Variety (May 1955)

88 RADIO-TELEVISION Wednesday, May 25, 1955 New York Reuven Frank, producer of NBC-1 TV’s "Background,” nabbed Sigma p'elta Clii Award in journalism for tv newswriting, singled out for his "Road to Spandau 1 ’ script last June . . * Henry C. Brown office has new exclusives with Michael Fitznyiurice, Susan Hallaran, Ro- land Wood and Gene Saks, latter on Gertrude Berg’s ABC-TV "El- gin Hour” last night (Tues.) . - . The Lester Lewis office has signed as agents for the Buff Cobb-Mike Case proposed "Judge Priest” vid- pix series and exclusive reprs for Eva Gabor and Peggy McCay, with Miss Gabor having appeared on last week’s NBC-TV "Justice” and Miss McCay playing Vanessa Dale on CBS-TV’s "Love of Life.” Male lead on NBC’s "Modern Romances” this week is Earl Ham- mond . . . Barbara Gaylord into WABC’s "Road to Romance” and "Drama of Life.” . . . Mayor Wag- ner guested on Ted Granik’s "Women Want to- Know”. Monday (23) as insert of WRCA "TV Work- shop” on Norman Brokenshire show . . . Lou Goldberg,, prez of Reemack Corp., packagers „of "Ori- ginal Amateur Hour” and "Ted Mack Matinee,” undergoes opera- tion for ulcers in N. Y. hosp this week .. . . Tex & Jinx McCrary to Istanbul June 8-14 for opening of Hotel Istanbul Hilton . . , Lori Darmi returns to WRGA-TV’s "Fourth R” during June when show will be produced under aus- pices of the Protestant Council . David Winters on BC-TV’s “World of Mr. Sweeney” last week and ABC-TV’s "Mr. Citizen” tonight (Wed). Singer Jane Wilson subbing for Lois Hunt on the Robert Q. Lewis show while Miss Hunt takes a ma- ternity leave . . . Jay Hoffer, ex- WJAR-TV, joined ABC. as adver- tising promotion director for WABC and WABC-TV, the web’s N. Y. flagships . . Howell- Rogin Studios appointed Affiliated Program Service as sales reps for the Aim field of H-R’s Cellomatic process of animated projection . "Right Around the Corner,” 10- minute film, produced by Trans- film for the Greater N. Y. Fund drive, being made available *to tv ... Johnny Olsen added to the cast of "Penny to a Million,” the new iABC-TV quizzer .. . That was Jane Connell who rated the kudos in last week’s review of "Shoestring Revue,” not Beatrice Arthur, as erratumed. Having already hit a 25.3 for seventh place in the Trendex for its May 6 show, CBS-TV’s “Person to Person” made it a seventh again on ARB with a 35-plus score and again the Friday night leader . . "Halls of Ivy” will take up the ho weather hiatus for cancelled "Willy,” vidpixer thus moving from Tuesday to Thursday . . . "Front Row Center” is official tag of GE’s Wednesday full hour drama series starting over CBS in June . "Lassie” pinchhitter is “The Hart- man Family” for five weeks start ing June 12. Jerry Winters, former tv produc- tion associate ("Tonight on B’way” and “College Bowl”) made his debut as a commercial film pjoduc-J er-direetor Monday (23) at the Paris Theatre, N. Y., with "Herman Melville’s Moby Dick,” narrated by Thomas Mitchell. Free & Peters veep Lloyd Grif- fin is chairman of membership committee for the northeast for Television Bureau of Advertising. . . Marc Connolly, Fannie Rurs* and Mike Wallace were first re- viewers for WABD’s new “First Night on Broadway” pdsfc-preem critique. Occasion last Monday (2) was “launching of "Once Upon a Tailor”. . ,A1 Freedman, Barry- Enright-Friendly staff scribe, has developed the "Dollar a Second” parlor game which hits the mer- chandising mart today (Wed.). ABC-TV and DuMont last night’ (Tues.) got Sigma Delta Chi awards for McCarthy-Army hearings cov- erage. . .The Bruce Balaban stanza trailerizing Hollywood’s latest fea- tures preemed last night (Tues.) via WABD in a switch from WOR- TV. These Tuesday exposures will be repeated on Thursdays since show went entirely on film in switch, and columnist Frank Far- rell takes over as emcee of the film-about-film stanza from other journalist Frank Quinn. . .Chuck Bernard, WABD salesman, in Cali- fornia until June 1. . .Into the new MCA-TV “Dr. Hudson’s Secret Journal” syndicated vidfilm string as regulars are Olive Blakeney, Frances Mercer, Carl Bentpn Reid and Blossom Rock. . .90-year-old Georgianna |Carhart^ nf/‘Life Be-, ginsi at 80*f had her’ apartmentrpil-f i fered* of most of the gifts she re- ceived on her birthday two Fri- days ago. Also taken were a good many Of her "keepsakes,” so show emcee Jack Barry took airtime in ast session to appeal for return of the latter. WRCA-plus-tv to intro Betty Best as trade name of Professional aiindry Foundation at party in RCA's Johnny Victor Theatre to- morrow (Thurs.). . .Jay Barney on bike this week for tv’s "First Love” and radio’s "Doctor’s Wife”—a D.A. in the former, crooked con- ractor in latter, . .Charles Colling- wood subbed