Variety (November 1954)

Wednesday, November 24, 1954 , /jfefgfy TV-FILMS 89 ■+• Guild Films and DuMont officials have been holding preliminary discussions toward, an affiliation of the three DuMont owned-and- operated stations with the Vitapix lineup which Guild will employ as outlets for national spot sales of its upcoming shows. Talks are still in the early stages, and/ according to Guild prexy Reub Kaufman, don’t involve any pui’Chase of the DuMont network. Kaufman, currently in Chicago, admitted that talks have been held with DuMont topper Ted Bergmann on Vitapix affiliations in New. York, Pittsburgh and Washington, along with “pbrollavy”. deals, but he Vehemently denied reports circulating earlier this week that Guild was negotiating for the. purchase of the network. Bergmann had also issued a denial that the web ‘ up for sale. Kaufman did say that the talks had covered the possibility of Guild's acquiring some DuMont shows for filming and subsequent Guild distribution, ^and also that he. had discussed the possibility of leasing some DuMont studio space for filming some of Guild’s upcoming shows. But he pointed out that he’s talked with other studio owners in N. Y. too, since a large proportion of Guild’s upcoming product will be shot in Gotham. Addition of the DuMont .o&o’s would strengthen the Vitapix statipn lineup in a couple of tender spots. Vitapix has no member station in-N.Y., for example, and WABD would shape up as the strongest outlet outside of WCBS-TV and WRGA-TV, both of ■which aren't available. A DuMont affiliation in Pittsburgh would give Vitapix one of the most powerful outlets in the Country. Kaufman’s current Chicago visit is for series of talks with additional stations interested in joining the Vitapix lineup, which presently has a membership of 35 stations. Kaufman said this number would rise to 60 within “the next few weeks:’’ Understood one of the reasons for the Chi. visit., apart from other midwest sta- tion talks, is to firm up entrance of WGN-TV in Chicago into the lineup. This, alojig with N. Y. and Pittsburgh, would open up all the major markets to the Guild-Vitapix^ combine; thus eliminating any clearance problem that might block a national sale. 9 i Complete reorganization, de-, signed to pay off some" $235,000 in debts and. to get production polling again on the “Mandrake the Magician’’, series and start, shooting on “Charter Boat,” has been instituted by the stockholders of Atlantic Productions, the Ber- muda-based telefilm production outfit. First moves of the stock- holder group will be raising of additional coin to pay pif debts, an accounting of the entire setup and dismissal of the present manage- ment:' Stockholders, headed by Jack Tucker . of Bermuda and Dr. Vil- lein Zwillinger of N. Y., have “drafted’’ John Gibbs as their ex- . ecutive consultant Although Gibbs Won’t oivn stock and wbnlt partici- pate in management, he’s ailing j the shots on the reorganization on behalf of the stockholders, and he said last week that it was funda- mental to the reorganization that all debts must be paid before pro- duction can resume. While the stockholders will raise more money to pay off the debts* an accounting operating, both from New York and Bermuda will be made. Writers, actors and other talent represented by Gibbs himself are owed money by Atlantic, and that’s the first step which will be made by the reor- ganized outfit. Once this is cleared up, produc- tion may resume, but if it does, it won’t be before Jan. 15 at the earliest. Negotiations-are in prog- ress for a financing and distribu- (Continued on page 42) ..Hollywood, Nov. 23. A world-wide telefilm series based on 1 authentic data concern- ing haunted houses will be pro- duced next year by. a new firm, founded by Richard Carrofl, nov- elist and editor of Fawcett Publi- cations’ Gold Medal Books, and Paula Stone. Series, to be known as “Haunted Houses of the World,’’ starts with 13 based on English haunted houses, thjen moves, on to France and Germany, with final 13 of 52 to be maefle in the U. S. Carroll has been collecting data for years. He has an extensive col- lection on ghost legends. Planned format will have ea,ch yidpic filmed on actual locale witji film dramatiz- ing event which thrned each castle op 'house into tiaye.n for haunts. Just Give Me the Wide Open Spaces Martin Jones (Proxy, roducers) on* of the many byline pieces in the 49th Anniversary Number of Into 84.2 Rage Calling WGR-TV’s feature film show the “Million Dollar Myth,’’ CBS Television Spot Sales tore into the N. Y. casing’s Telepulse ratings. The inference that WOR’s 84.2 for the week of Oct. 8 is in- flated threw the station into a rage, with counterclaims that the §ales rep for WCBS-TV is sore be- cause of losing biz to the General Teleradio 30 feature films. ] The Telepuise for WOR-TV, CBS Spot Sales points out; is far in excess of those for comparable periods by ARB; Hooper and Niel- sen, and a warning was made that the Pulse was a cumulative and not: (Continued on page 42) TPA’s 2-Platoon Selling Television Programs of America is establishing the equivalent, of a two-platoon setup in its sales de- partment, setting , up three of its account execs as .