Variety (December 1954)

w^InrMlay, December 29, 1954 Bill Boyd: A Video Credo In contradistinction to the spate of reports and commentaries linking television and telepix to juvenile delinquency, William Ilooalong Cassidy) Boyd made some pertinent remarks regarding television’s role in strengthening family ties. Boyd, just returning from a six-month world tour, made the comments recently in a iucst stint on the Australian Broadcasting Commission network. J.“ ovv "Guest of Honor.” His speech, repeated twice by the ABC, got wide press comment, mostly favorable. Excerpts from the talk follow. Speak , ng of television, I’d like to mention the way I feel about it.. I understand that in the near future television will go into operation here in Australia. Believe me—the sooner it comes the better. It is obvious that television provides a source of tremendous entertainment, and it provides good entertainment as well. More important, however, is the way this entertainment is enjoyed. In my own country, the war years and the strain and pressures of our way of life had brought a great change in the average family. Our families had grown apart from each other- each member seeking his own amusements separate from the others. It didn’t add up to a healthy situation for anyone, and it was especially bad for the children. They were growing up away from their parents and missing the warmth, the closeness and the love that can exist only in a happy home. It was a bad condition—and then television came along. "Within a few- years, television sets were in nearly every home in the country and our whole living habit had changed. Instead of running around in all directions vainly seeking amusement, mother, father, sister and brother found it in the last place they’d suspect— ri^ht in their own living room. They also found that what they were seeking wasn’t entertainment at all—it was really just being close together. Now our families have come to realize how much they had been missing and our homes have come to be homes and not just houses. Our kids have fathers and mothers again, and our fathers and mothers have their kids back with them. "That, I think, is the real miracle of television . . Ziv in $1,400,000 Takeover Of AN Studios in Coast Expansion Ziv Television Programs this» | week acquired full ownership of Vidpix Producer American National Studios in Hoi- _ lywood in two separate deals repre- Kalph M. i loll 11 senting an outlay of approximately $1,400,000. Acquisition of the old *"• ow " v, * w> •"•dium Eagle Lion lot by Ziv, after a two- at detailed in year search by the telefilm outfit n <m ’# fxxwnwwtS* for a studio property, malfcs it the 1OU Uon 1 Commit first major syndication outfit other Suicide If You Don't than the motion picture company r vidpix subsidiaries to possess its (rO !\ PttVOI'K own production facilities. * * * Deal for the studios^ which got 0 ne 0 f the many editorial features the name American National about j n the upcoming a year ago when it was purchased j . from Chesapeake Industries by a 49th Anniversary Number syndicate headed by Los Angeles of realtor Fred Levy, came in the form of a purchase by Ziv of the ^ JVtZitL, i I controlling interest (about two- OUT NEXT WEEK thirds) from Levy’s group, which includes Bob Hope, Ed Pauley, Dan 1 A Reeves and Ed Matz. A separate K|HrT|0Tl C ML 1021 IT stock purchase was made with 1/111 lid l d Iv 1 vfll Bernard Prockter’s group, which in- cludes Ed Conne and Richard ft 1 IV11’ Tl l interest. 5 ^ remaini " g DUllalO Dill I 3Ctj Ziv will begin immediately trans- * for of its properties in production (1*1 A AAA AAA J ■ is , to G z s A K rer,n c Ci» n „ i a , 1 *„«; JllWJUllUulJ Budget which will be renamed the Ziv Television Studios. Included in Le0 Burnett agency, which for this hatch are the “Corliss Arch- the past couple of years has been er,” "Eddie Cantor Comedy Thca- one the biggest spots and syn- tre.” "Mr. District Attorney,” “Fa- dicated filmbuyers among the vorite Story,” "I Led Three Lives” agencies, has set its biggest deal and "Cisco Kid” series. In the to date with a 10-year pact with works for 1955 are some six addi- Gene Autry’s Flying A Productions tional series, including additional {or the new "Buffalo Bill Jr.’s ’ Boston Blackie” episodes. series. Deal calls for Mars Candy Shows piirrpnt i,f ,i, nn ,i n - to sponsor the series, with Brown * current ly shooting at shoe t0 move in Jatcr as a cospon . continued on page 34) SO