wendt, doing business as the Wendt Advertising Agency here, charging that the agency caused the loss of one of its avenues of advertising, namely television. The firm contended it entered into a contract with the Wendt agency in 1950, and a television show, “Shadows of Mystery,” was developed and presented ' under their sponsorship from July 24, 1950, until April, 1953, over WSPD-TV, Toledo, each Sunday from 11 to 12 p.m, Agency on April 15, 1953, contracted with an- other firm, Lasalle & Koch Co., Toledo, department store, for this program, and claimed to hold the contract to the show as a principal instead of an agent, the petition said. Lee Motors has selected Charles A. Dowd, Inc., as its ad agency, bul isn’t using any television al present. SMALLTOWN TV SETUPS CATCH EYE IN MINN. Minneapolis, May 5. Territory’s fourth TV station and the second outside of the Twin Cities opened last week when the Eddie Ruben-Joe Floyd project at Sioux Falls, S.D., was launched. Smalltown radio station oper- ators contemplating the TV scene will watch the operation at Sioux Falls and at Minot, N. D., with considerable interest. The Minot, N. D., TV station, the first outside of Minneapolis-St. Paul, got under way several weeks ago. Incidentally, the FCC has grant- ed a second permit for a Minot TV station. It’s believed to be the only town *of such small population, 20,000, to have had two permits granted. The present Minot station is on the air from 4 p.m. to midnight daily and its local advertising rate is $250 per hour. National adver- tisers, furnishing transcribed net- work shows, pay only 30% of the station’s regular rates. The Sioux Falls station will operate from 6 p.m^ to midnight daily. Neither station is linked with the coaxial cable. Other of the territory towns where FCC permits for TV stations already have been granted and where the projects are expected to be completed before the year’s end include Eau Claire, Duluth- Superior, Rochester, Austin, St. Cloud and Fargo. Zenith Profit Up Zenith Radio Corp. reported a net profit for the first quarter of $2,1*09,461, a 95% increase over the net of the same period .in 1951. Sales amounted to a record first quarter gross of $47,898,773, an in- crease of 86% over a year ago. Cmdr. Eugene F. MpDonald, Jr., Zenith prexy, attributed the in- crease in part to the new UHF- equipped television . receivers, which for a slight sum can be modified to receive UHF signals. Hackett Official Films .Prexy Vice Goodheart Hal Hackett last week was named president of Official Films to re- place the ailing William R. (Billy) Goodheart, Jr., who is retiring. Hackett joined the organization a couple of months ago, shortly after lie resigned as head of the radio- TV section of Music Corp. of America. With accession *of Hackett to the presidency, vidpix outfit will prob- ably accelerate its program of go- ing into live video production and taped radio shows. New policy had been announced when he joined Official as exetfveepee. 40 Firings In Drastic WMGM Economy More In one of the most drastic econ- omy moves in radio in recent years, WMGM, N. Y. Loew’s-owned indie, fired nearly 40 of its personnel last week. Exact number could not be ascertained since some individu- al cases have still not 'been decided, but the number let go is definitely over 35. Move came on the heels of per- sonnel cuts in the* Loew’s-Metro homeoffice, but it stemmed from additional causes involving opera- tion of the station itself. A key factor in firings was the discontinuance of production of the MGM Radio Attractions, a transcribed dramatic series using the picture studio’s stars. Another was decision last week to abolish the recording di- vision of the station, which had rented its studios not only' to M-G-M Records, another Loew’s subsid, but to all comers. In all, some 13 engineers wjere dropped plus personnel from re- cording, sales t programming and publicity. Most of the personnel dropped were in the clerical cate- gory, but hit on the top level were Arthur Weill and Bernard Zisser, both sales execs in the now- abolished recording department. Decision on what to .do with Weill hasn’t come down yet—he’s still with the station without portfolio pending disposition of his case. Radio Attractions was responsi- ble for most of the firings, it’s said. A