Variety (October 1954)

f ' • r . ' . .» Wcdneeday, October 6, 1954 t^AKIETY TV-FILMS 49 Continued from page 21 sistence upon sticking with the webs on the ayem audience partici- pation. shows and afternoon soap- ers. Reard’s offering the biggest pro- motion'in WBAL’s annals to bring to prominence his plans for a re- vamped schedule. A1 Ross, emcee of a top. morning stanza, also picked up an exec title, becoming supervisor of music, In a major .shift, deejay Lee Case is taking over gab reins in the 12:30-3:30 p.m. slot, three hours of music with five-minute news breaks, (To aug- ment the three-hour show a deal was inked with KLAC on the Coast for a series of open-rend tapes car- rying interview sessions with disk stars, including Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Eddie Fisher, Jo Staf- ford, et ai.) Another daytime, move calls for Jay Grayson to step in as deejay during the 5:30 p.m, half- hour. WISN, under Harry Peek manage- ment, starts with early ayem Jack Denton’s “Early Risers’ Club,” the emcee being a bistro entertainer as well as former gagman for Red Skelton and Milton Berle. Paul Bartell moved over to WISN, which is a 5,000 watter on the CBS line, from another Milwaukee outlet to do the noon-to-1 segment and the two-and-three-quarter hpurs from 3 p.m. on. At 9 p.m. Jack Raymond does “folksy” hour called the “Wishing Well” during which he makes a big thing of family cele- brations—birth, marriages, etc. Both stations have stepped up news operations. WISN has im- ported Roger Krupp from the Coast. He’ll . handle two news- casts a night for the Milwaukee Hears! station. British TV Continued from page 25 Duncan Ross, tv documentary scripter and director, had ankled the BBC to join an advertising agency, was followed last week by the news that Dicky Leeman, pro- ducer of “What’s' My Line?” is leaving at th.e end of the year. He’s joining the C. J. Lytle ad agency, as tv executive. The BBC, however, expects its biggest talent jolt if the newly- formed Incorporated . Television Program Co. Ltd., is named as a program contractor, as this group, headed by Prince Littler, .Val Parr hell, Lew Sc Leslie Grade, Harry Alan Towers and Phil and Sid Hyams, will be able to tie up top performers a'fid producers in every branch of entertainment,, as well as having access to many U.St artists with international reputations. Definite announcement in regard to the appointment of program con- tractors is expected within a week Sir Kenneth Clark, chairman of the Independent Television Au thority, promised at a recent press confab, that they would be named by about Oct. 10, as he’s due to leave for the U S. a week later. It’s officially admitted that more than 20 applications have been re- ceived, but there has been no clue as to the number likely to be ap- pointed, either for the main web in London, or for the local stations in the midlands and north. Insiders are confident that Incorporated Television will get the nod among the first batch of acceptances, and are also strongly tipping Sidney L, Bernstein and Norman Collins as top contractors. Altogether, the new* commercial Web will be bri the air for 35 hours a week, including two hours each afternoon for housewives and chil- dren. It’s expected that most of the programming will be on film, so that it can be offered to over- seas markets; by the same token, ar flood of Arnerica.n telepix pro- duction? is anticipated in Britain* and sales execs from leading U.S. distributing organizations are qh ready surveying the prospects. Gleason « Continued from page 23 with the mechanical roster of his show are good or bad, or whether Saturday’s hassle was a hangover from last season as far as the star and his crew are concerned. Ac cording to' some, inside sources familiar with Hollywood and N. Y. telecasting, there are fewer union obstacles to hurdle on Coast,-origi- nating shows. But personalities are also involved geographically. A CBS spokesman said it is ‘'ridic- ulous’* to Say that Gleason threat- ened to make a hasty exit/ “Let’s not forget thait he’s a veteran trouper and wouldn’t walk away from a show,” he said. Appraising The U. S. Radio-TV Writer Blues In The Night Continued from page 23 posed into a “what may come” that is aggravating tempers and creat- ing no little unrest. Some sponsors, committed to unprecedented bud- gets on bankrolling the specs, ,are already squawking. The first “casr ualty”. among major show biz per- sonalities has already been re- corded, with Betty Hutton making no bones over the “heartbreak” re- action ‘to the “Satins and Spurs” inaugural spec in announcing her retirement. When* a few days back, NBC prexy Pat Weaver shrugged off the initial indifferent ratings on the. basis that “it’s the new concept” that counts, some were inclined to interpret it as a face-saving dec- laration. There’s no denying that the whole intent of the big-big-big shows was to deliver