“regional , spot di- vision managers.” Three execs will work* With, the regular far west, central and eastern . sales [^managers on a freewheeling basis, moying into markets usually in- accessible, closing tough dealt!/ etc. Trio' is Robert H. Leler, who’ll Work out of Chicago for the'mid- west; Wade Crosby, in the: far west, -operating out of Los Angeles; and Charles' E. Denny Jr., cover- ing -the e'a’st o'uf : of Boston. • | By DAVE KAUFMAN Hollywood, Nov. 23. Network censors ip some in- stances are, operating on a “fear” basis, and their inconsistent blue- pencilling hampers the attempts at good programming, it’s charged By", vidfllm producers. Producers are increasingly grumbling about the men with the scissors, alleging they have, intensified their efforts since the recent U. S. Senate hearings on juvenile delinquency and the effect tv may have on it. Ed Nathan, chief of the CB!S editing department on the Coast, rebuts: “We feel- very strongly about the NARTB code, and intend to continue in strict adherence to it.” He Conceded, however, that in CBS’ recent televersion of “Sorry, Wrong. Number,” there is a code violation in that, the killer isn’t caught, but said “Npmber” is a modern Classic and as such, shouldn’t be changed. However, ‘‘Star and Story” pro- ducer Warren Lewis complains the web forced him to change the end- ing of a Somerset Maugham story, “Virtue.,” which the producer de- scribes as a modern Classic. Web blue-pencilled a suicide ending which followed Maugham’s origi- nal, on grounds the code wouldn't permit suicide. On Lux Video’s “Five Star Final,” on NBC-TV last week, there were 'two suicides. • Producers grumble about such inconsistencies’and apparently dif- fering attitudes toward the code by the networks. For example, a Gene Autry script about a kidnap- ing in 1870 was killed by CBS on grounds the code permitted no kid- nap stories. But, one of U. S. Steel Hour’s top shows on ABC-TV last season was a kidnap story starring Ralph Bellamy. Alcoholism is an- other subject frowned on by the men with the scissors, but “Ap- pointment to Samarrah” was on NBC-TV last year’ with Robert Montgomery . in the starring role as the alcoholic. Lewis says of the slicers, “They’re afraid of anything the least hit controversial;” He adds that themes dealing With medicos or psychiatry are watched closely, that the censors Will permit them only if there N isn't the faintest criti- cism* implied or’ otherwise. He cited as an example a. psychiatry vidfilm made with technical advice of. medicos who approved the final picture. * But the web objected on grounds such a picture would be harmful. Company finally got an okay on it after ’fighting the issue. Remarks Lewis: “Censorship has intensified to the point where pro- ducers hesitate to buy scripts for fear we won’t be able to use them.” In a David.. Niven vidpicture he asks a girly up to his place for a nightcap. Censors erased the word “nightcap’’ from the script. In an- other S&S, a femme tells a guy (Continued on page 42) PARSONS OUT, MALONE IN ON TV‘WHISTLER’ Hollywood, Nov.* 23. ■The Whistler” series, previously filmed by facilities of Lindsley Parsons Productions, is now, being lensed by newly-formed Job! Malone Productions, Parsons bow- ing out through “mutual agree- ment” with CBS. • Malone has al- ready begun work on the next 13 “Whistlers.” -r CBS-TV film sales, v.p., 'Leslie Harris has awarded the production pact to Malone,'Who produced’the first 13. in the series. To be known as Joel Malone Associates, new company began batch immediately, first on its sked being “Cancelled Flight*'' starring Richard ^rlen, with Will. Jason directing. Malone, who headquarters at KTTV^has as his' production man- ager, Bud Andrews; writers, Adrian Gendot and Harold Swan- ton; direttors, Jason/and William Claxtort; , assistant director, •. * AL Westoq, and ’ cameraman,, William Sickner. /Series is seen.on KTTV locally J f- i-ttj -i OFs 'Robin Hood/ 'Musketeers’ Ely Landau (National Telefilm Associates) It of the: opinion Syndicators: Need a Variation on the ‘Spectacular Theme’ an Interesting editorial feature ;lrt tho • r ■ • 149th Anniversary Number of . Negotiations for the purchase of United Television Programs by the Music Corp. of America have re- portedly reached the close-to-sign- ing stage and the deal is expected to be firmed in a matter of days. Indicative of how close the deal is are the presence , on the Coast of top MCA brass and of Dr. Villern Zwillinger, UTP barikroller who engineered the deal a year ago whereby Gross-Krasne took over, UTP lock, stock And barrel. According to reports from, the Coast, the deal would be a many- pronged one, not. simply a : matter of MCA's taking over the UTP properties and some of its. staff. Reportedly