Variety (September 1954)

WedneflcUy, September 22, 1954 RADIO-TELEVISION 27 'The quid pro quo, tit-for-tat season Is on for sure, with virtually all major “live” performers dating each other on the cross-plug route as the tv season gets under: full steam. Hot and heavy als6 are the ‘’trailers,” with last week’s skeins dominated by Robert Montgomery and Sid. Caesar exchanging courtesies on their respestive Inaugurals as a segue from NBC’s “Three-T\yo-One- Zero!” atomic energy oneshotter (and past Monday’s (20) star- stacked “soldiers in greasepaint’* gala at 8 to 9 p,m. aimed, in minute part, at least, as the “week before” targeting of the time slot as being the “rendered Unto Caesar” spot.) Martha Raye Will be the initial guest on next week’s (27) preemer of Steve Allen’s ‘‘Tonight” show, on the network, with Allen pencilled in to repay the courtesy on the comedienne’s up- coming Tuesday nighter (in the Berle-Hope time) . Berle, Hope, Jimmy Durante, Donald O’Connor, George Gpbel, Imogene Coca, et al., will be “dropping in” on sundry shows in return for future favors along the same assembly lines. It oushta be quite a “you-buy-from-me-ITl-buy-from-you” kick at the season’s start. Saga of Mike Miller Gives Heart To Aspiring TV Scripters Budding tv writers who’ve never been represented in the medium can take heart. It doesn’t happen often, but it happened to Mike Miller—in his 30s, married, couple of kids. Miller never did a tele- script in his life, but has been a diligent parlor critic while serving as copy chief for a Boston ad agen- cy, Herbert W. Frank. A couple of months ago Miller wrote hopefully to Talent Associ- ates and the letter wound up on the desk of David Susskind, part- ner in the packaging outfit Who happens to be a native of the Hub. Susskind replied in the usual vein —“always looking for writers, of course, but although nothing doing now, why not send in some sample scripts?” Miller did forthwith, applying his energies to “Jamie,” one of TA’s five shows, all of them dramatic. Susskind read the model and before you could say “boom rhike” Mike himself was flown ’ . Result, he’s now pacted as part , Of TA’s writing stable and already has moved bag, baggage .and fam- ily . into ' New- York. Meantime, Miller wrote four “Jamie” half- hours, first of which Will be show- cased next month, and will supply two additional scripts for a six-total in his baptismal season as a tele- writer. Real Technique' Variation on the where- aRe-the-new-writersrC o m i n g - from theme: Don Anton did the script for tomorrow’s (Thurs.) Kraft “TV Theatre” on ABC-TV, titled “Professor Jones and th Missing Link.” He’s a member of the ABC- TV technical crew working the Kraft show. DECISION AWAITED ON DuM ‘GOLDBERGS’ . Decision whether Vitamin Corp. of America continues with “The Goldbergs” DuMont after ex- piration of contract next month will be made Friday (24). VCA exec veep Larry Paskow said that his company is satisfied with the situation coniedy, but is Waiting to see if. the network can clear the top 40 video markets in a hew time period. . Stanza has .167 stations—39 of them What Paskow considered ma- jor markets—-but Bishop Fulton J. Sheen’s “Life Is Worth Livrtg” re- turns to DuMont next month after a summer hiatus, thus preempting “The Goldbergs” Tuesday at 8 p.m. time. The network, therefore, has to clear the needed 40, plus whatever other stations they can, in another hour for VCA (Rybutol) within the,.next couple of days; Butova and the Blow jkgetiby ire calling it quits after the first of the year. In terms of agency-client re- lations, the revelation comes as something of a bombshell to the Madison Ave. ad fraternity, since Buiova and Biow have practically been synonymous in the 33-year association between agency boss Milton . Biow and Arde Buiova, owner of the watch company. Just what precipitated the sud- den blowup, which came on Mon- day (20), is being kept pretty much under wraps, but it’s understood that Terry Clyne, veepee in charge of radio-tv and a key man on the account, is also leaving the agency. Whether he takes the, Buiova biz with him, as reported, could not be confirmed, with all parties con- cerned preferring to bypass any comment. It involves upwards of $5,000,000 i billings, most of it siphoned into radio-tv station breaks. In fact, the Buiova station-break fran- chises (for ..many years in radio, and now in tv) with the networks and stations has been the envy of the entire agency-client commer- cial roster, with Biow’s ability to Wrap up all the cream availabili- ties giving him a “wonder boy” status as far as Buiova was con- cerned. '..S Thus the breakup, reportedly due to agency-client conflict on. future policy, comes as the “surprise of the year” in agency circles. Mean- while reports were current that Biow would fall heir to the Benrus account. This Is for Free New York. Editor, Variety: ... You’ve never seen purple cow? Then, I can safely bet You haven’t yet. invested In a color tv set. Bob Colwell (S;S,C.