Variety (July 1954)

TV-FILMS *% Wednesday? Inly 14, 1954 45 & on Telepix distributors, beset with* the problem of overlapping mar- kets, are beginning to face a new phase of the problem, the overlap created by community antenna sys- tems. Thus far, it’s .appeared only ]n isolated instances, but as more antenna systems spring up, and more' important, a$ more stations take to the air in markets already equipped with antenna systems, the problem’s bound to grow more severe. Latest case occurred in. a small western market, which has been receiving programs from the .Coast via its closed-circuit community antenna system. A local station rer cently went on the air in the mar- ket, and a telepix distrib ap- proached the station with its show. Station said it couldn’t very well buy the show, although' it wanted it, because it was being received by the residents Via the antenna pickup (from a station over 150 miles away). Syndicator thus has lost out on that particular market, but at the same time isn’t collecting from the Coast market for the added cover- age afforded via the antenna pick- up. Other distribs point out that the station should pay an addi- tional fee if its signal is picked up by an antenna system, reason be-, ing that stations usually include system subscribers in tHWr cover- age data and rate card considera- tions. But there’s two problems here: A syndicator can’t alter an existing contract, and more im- portant, if the show is sold to a sponsor rather than a .station, he - (Continued on page 46) The first in a possible series of 12Vfc-minut.e vidpix has been turn- ed out and “tested” in four eastern markets by Standard Oil (N.J.). David Anderson, radio-video boss for the oil firm, is weighing the re- action to the film about world-wide oil efforts before clearly deciding whether he will make a series of 13 or more. At present, there are about five In all. The vidpix were constructed for Esso by Telenews from between 150,000 and 200,000 feet of film, originally and solely done to pro- vide the “Esso Reporter” tele stanza with a maximum of two onb- minute institutional commercials a week. Also being mulled by Ander- son is whether the films, which are distributed for free by his office, should be cleared for sale by sta- tions. A good part of his decision will rely bn the reaction of the four stations who have seen or used the pilot vidpic, one of which is WFIL- TV, Philly, as well as from reac- tion by; other stations next fall. Distribution is limited to Esso (N.J.) domain, unless requests come from outlets elsewhere in the coun- try, and then promise must be had that the corporate title will be de- leted from the film to avoid any anti-trust hassle. Each film is be- ing brought home for around $4,000, and in some instances for almost $5,000—this with narrator, editing, etc., included. 1 ■ J Matson Sues CBS For 10G on Coronation Pix Los Angeles, July 13. ,. Harry J. Matson filed suit for $10,000 in Superior Court, charging CBS with refusal to return his film of. the coronation of King George VI. Plaintiff declares he has. never received any part of the $10,000, which he says was the price of the film. He claims farther that CBS cut the film from one* hour to 18 minutes and has held ,-on to it, thereby depriving, him of the.right to sell it to others. George T. Schupert ffniMint, ABC film Division) '•ski TV Film Syndication- Friend or Foe of the Networks? ■ # ■ V •a loteresHpif editorial feature Is the 9th Annual Radio and, Television Review & Preview Number •f Problems Mount The complexity of distribution problems among vidfilmers caused one of them to formally request' that the NARTB set yp a film ad- visory unit within its walls. An outgrowth of the NARTB conven- tion in. May, the issue was broach- ed again last week by Saul Turell, topper at Sterling Television, In a letter to Thad H.. Brown, video veep of NARTB. TureR mentioned that while in Chi he discussed the matter with several other distribs and station men, and there Seemed to be gen- eral agreement as to the need for an NARTB film advisory setup, the present film committee of that or- ganization not being enough. “With the tremendous growth of new stations and increasing importance of film, the resulting problems have become overwhelming for many of the smaller stations and even some of those in the major cities. NARTB should be able to offer a service which would great- ly help both the stations and dis- tributors,” Turell said in the letter to Brown. Turell listed five facets he felt necessary to “to help in the com- petent handling of problems”: (1) organizing and training personnel in new film departments; (2) knowl- edge of film availabilities; (3) know-how in scheduling vidpix stanzas; (4) integration with sales setups to .turn film properties into a profit “and not a loss,” and (5) a Clearing house on vidpix histories and other film properties available to video. Although not specified, the last four points in Turell’s suggestion to Brown were generally embraced by