Variety (May 1954)

Muy 12 , 1954 Ob 7 LA. Stations; Trend to Vidpix Hollywood, May 11. There's been a sharp cutback in live programming On the seven Los Angeles telestations, with a hy- poed interest in telefilms, particu- larly the half-hour segment, a" sur- vey of the channels discloses. More and more live program- mers are being axed in fftvor of the half-hour vidpix segment, which channel ops feel is the most profitable. Only one channel, KHJ- TV, has more live programming than film, and that’s a temporary situation due to its baseball tele- casts, the station normally having more film shows. Operators give varying reasons as to the enthusiasm for the tele- film, but it all boils down to eco- nomics. Some say live shows have increased so much in cost they just can’t find a profitable way of stag- ing them. Indie stations say that the vidfilm packages-provide their best opportunity of competing with the webs. Situation iii some chan- nels is so drastic on the cutback on live programming, that at least' one manager reports his employees are demoralized because of the ad- vent of film. ‘W can’t keep them interested as they were when we had mainly live shows,** he ob- serves. KNXT program chief Don Hine says it’s strictly a matter of eco-' nomics, and adds. "We are very definitely on the lookout for good syndicated telefilm programming for the fall, when we expect to have a half-hour cross-the-board open up. There is a tremendous trend toward syndication. The fea- ture film market is down here; only a few new film packages are being offered, and the prices they ask are too high for us. Particularly so, since our Class A and B time is . sold out, and such pictures would have to he in the .Class C time, -> where we couldn’t pay such prices. Figure our kines in witn our tele- films and feature film, and that’s 70% or 80%'of our programming. I need projectors—not directors.” Helps Compete With Webs KTTV, which, has long led in telefilm programming and still does today, bas about 55% of its programming on celluloid, either through the vidpix or features. Program director Bob Breckner comments, <r We were the first to see the light on tv film as a natural competitor for audiences. We find it our best means to compete With* the networks. 5 As a result, we’re al- ways watching for new tv film shows, and are on top of every one from the breathing stage on. Price is down on feature films.” Channel has more than 30 vidfilm shows. At KABC-TV, manager Frank King notes an increase in film the | past year, and like some of his col- leagues, says it’s due to econortiics. "Unions have increased the cost of live shows, and since the buyer of such shows* has a static budget in a seven-Jhacket area, it’s discour- aged live tv considerably. In L. A. the tv pie must be cut seven ways. If the sponsor finds tv too ex- pensive, he will go back to radio, so we must be careful not to price ourselyes out of the market. We have bought feature films, and re- run them five nights in a row. We’re sold out on this segment, and find it an economical way ° of programming. We’re also looking for tv film.” A KCOP spokesman estimates 60% to 65% of the programs on channel 13 are film, eithej telefilm or features. "Increasing costs of live shows have caused a- trend to film. We’re almost forced to it,” he states. KNBH program chief Dean Craig feels a lot of it has to do with tv Jaeing a new medium, that "read- justment on live tv 4s foreseeable a year from now.We find elaborate syndicated packages in telefilm for a fraction of the cost of a live show,” he sstys. Craig is reluctant to see the trend to film, asserting "immediacy is an important factor in tv. We’re not going to all-film programming by any means.” He feels there is a definite place for certain types of shows live, men- tioning panel programs as an ex- ample. KHJ-TV general manager John Reynolds comments, "It’s the old story—you can’t do live what you can do on film." He says hisrehan- nel normally has 51 film program- ming, but with the bsfseball season on, it’s 75%'live. However, Rey- nolds is already on the lookout for telefilm to run when. the season’s over. “We find the half-hour tele- vision film the best deal, and we’re shopping for it," he reports. At KTLA, it’s 55% film pro- gramming, and pretty much the same old story as that told -by the other channels. BBC-TV Ups Reel Fee y London, May 4. BBC-TV.hai upped its minimum price for film rentals £15 ($42) a reel. The previous minimum was £5 ($14) r with $42 ’as the