r, but agency is committed to a ‘ 10-year pact that calls for an ex- pi | i* • penditure of $10,000,000 # in time rm/*lr AT Itnfifno an<T talent over the period. * lUl/ll U1 En tries Series, which will begin in March, probably on a national II fy |* spot basis, will star Dick Jones, TAlf LVAOO Ivaama who has been a featured player I UI UrUSS-lVrdSne * n the “Range Rider” series, which Flying A also turns out. Others Hollywood TW 2fl in the cast are Nancy Gilbert and Now that they’ve gotten the dis- Harry (Pa PP y) Cheshire. Armand tribution business off their shoit Schaefer will be exec producer, dors via the sale of th*!r with Lou Gray as associate pro- Telcvision "programs to Musi? ducer * DeaI calls for a minimum Corp. of America Jack rrn« nnH of 66 new films to be shot on loca ‘ P"il K.afne are mapDi^ .n «- «•» ««er.l California ranches. pans, on program of their Gross- - . . Tj Bnstol-Myers Inks Vidpix Vice Celeste ;‘ ne ’ both of which have been ly- Hollywood, Dec. 28. Ai° n the shelf for some time. Pact calling for 24 anthology vid- Ais° resuming in early January films to be produced for Bristol- ,, e J ,le R awlins-Grant “Mayor Myers has been signed by Four the Town” series, which MCA is Star Productions, now repping, and the G-K “Big Telefilms go on CBS-TV Jan. 30, : series. A further enterprise filling out the spot vacated by can- BKeddcd for April is a feature, cellation of the Celeste Holm show. wisted street,” which the pair Producers of the 24 vidfilms are i.. Produce in association with Don Sharpe and Warren Lewis, "m,'r Steven8, wbo stars in the and series goes into production Ltt« u Wn ” series. Regarding the Jan. 4. I™’ b °th Gross and Krasne re- W.k. Hollywood stars will be v H>(1 last week from a series of used in the series, tentatively iw X ork huddles with Lever tagged “Bristol-Myers Favorite s ” the "Big Town” sponsors. Playhouse.” TV-FILMS Hack Stuff $10,000,000 Budget Leo Burnett agency, which for the past couple of years has been one of the biggest spots and syn- dicated filmbuyers among the agencies, has set its biggest deal to date with a 10-year pact with Gene Autry’s Flying A Productions for the new "Buffalo Bill Jr.’s series. Deal calls for Mars Candy to sponsor the series, with Brown Shoe to move in later as a cospon- sor, but agency is committed to a 10-year pact that calls for an ex- penditure of $10,000,000 # in time an<T talent over the period. Series, which will begin in March, probably on a national spot basis, will star Dick Jones, who has been a featured player in the “Range Rider” series, which Flying A also turns out. Others in the cast are Nancy Gilbert and Harry (Pappy) Cheshire. Armand Schaefer will be exec producer, with Lou Gray as associate pro- ducer. Deal calls for a minimum of 66 new films to be shot on loca- tion at several California ranches. Bristol-Myers Inks Vidpix Vice Celeste Hollywood, Dec. 28. Pact calling for 24 anthology vid- films to be produced for Bristol- Myers has been signed by Four Star Productions. Telefilms go on CBS-TV Jan. 30, filling out the spot vacated by can- cellation of the Celeste Holm show. Producers of the 24 vidfilms are Don Sharpe and Warren Lewis, and series goes into production Jan. 4. W.k. Hollywood stars will be used in the series, tentatively tagged “Bristol-Myers Favorite Playhouse.” Hollywood, Dec. 28. Robert Erlik will produce a new vidfilm series, “Hey, Taxi!,” going into production next spring at the Kling studios. Series to be produced by Erlik’s ERKO company deals with tales and adventures of taxi drivers, will be made with cooperation of the Teamsters Union. Mona Kent Soaper As Jamaica’s First; Seek Judith Evelyn First project of the newly-organ- 1 ized Jamaican Film Centre is to be a five-a-week quarter-hour filmed soap opera to be scripted by vet- eran soaper creator Mona Kent. Series, as yet untitled, would con- j cern an American family living in Jamaica, and shooting on the se- ries is slated to begin in about four months. Miss Kent, who recently sold her "Woman With a Past” series out- right to CBS-TV, is currently in Kingston, the island’s capital, soak- ing in local color and backgrounds for the series. Meanwhile, Martin Jones, Henry Olmsted and Gordon Knox, the American board mem- bers of the Film Centre, are dick- ering network deals on the series and are talking to Judith Evelyn about starring in the series. Soapers will be shot as a five-a- weeker, but a new wrinkle in the sales