Variety (November 1954)

49 Wednesday, November XT? 1954 J/K&mfr TV-FILMS in a # Hollywood, Nov, 16. Every television show is a takeoff on another,show, except for some of the “class” anthology programs from N. Y., asserts pro-? ducer Herbert Leonard. He contends tv is too imitative, and there’s virtually no attempt to come up with something different. Furthermore, most of the tv film series are “too static and unimaginative,” declares Leonard, who turns out the “Rin Tin Tin” series. Leonard said he is prepping a new venture, “Tales of the Beng&l Lancers,” because he feels “it's about time somebody tried to bring a different approach to the” audience, to excite them rather than mire them down in everyday routine situations,” Of current programming generally Jie commented, “to me it’s despondent. I wonder if it’s all good entertainment.” Leonard said he believes audiences want escapism, particularly period pieces of that nature, and that’s why he's blueprinting “Lancers” for early production. He blamed what he termed the low quality of most video shows on to two factors:. A desire to hold down costs, and cut corners to achieve this end, plus an overwhelming trend to follow format. Leonard said he was motivated m his new venture principally because of his belief that “tv is surfeited with situation comedies and; whodunits.” "You can open Up the field with sophistication and action .and tell it with a spectacle background,” he averred. It s 'Frustration Time for Midwest Chicago, Nov. 16;. ' ■ - — : • Sterling’s Big Push Vidpix salesmen, located here to service the Windy City and the surrounding midwest territory have been singing the autumn blues of late. It’s a case of what do. you do between cycles now that the .1954-55 season is pretty much wrapped Up in terms. Of both v ad budgets and time availabilities,. An informal sampling of sales toppers here on the basis of as- sured anonymity disclosed a con- siderable degree of frustration, over the difficulties of moving product now that the new season is under- way. As one sales rep put it: “With the time .clearance problem as tough as it is there isn’t much we can do at the moment except take potshots at the other guy’s Stuff in the hopes that the sponsor will drop it at the end of 13 weeks and buy. one pf our properties.” Actually, of course, things aren’t at a complete, standstill with the midwest boys merely marking time. There'S always a regional deal or two cooking and there’s / the ad- vance wooing of the clients who operated on a calendar year basis (Continued on page 52) Tough syndicated telepix: time problem in New York appears to be on its way toward easing up. Reason is . an apparent Change in programming philosophy at WCBS- TV, the CBS-TV flagship, which this week set two new syndicated ix deals for Saturday afternoon and evening. Station has tradition- ally leaned on feature films fbr its film programming, and as re- cently as six months ago had only two syndicated half-hours bn in all.. New deals find “Annie Oakley,” the western distributed by CBS Television Film Sales, - going into the Saturday at 5:30 slot under sponsorship of TV Time Popcorn,, which has the series on alternate weeks nationally, with Continental Baking as the. alternate sponsor. “Annie” starts Jan. 1; when Can- ada Dry’s national sponsorship lapses,, and also starting on that date in the 6:30 to 7 time is MCA- T-V’s “Man Behind the Badge.” un- der every-week sponsorship of Na- tional Dairy Products. Deals give the station a solid, two-hour Saturday afternoon vid : pix spread from 5 to 7, except for (he 15-minute ”6 O’clock Report.” “Amos ' ’ Andy” are in at 5, fol- lowed by “Annie” at 5:30. After the 15-minute “Report,”, Mel Al- len’s filmed “Call the Play,” on nationally for White Owl, is the leadin to “Man Behind the Badge.” “Annie,” incidentally, has been on WABD, the DuMont key, all this year. “Man” is just goirig into syndication after a live network l’un. Time following “Report” was previously occupied by feature films. Sterling Television wrapped up sale of 41 different shows with i28 video outlets during Sept! and Oct. Included in the sales was initial buy of the Sigmund Spaeth series, “Music For Everybody,” by*WDAY, Fargo. The package getting the biggest acceptance during the period was Sterling's cartoon series, with 16 stations making the buy. Ostermari & Hutner recently became the first stock brokerage to establish a wholly-owned vid- pix subsidiary and, simultaneous- ly, brought the first package of French, feature pix here for video release. Hamilton Productions, the O&H subsid, has bought 26 films through Robert Velaise of Paris and taken options on 26 more. Aware of the high cost of dubbing, Hamilton Is at present only going to dub two of the pix from French to Eng- lish and test their acceptance be- fore committing to dub tli re- maining 24. Peter Reithoff, boss of Ameri- can Dubbing, who will set up fa- cilities in either Paris or Rome and who is going to shortly take sev- eral American actors and techni- cians with him abroad, is inked for the dlibbing job. The names of the two pix to get the Gallic-to* English treatment haven't been chosen yet. Described as all post-war pro- duction , the features are current- ly sub-titled for American video. One of the pix, “Beauty and the Beast,” has been rented on “a tryout” to WPIX, N. Y., the same outleit>(vhich will probably 1 get first choice on the dubbed pix. Hamilton, new to the vidpix field, has made no decision as ; to which distributor wiil handle the 26 features. It’s reported that Italian Films Export . was ap- proached to arrange a distribution deal, but the Italo outfit nixed the deal for undisclosed reasons. Courtland to Guatemala For Tint Vidfilm Series - Hollywood, Nov.. 16. Jerome Courtland leaves soon for Guatemala where he will make a series of color telepix. Footage will embrace arts, scenic ‘attrac- tions and customs of the country.