Eric Sevareid on CBS-"American Week’ (22) in lat- ter’s illness. Miner’* Wrapsodies With Reynolds Metal’s pur- chase of the new Tony Miner- produced "Frontier” series iot NBC-TV, it puts Miner in a peculiar position in regard to sponsorship products. On Monday nights on NBC-TV, the Miner-produced "Medic” series peddles Saran Wrap on behalf of Dow Chemi- cal. On Sunday flights "Fron- tier” will be extolling the vir- tues of Reynolds Wrap. Radio Reviews ‘Not Interested’ Sez Canada on Toll-TV DISASTER With Abbe Lewis, Dryna Raeburn, Leon Janney, Rogers DeKoven; narrator, Jackson Beck Producer: Wiley HafTce Director: Warren Summerfield Writer: Ira Marion 25 Mins.: Sun., 5:05 p.m. ABC, from N.Y, § As implied by the title, this new ABC airer deals with disaster. instead. The first problem-:—not the one later on in the program which was signed simply "Scared”— was typical: "Should I gojout with an- other man besides my husband . . , just for fun?” Answer: (loud, ada- mant) "It is absolutely unthinkable . . . The unscrupulous type of man who (lecherous emphasis on the next word) preys on unhappily married women is more lecherously) out for (even bigger stakes . . Stop ♦think- thoughts Chicago Leo Salkin back as talent booker for Jim Moran’s Friday night "Courtesy Hour” on WBKB . . . Robert Edmonds and Lloyd Bethune new directors at Kling Film Pro- ductions . . . WNBQ’s tailored-for- tv golf game returns for the sum- mer June 8 with Norm Barry host- ing and George S. May, owner of the Tam O’Shanter country club, site of the remotes, hoisting the tab . . Pabst Brewing signed on at WBBM-TV With a thrice-weekly 15- minute 6:45 p. m. / sports and weather parlay featuring John Harrington and P. J. Hoff. New en- try bows June 27 .. . Slocum (Bira) Chapin, ABC-TV veep, here most of last week making' the rounds with his new Chi web execes Jim Beach and Hal Wettersen . . . Com- munity Sales to bankroll WGN- TV’s Sunday night stock car races starting June 5 from Santa Fe Raceway . . .. Sportcaster Jack Drees and golf pro Johnny Revolta teaming up on WBKB’s "Pars, Birdies & Eagles” Monday flights . . . Gottfried Motors sponsoring the "My Hero” telepix on WBKB Thurs'day nights. Pulitzer Winner Lewis Denies Collabing With CBS’er on a Teledrama Washington, D.C.- Editor, Variety: This is, in reference to a piece in Variety (May 11) which says I am collaborating with Clifford B. Mandell of CBS on a television script. The story says the script is for a one-houy drama, based on newspaper stories about a security risk case for which I won a Pulitzer Prize in national reporting. The statement that I am col- laborating on such a script is en- tirely false. Some time ago Mr. Mandell wrote me and said he had the idea of writing a television play about the security case of Abraham -Chasanow, which I had described in some magazine and newspaper articles. I met Mr. Mandell once and discussed this idea. I told him that he could certainly try writing a play on the subject, as ’he could on ^anything that has been in the newspapers. I agreed to send him clippings of some of my stories and I did so. That was all I did. I did not give Mr. Mandell per- mission to use my name in any script, nor would I give him a re- lease to that effect until I had seen any script'he wrote. I have no intention of collabo- rating with Mr. Mandell on this or any other project of his. I have never written a word for television or radio and do not believe I ever shall., ’ . Anthony Lewis. (Washington; Daily News) Ottawa, May 24,. Specifically, it’s concerned with the work done by the Disaster than ‘just for fun’ Service of the American Red ing evil, foolish Cross. Materidl for the program is (next words heavily) Be careful!!” culled from the files of that org It’s unfortunate that the femme and presented in documentary who. read the so-called letters was fashion. The opening show last too stilted to match the sweeping Sunday (22) covered the Texas histrionic abilities of “Your Friend- City explosion of April 16, 1947. ly Advisor.” Art. „ . . . , . Program was highly effective ir Toll-tv is definitely out as far buildup to the explosion and as the Canadian Broadcasting its account of the destruction that Corp. is concerned, at least for an followed. A blast that takes 512 indefinite, long time. Besides be- lives, injures 2,000 people and ng complicated and expensive, it causes ' $50,000,000 in property wouldn’t fit into the national CBC damage has enough drama in those essence of the new mature ap- video service and A. D. Dunton, facts alone to stimulate attention, proach. CBC’s chairman, believes public However show began a downhill reception of it would be grudging wl _ nd V? if nrtf hnctiiA voted to the case histories of two Th« mipcfinn nomn « families involved in the tragedy. TT^he question came up when a ^his paved the way for a rundown Ho V, se J .?