spectacular ratings that would literally; blot but the competition. Up to now they haven’t even begun to: achieve this potential. Too, as color attractions (one of the major factors in boosting pro- duction costs that would put a top Broadway musical bankroll to; shame), it ! s probably the “biggest secret of the century,” with only a bare minimum of tint sets avail- able. True, it’s generally recog- nized that the networks merit nothing but praise for taking .the coin rap (not all. of it, by a long shot, is passed on to the sponsor) while eliminating the kinks in pre- paring for the day when prismatic tv will be all-encompassing. But on the other hand, complaints have been mounting that good black- and-white definition is being sacri- ficed because of the concentration on color production. So far as NBC is concerned, and to a lesser degree with CBS, it’s a problem that transcends the pro- grams themselves. Practically all the major agencies and sponsors have a stake in the outcome, not so much specs and “baby specs” in themselves, but in the whole auxiliary program schedule, in view of their commitments on new patterns which permit the net- works to preempt their time and shows, etc. In terms of the agency and the client,: this is new and revolution- ary thinking to which they haven’t yet conditioned themselves. Nor, for that matter, to the fact that; with the continued upbeat in par- ticipating sponsorship whereby several clients are riding the same program, few are the sponsors left today who can call a star or a show their own, Too many would like to go back to the old way. Continued from page 23 Continued from page 45. (“Sudden. Fear,” “Pandora ‘and the Flying Dutchman”), claims the Australian setup is ideal for film- making (so much so that he’s taken a lease on the studio for two and a half additional years and plans more theatrical production there), with lots of natural advantages for location shooting. Kaufman says all the beach scenes were shot right back of the studios (the ; Page- wood Studio, the only large-sized one ' Australia), with forest scenes also shot near the studio and at the National Forest a half- hour away. Sea scenes were shot at Botany Bay, only four miles dis- tant, Kaufman had to bring in all the equipment necessary for shooting, blit otherwise the operation was self-contained, even to the point of constructing the ships and build- ing the miniatures. English and Australian actors are being used, and local technicians (whom Kauf- man* termed excellent but scarce) are handling the production. Entire project, he said; has built Austra- lian-U.S. goodwill and government cooperation i.s wholehearted. Films won’t be a„ straight play on the “Trealsure Island” theme, but each epi,so.de will be different, with humor playing an important role. Casting of Miss Gilchrist, op- posite Newton in a sort of “Min and Bill” coupling .further makes for offbeat pirate scripts. Kaufman hasn’t set: any. deals yet op the series, but. is biding its time until the feature winds its playdates. casting. Norman Cbrwin listening to “Under Milk Wdod” would have every right to be inwardly happy about clearing a path, alpng which Dylan Thonrias could advance to a last, great triumph in sound. In the best of B.B.C. programming today * one cannot escape, hearing the echoes of the enthusiastic, exuber- ant adventures of the outsiders who made America's “Third,” They matured in the age of Roosevelt, and shared that refreshed faith in a democratic America which found chaotic but lively expression in the W..P.A. Arts Projects, the flowering of Orson Welles, the new. ballad styles of Earl Robinson, John La- touche and Millard Lampell. Like Corwin, everyone who. toiled in those marginal Vineyards of Ameri- can radio turned outwards to look at the changing dynamic World around them, and founded the lit- erary radio forms. worthy of the beauty, truth and excitement they had discovered anew in. their countrymen, their history and their hopes: They were always tinkering with new effects, and blending trial ingredients of words, music and sound. Out of their^ex- periments they shaped expression in sound that was a new literature. These outsiders, who wrote and produced with the insolent fresh- ness of pioneers, may have existed precariously on the periphery of network schedules—as the window- dressing—but when the tiards were down they turned out to be much closer than that to the heart of America. When war came, it wa§ they — Corwin, Robson, Shayon, McDougall, Lomax, Laurents, Ber- ger, Sloane; Perl, to name a few —who were best equipped to sound the struggle’s highest emotions and sharpest reality* arid finally to pro- claim the victory. The history of post-war radio is decline and fall. With so much of the national audience seduced and held by television, the old-es- tablished structure is no longer profitable. Radio networks,are be- ginning to wither away; their