ceiling. Increased film rental rates were the results of representations by the Assn, of Specialized Film Pro- ducers. tinder the new pact, there is no stipulated maximum and that figure is open to negotiations. WABC-TV’s Saturation Run With ‘Rnggles’ Tdekines WABC-TV, ABC flagship station in New York, continues to set rec- ords for the frequency with which it uses film. Station just concluded a deal for 26-week unlimited use of 26 "The Buggies” telekines from United Television Programs, and '{Haas to run the film twice, daily, cross-the-board, at 5:30-6 p. m. and 11-11:30 p. m. Station will be using the films 260 times in the 26-week period, and with only 26 pix involved, it means each film will be used 10 times over «the six-month period. Deal for the pix was -set by Aaron Beckwith, UTP Gotham veep. That eight-week, summer replace- ment Campbell Soups js planning for its Friday night NBC “Campbell Soundstage" is causing a good deal of consternation among telepix distribs. While virtually " all the major distribs are pitching for the segment, none is too happy over, the price BBD&O is offering for a package. The hooker, of course, is" fact that the agency is shopping* for a permanent replacement for "Soundstage” for the fall, and all the telepix outfits are angling for* the inside track. Understood Campbell is willing to pay only $8,000 net for a rerun film series, a price which most tele- pix outfits consider way out .of line. Regular deal on a running network series usually calls for the sponsor to pay half the original price- for reruns, which means about $12,000 commissionaire for the average half-hour series. What makes the Campbell propo- sition particularly painful'to the distribs is that it’s an eight-week run, making the series a tough one to syndicate after the network run. Campbell network is expected to run 60-80 markets, with virtually every one of these markets tough to sell because of the eight-week factor. But the lure of that fall availability is keeping the distribs in pitching, ' \ » Princeton Center Preps Three Industrial Pix Three industrial pix for tv are on the production agenda of Prince- ton Film Center. Firm has started production on an as yet untitled half-hour show for the Bureau, of Independent Publishers & Distribu- tors aqd is propping pix for In- gersoll-Rand Co. and • Structural Clay Products Corp. •’ Publishers' pic, being shot in color with Martin Jones directing, deals with magazines and the part they play in American life. Inger- soll-Rand, also in color, shows use of pneumatic tools. Structural Clay film demonstrate# use of burnt clay- products in construc- tion. •—•- & say . fellows! . . ; another yeqr.has gone by and the ; : s j.} ] ; ■ ; \ NARTB convention rs with us again. ; . : . REMEMBER THE MM CALENDAR? \ # • • ' “ k » »• ^ { 7 m ' y . T» • * Watch for this space in the next issue . . . a-special announcement of great interest you anchyour sponsor. ! a 1 2l 1 So. Beverly Blvd. * , Beverly Hills, California BEVERLY HILLS • HOLLYWOOD • NEW YORK BeVarfy Hills ... CR 5-1074 • New York ... PL 1-0234 FIRESIDE THEATRE * (Beyond the Cross)' _ 0 There’s a good deal of interest generated in this offbeat vehicle jvith a touch of tiie supernatural. Interest focused on an amnesia victim, a. man f \vh6 doesn’t know His past, hut knows he has a mis- sion to. perform,- and the strpnge manned in . which:-he eventually suceeds provides the basis of the well-constructed teleplay penned by Curtis Kenyon, and based on an original bjr Dana Burnett. Pro- ducer-director Frank Wisbar, tack- ling a difficult subject, has reined it with a sensitive, firm understand- ing of the emotions involved. * V An American_a ’ World War II flyer, goes back to France on his [ honeymoon, and it’s there he meets the amnesia victim, a dead-ringer for a buddy killed.In the war. Falteringly, reluctantly almost, the stranger tells of his amnesia, that he knows he has a mission to do* .and* it’s hero in France thaf he will solve the mystery. Eventually, the stranger meets thfe French girl the man he resembles loved, and he convinces her the dead man did love her. That’s the reAson he came back from "beyond the cross." And then the stranger vanishes. John Hudson as the amnesia victim gives a realistic perform- ance, while Peter Graves, Suzanne Dalbert and Beverly Tyler are fine in lesser roles. Daku. SCHLITZ PLAYHOUSE (Dawn at Damascus) This spool of celluloid opens and closes with Paula Corday and that’s recommendation enough for any- one to enjoy the brief- feast