* Commons committee 0 f the various forms of assistance • Syndicators. Continued from page 35 The battle of station vs. syndica- tor, or_ exhibitor vs. distributor, such as it was, brought comments from several distribs to the effect ..... . L no w that an industry organization would mulled the prospects of sharp de- given disaster victims by the Red serve a purpose if only to. bring creases in CBC revenue and a con- cross. stations and distribs together for sequent CBC demand for govern- Production, performance and regional meetings to work out ment financial assistance. Some scripting' were good, with show’s problems. -The forum appeared to overall impact on the plus side. Jess. parliamentarians thought toll-tv might be the answer to bolster the corporation’s lagging revenues (from 15% excise tax on sale of FALLOUT steamroll any doubts some distribs held, regarding an association. Organization also drew strong station support from Harold See, 'S&?' ** 5?SL““ logoi manager of KRON-TV in Dunton kayoed the idea on Producer: Bill Nelson grounds of impracticability. CBC, Writer: Bill Small he said, had gone into the matter 15 Mins.; Mon^thru-Fri., 5:30 p.m. thoroughly and found no hope. Sustaining CBC’s income is showing signs WLS, Chicago N of dropping because, the commit- The WLS newsroom team, with San Franciscb. and head of the NARTB film' committee. See de- clared that the telefilm industry faces the threat of censorship unless the syndicators get together for some self-policing. "The only tee was tpld, 75% of the potential Jjgws chief Bill Small doing the thing ]yi ng between censorship Sl ad ‘ a, :„ T aUdl , enee was cm T e " H y ^semMed a series of Tve auarter- and no censorship,” he said, “is the getting television service; of that assembled a series ot hve quarter- coflduct ourselves and the audience, 50% had already bought hours dealing with that horrible receivers (more than 1,400,000.sets 1 ec ^° an H-bomb blast—radio fact that stations are licensed by- active 7alloutrf he *one-sh6t public | the federal government and not by the states and so state censor- ship boards have no authority over “S' P vS service crossboarder is a standout b « lng example of using the tools of the slashed^ With CBC depending on me dium for a comprehensive ex- the 15% excise tax on set sales position of a possibility that’s dif- for revenue, there was only one ficult for all but the atomic-era way for that revenue to go—down, experts to think about rationally. m itte e tomorrow^ (Wed.) to discuss Color tv, Dunton intimated, was , That the WLS project is hardly bis ideas oil an association probably closer in Canada than reassuring, despite t^he taped toll-tv, but Canada was waiting for quotes from the Civil Defense development of color video in the authorities, is not the mark of any U.S. before taking any definite editorial slant, but rather the steps. Canada had waited for U.S. r ?, s ^ detailed probing -into development of television itself all the facets of what might hapoen before going into it at all. Ac- £ ® cording to Dr. 'J. J. McCann, Min- a t S least the h Cl °r aft 5« d scieflti$ts interviewed raised more can Assn, of Advertising-Agencies saved Canada a possible $20,000,- questions than they • answefed, a nd its form—the slapping of an uuu * although each obviously is us.'" See, incidentally, is scheduled to meet in an off-the-cuff session with the industry organizing com- The one and only reservation some of the more thoughtful dis- tribs held was the matter of anti- trust laws. In particular, it was pointed out that any attempt to create a standard distribution con- tract might meet with the same treatment that greeted the Ameri- CBS NEWSF1LM TO REP BRIT. COM! TV CBS Newsfilm has been signed by Britain’s commercial television op- eration as its newsreel representa- tive in North and South America and the Far East. Deal was made last week between Newsfilm and In- dependent Television News Ltd., the ‘news programming company .a con- scientious authority in his field. The series which -finaled last week (20) dealt with how much radioactive dust the human body can take; what are its longterm genetic effects; its effect on food and water (Lake Michigan), and; most importantly, what can the ordinary citizen do about it. With Bill Duane and Larry Alexander working the, background fill-ins, most of the dope came direct from the-, various experts themselves, both locally and frem Washington via tapes. What resulted was not a surefire escape from the H-bomb antitrust suit against the industry. Similarly, there was fear on the matter of price collusion. But with those qualifications in mind, the industry appears about to embark on a new era of cooperation. ‘Italian Film’ Continued from pace 35 set up by the Independent Tele- vision Authority, which will run in five easy lessons but instead a commercial tv in England. ITN is ^yarning, grimly serious in its supplying „its* own European and implications, that the guy on the Near .East coverage. farm or the street ought to pitch lTN, under the pact,* will receive i* 1 ?_ n 4 £* ve a hand to his local Holmes’ s a Continued from page 34 wider attention <,in Hollywood among the telefilm -producers there, is the matter of breaking down Scenes of three or more separate films and shooting the same set simultaneously for them all. It’s a saver in time and money, since the set is up and the light- ing is fixOd. Thus, for example, Previn will shoot Baker St. in- teriors on the ."Holmes” series for three 6r piore episodes at once, doing thQ same for location jobs. It’s tough on the actors, he states, but it effects important savings and it’s good for the director and .crews in that it .givesi them a- wider, (perspective ton the: entire series: J > * the full Newsfilm syndicated'Serv ice, using more than 250 Newsfilm cameramen, soundmen and corre- spondents in some 50 countries in the coverage area. Deal gives Newsfilm an added boost to its list of foreign clients, among whom are Japan, Italy., Sweden, Denmark t Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Vene z&ela, plus Hawaii and Alaska. Civil Defense setup. And this is the sort of enterprise that’ reminds the public that radio is still very much alive and. alert. Dave. be extended to other cities carry- ing the features. Despite the show’s heavily Italian character, the English sub- titling attracts many non-Italians. Landi claims that former estimates of about 30% non-Italian viewers have been substantiated by a fifth aflrii contest he’s been running over the past 13 weeks, with a to- tal. mail pull of 25,000 letters, about 30% of which come from non-Italians. Contest, incidental- ly, is based on the pictures run over the five years and will hand out some $5,000 worth of prizes. Show is currently seen in Provi- dence, Wilmington (where it hits the Italian population in Philadel- YQUR FRIENDLY ADVISOR Producer: Selvin Donneson Director: Herb NOrman 15 Mins., Mob.-thru-FrI., 9 aan. WWftL, *J.Y. " O' For Selvin Donneson, sales man- phia) and Steubenville (covering) ager of "VirWRL, to take over as pro- Pittsburgh). It’s currently on in ducer of ’this show as well, indi- Scranton, also, but goes off-for the M # m fl te I cates .he must think it has a great summer. Over its five years, it’3 Mooney lnun ldKCOlI I sales potential. Listed as a ‘‘show played in Chicago, Boston, Roches- • J 1 of domestic and personal problems ter, Atlantic City and Bridgeport, submitted by listeners,” it works on the almost Ancient Mr. Anthony principle. Purportedly the first of its kind for the Negro market, the ? uarter-hour show, heard last uesday morning (17), contained on the track.. three queries and replies. Answers ur )oer which advertisers of Italian Station was sold on the package were in hyper-dramatic tones, ranging from sanctimonious whis pers to the stentorian sounds of an avenging angel. "Advisor” wasn’t always so "friendly” either. Sidemen Pay Stymies Los Angeles, May 24. Sidemen. pay has stymied takeoff of Art Mooney’s "Talent Train,’ skedded to-pull out on KCOP Fri- day (27) but which instead has by producer Louis D. Snader who, however, hadn’t yet discussed with the AFM his idea of making kines of the musical show for national distribution. When Snader got around to talks with the tunesters union, he was told he’d have to pay the musicians the same scale as though it were a telefilm show. on an on-again, off-again basis. Landi is currently dickering" a deal to set up a Massachusetts network of about 10 stations for the show, with a single rate card for the net uqder which advertisers of Italian products could get in under a low per-announcement cost. Ottawa—Transformation of Cana- The questions oh personal prob- dian'Broadcasting Corp.’s bilingual lems were rather immature. Since television station CBOT into tw'o what was heard was only the Second stations—CBOT, all .English, and program in a new weekday strip, CBFTr* all french—will be com- perhaps listeners didn’t have a pleted before the end of June, chance to write their qwn and the Operation, including new tower. I^e/sijlt; "Train’,’ iveflt Q.ff JCCOP>ber< Job v was. ileftj ^ to * the; 4aundicedi (transmitters and studios,»will cost fdw ife g9tf. onj t * ( 1 1 : r • li >. • r isophibticatian > o & fWAVRL 'staffers Imorefr tllan $1,700,000. - ’ “ ‘ -