Variety (October 1954)

' Wednesday, October 27, "1954 TV-FILMS 47 WHERE WERE YOU? With Ken Murray* guests Producer:, Bing Crosby Enterprises Producer: Murray Director: Ralph Staub Writer: Jean Holloway 39 half-hours . Pistrib: United Television Pro- grams This is a show biz legend come true—the one about the comedian, wli wanted to do something, seri- In this case, tlie comedian is Ken Murray." Unfortunately, . his idea of something serious turns out to. be a dreary hodgepodge of newsreel clips held, together on the thin thread, of a single idea^— where-Ava's the viewer 'hen sin. im- portant news event Was taking place. ,,To refresh setside ye.ijoilec- tion, Murray has amassed a collec- tion of clips, none Over 30 seconds in length that he stretches out for an interminable. 20 minutes be- fore coming to the point and iden- tifying his mystery guest—the femme ejevator operator who fell : 71 floors and two .basements when i a plane, hit the Empire State Build- ring in 1945. Her three minutes of recollection provide the only : teresting segment of a program t that includes some dramatized se-^ quehces designed to recapture the feeling of the period. Chief difficulty with the pres- entation is the Jean Holloway script which Veers from the ir- ritating to the inane. Particularly annoying are the repeated flash- backs ,to the elevator operator and the , ‘‘she-was-in-an-excitirig-news- event-where-were-you” narration that goes with it. and some of the interpolated scenes. ... Director Ralph Staub’S pacing of the drama scenes is. on the slow side. Lensing by Lucien Andriot is average:. As far as local, consumption is concerned, program: is Paul Coates “Flashback’.- with an attempt at a personalized, gimmick. Kap. ! of New York and.-Chicago, and in . the present membership is only one UHF outlet. Staff Expansion FOUR STAR PLAYHOUSE (The Wallet) Those little human touches that give an ordinary piece of fiction a glow of warmth has', rescued many shopworn tale in this series arid, blacked out more than one of its stars;. It’s an old trick of Charles Boyer’s to put the story in its place and take off from there, Here he does it with finesse and eclat, tlie saying grace of an other- wise unoriginal vehicle that gets its only excitement from hi$ suave pretending and. Without him would have been as uninteresting as the title. An impoverished heacl waiter, Boyer, is torn between his affection lor an ailing wife and a hatred of their soil’ who rebels at home sur- roundings with a yearning for more modern things. In despera- tion to keep his wife out of a char- ity ward in the hospital, Boyer fails, in his efforts to raise the necessary money ' and decides to salvage something out of his pride and honesty, A wallet, left at the cafe with $3,400 won at the track intrigues him after he had offered: its return without thought of re- ward.. Meanwhile the kid gets touched by his mother’s plight and makes off with company money. .When: Boyer berates him as a thief, he takes inventory of his Own con-, •science. He’s a thief, too, if he doesn't return the wallet. It comes off With a sugar coating arid all ends well With Boyer treating the women in the ward with what you’d expect a head waiter- to- buy With his last 40 bucks—caviar and. other delicacies. Boyer’s tender sentimentalities are balanced , off for dramatic ef- fect by the irascibility of. William Campbell and Maria Palmer’s in- stinctive understanding of the clashing elements. Director Robert Florey also gets good perform- ances from teh other motivators. Helm .' csss. Continued from page 43 === As of the moment, the situation stands this. Way. Guild is pitching its shows at national sponsors while Vitapix is clearing time on the sta- tions for national buys. According to Mullen,. times being considered are fringe time, 7-7:30 p.ni. and 10:30-1 i p.m. He said stations are not. being asked to forego their af- filiate contractural relations, But for the future, the Guild produc- tion plans call for' more ighttime shows than Will fit into “fringe” time, and if .Guild can come .up with a, strong lineup of shows arid sufficient'’ sponsorship coi it’s likely the battle will be drawn; Under the Guild-Vitapix agree- lent, exact terms of which weren’t made clear at the press conference Friday (22) announcirig the wed- ding. Guild Will take over all pres- ent Vitapix product for sales and distribution, while yitapi? con- tinues as an entity for the purpose of clearing time, doing time and programming research and working in the sphere of station relations. Vitapix currently has 37 member slalionSi but pending membership, applications will bring tile total up to 60. Virtually every major mar- ket is covered, with the exceptions On tap. is a .vast expansion pro- grarii . for Guild, including the tripling, of present production facil- ities on the Coast and the construc- tion tit Guild’s own studio there withi months, the establish- ment of New York production facilities (“Goldbergs,” Dr, Peale, "Bride and Groom” arid ”Fun to Reduce” will all,be shot in N.