Variety (November 1954)

UArjety 42 . RADIO-TELEVISION Tele Followup Comment Continued from page 34 ^ out the chanting characters in and around Yokum Creek. As the ballad-hopper of the back- woods fanning out from Fayette- ville, seat of the U„ Prof. Parler took narrator Charles Romine on a tour of the area. This was pegged loosely on the quest for. a vintager called “Two Sisters," with the searchers getting the equivalent of a buck- passing runaround—seemingly by the dictates of the script—from the mostly octogenarian natives who, however, preceded their “you may find the singer of that song thata- way" with vocals (some with guitars) in varying shapes and sizes on the folk front. (In one segment a Coca-Cola sign was so visible it looked like a. com- mercial). But Miss Parler. with that charming twang arid Way with a phrase, succeeded in giving the program a couple of needed lifts 1 along the line of march (via a beaten up auto'. The natives were, of course, as large as life, with their authenticity showing save on such occasions when they appeared to be talking from the briefing book; it may not be so, but that buck-passing daisy chain verbiage on where the hop- pers might hunt up “Two Sisters” did not suggest that much hints were other than set up in advance. Still, perhaps this thin thread of a “running gag” was deemed neces- sary. Within the brief half-hour scope, a small slice of folksy Arkansas was cut; but while there can be no intent to improve on a stanza that’s already finished, the postscript does occur that the Columbians under Irving* Gitlin might have sought out such a promoter as, say, Bascom LaMar Lunccford, known widely as “The Minstrel of the Appalachians,” for a more service- able workout on English folktune lore with “entertainment” falling as it may. Miss Parler Said it right, that there are too many lis- teners and watchers and not enough participants in this seg- ment of our rapidly vanishing regional culture, Trail. Some weeks back, when Sen. Margaret Chase Smith arrived in Helsinki following a short visit to that’s the CAOSUEY GROUP Sales Offices: New York, Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbia, Atlanta, Chicago Russia, she made the startling an- nouncement that she wouldn’t be surprised at a break in diplomatic relations between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Since she offered no explanations at the time, her filmed report on the Moscow visit over CBS-TV's “See It Now” last week (9) therefore promised to be a bombshell. As Edward R. Murrow’s roving reporter, Sen. Smith has done a series of interesting arid enlighten- ing interviews with men and wom- en all over Europe. .. Her Russian study, while containing some re- vealing human interest items, was a distinct fizzler; and incidentally it didn’t contain even a hint as to the reason for her pessimistic out- look for future U.S.-Soviet re- lations- Sen. Smith discussed her visit! for 15 riiinutes. She said she had been free to roam around, but this freedom had been only relative since she didn’t speak Russian and didn’t know “exactly where to go without being accompanied by a Government interpreter or guide.” r^rhaps the American Embassy or U.S. correspondents might have been of help in that matter. The Senator saw Russia’s grim ■Molotov but failed to report on her bilk in more than the most superficial terms. A week in Rus- sia is admittedly little time to Gather, more than fleeting impres- sions, but Mrs. Smith might have been a little more concerned with real issues and a little less with outward appearances. With the exception of a rundown on the dif- ference between U.S. and Russian consumer costs, it was singularity unrevealing. First part of the show had Sen. Smith interviewing Madame Men- des-France and Eve Curie, daugh- ter of Madame Curie. Both ladies had Gallic charm and contributed interesting comment. NATO’s Gen. Alfred Gruenther discussed collective security and Russian power. Due to the McCarthy censure session of the Senate,’ Mrs. Smith had to break off her tour and re- turn home. In allowing the “See It Now” cameras to accompany her on her European trip, the Senator has provided viewers, with some fascinating closeups