pro- gram budgets have been cut to the bone, individual radio stations will have to find specialized means of survival; many will concentrate. On recorded music, both classical and, popular; others will devote themselyes primarily to news and. community services; some may even sink to the level of the few Latin-American stations which pro- vide. nothing but time announce- ments every minute on the minute with advertisements sandwiched between tile ticktocks of eternity. American radio as a continuing market for new creative writing Will have soon disappeared. There has been another oDening of another show: television. Its im- pact and its potential have been described in a profusion of cliches which reach from coast to coast without benefit of microwave relays. The least'quoted of the truths is that never before has an infant of fabulous promise been nourished on such thin milk. It is sad enough that American television is doomed to develop in the rigid, constrictive commercial framework that devi- talized so luch of radio. The greater tragedy may be that the first crucial years of development will hair been experienced during the deepest poliitical reaction America has ever known. The British writer who wishes to imagine' himself transplanted to the workshops of American televiv ison faces a very wide range of pos- sible experience: If he has ever been a Communist; if he Was once a Communist but is not one now; if he has never been a Communist but lent hi$ name to public move- ments in support of Republican Spain, or racial equality, or One World; if he never lent his name but associated with people who did; if he never associated with such people but married a girl who did; if - - . 1 ; if the chances are fair that he is blacklisted, that there. Is not a network, station! agency or producer that will know- ingly openly employ him as a writer. He may then decide to try his luck on the black • market in television writing, by finding a: re- spectable, acceptable author to “front” for him. If he cannot find another writer, he can use anybody presentable—a relation, the deliv- ery-man .from the delicatessen, or even the house-porter; it is a deli- cate s and precarious plan because he has-to give up a sizable portion of his writing fee to his alter ego, and when a producer calls for a script conference, his troubles can be overwhelming. He may occa- sionally earn a double fee by acci- dent. A producer has purchased his! script through his front-map,. It needs revision. The producer; says to. himself,; “I know Just the man for revision^; he’s oh a list but I think I can make a deal with him quietly for cash." Thus the black- listed writer finds himself rewriting his own script for an added fee. He may have nightmares about the fantastic, chain of events, but the extra dollars are useful. Life, for the ■ blacklisted writer, until he makes a new adjustment within or without his profession, is a jungle; he needs cool nerves and a col- lected temper to survive sane!; If our transplanted author is re- spectable and a competent crafts- man, he has another decision to face; whether the compromises im- posed upon his writing by the in- flexible formulae of most commer- cial programming are worth the imposing financial rewards that can accrue to him and his family (as much as $3,000 for a topflight original; an average of $500 for al- most any adaptation). The great majority of written television pro- grams are crime-shows, west- erns, so-called situation, come- dies and “soap-operas,” presented i series once weekly, either live or filmed, within a time period of .29 minutes and 30 seconds, includ- ing “commercials,” This leaves the. writer 25 minutes or less—with “curtains” carefully planned within this frame for advertising inter- ruptions—in which he can. develop his characters, and propel, them through a meaningful plot. Writing with; these limitations may bear a striking resemblance to work in a sausage factory; but this is the biggest market for commissioned writing in television and the author will have to decide, by his own sandards and aims, whether he wishes to trade in it. The 'Respectable Ones’ If he is respectable but many notches above the. competent craftsman, he may find an outlet in the four or five one-hour dramatic programes now sponsored on the television networks, all of which share to some extent the “institutional” flavor that once flourished in radio. Though still writing in the straitjacket of lim- ited time with intervals of coni- fercial intrusion, .he would now be collaborating with the handful of producers who have Been per- mitted to exercise their superior taste. He might then, like a Paddy • Chayefsky or a Horton Foote or a David Davidson, writing for pro- ducers like Fred Coe or Alex SegaJ, give television some hope of link- age with literature. Since networks still try desper- ately to create the illusion of asso- ciation