-Y.), and the expansion-of Guild’s home- office staff fivefold., Firm has already leased new Park Ave. of- fices and opened three new sales branches. Production starts im- mediately on the new shows, with all of them to be released by Janu- ary. Production coin for the new pro- grams is coming from “Guild’s own; resources,” according to Kaufman, which is to say that the stations aren’t contributing, Kaufman did indicate that “Guild’s resources’’ included banks with which: the firm has done business. Guild recently raised $1,000,000 through a stock issue (now haying a market value of over. $2,500,000), but that sum was applied to wipe out existing debts. There .was no exchange of stock in the . Guild-Vitapix agree- ment, according to Kaufman, nor no joint ownership agreerrients, but the two firms will be represented on each other’s boards, with iCauf- nian joining the Vitapix board and an unnamed Vitapix rep sitting on the Guild board. As to current Vitapix personnel, Miillen said he’ll continue on as Vitapix prez, but exec v.p. Bob Wormhofidt is having his contract settled and national sales v.p. Ned Koenig quietly re- signed a couple of weeks ago. . Vitapix lineup includes KTLA, Los Angeles; KRON-TV, San Francisco; WBZ-TV, Boston; KLS-TV, Denver; WDSU-TV, New Orleans; WJAR-TV, Providence; KSTP-TV, St. Paul; WBNS-TV, Columbus; KOIN-TV, Portland, and others. John E. Retzer.is Vitapix board chairman; other board members include J. Leonard Reinsch, Joseph E. Bau- dino, Kenyon Brown, Stanley Hub-' bard, Bob Swezey,. Charles Crutch-" field, O. L, Taylor and. Howard Lane. All of them have been among the most; influential station operators in network-affiliate delibr erations. OFs Tune-0’ Sponsor Official Films, landed its first bankroller for 'tlie new “Time for Tune-O” musical bingo-quiz, pack- age in a 52-week Buffalo deal which it expects, to set the pattern for future sales of the Series, Deal is With the. Nu-Way Stores, a gro- cery chain subsid of the American Stores, which has bought the show uiider an arrangement that calls for corop advertising with top na- tional food sponsors on the seg- ment Nil-Way will air the show one- weekly at first, going later to three times Weekly, via WGR-TV. Chain, comprising 80 stores in the Buffalo area, has already ordered 200,000 tune-o cards, which are necessary to play the game and which are distributed at point-of-sale. Par- ticular manner in which Nu-Way is handling the show is being pitched by Official at other food chains and outlets throughout the country. 1ST FILM COMMERCIAL « Sterling Television has come up With what shapes as. the. first syn- dicated mercial ( distin- guished. from national spot ad- vertisements). It’s of. 65 30-second “programs” on household hints With Jean Alexander, with Sterling pitching them to stations as items into arid around which local ad- vertising can be built. However, if the stations, just buy them as filler without the thought of seek- ing sponsors for them, they will mark another first by becoming •what is believed the shortest series of video shows on record. -i* ’Finders Keepers’ For Syndication as Vidpix '“Hollywood,-.Oct,.-26’,. “Finders Keepers,” the audience- participation quizzer which had an NBC radio ride in 1944 and was a live tv’er on. WRCA-TV in "N; Y; in .1951, is being, converted to film as a syndicated offering. Show will be filmed for syndication by Holly- wood Star Productions, Deal was set by Maggy Fisher, owner of the show, who leased the i rights for five years to Nick Seva no arid Arriie Mills of Gabbe, Lutz .