pitch to the networks would be a. one-hour weekly dramatic show to be spotted for weekend j exposure on the same web. Fur- I thermore, the same film would then be dubbed for overseas theatrical distribution. Half the coin for the filming of the soapers is being pro- vided by the Industrial Develop- ment Corp. of Jamaica, which is partnered with the Americans in j the studio setup. VITAPIX’S 14 NEW STATIONS; 46 TOTAL Vitapix Corp. has swell its membership lists by 14 stations, ; bringing the total of outlets on its projected filmed network up to 46. Several of the stations had already been reported at Vitapix members, but final appoval either by the sta- tion stockholders or the Vitapix board had not yet been set. Topping the new outlets are WPTZ, Philadelphia; WKRC-TV, Cincinnati; KWK-TV, St. Louis; WGR-TV, Buffalo, and WFBM-TV, Indianapolis. Other new outlets are WMBV-TV, Marinette-Green Bay; KTVH, Hutchinson, Kans.; I KDUB-TV, Lubbock; WSLS-TV, Roanoke; WILK-TV, Wilkes-Barre; WRDW-TV, Augusta, Ga.; WDAK- | TV, Columbus, Ga.; WFMY-TV, I Greensboro, N. C., and WMT-TV, Cedar Rapids. Both WGR and WJTZ had Vitapix membership applications pending before the consummation of the Guild-Vitapix filmed network agreement. 'CapL Z-Ro’ Coin National Shoes has bought "Cap- tain Z-Ro,” Atlas TV Corp.’s half- hour film series, in the New York market and will slot it Sundays at 11:30 a m. on WRCA-TV. Launch- ing date is Jan. 9. The sponsor had previously underwritten "Time for Adventure” an hour earlier on the NBC flagship. "Z-Ro,” a live stanza . in Los Angeles for the last three years, features Roy Steffens in title role (he’s also the scripter) and Bobby Trumbull as Jet, his juve assistant. Sterling’s Pitchgals A paradoxical note in these tough days for the vidpix sales- man is that Sterling Televi- sion’s sales staff is nearly half composed of distaffers. Four out of the company’s nine pitchmen are pitchgals. As a matter of fact, the sales boss is a Miss Bernice Coe. Besides Miss Coe, there’s Min Myer, saleswoman cover- ing the East 'Coast through Virginia. Then there’s Char- lotte Wyatt, who handles the ad agencies. The last of the four is Mrs. Lea Orgel, distaff side of a hubby-wdfe team which covers the west coast. Mrs. Orgel isn’t the only vid- pix sales “woe-man” on the Coast. Governour Films inked Connie Lazar as rep there a few weeks back. Official Sets * Juliet Jones’ Series In 1st With the Soaps’ Distrib Bid Vidpix Producer Michael M. Sillerman Hot hit own views on Comes the Revolution In Telefilms an intorastiNg editorial foaturo In the forthcoming 49lh Anniversary Number of / PSniEfr OUT NEXT W EEK Chi Stakes Major Claim to Vidfilms Soaper Formula Chicago, Dec. 28. First major Windy City entry into the filmed soaper field is being prepped by a Chi combine com- prising Alan Fishburn, radio-tv producer-director, Bess Flynn, se- rial scripter and Dallas Jones, prexy of the film studio bearing his name. Discussions are under way with the network film arms and some of the major syndication firms for production-distribution deals, look- ing to a spring shooting start. The plans and preliminary blueprints have advanced to the point where they’re convinced they can bring in five 15-minute episodes for less than $12,000 and are pitching the project on that "realistic” price level. First series will be an original by Miss Flynn tagged "King’s Cas- tle.” with her longtime radio prop- erty "Bachelor’s Children’s as the second package. The trio is hop- ing to follow up with two more quarter-hour strips for a full hour block of soapers all using the same locale. Ona other possibility is being considered, that’s to pack- age weekly units of five shows with complete plots which could be programmed as a 90-minute fea- ture. One of the major factors in keep- ing the costs down is the three-way producer-writer-studio participa- tion in the eventual profits. Also the Fishburn-Flynn-Jones opera- tion plans to bypass highprlced name talent on the theory that it’s the story line that’s the important thing in daytime serials. Group sees no difficulty finding the neces- sary thfesps for the ambitious lens- ing schedule which foresees shoot- ing as many as 15 episodes within a two-week period. Study of the resident Chi talent pool, plus the legit thesps who come in with tourers, assure a more than ade- quate supply, according to Fish- burn. THETIS PREPS FOUR ~ ’COSTUME’ PILOTS After tossing around nearly every conceivable