TVAB, the station sales promo- tion organization which is now planning merger with an NARTB adjunct to service the industry. Of the film committee now part of NARTB, Turell noted that “while serving an excellent purpose it is not basically equipped for full time operation that this job entails.” He mentioned a few likely prospeets for the job as head of the film ad- visory group, including Elizabeth Rain of Chicago, A1 Odeal, Cleve- land, and Russ Landers in L.A. Zasu’s Telepix Series A1 Knudsori and Tony Rivers have signed Zasu Pitts to star in a new telepix series titled /Lady Law.” Ifs a comedy segment about an eccentric spinster with a pen- chant for detective stories. Knudson is rqdio-tv director ^ the Allen Christopher agency and formerly was with ABC. Rivers is with Young America Films as pro- ducer of “Silver Cloud,” a kidpix series. Deal On Edward D. Madden (v.p. mad gtnaral mPnagtr at MPTV) discusses Of Mice and Vidpix Men • bright vjsditarlal feature la the 9th Annual , Radio and Television Review & Preview Number a# . I^AttiEfr OVT SOON Television Programs of America made its* biggest coup to date last week, by selling “Halls of Ivy” to International Harvester on a na- tional basis for 40 or more mar- kets. Understood the time and talent cost to Harvester will run some $4,000,000, in itself one of the largest national spot deals ever made. Understanding with which Har- vester bought the series is that an alternate sponsor can move In, ih which case Hgrvetoter will expand its coverage to 80 markets. It will stay with 40 if It goes on an every- week basis. TPA is Understood to be negotiating with three or four other national bankrollers on the alternate week availability. Har- vester deal was set via the Leo Burnett agency, which is . now aIaamImi* ikn 4 ima a Im .lrA«r By BOB CHANDLER Techniques of shooting and processing color film for television have reached the point where the tintfilm is now ready for use on the' air. That’s the consensus of agency, producer and network tint experts following demonstrations of experimental color program and commercial footage over the past two weeks. Topper was a demon- stration Monday (12) of some 35 product packages. shown Over a closed - circuit in five color processes. Demonstration was arranged by the Film Producers Assn, in coop- eration with NBC and held at the web’s ColOnial Theatre (N. Y.) color headquarters. Results dra- matically pointed up the fact that research by producers, labs and i networks has brought color film techniques a long way since less than a year ago, when that same Film Producers Assn: raised the cry* “What happens to us 5 in this, tint age?” That the producers have been well taken care of (and they’ve done most of the work theinselves, With a big technical assist from NBC) was bOr/ie out by the demon- stration, which displayed footage which while tagged "experimen- tal,” could easily have gone-on air and matched any live commercials or studio programs thus far shown, And to carry it a step further, at last week's joint National Tele- vision Film COunCil-NBC demon- stration, when the film was pre- ceded by a live studio show, one agency exec said it was better than the live and had everyone in the room in agreement. FPA demonstration had some 35 product packages in the five dif- ferent color processes most in use —16m Kodachrome, 16m Techni- color (reduced from 35m), 16m Eastman (ditto), 35m Techni and 35m Eastman. Each process was run off in a strip, with the viewers thus enabled to compare results on each package in the different processes. The Kodachrome was best received, showing more sharp- ness than all the others, less tend- ency to bleed. better consistency and better all-round balance. But this partially resulted from the fact that the transmission controls were left in the same adjustment for all the 16m and the 35m. Ordi- narily, the color engineer can com- pensate for chroma values at his controls. Still a Few Problems What the FPA and NTFC dern- onstrations, as well as on-the-air film showings by NBC and CBS week before last, showed, is that no one process can he classified as best. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages, its own values. Producers will have to pick ac- cording to the purposes of the film, how it will be shown, how often, where, etc. But what was pointed up was that all processes can turn out satisfactory and in most cases, superior color pictures (Continued on page 46) KAUFMAN TO EUROPE ON GT VIDPIX DEAL Arnold Kaufman, General Tele- radio braintruster, departed yes- terday (Tues.) for Europe to con- fer with toppers at Primrose Pro- ductions on the remainder of the fairly tale vidpix still to be shot. Aside from the confabs in London with Primrose’s Louis Hagen and series - creator Lotte Reineger, Kaufman is also expected to be eyeing new product for the GT Film Division. At present, -GT Is negotiating with a handful of national spot ad- vertisers concerning turning the stop-motion fairy tales into a 15- minute series. If