Variety (November 1956)

TV-FDLMS 36 PSSmrf - * Wednesday, November 21, 1956 Chi WGN-TVs le, Too’ on Hefty Slice of Feature Library Rating Pie Chicago, Nov. 20. WGN-TV statisticians are asking what’s so surprising about the hefty ratings featdre films are knocking off around the country this season. As the Windy City’s trailblazer in the use of features the past six years, the station’s ratings have frequently been bracketed in the local Top 10 along with the bigtime network shows when a particularly hot film was spun off. — 'As a result, the Chi Tribune station made no particular point of the fact that “How Green Was My Valley’’ hit a high of 28.1 when unspooled on Jim Moran’s Thursday night at 10 “Courtesy Theatre” last month. The firstrun theatrical entry from the bundle of 20th-Fox pix distribbed by Na¬ tional Telefilm Associates topped the Windy City ARB audience scores of all the preceding net¬ work shows that night. The rating gave “Valley” a 73% share of the audience. Same sponsor’s Sunday night WGN-TV theatre, also on a strictly firstrun .policy, has tradi¬ tionally been the station’s biggest rater. From July through October, for example, the Sunday 10 p.m. feature copped an average top quarter-hour ARB rating of 32. Virginal product is also being used on the Thursday and Friday seg¬ ments which have averaged 22.9 and 20.5 respectively from August through October. These celluloid track records weren’t attained by any special hoopla such as the $100,000 kickoff blast for the Metro package on KTTV, Los Angeles, where the preem pic, “30 Seconds Over Tokyo,” skyrocketed to a 30.8 average last month. Murcott Feud Settled Hollywood, Nov. 20. Joel Murcott feud- with the Writers Guild over his refusal to pay dues on tv reruns because of his contention they are “inade¬ quately” policed has been amicably settled. Writer told the finance commit¬ tee he would pay the dues and they agreed to keep him informed on policing activities and invited him to be a member of the policing committee. Mel Gold Prod. Acquires Telson Studios In L. I. Mel Gold Productions last week acquired the studio and all equip¬ ment and facilities of Telson Studios in Long Island City. Stu r dio, which includes a 60x60 foot stage, sound, lighting^ carpenter shop, dressing rooms and"' full camera equipment, will be oper¬ ated under the name of Mel Gold Studios Inc., a wholly owned sub- sid of the production company. Martin Rich, who prior to join¬ ing Gold as production supervisor was manager of Telson, will take over as studio manager under the new ownership. Studio will not only house Gold’s own commercial- vidpix production work but will be made available to Other producers on a rental basis. Seattle’s 900G RKO Pix Buy Seattle, Nov. 20. William Veneman, general man¬ ager of indie KTVW, Channel 13, here, has announced purchase of the entire “Movietime, U.S.A.” RKO feature film package for the station for $900,000. Veneman said there are 740 films in the package, including some post-1948 features. Station is working on scheduling of films, with no times set as yet. Rumor is that features will be telecast in the, early evening hours. KING-TV is showing MGM fea¬ tures and KOMO-TV has some 20th films, with both stations scheduling start of features around 10:30-11 p.m. BIG EDDY ARNOLD SALE Chicago, Nov. 20. SSS Tonic outfit of Atlanta, Ga., has purchased the “Eddy Arnold Time” film series for a 50-market spread through the south and south¬ west. Sale was handled by the Walter Schwimmer Co. distributor of the country and western bundle. McGowan's ‘Snowfire' Hollywood, Nov. 20. McGowan productions starts film¬ ing a new telepix series, “Snow- fire,” next month, with Don ]V[gr gowan and Mollie McGowan co- starring. To round out the Megowan- McGowan lineup, Stuart McGowan directs and Dorrell McGowan pro¬ duces. TFA Pre-Sales On ‘Mohicans’ Telepix In a series of pre-sold sponsor-, ship deals topped by a 14-market Coast regional last week with Langendorf Bakeries, Television Programs of America has nearly