of the Euro-, pean mind. Her questions have been those that any intelligent American might have asked, and the answers she got frequently pro- vided an illuminating insight into European thought; It’s unfortun- ate that her Russian report didn’t have that same quality. Hift. Too Many Plugs Continued from page 33 s= show with a format pew to network radio, trying to gain and hold bank- rollers .via a series of long, buttery commercials. A short list of “dodges” has been devised by broadcasters, it’s under- stood, to avoid being caught at the cookie jar. The five, 10 and 20- minute casings in lieu of the more common 15 and half-hour shows make room for extra “adjacencies,” while; the programmer seems never to concede that five or 10 minutes does not hold as much time for advertising spiels as a quarter-hour show, for instance. What it often boils down to is that the program sponsor is also the one buying the “adjacency,” but to the listener it sounds like one more commercial during a particular stanza—exactly what observers in the trade con- sider it to be also. Others don’t even try to find dodges. Recently it was pointed out that a deejay on a Jersey station within the metropolitan, area was running long on commercials. It was discovered that not one of his commercials ran less thari five min- utes each, some going as high, when heard, as five and a half min- utes. Two of them came within less than four minutes of each other. (This is the same gabber who, to a trade reporter “witness” in the studio during his- commer- cials, righteously declared after- wards that he was against the evils of the record biz payola.) Admitting to having commercials that are too long sometimes, an oc- casional radio broadcaster will ex- plain it’s due largely to the pickup in radio advertising—“there isn’t enough time to schedule them all.” (If that's true, when business, is up, the audience suffers.) On the completely opposite pole, however, it was explained that excessive commercialism was and is still a J concession to lure advertisers into the fold as well as to hold onto those already selling out. Among the major offenders are radio stations carrying mail order biz. A N. Y. program chief in- sisted that deejays let mail order commercials run extra-long in hopes of getting still more people to call in and show interest in the product. He said it was “to protect themselves." And whether other station execs will admit it or not, it’s seen where a good share of mail order coin hinges on “per inquiry" returns (payment on the basis of the number of calls or letters received in answer to a commercial). Even when p.i. deals aren't accepted, it's believed sta- tions instead make guarantees as to length of various commercial pitches- Top TV Bouts Continued from page 33 ssi-ii Boxing Alliance last week chal- lenged the long-established Inter- national Boxing Guild local chap- ter, While these latter events in the offices of the N. JT.- State Ath- letic Commission aren’t believed to have a direct effect on radio and tv, the MBA challenge points up some of the boxing practices con- nected with video showing of events. MBA argued that the Guild milked all managers, members and non-members, for $100 every time one of their fighters does a main event on tv. In its defense; IBG said there is no $100 fee. Instead, “there is a request of every tv main eventer who has benefited by our raising the minimum pay (which IBG’s claims is up from $^12 to $4,000) to contribute that amount so we can finance our fight for the man- agers and the fighters." The al- most complete preoccupation with video on the part of the manager groups is evidence to some video tradesters that ’ boxing is seeking almost Complete support from video, with, arena b.o. taking al- most no importance in the pic- ture. Have A&P Speech ■ ■I K ■ Continued from page 31 ■ Buck’s in tow , generally greeting him with a “whenja bet back?” twinkle.) Berns’ latest crush is the quasi- lecture platform. Last week, for instance, he was found pitching for his station before such Contrast- ing groups as the Bayside, L. I., Kiwanis. Club and the powwow of the National Assn, of Travel Or- ganizations. Coming up (Dec. 2) is an “in the