Variety (December 1953)

80 RADIO-TELEVISION Wednesday, December 23, 1953 + 4 444444 4 From the Production 444444 4 ♦ 444 , 44444 44444 4 44 4 4 4 44 4 * 4 4 4444 4 4 4 4 4444444 4 IN NEW^ORK 15ITY . . , Snazziest layout on Madison avOnue: the redecorated 20th floor exec- utive suites for pill Paley, Frank Stanton dc Co. ; . . Mutual and Gen- eral Teleradio execs threw a farewell luncheon at *‘21’'yesterday (Tues.) for Jim Gaines, WOR-WOR-TV veep, who leaves to assuihe v.p.-getoeral manager post at WOAI-WOAI-TV, San Antonio after fllrst'bfthe'year. Frank Thomas, his Wife and Frank Jr. playing one of .their ’^fff'all- in-one family engagements on CBS’ “Aunt Jenny"- all this,week . . . Mrs. Virginia O’llanlon Douglas, who wrote the classic "Is .There a Santa Claus?” letter to the N.Y. Sun over 50 years ago, visiting - ‘Second Mrs. Burton” today (Wed.) . . . Queen Elizabeth’s first Xmas message to British Empire on CBS Friday . . . James M. Seward, administrative v.p, of CBS, tapped Henry Howard as director of business affairs .for network'programs with Kenneth B. Craig heading up that'dept.' in Hollywood and Anne Nelson moving up from asst, to associate director, Howard succeeds Kenneth L. Yourd, who becomes treasurer-biz mgr. and legal, counsel of Educational TV Sc Radio Center headquartered . at Ann Arbor, Mich. . . David O. Alber flying to Coast today (Wed) for 10-day business trip. Mayor-elect Robert F. Wagner, Jr. was guest speaker at monthly meeting of Radio-Newsreel-Working Press Assn. Thursday (17), in which he received honorary membership . , . “Xmas in Israel,” pro- duced by the official voice of the new state, Kal Zion, has been taped and Shipped here for Yule day presentation on WLIB. Show contains portions of Midnight Mass from the Church of Anunciation in Naza- --rethr—This-will-complete ; 'cycle'of : *W'MB':holiday-programs^or-year7-.-7- •‘The Messiah,” Handel’s classic oratorio, will be WQXR’s Xmas day offering again this year . . . Art Gleason and Bob Wolfe to do Gator Bowl sportscast for Mutual New Year’s day, while following afternoon Mel Venter ; and A1 Heifer do East-West classic for web . . . WOR employees are contributing services to annual Xmas Fund Campaign which serves children in public wards of .100 Gotham hospitals . . . Six-year old Lorry Robbins (kin of Fred) gets.' her own disk session daily via Mutual. , . . Eddie Cantor will host for yearend broadcast of “Family Theatre’'... Jerry Yatkowlts, engineer at WHLI, Hempstead, married the former Roberta Lou Levinson on Dec. 10. Elmer Davis, just coming out of retirement brought on by high blood pressure, will be the second annual recipient of the Laiiterbach Award, which is administered by the Authors Guild. First recipient, Justice William O. Douglas# will make the presentation Dec. 29. It will be broadcast.,. Dill Cooper moving into New York office of Frank Cooper Associates, to concentrate on program sales, writers and talent. He’ll wmrk-wdth^fFrnoftice J Tnanager - By - Flsher. Cooper previously-head- quartered irt the Coast homeoffice. IN CHICAGO , . . Melvin Brorby, veep at the Needham, Louis & Brorby ad agency and prexy of. the Chi Council on Foreign Relations, has announced that the Council has named a panel of judges to select the Chi radio and TV station that has done the most to further understanding of world affaire. Winners will be revealed Feb.* 19 . . . Judith Waller, Chi NBC’s public affaire and education topper, to receive a gold mike as one of McCall’s mag’s Women of the Year in Radio and. TV . . . Bill Anson, with a two-hourmorning, deejay spread on, WCFL, gets, another 12 d-mi mite crqss-the:boarderj>n. WENR next month , . WNBC- WNBT’s Dick Pack in for two days of conferences with WMAQ-WlSfBQ program chief George Heineman . . . ABC will air St. Mary’s midnight mass from here Xmas night . . . John F. Mehr named Zenith regional sales manager, headquartering in Washington, D.C. . WBBM news- room staffer Lu Bartlow discharged from St, Luke’s hospital last week .