idea in history for its second costume vidpix skein, Thetis, the Italian tele- filmery has decided on a spring production of an “anything goes” type show. Using a “Coat of Arms” title and format as a spring- board, the company, on the advice of Italian Films Export, will do four pilots on various periods and royal personages. Only angle to justify choice of pix is that each must be built around royal personages, regard- less of the period in history. IFE reports that two of the 30-minute pilots may deal with Attila, the Hun, and the Magna Charta. Plan on the four-way pilot ac- tually shapes up for informed in- dustryites as a means for Thetis is either sell a national sponsor or syndicator on the “Coat of Arms” format, or, that falling through, to use each pic as the key to its own film series. ► Despite all the talk among a number of major distribs on actual or projected proposals relating putting soap operas into syndica- tion, the sleeper among the distribs may very well turn out to be Of- * fficial Films, one of the outfits which hasn’t mentioned such a project at all. Official’s potential claim to "first with the soaps” lies in the fact that it’s optioned "The Heart of Juliet Jones” series, on which a pilot group was made last summer, for a 60-day period and is selling the series to stations on a conditional basis. Deal is an unusual one. by vir- tue of the “conditional” clause at- I taehed to every sale. If Official can come up with enough sales in the next 60 days to represent a weekly income of 40% of the coin needed to produce a strip of five quarter-hours, it will sign the scries and finance the production, thus making operative all the sales it signs between now and the next 60 days. It would then continue to peddle the series, of course. Firm feels it’s pricing the series, reasonably enough, since the price for five quarter-hours is pegged at the highest one-time Class A half- hour rate in each market. This, it figures, is attractive enough in every situation, yet it’s enough to get Official well off the nut on the series. Like the Weather... Fact is that everybody talks about soap operas, but like the weather, nobody does anything about it. Closest up to now has been Television Programs of America, which still has distribu- tion rights to Bernard Prockter’s "Family Next Door” and declares its intention of putting it on the market in February. ABC Syndi- cation has been talking about a joint filmed soap venture with the network, but hasn’t gotten approval yet. And NBC Film Division is studying the problem but main- taining the “not for another year at least” position. Motion Pictures for Television had originally financed the “Juliet Jones” pilot, which is owned by vet soap pro- ducer Charles Irving and is based on the King Features comic strip. However, MPTV’s deal was for a (Continued on page 34) IATSE Wnnah On CBS Newsfilm Washington, Dec. 28. Jurisdictional dispute between IATSE and IBEW over right to rep- resent motion picture cameramen employed In newsfilm department of CBS in New York was won by IATSE in a decision handed down yesterday by the National Labor Relations Board. In directing that an election be held to determine which union the cameramen desire to affiliate with, the Board upheld the contention of IATSE, local 644, that the news- film men constitute a separate unit and are entitled to be represented as such. IBEW contended that the newsfilm cameramen should be lumped in with a nationwide unit of technicians. The cameramen involved, num- bering six, have been represented by IBEW since 1946. However, in CBS-TV operations in Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington they are represented by IATSE. Board found that “the duties and skills of the film cameramen are separate and distinct from those of all ether employees, including those engaged in editing and cut- ting of film, and other technicians in the employer’s operations. By the very nature and location of their work, they normally have lit- tle contact with the employer’* technicians, and their working con- ditions are different from those of the other employees. Indeed, It appears that the film cameramen more customarily work in close contact and in cooperation with cameramen of other firms.” Newsfilm cameramen at CBS comprise a section of the News and Public Affairs Department. The unit is an outgrowth of CBS expansion. Prior to 1953, the vveb purchased most of its newsfilm from Telenews Inc.