biz” speech to the students at the School for Radio & Television, but there are a couple of other slottings before that work- out. At the moment, Berns is concen- trating on the N. Y. Cancer Com- mittee show slated for WRCA on Nov. 21 at 2 o’clock, with general manager Hamilton Shea closing in on clearing facilities for the spe- cial. Also occupying the attention of Berns’ and other departments is the two-ply “cuffo and commercial" blueprint for Metro’s preem tomor- row (Thurs.) at the Capitol of “The Last Time I Saw Paris,” star- ring Elizabeth Taylor, Van John- son, Walter Pidgeon and Donna Reed. M-G has gone near-satura- tion on WRCA (radio) with a full week’s spot sked (via Donahue & Coe) right up to preem time. Film players taped plugs for the pic which were carried by the station. Tex & Jinx McCrary will do a 30-. minute remote from the Capitol lobby at the opening with a 9 p.m. slotting on their “Mr. and Mrs. New York.” Proceeds of the kick- off show go to the N. Y. Infirmary and North Shore Hospital. Tony Ford Exits G-B Tony Ford is exiting the Gross- Baer packaging outfit after eight months as sales manager and di- rector of new programs to set up an indie packaging firm with Igor Cassini, the N. Y. Journal-Amer- ican columnist. Ford has served as production chief on Cassini's WRCA-TV, N. Y. show and will continue to handle the show, but in an advisory capacity to Cassini. Prior to joining Gl’oss-Baer, Ford was national sales chief for Walt Framer Productions and was a one- time agent at MCA. Wednesday, November 17, 1954 Inside Stuff—Radio-TV ABC-TV took its firtt step toward setting up for colorcasting last week—but it doesn’t change the web’s “we’ll go into color only when it’s economically feasible" stance. Step was the delivery of five 50 kw transmitters from General Electric, set to be installed in the web’* five owned»and-operated stations. Transmitters, in addition to giving the stations top power, are also built to transmit color. There’ll be no such transmission, however, until the web or any of the five stations install originating equipment in the form of camera chains, projectors, etc. 4md apparently the network is sticking to its “economically feasible” stand re color originations. Transmitters, de- veloped jointly by ABC engineers and-GE, are being Installed for immediate use, and cost in the neighborhood of $ 1,090,000. They’re the final phase of a $2,000*000 facilities improvement program for the five o&o’s in N.Y., Chicago, Detroit, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Goodson Sc Todman are planning a Thanksgiving night “tryout" of their new panel show, “What’s Going On," which bows for real three nights later on ABC-TV for Revlon. Packagers are putting on a live preview of the show, which goes into the Sunday-at-9:30 slot on Nov. 28, in front of an audience at the Elysee Theatre in N.Y. to iron out whatever kinks may develop before air time. Show, which will employ two or three live and one film remote as the basis of the guessing game, will originate from the Elysee. Lee Bowman will emcee, with panelists already set including Hy Gardner, Kitty Carlisle, Gene Raymond, Audrey Meadows, Cliff Norton and Susan Oakland. Doubleday, the book publishers, ain’t no friend of tv, despite the presence in its author lineup of what's-my-liner Bennett Cerf. Forth- coming (Nov. 20) editor-at-large ad column of Doubleday’s winds Up with: “One thing I know; anyone who can’t find plenty to amuse him in this book deserves to be felt in the gloom of his tv den." Cerf would prefer that the “gloom" be picked on any other night but Sunday. That’s when he operates on the CBS-TV quizzer. He’* the anthologist of the book in question, “Encyclopedia of Modern American Humor.” The Educational Television and Radio Center, Ann Arbor, Mich., has given Hofstra College $11,000 to make kines of its “People" half- hour series on WPIX, N. Y., for subsequent national distribution. The Center, deriving many of its dollars from the support of th* Ford Foundation, will handle sl'stribution of the kinea. Series features Dr. Matthew N. Chappell of Hofstra's psychology department. It began in mid-October for an initial 13-week run.. RCA Thesaurus’ 