‘after suffering a broken neck in an auto accident , . . A m P r h Corp. plugging its tape recorders on WBBM’s Sunday, night “Music That Lives” half-hour . . . Natalie Hinderas,. concert pianist, guests on WMAQ’s “New Dimensions” AM-FM 3-D airer Sunday (27). IJV BOSTON , . . --'KenMeth-RroveiMow;"WEEI"staframi5Un"cer^lncr'^35rltas” J beesr] named program director for the station . . .Marylu MacLeod, the former Marylu Steeves of WHDH promotion department, has been appointed director of sales promotion and publicity for WCOP . .. . Walter Campbell, Monsanto Chemical Co., won first. prize, a trip to Bermuda, at the Radio-TV-Advertising Execs Club annual Christmas party at the Sheraton-Plaza with runner-up Albert; Cross, of Truscon Co., winning a trip to New York, city , . . Caroline Cabot, longtime WEEI broadcaster, recuperating from hip surgery at the Duffy Con- valescent Home, Newton Centre ... Harry Wheeler has ankled WVDA to handle Ziv-TV films here ; . . WEEI began its 15th year broadcasting communters’ Christmas carols at the North Station .. . , Fred Laffey, ex-station manager of the defunct WLAWi has v joined WBZrTV as traffic supervisor , . . Edward S. Broughey,. formerly of WTFV and WKBR, joined WEEI’s announcing staff . . . Richard A. Keating has been appointed manager of Tele-Reps, TV station reps. • IN MINNEAPOLIS ... . . Georgf Grim, Minneapolis Sunday Tribune columnist and KSTP-TV and radio personality, in Tokyo where he accompanied Mrs. Portia Howe, Alden, Minn., mother, who hoped to go to Korea to persuade her Red prisoner son to disavow Communism and return, home . . . Bertin C. Gamble, local businessmen, one of the group that bought Eagle Lion Hollywood studio to make TV films . . . PabstBlue Ribbon bout between Johnny Saxon and Del Flanagan Dec. 30 to be first hav- ing Minneapolis origination, local CBS’ WCCO-TV feeding it, Minne- apolis Lakere-Milwaukee basketball game was fed by WCCO-TV to Du- Mont network . . . Gluek Brewing Co., local outfit, expanding its Bob DeHaven 11-year-old WCCO radio show from one to three nights a week . . . U. of Minnesota radio station KUOM one of . 30 nationally to receive National - Safety Council’s public interest award for excep- tional service to farm safety . V. Bob DeHaven, WCCO personality, ap- peared with Minneapolis Symphony orchestra at Sunday afternoon concert as narrator for “Nutcracker Ballet,” first time latter had been given with spoken commentary anywhere, a la ‘Peter and the Wolf” . . . Bob Ryan and Chuck Sarjeant, KSPT and WCCO. news department heads, respectively^among 45 newspaper, radio and TV hews men from all sections of the country who were Northwest Air Lines guests on weekend trip to Hawaii in connection with inaugural of DC-6 service. US CLEVELAND . . . Henry Levine pacted new two-year WTAM-WNBK contract ... Henry Nagel joined WSRS . . . Maurice Condon does not leave manager’s post at TV Guide here as reported last week but stays with job and adds five-minute WGAR gossip pitch to his chores . . . George Patrick is new WSRS disker , . . Bob Neal will do Orange. Bowl arid North-South grid tilts .. . . Bob Dale arid Bob Doerr to open 10-minute 6:45 p.m chitchat on WEWS . . , WXEL switched from channel .9 to 8 with minimum fuss ... . WHK’s Pinky Hunter celebrated 35th year:in enter- tainment biz . . . Sohio renewed WTAM 52-week 7:45 and 6:15 daily 10-minute newscasts with Bill Tompkins newscasting both stanzas and sharing writing chores with Gene Martin . . . AFTRA and WJW re- ported in new contract agreement * , ; WJW’s Flo Roth into New York for visit . . WNBK’s Gene Harrison to Milwaukee . . . Drew Pearson scheduled for Cleveland appearance for WJW . . . Tom Arend back to WNBK from Chicago visit. . Stan Anderson, Cleveland Press radio-TV editor, ailing. IN PITTSBURGH . . . John Klappas, projectionist at WDTV, has left for sarrie kind of a job with WSUN-TV in St. Petersburg, Fla. . . Walter McCroba has resigned as. sales manager of WEIR in Weirton, W. -Va., to join business staff of the Lorain, O., Journal . . . Mr. and Mrs. H. T. Dowty, of Pensacola, Fla., spending the holidays with their son, Byron Dowty, program manager of