large staff had been used in pro- duction of the series. After Mutual, which had used the transcriptions for a year, failed to renew its con- tract, the station stopped produc- tion. It’s still distributing the series, but doing so within its reg- ular sales setup. On the recording side, no decision has been made about what to do with all the stu- dio space at 711 Fifth Ave., sta- tion’s quarters. Station has been reported to have been losing money over the past couple of years, and it’s fairly common knowledge that Loew’s has been looking to unload it. Ne- gotiations have been conducted with Bertram Lebhar, Jr., the sta- tion’s director, for him to buy it, but thus far they’ve been fruitless. Industry speculation considered the possibilities that the firings might be .some sort of a prelude to disposition of the station itself. PALISADES PARK SHOW FOR DUMONT IN SUMMER DuMont network, which last week dropped its experimental on- locationer, “Dark of Night,” will try the experiment again in a dif- ferent vein this summer with a weekly, hour-long variety segment from Palisades Amusement Park in New Jersey called /‘The Straw Hatters.” Program wiil go in the Wednesday 8:30 slot, starting May 27. Net will centre the program around the Park’s outdoor casino and swimming pool. Show will use pro and amateur talent fea- turing roller skaters, ballroom dancers, aero acts, vocalists and the like. Pool pickup will feature diving contests and, water ballets. Johnny Olsen has been signed to emcee the show, while Roger Gerry will produce. Frank Bun- etta will direct, Paul Rosen will handle talent and Bill Dalzell will script the series. .Jim Caddigan, network’s program chief, will su- pervise. Show, replaces “Stage a Number” for the summer. See FCC Pressnring Distribs With TV Ties to Release Oldies (or Video TOP BANDS, GABBERS IN NEW NBC PROGRAM A new NBC radio program fea- turing top name bands and the web’s news commentators, called “Stars in Action,” will start Satur- day, May 23, at 4 p. m. The half- hour program, in cooperation with the National Guard, will have Ben Grauer as host, and present week- ly Guard experiences of such NBC newscasters as Morgan Beatty, George Hicks, a Merrill Mueller, H. V. Kaltenborn, Leon Pearson, W. W. Chaplin, Henry Cassidy and John Cameron Swayze. The program series replaces “Music Federation Concert,” now on sustaining. It will be heard on the NBC radio network, except WNBC, N. Y., at 4, with the local flagship time to be decided later. WOR-TV Set For “B’way Hiatus “Broadway TV Theatre,” the 90- minute seven-days-weekly dramatic show on WOR-TV, N. Y., may be hiatus-bound this- summer. Deci- sion from the show’s sponsors and the station hasn’t come down yet, but just to be on the safe side, the station last week concluded two deals for 56 feature films. *t)eals were set with Peerless Television Productions, Edward Small’s. vidpic subsidiary, for 26 of the films, including “My Son, My Son,” “Man in {he Iron Mask” and “Last of the Mohicans,” and with Major Television Productions for the other 30, most of them Sol Lesser productions, included in this batch are “Our Town,” “Pygmalion” and “Major Barbara.” Understood station paid over $60,- 000 for the films. “TV Theatre” is sponsored by Mennen, Beacon Wax and General Tire. None has indicated whether a hiatus is in order. If show should go-off for the season, it’s likely that the.films will be sched- uled on a repeating basis, each playing a week. If that’s done, station will be following the exact pattern of the opposing WPIX, which inaugurated the idea of re- peat playings of films with its “First Show,” which will be in the same time segment the WOR-TV presentations will occupy. FULL FALL COVERAGE FOR CHI PRO GAMES Chicago, May 5. Midwesterners will again get full coverage of the 10 home games of Chi’s two professional football teams this fall. Cardinals and Bears, each hosting five times in the Windy City, will be videoed on 10 ABC-TV outlets in dis- tribution area of Standard Oil of Indiana. Standard is plunking down over $100,000 for sponsor- ship of half of each game. Rest is being peddled on participation basis. Red Grange will do play-by-play and Bill Fay the color. McCann- Erickson placed. First game is Sept. 27. Montgomery Daughter Summer-Stock Regular Elizabeth Montgomery, daughter of the producer-actor, has been signed as a summer-stock company regular for NBC-TV’s “Robert Montgomery Pre$ents” program. Series, beginning in July, will have four regulars as summer starrers, as it did last year. Only other actor set is John Newland. Miss Montgomery made her tele debut on her father's program on Dec. 3, 1951, in “Top Secret.” Stock 'company idea will con- tinue for eight weeks, beginning Monday, July 6. American Tobac- co and S. C, Johnson, alternating sponsors, will stay through the summer, , with the latter starting a 26-pfogram renewal on July 6. Additional 18 stations bring the total carrying the program to 91. Los Angeles, May 5. FCC pressure on TV licensees with picture company affiliations to force release of their old films for televising is being quietly maneuvered within the Commis- sion. The legal aspects of such . a procedure are being studied by the agency’s attorneys with a view to a crackdown to unleash hundreds of old features now stored in studio vaults. The belief obtain? among the Commissioners that all the studios would fall in line once one of them Us “tapped.” While every move is shrouded in secrecy, it is believed that the first attack would be levelled at Paramount. It was established at FCC hearings that Par is the majority stockhold- er in DuMont, which company, in turn, is the holder of three TV li- censes. Paramount Productions, as the parent company of, KTLA; would also be “fair game.” FCC, failing in such a legal skirmish, could make it “uncom- fortable” for the litigating li- censees by withholding certain benefits sought by the stations. They could be officially accused of failing to cooperate with the Commission in their refusal to aid in elevating the entertainment level of TV. Most of the Commis- sioners are of the opinion that old pictures will be the salvation of the smalltown operator, who will have no live talent to fall back on in his daily schedule of required hours. Sparkplug Hennock The move to force picture com- panies to release their old pictures to television is believed to have stemmed from a talk by Commis- sioner Frieda Hennock at last Friday’s (1) National Assn, of Radio - Television Broadcasters* convention panel in which she said heatedly, “the picture com- panies should start thinking in terms of 50,000,000 screens instead of 17,000.” Her reference was to tele sets as compared to picture theatres. She added, “Hollywood should know by now it can’t hold the medium down. They can’t just sit in their ivory towers and laugh it off. They spend millions for pictures that never reach the masses.” Miss Hennock called it “the greatest challenge to the film in- dustry,” and said the time has come to “meet it or not.” She made it plain that she was “throw- ing down the gauntlet” and added facetiously, “I’m always blunt; I guess that’s my trouble.” Madame Commissioner, in a fighting mood, also took a crack at Congress for its “unfair treat- ment” of the. FCC. “They keep cutting our budget and have just about taken the heart out of the agency.” She said this year's budget is less than in 1947. “Sure, they gave us $300,000,” she said, “but they forget about the $1,- 000,000 they took away from us. Some people just don’t want art to progress.” Miss Hennock said she is in fa- vor of community antennae and doesn’t mind at all radio broad- casters getting into television. There had been some criticism at the convention of the' FCC atti- tude toward AM operators. Her pet project, educational TV, she called “that unmentionable.” SEEK CLOONEY SPONSOR ON BOTH RADIO & TV NBC-TV, which has signed Rose- mary Clooney to a television ex- clusive, is seekiftg a sponsor for the singer for the 7:30 p. m. Mon- day spot, now occupied by the new sustaining “Bob and Ray Show.” The radio web, which also has the chirper under contract, couldn’t find a sponsor, although she’s a hot property, and so began her radio series yesterday (Tues.) on a sustaining basis.- Kling to Handle ‘Calico* Chicago, April 28: Kling Studios will be chief ped- dler for the “King Calico” telepix. About 65 of the quarter-hour pup- pet series have been completed and are now being shown in the Okla- homa City, Springfield (Mo.> and Detroit markets. “Calico” was named top ’52. mop- pet show by the, Chicago Federated Advertising Club.