&B.) KFSD (AM-TV) ON BLOCK FOR $2,227,500 Washington, Sept. 21, Application was filed f ith the FCC yesterday (Mon.) to sell sta- tions KFSD and KFSD-TV in San Diego to a company headed by ames G. Fox of the New York in- vestment firm of Fox, Wells & Co. Price of the stations is quoted at $2,227,500. Controlling interest in the sta- tions is presently held by Thomas E. Sharpe. Fox, Wells & Co. owns 26% of the stock .of WWOR-TV in Worcester, Mass. NBC-TV sales factotums were caught in the act of doing a series of nipUps last week aiient next week’s (27) inaugural of its “To- night” show starring Steve Allen in his major nighttime' webbery comer-outer. With some $450,000 in the participation till represent- ing gross sales, the Web figured on a coup d’coin hovering around half- a-million by preem time. In the counting house as of late last Week Was a total of 113 participations stemming from Chevrolet (10 shares of stock);. Cadillac (three); Polaroid (9); Westclox. (with 13 plugs and earmarked as an optional charter client), Broil Quick (39) and Helene Curtis (39 and also a “charter oaker ”) At the current pace, some of the “figger filberts” — including Joe Culligan—predict a cool $1,000,000 for Allen’s baptismal cycle, based on a starting skein of 3i stations (largely the basic outlets). Along with the “Tenting ‘To- night’ Story.” Was the web’s hand- springs for its T-H-T triumvirate on the sales graph—^meaning the triple participation daisy-chain em- bracing the going-on-three. “To- day,” the sixmonth baby “Home” and the show not yet ready to be separated from its umbie-chord, “Tonight.” ' The generally slow month of August produced spon- sorial bookings of $927,000 for the trio of “mag concept” stanzas, with “Today” accounting for $297,000 (Continued on page 36) ♦ Negotiations were reported un- derway last week to lease or sell th? Orpheum Theatre, Brooklyn, to a television network or station. With practically all available space in Manhattan—mostly legit—long since converted to tv uses (pre- ceded, of course, 1 by acquisition of such properties by the radio webs), Brooklyn is still virgin territory. NBC acquired the huge, property jat 1268 E. 14th St. in Brooklyn, but that was formerly a Warner Bros, soundstage, not a “house,” with the web having converted it to a color- cast studio that preemed with the Max Liebman-Betty Hutton spec- tacular. The network also has the Century Theatre in Manhattan for color and monochrome shows (hav- ing, lost both the Center and Inter- national to the wreckers). The Orph was for some years a yaudfilm house, and latterly a. Straight cinema in the RKO Keith- Orpheum Theatres chain, which has sold out to a syndicate headed by Max Hofmann, of Hofmann & Katz, attorneys. Property is as- sessed at $380,000 and the deal was a cash transaction over a mortgage of $130,000. House is a ,1,715-seater with a three-story building on Flat- bush Aye., and parcel consists of 16,500, square feet fronting on three streets. CBS-TV’s last acquisition in Man- hattan was the RKO theatre at W. 81st St. and Broadway, currently used for tintcasting. Both NBC and CBS afe acutely in need of other outside facilities, with ABC and DuMont also in line for expansion as local and,network programming mushrooms. NBC-TV (and CBS) can keep their spectaculars—NBC Radio has its own version of the biggies. They’re “auraculars” (“hit ’em in the ears"*). One of the sight hip- podromes occurs Oct. 4 as a 60- minute gala at 8 p.m. kudosing Paramount Pictures and its “White Christmas;” with Irving Berlin, Danny Kaye, Bing Crosby, and Rosemary Clponey booked for the stanza. Benrus Watches is paying the bills. But sooner than that--(although sustaining) is a two-hour NBC salute to Bing Crosby on his Decca Records 20th anni, slotted 6 to 8 o’clock next Sunday (26). Appear- ing Will be Paul Whiteman, Mary Martin, : Judy Garland and Bob Hope, with Gary Crosby emceeing. In the blueprint stage evolved under Ted Cott, web’s program v;p., are platter-and-talent tributes to Arturo Toscartini, Enrico Caruso and Louis Armstrong, plus a one- shotter on the Metopera. The Arm- strong show will be “Satchmo Special” based partly on his up- coming Prentice-Hall book, “Saitch- md—My Life in New Orleans.” GOBEL'S TALENT LINEUP Chicago, Sept, 21. Fred MacMurray has been igned as headline guest for the premier of George. Gobel’s NBC- TV Saturday ight show Which Starts Oct. 2. .Inked as musical director is John Scott Trotter and Peggy King as regular .yo^t, . Washington, Sept. 21. Hopeful that networks and other large operators now limited by the five-station tv ceiling can give “sub- stantial impetus” tb ultra high, the FCC last week amended its multi- ple ownership rules to allow li- censees two UHF interests in addi- tion to five VHF. The Commission said that' in view of the serious plight of ultra- high, particularly in areas “where the prestige, capital and know-how of the networks and other multiple owners would be most effective in aiding- UHF,” it was persuaded that the entry of the big operators into such key markets would give UHF