Channel 2, and his farnily . . . Beckley Smith, KQV newscaster, reelected to the Mt. Lebanon School Board . . . Doc Carlson, longtime Pitt basketball coach, assisting Bob Prince in tele- casting several Duquesne and Pitt basketball games over WENS*. . . Pittsburgh Friends of Jewish Theological Seminary presented Les Rawlins, manager of KDKA, with a citation for the station on the 10th ahni of the “Eternal Light” program . . . Charles (Red) Donley, announcer at Wheeling Downs and Waterford Park race tracks, ap- pointed head of. sports at Steubenville’s new station, WSTV-TV . Nancy Firigal, -Who has appeared in several Playhouse musicals, is Bill Brant’s new aide on the Monday and Friday segments of his teevee show on WDTV. Midge. Nixon remains in the Wednesday slot. IN PHILADELPHIA . . , 4 1 { 0 S d y fefS 1 *’ executive producer at WFIL-TV, has left the station to take a New York post with Ward Wheelock agency . . . Perry An- Atlantic City, has joined announcing staff at KYWi effective Dec. 23 . . . Program director Gordon Davis has lengthened two KYW programs-- Bob Benson’s “Midday Revue” has ♦ e ^^ ra minutes. Ruth Welles program has been increased to. 30 minutes , . . Tom Moorehead’s annual Christmas party for 400 orphans was held Saturday (19) at WFIL-TV . . > Dr. Max Becker, executive director of USO in Pennsylvania, presented rnerit certificate to Del Parks, WPEN’s wake-up disk,jockey for volunteer Work for service organizations . . . Ed Locke, staff announcer at WIP, leaves the station (31) to open his own recording studio . . , Dan Curtis, former WIP announcer, returns to staff, Jan. 1 , .. Sandy Stewart, local song- bird on Ernie Kovacs show, will switch to Robert Q. Lewis at the end of next month. W0R-TV Sladios Continued from page Z7 to WNBT, which does the Steve Allen stanza and several other ■shows .from there., According to Gaines “it’s too plus, too expen- sive for a local station.” Whether WOR-TV sells outright or leases the studio space is still in question. Naturally, the Gen- eral Teleradio people are going to try to get back as much of the original $3,000,000 investment as they can. Finding space for its two big shows is another facet which will help WOR-TV decide precisely what type deal will ul- tiimately be pacted. Up till now,- Gray, the new v p in charge, has been' eastern sales chief for WJR, Detroit, and WGAR Cleveland—the Goodwill stations The block-wide 67th street stu- dios' were tagged as “Television Square” when first opened in Jan- uary of ’52. St. Louis—Laurent Torno, Hut- ist with the St. Louis Symph orch |ior-"21“-yein’s^last^eek^TFsTih1ea - from the orch to conduct a pro- gram on KACY-TV, new station at Festus, Mo,, south of St. Louis. He will remain "as conductor of the Kirkwood, St. Louis County orch and on the faculties of the St! Louis Institute of Music and Com- munity Music School.* .f. vi- ^ , Seven keys to bigger TV audiences with such sales- making favorites as... □ ABBOn & COSTELLO SHOW 52 sure-fire comedies that click with ... kids and grownups alike in millions of homes, made especially for TV. Q BIFF BAKER, U S. A. Overseas intrigue in a fast-moving family adventure series of highest network quality. □ ROD CAMERON in CITY DETECTIVE Recently rated as the country ’s#l local film for television—and sold to Falstaff Beer in 118 markets for the largest regional sale in TV film history. FAMOUS PLAYHOUSE A super-assortment of oyer 175 original half-hour dramas with Hollywood names and sure sales appeal. □ FOLLOW THAT MAN The exciting “Man Against Crime” filmi (34.6 network Nielsen average) starring Ralph Bellamy, retitled for first-run in many TV cities. I’M THE LAW Starring George Raft in the unique adventures of a metropolitan police inspector, packed with sales punch. Qplayhouse 15 78 fifteen-minute dramas of highest quality made for TV by the producer of BIG STORY and T-MEN IN ACTION. They ALL bear the same MCA-TV stamp of quality! For information, on these or other MCA-TV Advertising Showcases on Film, ji this advertisement to your letterhead. NEW YORK: S96 Madisoit Ave.. PI 97500