Variety (January 19, 1955)

Wednesday* January 19, 1955 RADIO-TELEVISION S3 MIAMI PLAYS THE TV BIGTIME Caviar & Mincemeat What happened to Bob Hope when he appeared on Colgate “Comedy Hour” (Jan.. 9» opposite Ed Sullivan’s “Toast of the Town” is still being talked about In the trade as one of the all- time clinchers in the long-established axiom that “it doesn’t matter who you are or what your show is, but who you happen to be stacked up against.” In his regular Tuesday night at 8 once-a-month berth on NBC- TV for General Foods, Hope can be counted on to deliver one of the major Trendex and Nielsens—invariably winding up in the No. 3 or No. 4 spot. Tuesday 8 to 9 is still hotter ’n’ hot, no matter whether it’s Milton Berle, Martha Raye or Hope, and the competitions at that time is comparatively weak. But Hope at Sunday 8 to 9 is something else again, despite the fact that his Jan. 9 show (a filmed playback of his GI performance in Greenland) happened to be one ot his best stints of the season. This season Sullivan is master of the Sabbath 8 to 9 domain and what could be caviar on Tuesday can be reduced to mincemeat on Sundays. The Trendex scorecard: “Toast” 36.1; Hope 24.7. True-Believer Wylie s Book Asks Of Critics, Why Do the Heathen Rage?’ Hollywood Unspooled Coast Proponents of Live Programming Vs. Film Now on Upbeat By JACK HELLMAN Hollywood, Jan. 18. The lively arts were never in- tended to embrace television, the electronic upstart not having earned the right to take its place alongside the theatrical elite. Or so contend the patrons of the more dignified phases of high- minded show biz. Hollywood to film, let the high standards be raised where the theatre is a liv- ing thing. Where the categories divide there must be recognition of both so Hollywood can claim distinction beyond its world acclaim for spooled entertainment. Much that is live goes out every day to cable and relay from this citadel of the cinema even though the numerical advantage remains on the sprocket tracks and grows day by day. But live tv there is and, say the defend- ers. there always will be. The key word here is “immediacy” and there the case is rested. Three of the foremost dramatic programs taking their signoiT from Hollywood are very much live, let the critics say what they will. “Climax,” “Hallmark Hall of Fame” and “Lux Video Theatre,” all in the hour bracket, shun the film cameras and are content to keep Roing that way. The big musicals like “Colgate Comedy Hour,” “Show'er of Stars” and others of lesser magnitude are (Continued on page 42) Cantor’s AM Strip Radio version of Ziv’s “Eddie Cantor Comedy Theatre” telepix entry will be released as a half- hour five-a-week segment to be produced separately frpm the vid- pix. Sales drive by the Ziv organi- zation gets under way next week, with a Jan. 31 air date tagged on the series. Format includes some of Can- tor’s standard characterizations, an 18-piece band backing Cantor’s songalogs, reminiscings by the comic and other routines. Total of 260 half-hours will be produced this year. WMGM’s Black Ink Via Tolchin Touch WMGM, the Loew’s radio indie In N. Y., was in black for the first time in approximately five years after four months under the new Arthur Tolchin regime. The sta- tion benefitted from a 10% in- crease in gross billings for Sep- tember through December of ’54 over a similar session a year earlier. " Station’s jump into the profit column happened, Tolchin main- tains. in the face of increased ex- penditures. First, he said that an ad campaign in the N. Y. Hearst papers as well as in other black- whiters was instituted. Under his management (in a takeover from Bertram Lebhar Jr., who ankled for the top sales job at the Irv Rosenhaus - controlled WATV- WAAT stations in Newark), a sales promotion department, under Patti Young’s aegis, was added for the first time, and. in line with r l olehin’s emphasis on pre-planning the disk show’s in the sked, the disk-library staff has been in- creased and budget nearly quad- rupled. WMGM has shown a boost In ratings since Tolchin finished jockeying the ayem lineup. Switch- >ng to stuff gabbers, the 7 to noon times got an overall stepup of 34%, according to a comparison of Pulse figures for September and L'*^iem- ber. AFTRA Resolves All Issues With Major Chi Stations Chicago, Jan. 18. The American Federation of Radio-Television Artists and WGN, Inc., reached agreement on new two-year talent contracts after several weeks of touch and go bartering. As expected, WGN general manager Frank P. Schrei- ber stood fast against the televi- sion pension and welfare issue with AFTRA national exec secre- tary George Heller accepting in- stead a pay boost for WGN-TV staffers. Agreement also has been reached w’ith WLS and the local pacts have already been signed by the ABC, CBS and NBC stations, thus winding up the biennial AFTRA bargaining with the major Chi radio-tv operations. Next up is new contract talks with the “B" stations. The lengthy WGN-TV negotia- tions had been hung up for weeks on the p&w plan which had been accepted by the three tv networks for their Chi o&o’s during the New York talks. As the