of beauty. She’s also through the picture with Gene Raymond, so that gives both wings of the family a*visual delicacy to tempt the emo- tions. They light up “Dawn of Damascus” pictorially to atone for the play’s dramatic shortcomings, plotted dramatics that have been around longer than the oil gushing from Arabian welis, the revolving situation of this tale. • Miss Corday is not only a looker but can act more than a little and reads her lines with a slight accent, which is not out of line in the oily milieu of the Far East. She’s the femme fatale of the piece and a two-timing dame that most guys wouldn’t mind because of her fatal charm. Raymond, an American engineer among the Arabs, gets caught in her web and is all primed for a spinning when' his man- servant expbses the plot on his life by eavesdropping on her diary. She’s not a smart dame or she wouldn't write about it or leave her diary lying around loose. Given a gun to shoot with, she gets trigger-happy when her bedrodni is invaded and the slug intended for Raymond gets bedded in her husband’s anatomy. Donald Murphy - and Harold Gordon abet the handsome leads witlucompetence, and the direction of Jus Addis mounts a fairish suspense down to the last double cross. Schlitz gets good impact for its beer by tying in with, the locale. Helm. PEPSI COLA PLAYHOUSE (The Sound of Silence) ' If Gene McDonald, proxy of Zenith, knew about this young girl’s plight, he would have sent her a hearing aid long before she was led out of her world of silence, It’s on this promise that a romance is threaded through a succession of obstacles that would discourage most swains but not our artist hero, who climbs walls and defies all authority to win over his dqaf friend a£ter a whirlwind courtship. If not taken too seriously, it can be enjoyed with limitations. ' Within the walled confines of hAr father’s mansion; Sallie Brophy is kept a virtual prisoner. Her long- ing for a friendly face or an ardent kiss comes to pass when Jack Kelly takes his pallet and brushes to the grounds to put her on canvas. The father, Carl Benton Reid, shags him away and finally has him jailed for trespassing, hut love like theirs can melt iron bars. He finally relents and exposes his own selfish- pess as a simulated deaf >mute to share his daughter’s own closed wbrld of sileht/b. Ip the wrapup he tells of th^auto accident that killed his wife and caused the girl to lose her hearing. t ' ^ *Kclly- is plausible enough as the persistent lover even if the script is lacking in beltevability, Miss Brophy gives her part an appealing warmth, and Held’s stem demean or carries an authoritative punch. Richard Irvjtog mixed the poignan- cy and emotional eruptions well in his direction.' . . ' - Helm. ADVENTURE IN FREEDOM With Sir Cedric Hardwlcke. others Producer-Dlrecton Victor Vicas Writer: Michael Elkins - Six quarter-hours . UNITED JEWISH APPEAL "Adventure In Freedom” is a package of half-a-dozen vidpix made under United Jewish Appeal aegis to hyfco its current campaign throughout the U; S. In addition to WABC-TV; N. Y., where first show was viewed Sunday (9), sev- eral other telestations have the se- ries in tow*. First pic* "Jerusalem, My^City,” was basically a smooth travelog about the ancient -town. However, to emphasize the jo*b being done by Israel since gaining its freedom, the "before and after” theme was repeated too often. In near rapid-fire sequences, all artistically photographed (although the grain was a little fuzzy at times), the riahza moved from mar- kets to conservatories, factories, buildings, religious feasts; etc., in each case pointing to improvement oyer the past. Though thb motif was strained, the places shown make interesting' matter for tv audiences. Film clips of Sir Cedric Hard- wicke introducing and closing the "Adventure” were included to re- mind the purpose of the series^ the UJA’s need for funds. Charlotte, N. C.—Lacy Sellars, assistant program director and film supervisor for Jefferson Standard Broadcasting "Co.’s tele- vision station, WBTV, Charlotte, has been named television pro- gram supervisor, replacing J. Wil- liam Quinn, who has been appoint- ed managing director of the broadcasting company’s Florence, S. C., television station.' TV FILM STUDIO FOR RENT 17 mlnutat from midtown LONG OR SHORT TERM tEASI Urqtot stop** In tb^lqsL,^ 100 *00-40 x 40 Now available offor two yoort continuous’ occupancy of "Mon Against Crimo;" * ‘ Tel.'. LUDLOW 4Mt BEDFORD PARK FILM STUDIOS, Inc. 2B24 DECATUR AVfc., BR£NX, N.Y.