& Heller, Miss Fisher, no longer in production, will nonetheless act as an adviser on the show. SSmiamSi Continued .from page.32 •around the 'reception desk, com- plete with a handsom .mural ex- hibit, operation fans out along gleaming corridors to a coordinated network of studios, recording rooms, librari master: control room, and offices. The 14 s'tudios, three of which “showcase” rooms, with full view windows to accommodate the; many touring grodps expected, boast the: latest in custom design arid equipment. Since virtually all live broadcast-, ing is lingual, rather than, musical, special techniques had to. be. used to develop absolutely clear sound, Music shows are packaged in re- cording studios, theri transmitted via relay stations to blanket the Middle East, and -parts of USSR and. the satellite’countries. Taping studio has. 4Q. recording machines in .10 booths, and is- sO devised, that there is a two-way. feed between it and the. studios. Iii the case of package shows, en- tire unit can go directly to master control and out on the transmitter, A master control room, still in an incomplete state, has been designed to take programs from 100 different sources, and to handle 26 shows simultaneously. Six. playback rooms in which editors can work on tapes; 24 disk recorders; 16 tape record- ers; a streamlined, library setup covering recording, and transcript tions are just a few of the features in this broadcasting Utopia, It's Cool, Too Pride and joy of the outfit; how- ever, is the super-perfect air con- ditioning system, specially, de- vised contrivance apart from the general cooling- system for the rest of the building, in order to assure sound-proof qualities along with summer comfort, the studios in the wing over the air conditioning unit are suspended on rubber blocks, over which concrete has been:: poured, and. tiles laid. In this way all. floor vibrations are avoided. In addition, each studio is equipped with its own power plant and ther- mostatic heat and air control. The engineering marvels under- laying the vast new plant are likely , to .escape the average, visitor. .Bourtd to be an eye-catcher, how- ever,. is the' variety of dress worn, by VGA staffers. The saris of India, the turbans Of Pakistan, the color-, ful garb of Indonesia, the native dress of faraway lands, mingle with western, motif in this modern Tow- er of Babel. There are refugees' from behind the Iron Country, victirtis of the Nazihorrors, and even a bonafide princess of Thai- land, the' granddaughter of King Mongkut, the “king” of “Anna and. the King of Siam” and the Broad- way musical, “The King and I,” on the VGA roll-call. Sole exception to th VO A mi- gration is the tv staff, part of which will remain in New York to be near the center of production. Henry Fonda to Do Emmett Kelly Series Henry Fonda has been. signed tp do a half-hour telefilm bio of Em- mett Kelly,, the Ringling Bros, and Barnum & Bailey clow It’ll be done insert on the General Electric. program. Film will be pro- duced by Music Corp. of America’s Revue Filins, It’ll mark ’Fonda’s, t el e bob’. ' Also i the works for. the same series is a batch of telefilm-firstsv Under negotiation . are deals with Jimmy Stewart,, Alan Ladd, Gary Cooper, Clark .Gable, Joan Craw- ford, Jane Wyman and Tyrone Power. MCA’s Freddie Fields left yes- terday (Tues.) for the Coast to. work on the first . GE show to ema- nate from there; He’ll be gone; about three weeks. Geo. Reeves Returns To ‘Superman* Lead Hollywood, Oct. 26. George Reeves,, who left his long underwear behind and exited the lead as “Superman” when he couldn’t get a hefty raise, is back at it again. Reeves and producer Whitney. Ellsworth. have reached. agreement on a. new contract, with the actor receiving an uppance in coin, but not anything like his original de- mands. Series resumes Nov. 15 at California, studios, with Harry Ger- stad directing vidpix which will be in. tint. Rockhill Continued from page 4a — porate minute books and Other cor- porate -documents’'missing, con- tracts cancelled'and back accounts closed, to say nothing of locks forcibly removed fro in desks arid cabinets. All these activities (were) carried ion apparently by a group who seemingly took over the com- pany in her. absence.” Rockhill’s current situation has an involved background. Statement points out that some months ago Miss Taylor started to form. a syndicate to purchase the controll- ing. stock interest in Rockhill held by her associate. A New York at- torney approached her with a plan, for syndicate that included offi- cers or heads of three corripanies, “all highly reputable people of substance arid business standing.” The syndicate wa"s to help. Miss Taylor in buying the stock of her associate, and “would benefit the Company and all the stockholders, by putting huge sums of operating capital into the corporation, fi- nancing the production of tele- vision