16-feature Yule package will lead off this year with the Charles Ruggles-starring “Christmas Miracle of Jaspar Crown," half-hour stanza. Full-hour show in the group is “Christmas Carol"; among the halves, Walter Hampden and Evelyn Sc Phil Spltalny’s All-Girl_ Chorus in “Story of the Nativity" and “A Christmas Visit with Ted Malone," with organist Richard Leibert, Church In the Wild- wood Choir and concert orch batoned by Ben Ludlow. Robert B. Hudson, who came to trade attention before the war via the Rocky Mt. Radio Council, which he founded in Denver, and who later spent four years at CBS in New York as Director of Education, is currently resident in Ann Arbor, Mich. His group, Educational Tele- vision & Radio Center does not, however, have any connection with the U. of Michigan, It is entirely a Ford Foundation-supported entity which seeks out and quickens the “exchange" of programs of educa- tional content as dreamed up elsewhere. Hudson’s position, No. 2, is “program coordinator.” Head of the Center is H. K. Nevvburn, former president of the U. of Oregon. — ^ : — ■ ■■ ■ TOM MALONEY TO GRANT AS EXEC V.P. Couple of ad agency heads, with their outfits closed or about to, have joined commission houses in executive capacities. Tom Mal- oney, prexy of the dissolving Cecil & Presbrey, becomes exec. v.p. in charge of. N. Y. office of Grant Advertising and member of the overall exec committee in the agency’s expansion. Maloney’s agency and publisher credits are extensive INewell-Emmett, U. S. Camera Annual among them'. Maloney will bring along some of his C&P stable, including Frank P. McCord, Arax Odabashian, James F. Flood, William C. Patter- son (radio-tv director, and ditto at Grant), and Paul Kolton. Larry Stapleton, six years with Grant, becomes N.Y. general manager, Arnold Cohan Corp* surrenders its shingle at year’s end with the topper heading newly established. N.Y. office of Mumm, Mullay Sc Nichols of Columbus, O., currently celebrating its 50th anni. Cohan gets veepee stripes as radio-tv di- * JUST RELEASED * :THE EDDIE DAVIS j PERSONAL GAG FILE rector and will continue to operate as. a packager. He handled Mayor Robert F. Wagner’s broadcasting campaign last November in a con- sultant capacity. Bill Leonard Back, And With New “Client Bill Leonard is back on his New York tv’er after emergency sur- gery, returning at least a week be- fore anticipated. His capsule seg- ment on WCBS-TV's daily “Six O’clock Report” is coincidentally SRO with. Helen Curtis Industries taking the Thursday time starting tomorrow. Leonard also reported back for duty on WCBSound. -k -k * Eddi ft + * * * Davit ‘ has written for tuch ^ greats" as Eddie Cantor, Milton Berio, Jackie Gleason, Jimmy Dur- ^ ^ ante, Danny Thomas, Martha Raya, ^ ^ Ritz Bros., Olson and. Johnson. ^ t FOR THE TOP GAG WHEN * * YOU NEED IT T * A MILLION DOLLARS WORTH ? -k OF COMEDY MATERIAL! * -K Over S00 pages, alphabetically er- ^ .v ranged and Indexed to cover every d- T popular subject: EASY REFERENCE. Z ■k This GAG FILE containing the select *9 -j( gags of EDDI£ DAVIS, who today Is if . one of the greatest writers of Show ^ — Business Comedy, Is being offered “ -ft for a limited time only. The price If ^ for this edition, containing over 500 j. “ P*g**> printed by mimeograph. In » , -ft De Luxe Binder for lasting strength >f m and easy . reference Is only $50.00, ' Including the first class postage. T Special $1.00 Offer Te prove this tremendous value, we will send you ton pages from The EDDIE DAVIS GAG FILE, for only $1.00. If you agres that ths EDDIE DAVIS GAG FILE It just what you notd Ws Will ship you the COMPLETE BOOK tw- enty $49.00, Including first slats postage. You have nothing to lose —WRITE TODAY: 6end $1.00 In •ash, check er money trder. Send chock or money order fo CAR-CAR ASSOCIATES 147 W. 42nd St., New York, N. Y. -ft Suite 409 Wisconsin 7-4270-1 + * ***************** >f )f * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * WRCA'S GRID Chase National Bank of N. Y. is sponsoring the Yale-Harvard game over WRCA out of Cambridge Sat- urday (20). Joe Hasel will handle the stripe- by-stripe and color commentary. TEXACO STAR THEATRE SATUtPAY NIGHT—N.B.C. Mgt.r William Morris, Agepcy