strong boost. The agency emphasized, how- ever, that it is not departing from its policy of limiting concentration of control of the media. “The mul- tiple ownership Of broadcast sta- tions,” it said, “does play an im- portant. role in our nationwide broadcast system. The ownership of broadcast stations in major.mar- kets by the networks, for example, is an important element of net- work broadcasting. “Our nationwide system of broad- casting as we know it today quires that some multiple owner- ship be permitted. We have always recognised these needs and have by rule permitted multiple owner- ship of broadcast stations in the light of such (other and competing) considerations. Here too it is our view that the,, greater ,gpp4j Whiqtv wili flow from the proposed rule offsets the disadvantage resulting from permitting individual li- censees to own a larger number of stations.” Hennick’s Dissent The relaxation was voted over a vigorous dissent by Comr.. Frieda Hennock, who doubted it would substantially/contribute, to the so- lution of ultra, high prolilems^^he Commission’s aefibn, ‘she. said, ^ill- give “small comfort” to the' inde- pendent UHF! ‘ stations “who will see local channels granted tb net- works or other groups whose inter- ests are much less less closely ..re- lated to a particular community" . It will be no benefit at all to independent UHF broadcasters, who are in a critical condition be- cause of lack of network program- ming, to see the networks acquire UHF stations in the largest, : most profitable markets.” Miss Hennock also objected to putting an arbitrary limit on sta- tions without reference to their size or the markets in which they operate. “There is scant justifica- tion,” she said, “for giving equal treatment to seven widely scattered small stations and on the other hand to seven lairge powerful sta- tions serving major markets in metropolitan centers like New York.” Instead Of relaxing the restric- tions on multiple' ownership, Miss Hennock asserted, the Commission should strengthen them. “It is cer->|. tainly true,” she added, “that the independent UHF broadcasters urgently need help and that the development of a truly nationwide, competitive television system de- pends on their survival. I have strongly urged the adoption of a series of measures aimed at the real problem of equalizing their competitive opportunity as relative newcomers in a field ail but pre- empted by a number of powerful VHF interests. .The solution surely does not lie ;ih enlarging the. scope ibf multiple ownership;!’ . Comr. John C... DoeEfer,; while voting for the. relaxation, issued a concurring.; statement in. which he agreed with Miss Hennock at to using a numerical limitation on sta- tions-as the basis for controlling monopoly. ‘The number of stations a licensee may own and operate,” he said, “is perhaps one of the most important policy matters this Com- mission is called Upon to decide. “I have grave doubts as to the wisdom of picking a ‘number’ with- out more, reliable arid persuasive, evidence that the number chosen will in all cases mark the upper, limits of what will safeguard the public interest. A number related to population, or areas, or capacity to program in the public interst, is a more realistic guide Of stand- ard than a bare numerical evalua- tion. There is not much more than intuition as the basis for the pres- ent rule.” The relaxation was generally supported by the, UHF, industry. ABC Radio continued its late sales drive last week, signing on five new bankrollers and renew- ing five others, four of which spon- sor half-hopf religious shows. New business came largely in the Tield of news, ith Oidsmobile latching on to a. new 12-a-week nighttime news package for a three-week stay and A. C. Gilbert, the toy- makers, inking for three pre-Christ- mas weeks on the web’s weekend news package. Oldsmobile’s buy is on a newly-: created four-nights-weekly, thrice nightly buy of five-minute news- casts at 8:25,’9:25 and 10:25, Tues- day-thru-Friday. Purchase gives the web six fiveiminute sponsored newscasts nightly for the Tuesday- Friday period, with Aero-May- flower picking up the tab on 7:55, 8:55 and 9:55 airings. The A. C. Gilbert buy brings the weekend package of 22 fiVe-minute Satur- day-Suriday newscasts to one week (Continued on page 42) TALENT ASSOCIATES IN SIXTH TV ENTRY Talent Associates brings its sixth tv'er into the arena, its first local show and also its first non-dramatic stanza in “Finders Keepers.” It’s a quizzer starting on WABD, N-. Y.,. flagship of DuMont, Oct. 7 in the 7:30 p. m. slot With Coca-Cola Bot- tlers sponsoring. Fred Robbins will, be the emcee. TA is represented on the webs with five properties, “Jamie” (ABC), “TV Playhouse, . “Circle Theatre,” “Justice” and “Mr. Peep- ers” (NBC). Bridgeport, Sept. 21. Stan Shaw, veteran dee jay, exited from WICC after stay of less than two months. Tur -.fabler an- nounced he was leaving for other Commitments, WICC sales department had made some sales but understood progress wasn’t as anticipated.