reached the break-even point on its “Last of the Mohicans” series weeks before the show is scheduled to hit the air. That’s been done before, but the unique factor in the TPA surge on the show is the fact that about three-quarters of the business set thus far and accounting for that near-break-even level are foreign sales. Thus far TPA has only*' three sales on the show—to the Cana¬ dian Broadcasting Corp., to In¬ corporated Television Programs in the United Kingdom, and to Lang¬ endorf. The sum total of the three deals is said to run about $17,OOP, but the significant fact is that the Canadian and British deals account for about $13,000 of this, including the extra coin involved in supply¬ ing CBC-TV with French and Eng¬ lish soundtracks of the series. Langendorf is using “Mohicans” to replace California National Pro¬ ductions’ “Steve Donovan, Western Marshal,” which it has sponsored on the Coast for over a year. Its coverage will involve every market in the western region, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Se¬ attle, Portland, Stockton, etc. Deal was set via the Compton agency’s San Francisco office. 'White Hunter’ Series To Shoot in Africa , Hollywood, Nov. 28. Shooting is slated to start next February in Africa on a new color telefilm series, “White Hunter,” by Dudley Pictures Corp. in coopera¬ tion with Africans Tv Enterprises Ltd. of Johnnesburg. Marshall Thompson has been set to co-star with Toto, a 10-year-old native boy, and with Arnold Belgard and Doane Hoag scripting. Belgard will also direct. •'ATl~*new Aj.i* Model 65, desig Raymond Loew dates. Compac weight, easy Safe-T-Timer end of exposure Summer “Sunshine” Backstage Eliminates Need For Make-up More and more theatrical and TV per¬ sonalities get and keep a healthful Bermuda “glow*' all year round by using the Hanovia Ultraviolet Quartz Health Lamp. They look healthier, feel healthier, right through the health- hazardous winter months. Only the Hanovia all new Full-Spectrum Ultra¬ violet Quartz Health Lamp, used and recommended by the medical profes¬ sion, gives the complete ultraviolet spectrum, tanning rays plus the sun's body-building, health-giving rays. Plus, infrared heat rays that soothe and relax tired muscles, peps you up for that special matinee or Sunday performance. Get your Hanovia Health Lamp at your department, surgical supply, or appliance store now. FREE: Valuable brochure ^Magic of Ultraviolet" describes.benefits of ul¬ traviolet and infrared. Just write “Hanovia" on a postcard and mail to Hanovia Chemical & Mfg. Company, 102 Chestnut Street, Newark 5> N. J. WEN TREASURE’ SETS BLOCH, OTHERS Cast for the telefilmed “Hidden Treasure Show” Is nearing com¬ pletion, with the $55,000 giveaway going into production at the Bilt- more Studios in N. Y. on Dec. 11. Last week Ray Bloch was Inked as musical director, and since four other performers have been added, along with a director. Judy Johnson, Eva De Luca and Richard Hayes will split vocals. Bobby Hackett, trumpeter, was also signed as a soloist, and a choral group of 12 will act in support of the front cast. Perry Lafferty will direct, with George Beliak scripting. Marc Hertsens will do choreo. Hour show is up for syndication. Official ■ Continued from page 31 ■ r ~~ the company’s success to the net¬ work sale of each of its three tele¬ pix shows, produced via Official’s tieup with Sapphire Productions, Ltd. He also reported that the syndication side of Official’s busi¬ ness, now includes 797 half-hour episodes, compared with only one- tenth as tfiany properties con¬ trolled by the company 18 months ago. Referring to the growth in the foreign market, he said that England alone has bought more than $1,000,000 of the Official series; Canada, $500,000; Australia, which has just opened commercial tv, has purchased over $150,000. Other foreign markets will follow, he added. j In the consolidated income state¬ ment of the 1956 fiscal year, sell¬ ing, promotion and general ex¬ penses were put at $1,044,884, with provision