Variety (July 1953)

Wednesday* July 29, 1953 PfiftlEfr llEVIKW-l'IUiVIHW 43 luuuiu vi niuuuvnii lvvu vim ‘SAY HELLO’ By LAWRENCE MENKIN When I was rehearsing Jack Manning in “Hamlet” on the “MonoDrama Theatre;” he gave me a line which I will never; forget. He told me that once .when he wras clbing a program which called for his visiting one of the stateinsaneasylums, he saw a beautiful little girl ; going from one person to another* saying to them: “Give me a penny, or give nie a kiss; or say hello.” \ Somehbw in tilat oneplaintive line, I felt, all I the terrible sadness and loneliness arid need of all ' the world. /•Just to say hello and not goodbye, to get to know each other. To be friends, good neighbors, to love each other. To love and not hate.; To meet, to inform, tb like' each other And I kept thinking that somehow this had always been 3the secret of radio. : .in radio, we learned and used the mystery of saying hello to each other. In the art of cbriimuriiy Mntttnn cations in the broadcasting field, radio had reached ■ out all over the country and ail over the world, sets, advertising, moved merchandise off the counters, informed, entertairied arid brought the. country and the world closer together. Radio brought comfort into the living-room, assurance; faith and nelghborliiiess, : Radio understood .that it was a ‘Living Room Theatre’ arid early learned the secret of the impact of intimacy. It utilized the dimension.' of the; listener’s imagiriation. It was imagination that filled out the scope of radio.' Every listener made up his own pictures, created his p\vrt illusions. Every, listener became a collaborator in a radio production 'and automatically a participant. Just a Pencil Stroke Now television; at. firsf afraid of the invaluable experience gained through years of radio . broadcasting, is trying to implement that experience in terms of the iritimale approach to the lmngroony; Today, you hear about the monumental problems of the astronomical rising costs of production, the problems . of color, of film. Today, you-] hear about the dilemma facing the advertiser who knows he ..must use showmariship to sell his product and yet cannot afford to ;do so. How to help hirn use showmanship, at a low cost per thousand is the major problem of the day.; It has always been my feeling that, simplicity plus a pencil stroke of imagihatton; equals low cost showmanship. -. There’sk nothing . new under the: Sun; billy, new ideas, new Ways and : new treatments of themes that are arid always will be universal, timeless and classic. Ideas plus personalities, plus showmanship, equal ratings— and: if you consider that showmanship; is the blending of programming, publicity, merchandising and production, all you need for a formula is courage, not fear; imagmatiori; riot money; ingeniuty, not the hackneyed; originality, not the trite; and a respect for the viewers to whom your program wants to say hello. • Iri my opinion, there is no such thing as an audience with a v!2 yearold mentality. There are only producers with 12-year-old mental ities. You cannot, write down ^ to an audience; you cannot write up to it; you have, to meb.t it on its level. You have to understand ii. With this in mind. our approach to progra mining is not : one aC spectacle but one of intimacy. We are planning to present programs and personalities in terms of intimacy not spectacle; in new techniques and new approaches. . We know that there is no substitute for creative effort; we are all attempting to mold a new. art form in the television medium. We understand that there is no substitute for good writing; We understand that there is no substitute for talent, for know-how and fori courage. The courage, to steer away from standardization; the courage to seek ideas which will create enthusiasm and excitement; We need the dynamic electricity of .ideas which are not pallid presentations Of the past, but exciting reflections of life in our time, today; streamlined ideas full of vitality, and realism, -ideas in which people can . Recognize themselves, their problems, their lives; find a sense; of. reassuring identification* We are not afraid to attempt new dnd