head of a DuMont-affiliated indie. Schrei- (Continued on page 42) Miami Beach, Jan. 18. This was television week for Miami Beach, with 14 emanations hitting the networks. Cross - the - board telecasts by Dave Garrowa.v and his “Today” company and Steve Allen’s “To- night” unit from the Sea Isle hotel created the most excitement, their program patterns including a com- prehensive view of the doings in this glitter resort day and evening. Garroway’s scripts gathered in other Florida attractions as well as the Beach scene, with novelty the theme. Allen’s midnight me- lange concentrated more on after- dark goings-on featuring a series of guest appearances by cafe per- formers working in the area, but- tressing his regular staffers. Both shows were faced by picketers for the first few days when IATSE local insisted that two men be employed to move lights and equip- ment around the Sea Isle hotel’s cabana area where the stagings were centered. NBC insisted the matter was up to WTVJ, whom they had contracted with for tech- nical assistance. In turn WTVJ, not a union station, tossed the problem into the lap of the city’s public relations department. The city wound up paying the salaries of the two extra men. Colgate “Comedy Hour” took over the huge new’ Fontainbleau for its Sunday nighter with Gordon MacRae introing an array that included Jack Carter. Patti Page, the Vagabonds, Lecuona Cuban Boys and the Cypress Gardens Water Ballet, dividing the picture between the big night club in the hotel and the poolside sector. Walter Winchell, in town for sev- eral weeks of sun, is simulcasting his ABC Sunday program from here; two boxing bouts were also telecast, one Friday, the second Saturday to round out the week’s schedule. City of Miami Beach w’as the big winner publicity-wise, winding up with a small expenditure in defraying costs for cable lines. Housing was absorbed by the hotels in which the various units wore located, thus keeping public relations director Hank Meyer’s $20,000 fund for tv shows almost intact. He is setting up more radio j and video deals for the upcoming height of the season, pitching especially for return of the "Today” and “Tonight” shows. They are more than likely to come back, after being accorded the VIP treat- ment by all concerned. John J. Has a Problem Hollywood, Jan. 18. John J. Anthony, problem coun- sellor on tv and radio under “Mr. Anthony,” slapped a $296,400 suit against Hollywood agent Johnny Maschio and others in L. A. Su- perior Court charging breach of contract, .lie charged defendants contracted to pay him $21,400 for appearances in 39 telepix and $75,000 for use on 260 radio tran- scriptions. Punintive damages of $200,000 are also asked. Other defendants are Artists Limited Productions, Inc., Motion Pictures for Television Inc., Rey- nard International Corp., Matty Fox and Edward Gray. CONGRESS TRIBUTE TO ‘LONE RANGER’ Washington. Jan. 18. Congressional tribute to the “Lone Ranger” on the occasion of its 22d anniversary Jan. 30 as the oldest continuous half-hour pro- gram on radio was paid last week by Sen. Price Daniel (D.-Tex.). In a statement inserted in the Congressional Record, Sen. Daniel said the program "has served as a vital factor in keeping alive in the minds of people, both in the U. S. and abroad, the traditions and ideals of the Texas Ranger organization and its work in main- taining law and order.” Price extended congratulations to Jack Wrather. of Dallas and Los Angeles, who now owns the pro- 1 gram. SRA In Bowout On Spot Crusade; Feels Coin Pinch Toni’s ‘Get Out of Town’ Weekly TV Show With Vagabonds From Miami Toni has negotiated a pact with NBC-TV for purchase of the post- Gillette fights Friday night period for a weekly live show emanating from Miami. This is the time pe- riod (spanning the ending of the j bouts until 11 p.m.) being exited by Mutual of Omaha with its filmed sports segments. M of O is cancelling out after 26 weeks. Toni will slot the Vagabonds in the period, originating from their club in Miami. This represents the first network purchase of a non- N. Y. or Hollywood origination since the “get out of town” cry, has been taken up by the'affili- ates. The Station Represent atives Assn, has dropped its Crusade for | Spot Radio in favor of supporting an intensified spot radio promo- 1 tion by Radio Advertising Bureau. | This situation, in light of a pre- vious lack of coordination between the organizations on similarly im- portant matters, surprised many tradesters. SRA’s decision to drop its pet Crusade (covering 300 station members) was due to many factors,! as was RAB’s decision to increase spot radio activities. First, SRA was limited severely in funds for such promotion. (There were some complaints that the org couldn’t 1 supply detailed reference matter on spot buys, for example.) SRA. which claims to have long sought more support for a specific pitch on spot radio from RAB but with no avail, finally got its point across, but through at the showdown, ef- fort on someone else’s part. Several weeks ago, RAB (for- merly Broadcast Advertising Bu- reau) board members received a letter from rep John Blair asking