for federal income tax listed as $484,000. In the balance sheet, accounts receivable were $3,163,794, with total assets listed at $6,587,017. Total current liabili¬ ties were put at $1,745,558. Four Star Okays 9 Vidfilm Series Hollywood, Nov. 20. First meeting this year of Four Star Films toppers, held over the weekend, okayed an upped pro¬ duction sked to nine telefilm series. Dick Powell, David Niven, Charles Boyer, William Cruikshank and .Jack Rayel, owners and exec pro¬ ducers of the film, met with George Gruskin and Stan Kamen of the William Morris Agency tv depart¬ ment. Morris office has an exclu¬ sive pact to handle Four Star Films product sales. Company currently has three vid- pix series before the cameras, “Hey Jeannie,” “Dick Powell’s , Zane Grey Theatre” and “Mr. Adams and Eve,” latter preeming in Jan. on CBS-TV. Meet was the first time that varying commitments of the Four Star toppers would perifiit a simul¬ taneous get-together to go over future production plans. Bob Lewine ■ - Continued from page 21 - ■ ing-promotion as v.p. in charge, is an open secret. It’s not for any scarcity of top people that NBC hasn’t replaced Pinkham,. for the web’s program department already boasts a lineup of veeps that in¬ clude such top-level names as Nat Wolff, Mort Werner, Mike Dann and Carl Stanton. At the same time, Lewine’s move out of ABC would increase to four the number of v.p.’s that have fol¬ lowed Kintner in resigning from the web. Quartet comprises Ern¬ est Lee Jahncke (shopping), Har¬ old Morgan (to McCann-Erickson), Geraldine Zourbaugh (shopping) and Lewine. Bypass Bistribs ■■■-■ ■■ 1 Continued from page 31 ------ terest on original distributor financ¬ ing is also transferred to the sta¬ tions, and (4) distribs figure into the sales price a reserve against • unsold markets, on the theory that motion pictures cannot achieve a nationwide tv sellout. Another attractive feature of the direct ownership plan is the poten¬ tial of writing off charter station investments either entirely or to the point of making a profit through sale of pix to non-charter stations. In effects the stations would be distributors. First, they could sell beyond their own markets and, then/ they could also sell to com¬ peting stations the pictures they don’t need. They would be reim¬ bursed on additional sales in direct proportion to the amount each in¬ itially invests. A selling point to be made to the Hollywood majors is that the charter group of stations, by dint, of their size and their markets they represent, have subsantial credit ratings. NED LAND TO C&C Ned Land, former president of Station Promotions, Inc., has been added to the sales force of C & C Television. Also recently added to the C&C sales staff are Robert Mooney, formerly of Guild Films, and Paul Calvin. Mobile, Ala. — W. B. Pape was made veep and general manager of Pape Television Co. here to fill the vacancy of the late H. K. Mar¬ tin. Pape was national sales man¬ ager. Mgt.i William Morrj» Agency THIS MAN HELP YOU IN EUROPE MAJOR MOTION PICTURE COM¬ PANY'S COMBO' PRODUCER-WRI- TER-DffcECTOR LEAVING HERE FOR ASSIGNMENT ON CONTINENT JAN. 9 WILL' BE AVAILABLE FOR THE¬ ATRICAL OR COMMERCIAL FILM WORK THERE AFTER FEB. 15, FOR AD AGENCIES, TV FILM PRODUC¬ ERS, OTHERS. CAN BE GOOD DEAL FOR BOTH OF US. WRITE BOX VV 300, VARIETY, 154 W. 46th ST., N. Y. 36, N. Y. Cincinnati—WCKY stockholders reelected Charles H. Topmiller, president and general manager, and other officers at annual meet¬ ing. The board appointed Mrs. Essie Rupp assistant secretary and treasurer and added Fred A. Dowd, president, First National Bank of Cincinnati, and John H. Clippinger, attorney, as directors. ON EVERY CHANNEL BROOKS COSTUMES 3 Wail 61.1 St., N.Y.C.*T*I. PL 7-5100 Your Attention Please THE HOTEL BELVEDERE 319 WEST 48th ST., NEW YORK 19 •This modern 17 story fireproof hotel is now offer¬ ing one room.<studio apartments, with kitchenette and modern tile bath at very-low daily and weekly rates. Complete Hotel Service. • PHONE Circle 6-9100 •