- 'Actor plans to try for sponsor- ship from a travel mag, travel agencies and transportation com- panies. E Screen Gems, Columbia Pictures telepik subsidiary, is. emerging as one of the most potent and stable vidpix production-distribution com- panies in the highly volatile field. Firm, which has five shows on .the air nationally, a sixth sold for next season and plans for at least four more next year, will probably have a production budget of more than $9,000,000 for 1955-1956, With all of this production aimed at nation- ally-sold programs alone. Firm doesn't contemplate producing di- rectly for syndication for at least another year. Moreover, it’s setting in motion plans to operate internationally. A Canadian subsid, Screen Gems of Canada Ltd., to operate out of Toronto headed by a Canadian ad- man, is in the works. Ralph Cohn, wp.-general manager, just set; a deal with four Mexican producers to do experimental dubbing of “Ford Theatre” preparatory to full- scale invasion of the, Latin Ameri- can market, arid Coh' is also plan- ning dubbing in Italian and French for the European market. Addi- tionally, he’s planning theatrical release of several of Screen Gems’ telepix overseas, either grouped in trios or exhibited as individual pic- tures. Vast expansion in production is due to tire fact that the firm landed three new national sponsors during the past year and renewed two iriore. It’s got the veteran “Ford Theatre,” of Course, and aside from the network and summer re- runs, has the pix under the title of “All-Star Theatre" in over 200 markets on third-run or -library basis. “The Big Playback,” prior duce.d in N. Y„ ' in its second year on a spot basis for Ethyl Oil, New shows are “Father Knows Best” for Kent, “Rin Tin Tin” for Nabisco and “Captain Midnight” for General Mills and Wander Co. In each case except “Father,” Screen Gems has firstrun rights in riori^sponsored markets and rerun rights in all markets, with “Rin Tin Tin” already in 15 non-Nabisco markets, and. “Jet Jackson,” which is the same as “Midnight” in six. Falstaff’s Anthology On the pgenda for next season and already in production is an anthology series for Falstaff Brew- ing Co., tentatively titled “Celebri- ty Playhouse.” Falstaff will carry it on a spot' basis in 40-50 markets, with Screen Gems able to sell it on a split network in the east, Con- tract stipulation on the series calls fbr quality comparable to "Ford.” Also; starting in production are “Jungle Jim,” the Johnny Weis- muller series which is being pat- terned after “Rin Tin Ti •’ in that there will be an adult hero, a child star and an animal (a chimp). And. now in the works is “You Cajri’t Take* It With You,” family corii- edy based on the characters in the Moss Hart-George E. Kaufman play and the Columbia pic adapted from it. Script on the pilot and two addi- tional pik have been cornpleted and (Continued on page 52) ON LIFE OF CHRIST Agent-producer Don W. Sharpe is repping a new European-made series on the life of Christ which he’s pitching for Easter exposure. Series, which has Sir Cedric Hard- wicke as narrator, was filmed in Rome by Peter Moore’s Milo Pro- duCtioris. Moore, a former Italian rep for Korda Productions, is cur- rently in N. Y. On his first visit huddling with Sharpe and setting other product deals. Series consists of 13 quarter- hoUrs, with Hardwicke hosting in. modern-day Rome and moving.into, the historic flashbacks by visiting a. site where tile Biblical history took place. Iri addition to the series, Moore has also made available an hour-long and a half-hour version of the. story, for Easterth one- , shots. The Real Thing When Peter Elgar, N. Y., tv commercial filmmaker, took on an assignment from Ted Bates to turn out a series of spots for Dromedary Cake Mixes, he got more than he bargained for.. Seems that Dromedary’s gin- gerbread recipe coiries right down from Mary Washington (George’s mother) herself, and both Dromedary and Bates in- sisted that the gingerbread spot have a complete replica of the Mary Washington kitchen. Elgar had to send two re- searchers down to Kerimore, Va„ to sketch the refurbished model and to do other.research on pottery, utensils, etc. Among other problems in building the set was (he logs for the : fire- place, of which in those days measured almost seven feet long. Elgar had to have * maple tree felled and the logs cut to size especially, for the spot. Hollywood, Nov. 16. . Graphic example of telefilm in- dustry’s terrific financial