this falls through, then firm will consider . further offers to sell the pi* locally, either syndicated as. a series or as film’ filler for existing juve shows. Princeton Film Center is plan- ning a series of public service films •in conjunction with Who’s Who based on the biogs of public figures listed in the book. It’s planned to base the first film on the Douglas brothers, U. S. Supreme Court Jus- tice William O. and Staller Hotels prexy Arthur F. No date for shoot- ing has been set yet, but Who’s Who has okayed the plan and is helping finance the first film. Princeton has five other new series in various stages of prog- ress. It’s preparing to combine some of its 52 five-minute “Norman Brokenshire at Home” pix into quarter-hour segments, shooting new bridges with Brokenshire, and to produce some brand new ones in addition. It’s completed the first “Road We Travel” pic and is pitch- ing . ijt at national and regional bankrollers, and doing the* same with the* Tim Holt show, of which it’s finished two. It’s gotten back “The Resolute,” the Marine Corps series being produced by Princeton prexy Gordon Knox, Martin Jones and Henry Olmsted from the Wil- liam Morris agency, which repped it for a period, and is pitching that. Princeton already has one institu- tional sponsor in the bag and is close to signing the other two for Its “Rural Review” farm show. Final property, “State Trooper,” hasn’t been shot yet but has an okay from the New Jersey State Police. • Knox anticipates an upturn in the production of commercials in a month or so, when Princeton sets up a commercial studio in N. Y. Studio is owned by Olmsted and is near completion. It’s primarily a sound studio, but Princeton will move in lights and equipment to shoot commercials. Knox says that while the firm has had solid com- mercial business, fact that its stu- dios have been in Princeton has been a hindrance to new business. With a N. Y. operation, cpmmer-, cial phase of Princeton’s operations should undergo a substantial up- beat. $heppard to England Toronto, July 13. Richard (Dick) Sheppard, film supervisor for S. W. Caldwell, Canadian production and distribu- tion outfit, flew‘to England for three weeks of huddles with British packaging houses and BBC-TV CX6CS# He'll also huddle with potential advertisers for Britain’s upcoming commercial video system with an eye toward expansion of their coverage to include Canada. He’s slated to deliver several talks on Canadian tv to commercial groups In the U. K. wicaiiU5 uic time mat acj iiia&nvio* Starting date is not set, but will be in the fall. Deal serves to get TPA well off the hook on the Ronald Colman- Benita Hume series, since the budget pricetag on the pix has been quoted at over $40,000. If TPA were to put it into straight. syndication, it would be at prices way above the norm (TPA’s price .for N. Y. was $6,000, for example), which would have meant a tough sell. Series was being pitched as a network entry, but scarcity of availabilities made Harvester go spot. It’s TPA’s second national deal, incidentally, with “Lassie” already set for a Sunday at 7 CBS- TV ride for Campbell Soups. Pix to WCBS-TV An unusual deal'has been enters ed into between WCBS-TV, N,Y. and American-British TV Movies whereby the CBS flagship; will showcase a number of pix that are currently in theatrical release. Chief among them are “Scotch bn the Rocks,” which has just closed a run at the Trans-Lux 60th Street, and “Edge of Divorce,” with Va- lerie Hobson starred, which open- ed last week at the Plaza. According to William Lacey, manager of the station’s feature films department, the total of 28 properties pacted is the most im- portant British package to reach this country for the home screens. Thirteen of the films date from 1952 forward and other go back to 1947-8. WCBS-TV will benefit from the “first New. York telecast” blurb when it begins to unreel the films in October. Howev.er, a stag- gered arrangement calls for four features to be held back until some time after their distribution to N.Y. theatres, with the expecta- tion that these will be shown on the station in December-January and thereafter. 2 SETS OF VIDPIX ON BOXING AGENDA *. There are two outfits selling fight vidfilm now—Bill Cayton with the International Boxing Club frays and Manny Baum’s potpourri of pugilism pix. Both Cayton and Baum, after a six-year association in delivering “Greatest Fights of the Century" for Chesebrough via NBC-TV, break officially next month because Cayton did not pick up the option oh Baum’s proper- ties. ;> In the meantime, the IBC fights go to Cayton since he’s made a renewal with Sports Films, film arm of IBC. When the split is final- , ized, the “Greatest Fights” title I will revert completely to Baum, whose office reports he is now dickering with a national sponsor for his films. Cayton is going into syndication under the title of “World's Greatest Fighters—In Ac- tion.” Baum outfit says that its films will not go NBC again, since l the web bas preempted the time.