Variety (December 1953)

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WetlnetdaT, December 2, 1953 ■ABIO-TRIJtWSION S3 MADISON AVE. MASK & WIGGERS Hucksters’ 9 Commandments 'TOP HOD. EXECS ■i SPOTTED ON TV Following is the 9-point “Copy Platform’’ summarizing the prin- ciples to be embodied in the spot speeches by ad agency and spon- sor execs for their sales messages on sustaining programs over the NBC television network: 1. Mass production would be impossible without mass selling, which is advertising. 2. The total cost of advertising last year was only about ]", of our total national volume of all sales transactions. 3. Through competition for sales, advertising spurs improvement of present products and encourages development of new ones. 4. Television, the newest advertising medium, allows product to he demonstrated in the home. 5. This demonstration is possible on television for a cost to the advertiser of less than one penny per home. 6. Television advertisers are doing more than just selling; they are promoting such cultural aetivties as music, drama, opera and ballet. J ‘ 7. The money invested in broadcasting by advertisers makes our American system of television possible. 8. Just as competition among advertisers makes for heller prod- ucts. so the competition among networks for viewers improve the quality of entertainment in the home. ■ - - \ 9. The Advertising Federation of America has requested that where suitable you include their campaign slogan: * You live better because of advertising." WNBT’s Big 'Editorial’ Romance With Detroit for Cushy Auto Coin Something new in broadcast-au- tomotive relations is being spark- plugged by WNBT, the New- York NBC-TV flagship, with plans to ex- pand the idea into other owned- atid-operated properties of the net- work. It involves the inauguration of a weekly half-hour Saturday afternoon video series to be called “Channel 4 Auto Club" designed as a non-sponsored presentation in which the station will lend its edi- torial support to the automotive industry. While obviously aimed at ce- menting better relations with the cushy Detroit-berthecl clients in the hopes of making them Chan- nel 4-conscious when it comes to ladling out sponsorship coin, the station is inaugurating the series on the premise that, just as news- papers allocate editorial space to spotlighting new models amLJn- novations in the auto industry, so should the broadcasters provide similar news-feature treatment. Program will originate from the station's large West 67th St., New York, studios, permitting for live display of all the new models, with the series to encompass all the au- tomotive companies. An automotive editor from one of the national mags or dailies 'still to be assigned' will be featured on the show, which Jim t’oy will emcee. The big NBC o&o Detroit ro- mance began some time back when NBC Spot Sales set up its own offices iti the motor city, with Alan Kerr in command, to share in the sponsor spoils. CBS O&O’s $2,000,000 Dawn Patrol Radio Bonanza Via Airlines Music Mel Allen a v*r In Bin gam*, detail* why ISo Sportscaster Can Do It Alone * * * an interesting editorial feature in the upcoming 48lli Anniversary \mnhrr of VARIETY ABC-TV Powwow On 0&0 Policies Toppers of ABC-TV's five owned- • nd-operated television stations will convene in New York next Monday (7* for a two-day meeting on pol- icy for 1954. Meet will be hosted by ABC prez Bob Kintncr and will cover all phases of o&o operation. Planing in for the confabs are Frank King. Elton Rule and Robert Forward of KECA-TV, Hollywood; v.p. James H. Connelly. Vince Francis and William Hollenbeck of KGO-TV. San Francisco; Sterling C. (Redi Quinlan. Matthew Yie- racker and James W. Beach of WBKB. Chi, and James G. Riddell and John Pival of WXYZ, Detroit. V.p John Mitchell and Ardien B. fRod' Rodncr will rep WABC-TV, N. Y. Scheduled tp address the meet- ing will be ABC exec voepee Bob O’Brien, program-talent veep Bob Weitman. veep and assistant to the prez Ernest Lee Jahnke. engineer- ing veep Frank Marx: film syndi- cation veep George Shupert; TV net veep Alexander '.Sandy» Stro- nach. network sales topper Charles R. (Chick' Abry. TV net director Slocum ' Bu 7 z 1 Chapin, and o&o coordinator William M. 