a provision of the deal is the appointment of Jack Gross and Phil Krasne as chief of all MCA production. Whether they would actually get titles* in MCA Revue Productions setup’ isn’t known, but reportedly they would supervise all of Revue’s output Additionally; all of their own pro- duction under the Gross-Krasne Productions .banner would be sold through MCA-TV, either national- ly or for syndication. Result Would be to give MCA- TV the largest catalog of syndi- cated properties in the business, and also one of the largest sales staffs. At the same time, produc- tion would be in the hands of ex- •perienced producers who’ve come up through the motion picture business, and who conceivably might be able to extend MCA’s sta- tus to broader horizons. For Gross- Krasne, the deal .would represent the fulfillment of an oft-repeated wish to deal in production' only, but under conditions that would make them among the top telefilm producers in the. country. Deal for the sale of the UTP properties* along with whatever participations they might share in Revue’s out- put, would enable them to expand ,their personal production far be- yond its present limits. NBC Film Exchange Being Built in N. J. Ground will be broken this week in Englewood Cliffs, «N. J., for. a new NBC! Film Exchange building which 1 when completed will handle all storage, traffic and inspection details for both the network and! its Film Division. New building, being constructed and; designed by Alexander Summer Industrial Service Co., is expected to be com- pleted in March. It’s located about - a mile north .of the George Wash-; ington Bridge. When complete, it will handle all of NBC’s shipments of 3,500 prints weekly to some 360 stations, ’ lb- eluded in the figure are the Film- Division’s syndication shipments, kinescope shipments, and network/ i shipments of web •filmed shows.*' 7 - Latest yield in the search, for new categories' of telefilm sh for syndication the costume drama. Official is first in with the period, pieces, with .the signing last week of a “Robi Hood” series to be filmed: in England by Hannah Weinstein’s Panda Productions. Meanwhile, Official is negotiating for “The ..Three Musketeers/’ which is being turned out by Thetis Productions in Rome, with a deal likely on the Dumas series withi a couple of weeks at the outside. . ..Idea of the costumers was broached by Official prexy Hal Hackett before his two-week trip to Europe a couple of months back. Both series are results of that trip, but he planed out to England for A quickie visit on “Robin Hood” last week to set de- tails for. the pilot, which will be shot within the next two weeks. Series will be filmed in studios and on location on the. actual sites of the stories, around Nottingham and Sherwood Forest. Filming on the rest of the series will start after completion of final scripts and cast- ing with American and British stars. “Musketeers” negotiations ar reported progressing smoothly. Thetis already has 13 of the films in-the can, and is currently shoot- ing its second cycle in Rome. Se- ries and a theatrical counterpart being produced simultaneously by Bdb Goldstein were set by Italian Films Export, and IFE is active in the Current Official negotiations. Deal would give Official distribu- tion in the U, S. and other mar- kets. In addition to the “Robin Hood” huddles, Hackett set details on pro- duction of 13 additional “Colonel March of Scotland Yard” Boris Karloff starrers which Panda will produce. British firm has already turned out 39 of the films which Official has set in some 65 markets here, and has also used three of them as a theatrical entry which has. already played the British cir- ’ cults. Set m 60 Markets Additional sales by Ziv Televi- sion Programs on its “Eddie Can- tor ^Comedy Theatre,” chiefly to breweries, have brought the show’s market total up to 60. Among the new deals are Weideman Brewing Co., for Cincinnati, Columbus and Dayton, Fort Pitt Brewing for six Pennsylvania, Ohio and W. Vir- ginia markets, and an expansion by San Francisco Brewing of its origi- nal six markets to 121,‘-with smaller California cities added to the list. Non-brewery sales include a four-market deal with Crown-Zel- lerbach, the lumber And paper manufacturer, which bought Al- buquerque, Denver* El Paso and Colorado Springs, and Purity Bis- cuit, which picked up Reno arid Boise, GUILD PLANS BRISSON SERIES FOR TELEPIX 6arl Brisson may dnter .the tele- film ranks via a -musical series to be produced and distributed by Guild, Films. Brisson And Guild prexy Reub Kaufman have had talks about such a series and have agreed verbally on format arid other, details/ Contracts haven’t been Signed yet, however, nor has a definite. starting date been set. Films .would be half-hour musi- cals patterned after the other Guild musical ehtries, and would probably be made available for na- tional spot sale for .airing • oq the Vitapix stations per ‘.Guild’s vVork- ing arrangement ^AfWth^-Vidpix.