provocative ideas and we Understand that there’s nothing more exciting than pepple^ and like the little girl who. said, “Give me a penny or give me a kiss’, or say hello,” we hope to take a p.enriy-share of budget, kiss .it with imagination and say hello' with low-cost showmanship. A * i . i r OPQkQfi ^EINIVEMAN ; By S VtYESTKR I.. ( PAT) XVK.AYKK (Vice-Chairman of NBC Board.) Color is coming. It is wonderful. To the program .ritari. it .means the oppo rtu-n ity 1 6 use a ii exei | in g n e w tool. To the broadcaster generally, it means the opportunity to show people . what really is at the end of t 'h e camera. , F o r color .shows yo u reality. W'hen you see color’ •you; say,, “But -’ this is the way ; it is/’eNot the g.i a m o r Bv 1 J:0 SOI 0310N This hai)peried to a friend of jiiine. so l’ii let him tell it; . ■■■My name is .Freddie Burns, . weil gel to. Moivtaiia . l)alton . in a little . while. If you’re one Of the few people who has ever taken the time to read television credits, you may have seen iny name quickly by as producer of the. V All American Revue." 1 merely merit ion this -. to indicate I’m Working this reason .W q:h, yes, Montana .Dalton. , ; well, that all started in August, H)5 1, ’...• -;V. ’51 was. a particularly rough season. After .40.: weeks of haggling. With agent s, /keepings M and network from’ kicking each. ’oilier in the groin, rpinancing guest artists, and explaining to my Wife why ‘Pat* Weaver thrill, but real j ity— that’s . the major impact of color. .. To the . advertiser Color, means a revolution iiv .selling patterns. To' the agcricy, it means the beginning of a new period; of ; Croat ivo floodtide, that will affect agency structure, : and. agency standings, It is more, exciting for the individuals in : agency work than any .'oilier, period, including t lie beginning of radio and the beginivirig of television. For to the creative personnel, it means that there is no limit to. the exercise of imagination iii the marketing of goods;. Whatever any artist, or writer-. can think of that will create buyers lor products or services, it can be ^rendered. iri .color • television. In marketing generally Color television will soon make the most rev calcitrant realize that no major campaign can be created that does not use a color 1 elevision base. Our research already slipw s vi hat common sense so clearly tel Is us. . In television homes, television advertising is the compelliiig advertising. Interviews, pantry checks, product movement-"— study it as . you will , television moves, the goods in television homes. Add color and you add a World. Let. no broadcaster or agency man underestimate what is going to happen when the clients see w'hat we have for them. 1 w as w orkirig ri ights,;. I . was = ready for a vacation. T packed a pair of blue jeans; pills for. all of mV neuroses anil hit t he .1 rail for. Ui.e B bar 7. guest ranch in West daeksoh's llbliv Montana. v . yVell, sir,; iny first . night at the (hide ranch there was a barn dance at Social Hall. As l left pvy bunkli.oiise .1 raiv lieadlong into a chorus of “Wagon \Ayh.e:els”.';th’at-i's't()iVpc‘d me Void in my tracks;. . The. voice ;was%-ppvverfiil..;;.e-ni>righ to iill three or., .four acres, . yet gentle enough, to almost he a luliaby. . . The o^mm' of those lungs was as. Virile a hunk of mail Ji.s overrode/ into the sunset. This , .was Montana Jjalioil. . Over six feet tall and and. I a snrile that looked like a toothpaste eotnincrcial. Tjiis plus a child.isli 1 shyness easily^ made liiin the; most ' popular, male, When I irieiitioned TV to liini. . lie thought it was fine. : J introdiieed Montana to. ;my.. agent; Archie LeVner, arid a star was : on its \\ ay to. being born ; i 1 is. fi rst gn esl. shot oil “Toast of iive/rown” ; was eneoiiragiugy lie; drew more; mail Ilian flu* monkeys and the Jap-1 anese trampoline act combihed. Montana wav “pluml) grateful to the, nice folks wiiat Wrote iri,” ; Test; for Agency .Leadership | It is only when you have dealt personally, and operat ionally in the sale of packaged goods in the American economy, where your life and. death struggle depended on advertising of brands, as in Cigfoods, drugs, soaps, that In I lie . -1 A few weeks alter tlie season sl.art.ed, 1. was at a panic meeting of the agenVy^--Jt;st*'em.s Tex llellows; the singing star of “Itoundup Tirne” .was appreln'iiddd in a 1 lari cm raid, guitar and all, and the client,' Mother’s tBi.ick Frozen Oraiige .Jurce, was desperately, ’lYont'ing' 'for a quirk replacement . . . Montana Dalton got the job. Whni tlio first ratings of the season came out, “liotindup /i’ime” with Montana. Dalton was in f) Isl place oh the Noi Ison . One month later, lie was in 24 1 h place. . In six quick weeks my friend Montana was number. 