'Bud' Mateine. Sarnoff s 'State Dinner’ (or RCA Prexy Folsom RC’A board chairman David Sar- , nofT is hosting a ‘ state dinner’’ for Radio Corp. of America president Frank M. Folsom on Dee. 14 at tlie Waldorf-Astoria. N V.. to cele- brate the latter’s 10th anniversary' with the company Some 350 will attend, and while the Rockefellers, bankers, business leaders and other echelon connected with Rockefeller Center-Radio City and the vast RC’A empire will he among those present, the accent will also be on Folsom's personal friends. This is at General Sar- nofl's suggestion, with knowledge (Continued on page 52 P&G Relinquishes Title, Format on ‘Best’ TV’er Talent Associates. Ltd , has ac- quired the title and format of “Nothing But the Best from Procter & Gamble and is dangling it to a client for a return to TV. Variety stanza hosted by Eddie Albert was a summer replacement Click that was shut out of con- tinuance when the regular season started (alter being shuttled into different times and days', but P&G held it for possible place- ment. Soapcr had plugged Tide and other products on the show. Whether Albert goes along with the deal is not known, but 1 YL becomes the new sales reps and packagers for the revived edition being projected. Incidentally, Alfred Levy, presr dent of the production outfit of which Fred Coe is chief P'inei. is hack in the office alter being hos- pitalized for several weeks wu* a stomach ailment. The denizens of Madison Ave. whose blueprints over tin* years have unleashed untold billions of dollars in advertising in hojwilt ot clients whose all-out objective is the public, are being afforded a golden opportunity* to confront that national public ‘"in person" with a direct sab's pitch on television. Long in the making anil never attempted, for instance, hv radio either in the lean or lush years, the plan came to fruition last week under the aegis of Jacob A Evans, advertising and promotion director of NBC Television (a department recently given autonomy by split- ting it off from the network’s AM division Top brass of a dozen advertising agencies and their clients will go sales pluggcr on the kinescopes in this sock and-lmskin. mask and uig display by the hard selling hovs appearing in — for them —entirely new roles, complete \\TDi video makeup and 90 minutes of rehearsal for two-minute spots. Personal pitch will he launched Sunday M»> and scheme is being pushed on NBC TV’s sustaining shows, Thus the “proems" will be held on Sloan Foundation’s ‘‘American Inventory,” Theodore Granik’s “American Forum of the Air" and the skip-week alterna- tion (Revere Copper & Brass) of, "Meet the Press." Other shows are being rounded up to complete the circuit. Evans’ "Stable of. Stars" cur- rently lias a rosier of six pjedged to do workouts, with a couple al- ready in the kinnie can. They rep- resent the top or near top in their organizations, encompassing: Fairfax M Cone, prexy of Foote, Cone & Bidding in charge of the Chicago office: Jim Young, exec veepee of J. Walter Thompson; Robert Gray, ad chief for Esso; Henry (1. Little, proxy-board chair- man of Campbell Eyvald: Ben Don- aldson. director of advertising and sales promotion for Ford Motor Co., and Lee Bristol, boss of Bris- tol Myers ( 1 he y re evenly, divided between agencies and sponsors c By end of this week it’s expected that half a dozen others will he “pacted" as announcers, including Sigurd S Larmon. prexy of Young & Rnbicam. and R<*n Duffy, prexv and exec committee chairman of RRD&O. The tyvo minute “spot" lights will carry introductions and upbeat treatment hv all around NBC trouble shooter Ben Crauer. and formal sales message will be built around the role that advertising - more particularly TV advertising — plays as an instrument in Iho progress of America’s standard of living with its influence felt throughout the world on this side of the Iron Curtain and in some ways beyond that Each actor-ad- vertiser will make two capsules and the series will run (he regular 13week cycle, with “renewals" on visaged if the hoys make good In their all-out soiels looking toward continuance of the American dol lar their way. The yvhole setup has been tied in with the American Federation of Advertising, which has supplied an “advertising line" best suited to approach the consumer in promot- ing a better understanding of ad- vertising as a profession and a builder in the community. Craig Allen is in charge of production, with shooting going on at the net work's 3 F studio. Operation Triad An official of the Gettys- burg. Pa., Chamber of Com- merce long - distanced New York to reach Earl Mullen. } He’s cx-publicitv chief of ABC. Since "ABC" was miscon- strued. the phoner was put through to Don Bishop. He’s aT NBC press. The official wanted to know hqyv to go about buying a piece of film that had appeared on a tele- vision program. “See It Now." 1 That's CBS-TV. Rod o Scr ptert Arnic Hom'ii X (olrman Jaroliy have don* a very amusing satire in the Mickey Spillan* “Mike Mallet" mystery manner titled There Coi's M\ Sn mlay * * * one of the many byline features in the forthcoming Villi Anniversary Aiimhrr of UfctiiETY See Pat Weaver Helming in Jan.; McAvity’s Status Sources lure say ‘ the date” pening as close to Hie NBC pil- 'd s just a question of lyyitli some see it 1 1 a|»- early as Jan. 2* when hoard chairman and interim p»exy David SarnolT will officially designate Sylvester I.. 