hypo to Hollywood is Revue Productions, MCA’s vidfilm subsid, which has turned but approximately 600 half- hour telepix since its inception in 1950. Production budget for the vast amount of film aggregates about $15,000,000. Revue, which began by produc- ing one series, has steadily grovyn to the point where six shows are filmed, under its banner today. The expansion program lias been so rapid company was forced to shift its production quarters from the former Eagle-Lion jot to Republic. A .new office building constructed by Republic for the vidfilmery Will open in December. During the past several years Revue has produced 52 vidfilms for Armour; 39 for Gruen; 104 Chevrons; 39 Pepsi-Cola Playhouse last year and almost half that num- ber this season; 65 “City Detec- tive”; 78 “Adventures of Kit Car- son”; about 12 Heinz 57; 40 “Pride of the Family’’; 60 Ray Milland telefilms, and several for. General Electric. ‘TV TIC TAC TOE’ INTO 22 MARKETS National Telefilm Associates has set its $1,000,000 “TV Tic Tac Toe” contest in 22 markets within the four weeks it’s been offered, and is in negotiation for the pack- age with stations in an additional 118 markets, accqrding to exec v.p. Oliver Unger. Coincidentally, it’s set . its complete library pack- age iri those 22 cities, since pur- chase of the library is a condition to eligibility for the contest. 'Key iriarkets in which the pack- age has been sold include St. Louis (WTVI), Milwaukee (WCAN), Spokane . (KREM-TV) , Oklahoma. City (KTVQ-TV), S’cran-to'n (KTVU-TV, Tulsa .(KCEP-TV) and Albuquerque (ICO AT). Unger, said that on the basis of current station interest, the contest iri.ay be set in 150 markets by its. Jan. 1 starting dale. Circle's Tint Sprint Circle Film Laboratories, the N.-Y. lab servicing telefilm pro- ducers, is expanding: its color fa- cilities; Herbert. R.. Pilzer, Cir- cle’s. president, said that installa- tion of an up-to-date color opera- tion will be the rnajor phase of a 1 1009' , expansion program. ♦ First fullscale effort to bring telepix to the fledgling European market has. been set in motion by Ziv Television Programs. Ziv’s In- ternational Division has set dub- bing deals s to convert four of its series into three languages for telecasting in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Holland and Swit- zerland. Initial irivestriient for th project, which will Involve estab- lishment of offices,and personnel i key Continental markets, esti- mated at. $1,500,000. Plans call for dubbing of “Fa- vorite Story,” “Cisco Kid,” “Bos- ton Blackie’^and “Mr. District At- torney” via ItIA for airing in Italy by late spring. In Germany., a dubbed version of, “Favorite Story” is set for North Deutsch- land Radio for next spring, out of its Frankfurt headquarters. Firm is setting up Ziv International, of France, a new subsidiary headed by former president of Eden Pro- ductions of France and onetime di- rector of Phillips of Holland Joseph Brandel. New subsid will dub 78 half-hours of three series during 1955 for Frerich-language telecast- ing in France, Belgium and Swit- zerland, with the. German-language version going to Holland. Cost of the entire project will far j exceed the presently consummated 'sales, or sales for a number. pf years for that matter. According to. Ed Stern, head of Ziv’s Inter- national'Division, the project Is “a tremendous investment in the fu- ture of television in Western Eu- rope and a gamble on the potential market in Europe.” It’s estimated that there are only about 60,000 sets in Italy, about 70;000 in Ger- many and about 170,000 iri France, but Stern said Ziv views the proj- ect as a “longrange investment” with the expectation that set sales will. increase rapidly. Flow of television execs to Guild Films following the" firm’s filmed network, agreement with Vitapix continued this week, with Larry Merikin the latest to join the firm. Menkin, who departed as prograi manager of WOR and WOR-TV, N. Y., a couple of weeks ago, will be Guild’s director of prograi He’ll be in charge of programming on all Guild shows and will work on the development of new prop- erties. It’s possible that he may convert some of his own packages, such. as “Harlem Detective” arid “High Tension” (“Mono-Drama Theatre”), to film under*, the Guild aegis. Guild’s confidence iri the success "of the Vitapix deal is expressed in a letter to stockholders in the firm, mailed *out last week, in which prexy Reub Kaufman predicted a gross of $20,000,000 in 1955. Firm this week segued a lease for pew homeoffice quarters on PaPk : Ave. -in N.Y.- at.a rental of $750,000 over a 10-year period. B&A Space Expansion * Hollywood, Nov. 16. Overflow of production at Burns and Allen’s McCaddcn company last week caused it to rent addi- tional shooting space at the Gold- wyn lot.- Sked calls for vidfilming six series, 23 teleblurbs and tiests for a new series; Because of all the work, 261 employes were added to the payroll it McCadderi. Two episodes' . of “That’s My Boy,” produced by Everett- Free- man, were tensed on the Goldwyn lot. Rest of the program, filmed at General Service, includes the B&A show; "Life With Father”; Jack Benny; tests for the Bob Cummings show, plus 23 coi mer- cials.