more aid for spot radio promotion. I Reps in RAB are understood to have been supplying about 2% of RAB’s annual budget, and it was told Blair and his supporters by Kevin Sweeney, RAB prexy, that the agency was then doing all in its power. However, it’s believed that once it was brought home that Crusade was faltering and that the over 800 local stations in RAB have as great a stake in spot radio as the reps themselves, then RAB decided to use a greater share of its budget in that direction The Crusade, just over a year old, officially ends on March 31. By ROBERT J. LANDRY “Frankly irked by The incom- plete thinking and unproved charges of television’s detractors,” Max Wylie, currently script editor of the Ford Foundation “Omnibus” series, has written a new 408-page book. “Clear Channels” which un- dertakes to criticize the critics. It seems very probable that the work will bring dow'n upon Wylie ap- proximately the same kind of in- tellectual scorn which descended upon Lyman Bryson, the professor employed by CBS, when his “Time For Reason About Radio” appeared in 1948. Wylie and Bryson broadly share the same general thesis, namely, that it is the intellectual who neg- lects broadcasting, not vice versa. But Wylie goes further and de- clares: “We are living in the age of the jerk. But what of it? We have always been living in the age ol the jerk. Most people have been “tasteless slobs” since their ante- diluvian beginnings. They don’t mind it. They don’t even know it. 1 They think other people are jerks. I see very little to get excited about regarding the quality of our en- thusiasms. It isn’t television’s doing that Liberace has been apotheo- sized. These are your (the public’s) enthusiasms.” “Television is easy to slander” as an art form, which latter idea, he comments parenthetically, is “a dangerous way to think of it.” Per- sons of “little or no consequence” may sound off against tv assured of never being “put to the moral re- sponsibility of producing either their evidence or their reasoning.” Wylie focuses his binoculars upon the rifle pits of the byliners, Jack Gould, Harriet Van Horne, Norman Cousins, John Crosby, Phil Hamburger. X marks the map where the flame-throwers lurk, meaning Robert M. Hutchins, Gil- bert Seldes, Louis Berg, Frieda Hennock, Edward L. Bernays, Dr. Frederick Wertham. The “enemy” is even given answer in terms oj baseball, lung cancer and the wel- fare commissioner of N. Y. City (latter vis-a-vis Walt Framer’s “Strike It Rich).” In chapter after chapter Wylie argues it’s easy to slander tv and offers much evi- dence on the other side, evidence which he asserts is seldom known to the inadequately - informed critics. Curiously, Wylie passes over (Continued on page 40) Red Buttons Tees Off Situation Comedy Format Red Buttons, who gives his first show under a situation comedy for- mat on Friday (21), will have a permanent cast that includes Paul L.vnde, Phyllis Kirk, Bobby Sher- wood and Florence Robinson. Julie Oshins will produce and direct. Writers signed for the project are John Greene and Bill Daven- port. Story line has Buttons playing himself as a video star. Pin CONFLICT COSTS KQV SPONSOR COIN Pittsburgh. Jan. 18. Radio station KQV can chalk up a loss in the sale of WDTV by DuMont to Westinghouse. Wil- kens Jewelry Co., which sponsors weekly Sunday night “Amateur Hour,” is dropping the show on AM but will continue on tv over WDTV. Lew Silberman, head of Wilkens outfit, said he didn’t think it would be fair to telecast over a West- inghouse-owned television station and simulcast on an outlet in di- | rect competition to Westinghouse’s own radio station, KDKA. At the same time, he didn’t feel , immediately like switching from , KQV lo KDKA since latter’s cov- erage is too extensive for jewelry company, which has its outlets con- centrated in the metropolitan dis -1 trict. Silberman, however, left '■ open the possibility of taking KDKA, too. in the future but for the present will be on tv only. | $3,000,01)0 Dip In MBS ’54 Biz Mutual Broadcasting grossed • total of $20,430,377 in 1954, a drop of nearly $3,000,000 from the previ- ous year. Seventy-four bank- rollers were collected by the w'eb in the ’54 session, with March be- ing the hottest biz month of the year. J. Walter Thompson topped the agency pile last year, placing with Mutual a combined total of $2,514,- 506 (for the Florida Citrus Com- mission. Credit Union National Assn, and Johns-Mansville). Need- ham. Louis & Brophy placed with $2,352,454 (for Derby Foods, S. C. Johnson and State Farm Mutual Auto Insurance*. Lennen 8c Newell was third with $1,572,342 (for P. Lorillard), with SSC&B’s $949,530 fourth (for American Home Products). Geoffrey Wade (lor Miles Labs) and Cunningham A Walsh (for C.&M and PanAm Coffee Bureau) ran closely be- hind. Johnson led the list of sponsors, spending via the radio web a gross figure of $1,868,637, but it ankled its 25 capsule news shows weekly on tl\£ web and was replaced by Kraft late in the year. P. Loril- lard came next with $1,572,342 and the AFL third <it left for ABC) with $1,311,751. Johns-Manville replaced by Esso) totalled $1,* 210,908.