15. '• • f ' 1 had an hour to kill one Friday so I snealunl into the studio and watched my. yVeslein ehum rehearse Tor a while. The same lovable hom.bre, still unspoiled by his grow ing. success. The ;■ season rolled by. ; As li i s rating went up, I saw* less and less of Montana. lie was now' a bonaiide star, and a star is -a very busy man. , At the next rehearsal, there was; ii (*h.?mge. No longer the quiet ran .thnxugJi. The. place was jumping wit Ii agency officials, network countless little, men . whom hone could identify. -Montana brass and i bower. pi make-up had as his guest, stars today Monsignoi Shean and Mamie Eisenl Tills was they big,, big time. They were already starting to call him Mi*. Wide Operi Spaces. The floor man yelled “On Stage!” ’1’here was a, J tLmiriut i'i delay ; . . w hile Mr Dali on leisurely finished, ehaiigirig into his $200 vehearsal clothes, /l’hc orchestra played the intro and my; frierid. stopped it with a stamp of his foot “Let’s try it agin, Mr, Block, Y():u ain’t playin’ for Gone Autry.” Next came the readings with the guest stars, Montana suggested that -perhaps Mamie could cut off hoi hangs for this performance, “And ^ Monsignor; Shean, sir, no one wears white in television. Do you have, a blue collar you could wear.?” So spoke Montana Dalton. When '.T mot the great man later; lie was plumb glad to see me. I wgs his ■ pardner, his pal of pals. Everyone wanted .something from him. T was tlie only liombre. he could trust: We shook hands heiirtlly and I loaned him a hundred bucks till Friday.. The next thing J hoard, TUontana \vas making a: few changes on tlie show', lie tinm the producer, the\ dj rector, the stage .manager . ;. . the writers, the man and an actor Who hadn’t even bceii hinnl yet. Two weeks later a bus boy in tlie “barberry Koom” told me why yoit can^ ^fuliy a'pi>reoia(c--lhe-opi,«rif *1.,, -.under,' tunity to show your produ.-t in 'W" Someone wl.om lie ,-ould ominl on. . color and. in use andin niolion to Next summer 1 in spending rn.y vacalloh in ■■/.Toledo. I understand an audience who are watching j there ai e no .cowboys there,. . through their own selection, and in a mood determined before you have placed your adyertising. and at a. time when your'knovvJedge of liome habits means you can be effective. This is the end of the rainboii for the client. And it must ushef in a riew pei'iod of agency activity that, will again' test’ agency management arid its ingenuity arid ^ tea der^p? I^Yri'tete-^ vision wil 1 1 a-rge I y return the c re a-, tion of selling' campaigns .to the creati ve people. Problems of, ined i a selection, after broadcasting as the basCj become periphei’al. "Research and-, marketing:, and .mercharidisirig and ' accourit. service and. ail ’the other phases of niodern, agency service will st ill shrink in slat life ; under tlie impact of the riempbw'or good advertising in co lor televisipn will have such force that; the campaign will agairi be the payoff point. To a -degree this has. al ways been true,. but it has been well hid-, de.ri in many a n age ncy set u p. N o w it .will sprirife T’orlh clearly ori.ee again, and th rise who recognize it and rejoice in it will find a new shift : in agency .sta.n d i rigs a s those ities a and rejoice -. in age . ... who obey the n^ realities and organize .for them move ahead • of those who will riot believe. Those interests, whether stations. metwmdcs.,^ag£.neleg „-Q r . aiMmUsers, who devote tlreir time to fighting fori the past, instead of studying for the future, will be worse off than , i , (Contwtuedi on jpage 100^: