Variety (March 1956)

Wednesday, March 21, 1956 M&RIBfY RADIO-TELEVISION 21 17 NEW SHOWS FOR CBS-TV Long Live the King As evidence that NBC-TV’s gotta do something about Tuesday 8 to 9 apparently it's now a case of the Milton Berle segments battling it out with ABC for the No. 2 position—with CBS-TV's Phil Silvers" Show now undisputed champ in the three-way rivalry. Last week’s Trendex, for example read: Silvers, 23.4; Berle, 12.4; with ABC’s “Warner Bros. Presents” moving into the No. 2 spot with 16.3 for the 8 to 8:30 rivalry. Even “Wyatt Earp” outpointed Berle, 21.9 to 19 from 8.30 to 9. Berle will return to New York as the originating base of his tv shovvs next season. After eight years on NBC-TV, for at least five of them the topdog in video, the comic, under longterm con¬ tract to the web, is scrapping his Tuesday night fixture and will do only four of his own programs in the 1.956-57 season. These will be of one-hour range and probably in color. He has four entries to go during the current season—all of them in the hues in the '55-’56' string. Next up is April 3. Berle had given evidence of late that he was “tired” of the medium and wanted a year’s rest after hanging up a record of 350 entries in the historic Tuesday niche._ Caesars ‘No No Nanette Shirl Conway, Pat Carroll Seen Moving In as Miss Fabray Checks Out _ ._ 4 - : -r- It was “No No Nanette” and “Hooray for Fabray” in one fell swoop last week, but with neither Sid Caesar ( nor Nanette Fabray, in separate “mutual admiration” statements', mentioning the exact reason for the rift. But whatever the reasons, Miss Fabray won’t be with the NBC-TV “Caesar’s Hour” next season. Caesar’s statement, issued late last Tuesday “to arrange for the continuance of Miss Fabray’s asso¬ ciation” with the show beyond the current, season. He lauded her work over the last two seasons. Originally she was engaged for guest shots and was made a per¬ manent member of the troupe after a couple of exposures as Mrs. Vic f or, his helpmeet. Miss Fabray said she had “sincerely tried to negotiate for next year’s contract and its options,” but that “we were apart on many phases of the contract.” She lauded Caesar. The money fac’.or immediately came into focus. A figure of $3,750 per show was pushed as Miss Fab¬ ray’s take, though it’s believed the amount is less than that. But on the basis of the published figure, she was asking for twice as much, (Continued on page 38) GAC’s Threesome To Sub for Como The Perry Como summer re¬ placement show on NBC-TV will wind up, to all intents, as a “Gen¬ eral Artists Corp.” package, with GAC head Tommy Rockwell utiliz¬ ing the Saturday 8 to 9 slot as a showcase for his stable of top sing¬ ing artists. Initially it was planned to install Julius LaRosa (who, like Como, is a GAC client) as the summertime entry. But now it will be a rotat¬ ing parlay of LaRosa, Patti Page and Peggy Lee, each doing four- week duty on the show. Dicker New Time Slot For TV’s ‘Big Town’ Hollywood, Mar. 20. Three-cornered talks among Mark Stevens, sponsoring Lever Bros, and NBC-TV brass are under way, over new time slot for Stev¬ ens’ “Big Town” teleseries. Show is currently aired at 10:30' P.m. Tuesdays, and Stevens and Lever Bros, want a better time. Topic was discussed in N. Y. by three parties involved, during re¬ cent biz trip east by Stevens. Blaufox Exits AG When Arthur Godfrey returns from his vacation April 2, missing from his roster will be Paul Blau¬ fox, his talent scout for five years on the CBS-TV show of that name Resignation of Blaufox has been fin open secret for some weeks. Blaufox said announcement of his future plans will be made.later. Taylor to RAB Sherril Taylor, co-director of sales promotion and advertising for CBS Radio, is switching to Ra¬ dio Advertising Bureau as veep and director of promotion. At the same time, the RAB exec committee, meeting in N. Y. this past week, made RAB veep John Hardesty general manager of the organization under prexy Kevin Sweeney. Freberg Puppet On ‘Comedy Hr.’ Basis Of $2,01,000 Suit Los Angeles, March 20. Puppet character of “Grover,” intro’d by Stan Freberg on the NBC-TV “Comedy Hour,” is point of contention in legal hassle which developed last week, with net and Freberg named as defendants in a S2.000.000 suit brought by Bob Clampett. Superior Judge John Ford issued a show cause order against the net, after Clampett charged net with unfair competi¬ tion and inducing breach of con¬ tract. Freberg, a former Clampett employee, was also named. In short, through attorneys Harold A. Fendler and Jacobs & Wilson, Clampett charges that Fre- berg’s “Grover” is an imitation of Clampett’s longtime puppet char¬ acter, “Cecil, the Sea Sick Ser¬ pent.” Show cause order issued by (Continued on page 38) NBC Radio’s ‘You Name It, And We’ll Sell It’ On Flexibility Pattern Chicago, March 20. Flexibility continues to be the network radio keynote with pur¬ chases being made in all shapes and sizes. Newest tailormade for¬ mula whipped up by NBC and Kenyon Sc Eckhardt for the Chi¬ cago Lincoln - Mercury Dealer Assn.’s tri-state district is a com¬ bination co-op and spot deal. Dealer group is buying direct from the stations in six midwest markets Alex Dreier’s “Man on the Go,” nightly 15-minute dinnerhour newscasts which are sent out as co-op programming by NBC. Proj¬ ect tees off April 16 for a minimum of 26 weeks and is costing the car merchants around $56,000. Web affiliates being used are WMAQ, Chicago; WTMJ, Milwau¬ kee; WIBA, Madison; WEEK, Pe¬ oria; WOC, Davenport; WMAM, Marinette, Wis., and WSAU, Wau¬ sau. Latter station joins the Dreier lineup in June, meanwhile, taking the “News of the World” under the same setup* ALL IN IRKS FOR 1856-57 The CBS-TV program mill is operating at a feverish clip these days. In terms of “upcoming at¬ tractions” the present activity is unprecedented. A total of 17 new shows, all of them carrying the “Columbia owned”- tag (though in a few instances there is a co- ownership stake) and representing a multi-million investment, are now in preparation. Since virtual¬ ly all of them are scheduled for a ’56-’57 premiere, it suggests a major programming upheaval, with probably each night of the week affected in one way or an¬ other, Perhaps the most remarkable as¬ pect of the new programming lineup is that, with but two or three exceptions, most of the show's are on film and .will originate from the Coast, indicative of the fullblown N. Y.-to-Hollvwood pro¬ duction trend w'hich will hit a new high in the fall. The “17 for ’56-’57” covers all categories of programming, with the majority of them in the half- hour film format—a reaffirmation of Columbia’s chapinioning of the 30-minute show as the bread-and- butter staple of the Hubbell Rob¬ inson programming regime, even though 90-minute and full hour show’s are included in the upcom¬ ing list. A breakdown of the new' shows reveals, that, in addition to the Herb Shriner 60-minute variety show' w'hich is being eyed at the Friday night 8 to 9 entry (with “Mama” and “Our Miss Brooks” going off), still another hour variety show' is in the w'orks. This one is tentatively titled “The Big Record,” though CBS is k°eping the general content and format under wraps for the present. The “17 by CBS” follow: “Playhouse 90,” the hour-and-a- half dramatic scries going into the Thursday night 9:30 to 11 period under overall supervision of Carcv Wilson, with Martin Manulis as producer. Three directors, a story editor and a stable of writers are being assigned to the ambitious project, which will include eight film entries to be made by Colum¬ bia Pictures, with five additional film shows to be produced by the network itself. A Coast origination. “Landmark,” a half-hour film show' in which Goodson-Todman also have an ownership stake and with Landmark Books having an auxiliary interest. Coast origina¬ tion. A weekly UPA cartoon series in color. (CBS bought out the car- toonerv some months back for $ 5 , 000 , 000 .) “Air Power,” a 30-minute film entry out of the Public Affairs Division • designed to do for CBS what “Victory at Sea” did for NBC. Coast origination. The full hour “Herb Shriner Show.” New York live origina¬ tion. “Joe and -Mabel,” half-hour (Continued on page 38). Weekend Ratings Emmy Awards on NBC-TV Saturday (17) scored a 30 on the Trendex to rough up the rivalry. Started at 29 at 9 o’clock to beat combined marks of 12.2 for CBS-TV’s "Two for the Money” and 15.6 for ABC-TV’s Lawrence Welk; then 30.8 to 8.8 for “It’s Al¬ ways Jan” and 11.9 for Welk; and 30.1 to 12.6 for “Gun- smoke and 6.2 for “Chance of Lifetime.” It was network’s highest rated Saturday spec of the season, beating the 28.1 of Oscar Nominations telecast in February. Perry Como drew ahead of Jackie Gleason’s “Honey- mooners” for the first time since latter’s switch to 8 p.m. five weeks ago, hitting 27.8 to 22.3 for Gleason and 6.6 for “Ozark Jubilee.” In next half- hour, Como climbed big to 35.2 against 15.6 for “Stage Show” and 8.5 for “Ozark.” H wood’s 2-Out-of-3 Strike Out In TV; GE Seen Ankling 20th i With WB as the Lone Survivor GRACE NUPTIALS' LETTUCE Upcoming Ceremonies Inviting Some Offbeat Sponsors The Grace Kelly-Prince Rainier marriage-in-Monaco hoopla got a new kind of sponsorship lift last week. Before that, the radio under¬ writer complexion consisted of strictly personal milady products— Bourjois onJSFBC’s coverage of the April doings, Peter Pan Bras on ABC and Lanvin’s Arpege on CBS. CBS, w'hich has set up .four half- hours for the nuptials grind, bagged Lanvin for tw'O of the seg¬ ments. It then made it SRO with luring of C-7 Lettuce, Purex Corp-. Bleach and Old Dutch Cleanser, plus, however, another perfume house, Coty. CBS‘Big Shift To $6,080,080 Plant Under Way in Chi Chicago, March 20. ■ Chi CBS is in the process of moving into its lush new' auarters in the Chicago Arena which is being converted into an up-to-the- minute television and radio layout at a cost that figures to exceed $6,000,000 before the job is com¬ pleted. The moveover from Co¬ lumbia’s three present locations is being done in stages w'ith the final exodus from the Wrigley Bldg, headquarters, the network’s Windy City homebase since 1928, not due until April next year. With Studios 1 and 2 ready for use in the Arena (to be retagged as “CBS-Chicago”) WBBM-TV this w-cekend is moving out of the State- Lake Bldg, location inherited from WBKB w'hen CBS took over the indie’s Channel 2 after the United Paramount-ABC .merger. CBS. however, is retaining for another year the Garrick Theatre audience studio. (WBKB, incidentally, is moving back into the State-Lake, owned by the Balaban & Katz the¬ atre circuit, a United Paramount subsid.) The WBBM radio setup, sales and office staffers and exec person¬ nel will shift from the Wrigley Bldg, in the coming months as work progresses in the new' all- under-one-roof site. While the new facilities shape up as a technician’s dream with all the latest electronic gear, much of it custombuilt, there are no imme¬ diate plans for local color. To be sure, space has been set aside and the necessary leadins are being in¬ stalled for eventual tint 'equipment but it’s obvious that the CBS’ers (Continued on page 40) ‘B’fast Club’ Nears SRO In ‘Comeback of Year’ As Morrell Meat Signs Chicago, March 20. ABC is on the verge of tacking the soldout tag on “Breakfast Club.” The John Morrell meat packing firm, via Campbell-Mithun. joins the Don McNeill-hosted aural crossboarder April 16 for a daily five-minute insert extending over 28 weeks thereby enriching the ABC coffers to the tune of nearly $250,000. With still another unidentified bankroller waiting in the wings to take over the few remaining open segments, “Club” has scored the radio comeback of the year as it’s moved to virtual sponsorial capacity under- the new participa¬ tion sales plan incepted last fall. ♦ Two out of the three major Hol¬ lywood studios who entered the television programming sweep- stakes this season w'ith “institu¬ tional” shows of their own have struck out. The other looks to be a sure thing for next year. The strikeouts have been registered by Metro and 20th-Fox, w'ith the for¬ mer’s “MGM Parade” already writ¬ ten off the rolls by ABC-TV and its sponsors and the latter report- edjv about to be cancelled by Gen¬ eral Electric, bankroller of “20th- Fox Hour” on CBS-TV. Barring in¬ soluble coin problems, “Warner Bros. Presents” will continue on ABC-TV next season, although whether with the same sponsor lineup is still a matter of conjecr lure. ABC-TV itself clamped the lid on “MGM Parade” with the deci¬ sion that the show will go off the air after May 2. It was “mutually agreed” between ABC prez Bob Kintner and M-G ad-pub v.p. How¬ ard Dietz that “Parade” would not go into the customary rerun cycle, but would go off as soon as the current contract expires with the May 2 showing. As to the sponsors. General Foods and Pall Mall, they are sticking with the Wednesday poot-“Disneyland” time slot next season, although what show would go into the spot hasn’t been de¬ cided; an hourlong western is a •possibility. General Electric, which sponsors the alternate-week “Fox Hour” (with U. S. Steel and its live Thea- t e Guild dramatics in on the skip- week Wednesday;, is virtually a certainty to drop the show, mainly because the price doesn’t justify the ratings and prestige involved. GE wants to limit its program spending to $65,000 for the hour; 20th can’t produce the hours for. less than $100,000—hence the de¬ cision to call it quits. GE reported¬ ly is urging CBS-TV to bring in a live dramatic show for its skip- (Continued on page 34) Ham Shea Exiting NBC; Buys Station Hamilton Shea, v.p.-general man¬ ager of WRCA and WRCA-TV, N. Y„ the NBC owned Sc operated, who has long coveted his own op¬ eration, is checking out to buy WSVA (AM Sc TV), Harrisonburg, Va. Outlets, NBC affiliates, cover the Shenandoah Valley. Shea’s resignation is effective in May. Purchase was from Fred Allman. Shea himself was not available for comment. He was stuck at his Chappaqua home in Monday's big snowstorm, and was in Washington yesterday (Tues.). His chief, Charles R. Denny, v.p. of NBC- owned stations, was reported out of town and due back today (Wed.). Shea has been g.m. for several years and a striper for about a year. He was originally brought in from Cleveland, as was Bill David¬ son, latter about eight months ago to become assistant g.m. Davidson’s name immediately arose as a pros-' pect to succeed Shea. Two More Teleplays Sold for Pic Versions Ashley-Steiner office has sold two more teleplays for cinema ver¬ sions. First of these gives Reginald Rose another Hollywood ride via “Dino,” homescreened a couple of months ago on CBS-TV's “Studio One” and bought by the indie duo of Bernice Block and David Kra- marsky. Sal Mineo is being sought to recreate his tv role. Other script is “Man on Fire, by Malvin Wald and Jack Jacobs, given a few weeks . ago on NBC- TV’s “Alcoa Hour” and bought by Sol Siegel for Metro release:»