films, using their, important contacts in the industry for. selling Rockhill shows, and by establish- ing substantial credit for other ex- tended corporate operations,” On th assurance that Rock- hill would benefit, the company installed (principals of the syndi- cate) on the board of directors. “Within the first few days,” - cording to Miss Taylor, “the. group did, in fact, live up to their asr jSertions by establishing $7.50,000 credit for Rockhill Productions, Inc, ” A short time later, Miss Taylor said, She learned that the credit had / been withdrawn “and meanwhile none of the other prom- ises materialized.” George S. Gladden is ankling his post as head of J. Walter Thomp- spn’s motion picture/ and tv-film department to join Academy Pic- tures, commercial film producers. He’ll serve in an administrative capacity at Academy. Gladden had been with the Thompson agency for the past 14 years. . George L. George, onetime Academy Award-winning director in the documentary field, has joined Slurgis-Grant Productions, the N. Y. commercial and indus- trial filriim.akihg outfit, as associate producci* and director. Hollywood, Oct. 26. United Television Programs will syndicate four hew vidfilm series, involving a total production outlay Of approximately $5;00b,000, for lo- cal and regional sponsorship next year, while six riew. series will be presented for national sponsorship in the same year, exec v.p. Lee Savin said here... Six shows; to be offered for na- tional; sponsorship ■ vvill consist of a . variety of programs from situa- tion comedy to draihatic, Four new syndicated series each will have 39 half-hour stanzas. “Authors Playhouse,” with four vidfiliris already canned; arid. “O. Henry TV Theatre.” are two of the shows to be offered: nationally. Others haven’t yet been selected. Brewster ’ Morgan and Eugene Solow . produce “Playhouse.” A. Edward Sutherland Will produce “Henry!’ for Gross-Krasne, Inc. / In addition; UTP. syndicates “Lone Wolf,” ‘‘Mayor.of the Town,” “Where Were You?”, “Water Front,”’, arid “Rocky Jones, Space Ranger.” Plans for : expansion , mapped at series of homeoffice sessions. ^Present wefe Philip Ni Krasne.. Jack J, Gross, Noel Ryba- loffs Dale Sheets, Savin and sales v.p. Wynn. Nathan; of the home- office, and Aaron Beckwith arid; Tom McManus of N. Y,. and John P.vRbhrs of /Chicago. Nathan will add 10 now’ salesmen to his staff in the next few months to handle the increased product. ZfVS 135 MARKETS ON CORLISS ARCHER’ Ziv Television. Prograriis has reached the 135-market mark on “Meet Corliss .Archer,” and the firm’s 90-day sales drive on the comedy segment makes it tlie sixth Ziv telcpix entry to go over 135 riiarkets.. Latest regionals which pushed the Show, over the mark Were a 10-market sale on the Coast to Brown & Haley candies arid five-market sale to. Safeway Stores. Other Ziv shows over the 135 mark are “Favorite Story,” “Mx\ District Attorney,” "I Led Three: Lives,” “Boston Blackie” and “Cisco Kid;” ETC’s ‘Rainbow’ As 1st Europe-Made Tinter European Television Corp., whose “The Little Match Girl” hour-long feature received wide Christrriasdime distribution last year via RCA Thesaurus, has com- pleted production on a second feature for television* “Rainbow After the Rain.” Film, shot in Germany, is the first tv-film to be produced in color in Europe, Paul Gordon, ETC topper, ar- rived in Now York recently with the first prints of the film and wilt..screen it till mid-October, when lie returns to Berlin. Pic, which stars Maxi and Ernst Baier* A Frank Sawdrs and Lydia Veicht, features ballet, and iceshow se- quences. and will be distributed i the U; SV * World: TV Fill Corp, James, Pamela Mason Star Daughter in Vidpix .Hollywood, bet: 26. Portland Productions, owned by James Mason and.his wife. Pamela, Will shoot a series of 12 15-minute vidpi starring - their six-year-old daughter, Portland, at the Gold-, wyn studios beginning Nov. 20. Mason will direct arid appear bHefly in some of. the frames and be. and his wife will write the scripts. Each. isode depicts Biblical or historical event as seen through the eyes of a kid. LAZAR TO GOVERNOR TV Connie Lazar, who ankled Unity Television Corp; a few months back after a long tenure as the. firm’s Coast rep, has joined Arthur Ker- man’s Governor TV Attractions as head of the Coast office. At the same time, Kerman signed MAC Studibs in Chicago, headed by Howard. Grafniari, as his midwest- ern sales rep. Governor has a total of 71 fea^ turcs arid some. 250 short subjects.