'Pat' Weav- er as the net work’s new president, with Robert W. SarnofT becoming executive veepee 'as administra- tive backstop for Weaver*. At the same lime it’s practically conceded that, in such an even- : tuality, Tom McAvity becomes Sin- ce* sor to Weaver as the I V pro- pramming chief. McAvity is cur- rently director ol TV programming feu tin* web Designation id Weav- er for the prexy role would a Co involve some oilier aduutic I rat iv r shift . with some conjecture that as exec id iye veepee. young Sa'fnoff, would he reliev ed id Ins N B( f dm Division chores. * WABD SEES $1,000,000 COCA-COLA BILLINGS ♦ Dawn patrol hours from tuiil- m :lrt to .> 3U have turned into :» honan/a for all eoiu ei tied on tin* CBS Radio ramparts, vvilli the m>Io sponsor to shell out better than S2.dUO.001) bv the time its thrive* veil pact expires Thai s a loll* coin w-lieii it’s considered that the nightovv I skein isn t a network spread, though rigged with the aura ot web glamor in some 30 Iioios ol pi ogi/.miming v.e *kly per station over six stations In short, ovei Did hours weekly, which on a tune basis is a little glml ot lh« aill.ines sans the pene'rative na- tion.il loinplexion \ lino ic.in \ii lines is will :is program is 1 law n I lie Dal ions are and operated soviet 1 part l\ ow lied, how ev ei ' Work I nder the ling' A \ ha been I tiling spring as radio’s No 1 the post midnight sweepstakes; and from the way the stanzas are tai- lored. alter the' aiilmei fools the lull it’s expelled to tell all amP* | sundry to come hither again come spring 1936. since the payer id the I freight has expressed itsell in the most enthusiastic terms about the ' melodious six. Taking some of the bows on this could is the Midhrauil A Ryan ail agency, which, in concert with tlm program masterminds at WCBS, ' N V.. went through at least 16 auditions for disk jockeys before hitting a winner The winner ill Gotham is Boh Hall The two oth- er'. eoncerned with the destiny of the N. Y.-based “Music” are Ernie (Continued on page 56) the under- M ijsie lit t he ow ni'il- ' one being ol the net- e srheihile, since last sponsor in With Coca Cola tab on WAMD’s Clans at Mary's" yesterday 'Ttie-, ) cross board Xmas picking up the i N. Y i “San!a vvhirli pi reined as a 15 minute series, Norman Knight, general manager of the DuMont. N. Y flagship estimates that the Coke billings for the y.eai may reach an unprecedented $1,000 000 Coca Cola, besides the 24 show from Mary's seventh floor toy showroom, has two five minute spots on "Weather Girl m addi tion to other spots on "Lee Gra- ham,'' “Food For Thought," 'Ro< Doty Show," and full sponsorship of "Sense & Nonsense" Station i now dickering for two nidi <• Coke show i on a local ba .is Finn’s Santa Claus biz G re ported I y the shot in the aim that may boost WABD's veai ly eon' ings to 50'' over 19.52 NBC Spot Sales Grabs Off L’ville Stations De pite its r ece nt setback of Ins ing Westirtglioii <• representation NBC Spot Sales division is bonne ing back as a major factor in the national sales rep picture and only last, week grabbed off a choice Louisville plum—WWE and WAVE TV Previously the NBC affiliated stations were identified with Free A Peters stable. Nev pact go**-, into effect Jafi 1 Recently NBC Spot Sales also grabbed of! KSD and KSD I \ in- St. Louis. v CBS Even Splits Yule Down Middle Flushed vvilli riches.- upped divir d. nds and banner sales this yivai*, CBS is wrapping up a ('lui liiiiH park,ape I or it- - p'*i mu »u*l vvilli 'mu pHilv expen.ive trimmings. Il'twe'ei lollop in:’, i f .\ op i.Uiotial p’ltlein the netvvoil; e sn'itl mg up it’ 5 iih tide hoopla, with two separate |ril t ie 1 one lot AM. tin* nth' r lot TV. (>u t|ie basis o| preliminary pi ue the parties' will out .tup all prev ious event' and are being day- end dated 'Dee 22' into the two biggest available spot at Ibe'Wal- dorl Vitoria 'These, of eoui. e, will be .exclusive of the annual ('US honu.es, which arc again coming through • ATo indicative of the broadcast- ing prosperity note r the W.lll 'Detroit* Goodwill Cavalcade Party to he staged at the Starlight Roof ol the Waldorf on Dee 10. with cocktails in the Palm Room "to open " VVJR is bringing on 75 per- former from its talent roster lor a special presentation to follow lire dinnei "just proud enough to want to show them to our triendi in New Ymk who know WJR only by i i-pntation." RAYEL VICE MILLS AS ‘HOME’ PRODUCER Ted .Mills is exiling a-, producer o'I the upcoming midday 'Home" •■how on NBC-TV alter spending eve i a I months formulating and blueprinting the rrovs-the-boai d stan/a lie's being succeeded by Jai k Ravel who is moving out of the f.i.ltiori;il program manager lot Mil!* is getting another as- signincnt Home" is scfieduled to preern ori Jan . 18 date also marking the er or d anni of tfie ear ly morning 'Today" show. Although still ori the upcoming agenda, some clienti hav • already placed order*, for par- ticipation in "Home.” Program goes into the noon to 1 p in. slots, with likelihood of being expanded . later Dick PankhaiTi. supervisor on"'Today" also assume* the sum* chon x for ‘ Home." \