with higher culture, if the author has the fame, integrity and curiosity of a Robert E. Sherwood, he may receive a commission from one of them to write drama, comedy or fantasy for television as he chooses, .in a length of his convenience, and with the promise that no advertising will be per- mitted to break his moods. He will then have time to study the medi- um, to experiment in his own mind, to set down his own deadlines for completing his work,, and he’ will not be depressed nor disappointed when his first effort seems—to the . public and the critics—to fall flat. He will know that he is pioneering, and that thousands ofvhis col- leagues in the saltmines below are cheering for his success. If the author is famous but strange (like a poet), he may get an occasional production of his work in a series like “Omnibus/’ pro- duced by the Ford Foundation and supported by “institutional” spon- sors. His writing will be presented to viewers plainly labelled as cul- ture, and they will . be told that culture is good for them and that they would be better people if they exposed themselves to more of it. He could be an author who does not consider himself a writer but a journalist, and, if he were Ed Mur- row oi; Eric Sevareid he would probably be shocked to be told that the essays he writes in haste on the unfolding world are often the best and most moving use of words on American television. Just as one cannot completely condemn American radio in its hey- day on grounds of literary sterility, so one must not at this early stage predict that. American television promises nothing better than na- tional illiteracy. As long as there exists on the edge of its massive structure that “fringe area” of pro- gramming that once distinguished radio, there is reason to believe that (here will come to television such a fine fruition Thomas brought to sound. Americans who write for televi- sion today, if they Jiave high hopes for their craft and this medium, cannot fail to perceive the tragedy of v the empty spaces beside them, the stupidity of the vacant places in their brave new world that: Can be so significantly filled by their colleagues who have been driven from their chosen profession, Nor can they fail tb Understand that the climate of fear, which has barred their frier/s arid fellow authors, strips their owh work of so much reality and truth as ; to make them literary cripples. They and the banished can share the _ common wish that those among them who care will not always have*to come to the market place to sell their wares to tradesmen barking at the stalls. Election Coin Continued from page 25 Rngwood, Douglas Edwards and Walter Cronkite. Chi Gets Busy Chicago, Oct. 5, Chl-based network tv salesmen have been receiving homeoffice memos to get out and shake the branches for sponsors for the vari- ous election night packages. A1-. though 'the Nov. 2 coverage falls in the “must” public service brack- et, the ivebs are making the big pitch for sponsorial support since the open-end election eve shows which may run deep into the next morning come high what with the crosscountry pickups, the battery of gabbers and the added clerical staffers. NBC-TV is looking for a second client to join Roto-Broil on its re- turns which start at 8:30 p.m. and run through 1 a.m or later. Net- work has priced the , package at around $300,000, it's understood. CBS-TV is hoping to jump the gun on its rivals with an 8 p.m. start. Columbia is offering the bun- dle to its regular Tuesday night bankrollers who’ll be bumped by the special eventer. Word here is that CBS-TV has tagged the show at $10,000 for talent per half-hour. ABC-TV starts its vote tabula- tions at 10 p;m: Since the later start involves no web preemptions, undisclosed price is figured to be somewhat lower than NBG and CBS. Standoff on Specs Continued from-page 25 that the previous share-of-audience dragged down by “Dragnet” (Sept. 2) was 73.2. The “Justice” share, incidentally, was 42.5, and it’s budgeted at a mere $20,000. or so for talent and production. Columbia, having already pro- duced a new high in spec ratings, ;was pitching with the fact that “Shower” set a new high for size of audience for special color shows of an hour or more in length. On a combination basis, CBS had better than a four-point edge with “Royal Family” -and “Shower” showing 25.9 In tandem and the Liebman 90-minuters averaging 21 . 2 . DnM ‘Stationitis’ Continued from .pa** 23 and DuMont will try arrangements for the Gertrude Berg stanza again in January, provided all station specifications ,can be met at that time. Another program move looks likely at the web due to the VCA defection. DuMont might see Heinz’s “Studio 57” move from 9 to 8:30 p.m. to comprise the web’s Tuesday 8 to 9 one-two punch. (VCA, it was originally expected, would take over in the second half hour when Bishop Sheen’s “Life Is Worth Living” made .its fall c^mback.).